Howdy to all, I am an HO enthusiast as well as Lionel 027 since I have my cousin´s 1950 Lionel train set and have acquired additional Lionel trains over the past few years. I got my start in HO scale from my dear friend, Mr.Jim Witherington, a WWII veteran who flew over 30 missions over Nazi Germany as a top turret gunner on a B-17 named ¨Going My Way¨, a Bing Crosby song from the early 1940´s. Jim gave me my start in HO scale railroading when he invited me over one day during the early 1980´s after church services. When I observed his model layout I was immediately bitten by the ¨bug¨, which I´m sure you all know about. Jim passed away in 1999 and will be missed forever. I am a former USMC Sergeant, serving from 1969 until 1973. I served in Vietnam from 1971 to 1972, on the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CVA-43). My squadron, Marine All Weather Attack Squadron 224 was retired in 1999, as well as the USS Coral Sea. It fell to the cutter´s torch at that same time and now is razor blades. Our squadron flew A-6A and A-6B´s, as well as EA-6B Prowler and KA-6D tankers off the deck of the USS Coral Sea. I am semi-retired and work part-time at the Veteran´s Store in Pigeon Forge, TN. I am presently trying to resurrect my current DC railroad from my barn since dismantling it in the early 2000´s when we moved from Georgia to Tennessee. I cannot wait to get it operational once again. I plan on converting it to DCC since DCC is no longer cost prohibitive using Dave Bodnar´s simplified electronics using an Arduino and a motor shield to create a DCC++ base station. Bing semi-retired, DCC has been only a passing thought until I discovered the Arduino and other maker boards. Now it is affordable thanks to the genius of open source code and the use of Arduino boards and Dave´s excellent electronic projects which I´ve been following for some time now as I prepare to get my layout operational once again.
Welcome from a fellow Vietnam vet, '65-'66 (though I was an Army doorgunner). This is a great group of folks and you will find a lot of help and encouragement here. Enjoy!
Welcome, I'm in Eastern Tennessee also, Maryville. We might want to get together ans talk about DCC. Dennis
Welcome, From another East Tennessean (Morristown area). There are a lot of parallels in your history that match mine. If I can help, just let me know (you can use the “Conversation” feature on this site to exchange contact information that you do not want to put in a public thread. Bob
Welcome aboard, and thank you for your service and for the story of your introduction to HO. We look forward to your progress once you get the DC layout up and running again.
Hi, Welcome, glad to have you on board. Your comments of less expensive DCC++ modules and installations have inserted dangerous thoughts into my ancient gray matter, and that could lead to the questionable outcome that I may have to switch from 70 years of DC....
I want to thank each and every one of you for the very cordial welcome to this great site. I really love model railroading and when I fully retire, I will dedicate the rest of my life to my layout. I just ordered a $ .75 kit for alternate flashing LED´s (which came in blue LED´s) so I can automate my crossing bucks. The circuit was very easy to build with the included resistors, transistors, capacitors and of course, the LED´s and a 1 inch square circuit board. I´ll have to change these to red LED´s to use in the crossing bucks. My next project will be to hopefully copy someone´s design of an IR detector circuit to turn the cross bucks on as a train approaches and turn them off after it passes the road crossing. I´m hoping I can find some help here on this site. I would like to thank Mr. Dickey for his reply to my introduction as he provided me with some very helpful information on squadron mates that I haven´t thought about since leaving the U. S. Marine Corps in 1973. Thank you for the e-mail. Once again, thanks to all of you who have made me feel very welcome to a great modeling railroading site. And a special ¨thank you¨ to Mr. Dave Bodnar who led me to this wonderful site. As far as my service to my country is concerned, I did volunteer to go to Vietnam and would make the very same choice if I had to do it today. Just too bad they won´t let us old farts back into the Marine Corps.
Thank you for your service and for volunteering. If we Old Farts were accepted for active duty, we would be so pissed at having our retirement interrupted, being forced to eat inedible chow, wear stupid clothing, carry meaningless heavy loads, and all other insults to our fixed ways, that we would win every engagement. Of course being yelled at, forced to do illogical chores, and saying yes sir/ma'am would be no different than what married people do now.
Hytec, Yes sir! I think you very well nailed it if we old farts were allowed back into service. I still say ¨yes, ma´am, and no sir because of my job--I have to be respectful to the clientele that visits our store. I believe you´re right--we would definitely win any engagement that we may be involved in, as long as politics doesn´t rear its ugly head!
Good to have you here. You'll find plenty of good info on this board. I just got back from spending seven months in the Knoxville area, Louisville to be exact. I really enjoyed my time there, especially Townsend and the Smokies.
