Hey George, looking good! I have a few extra bags of N scale fine cinders from AZRM I can send you for your engine yard if you would like........
Thank You.... My workbench/observation seat is directly across the aisle from the turntable. Sitting there watching trains run and seeing the dismal display of that area finally took it's toll after 9 years ! Something HAD to be done...
A little Salt and Pepper never hurts Oh you mean that kid of seasoning? Sorry, it was right there for the taking!
I like to tinker too...lol. This is a FVM ES44AC. In trying to appease a small group of vocal rivet counters who do nothing but complain...FVM tried to hide the long brass strips that conduct electricity from the trucks to the frame. Those strips go up in a slot between the sill and frame. If you do any kind of routine maintenance on your locomotives and don't get those strips absolutely staright in those slots...with very little room for error....they will hang on the sill or frame and you lose power !!! It's like hardwiring trucks for better electrical conductivity. 1 step forwards...3 steps back ! It didnt work well the first time they tried it eons ago...so lets do it again ! Manufactures need to rethink their business plan ! Spock said it best...“The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few” Am I bitter ? YES ! Spent good money on this piece of... *Stepping off my soapbox now...thanks
I'd love to get my hands on that loco if you want to part with her. It's one of the few FVM locos I do not have.
I would...but...I like to remind myself on how much $$$ I wasted on it...seeing it on the deadline everytime I run trains !!
To Matt @ FVM's credit.... He did work with me on this model. On the first one the problem with those contact strips reared it's ugly head the first time I had to semi disassembly it to clean the trucks. After emails back and forth...Matt had me send it back and he replaced it. He even paid for the postage...both ways. After some time...when the replacement locomotive needed the trucks cleaned (pet hair) ...the problem with those contact strips reared it's ugly head...again. Matt sent replacement contact strips. The problem persisted. Like I said...you have to be overly careful and have the patience of a saint to get those strips inserted...and working right. After numerous attempts and finding they jammed up in that narrow slot after running a short period...I sent Matt another email. I never received a reply back so I took the mechanism out and put it back in the Jewel case. The decoder went into my new Atlas S2. The 'shell' is now on cribbing on the 'deadline'. IMHO....The new contact strip placement concept was all wrong. Finally useful....
The cinders are black. I ended up with about 30 bags and I have some left over. I do not know if AZ Rock & Mineral are still in business. Or if their website is still up. I ended up with about 500 pounds of stuff and have leftovers, so let me check again and I will let you know.
Decided to clean up more of the area around the turntable area. First: I was going to do some 'repiping' at the 3 floating roof tanks area. The tanks are thin plastic and have been on the layout forever. The plastic has gotten so brittle...the center one just disentegrated when I barely grabbed it. So I just used a silver cap off an old rattle can spray can and made a new tank. Second: I wasnt happy with the LARGE parking lot at the POL shed. So I shortened the lot and redid all the grass from the POL shed around to behind the 'Car Shop' at the end of the layout. Third: I made the wife cry...happy tears... whn I used some Woodland Scenics Turf Fine Yellow Grass and put our names in the grass. I am such a romantic...just sayin... .
@mtntrainman Greetings! I'm back, (at least for now). Wanted you to know I'm using your idea for 'Layout on Cabinets'. Watching your '9th Aniversery Vid' was very insprational. Great work!