Well we are back. Sorry for the delay in getting this up for you, the weird weather we have been getting finally got me and gave me a cold/allergies/sinus infection or generally, creeping crud. Regardless, it was an okay weekend. Saturday: we were able to walk in and just set up a few things as we had set up the modules the night before. My buddy Brian picked up his two hoppers so he could run them at a different show that weekend. It was nice to have all the modules running well, no shorts, no sticking turnouts, everything ran great so switching was on! We spent the day switching our own industries relative to our railroad and spoke to a lot of folks who enjoy what we were doing. Many even knew the area we were modeling. After the show, we headed up to one of my favorite restaurants along old Route 66, had a Horseshoe, that is an Illinois style open faced sandwich for those of you not from Central Illinois, then explored ghosts of the Illinois Terminal, Illinois Central and current day Union Pacific. With my spring cold coming on however, we decided to head back to my place and get to bed early. Sunday: Unfortunately, I was feeling worse but managed to get going. We had some breakfast then headed into the show following the old Illinois Central, now Decatur Junction ROW. Sunday was slow, we had really nice weather after two weeks of cold rain so it wasn't a surprise that attendance was down. Still we both assembled strings of cars and set out for another day of switching. We had a great time and we both landed some deals. I even finally bought that BN Kato NW2 switcher. Now to install a decoder. Before the show was over, I wanted to get a picture of the overall size of our layout. Keep in mind, I still have more modules to build! Yes the track plan is to scale by a scale foot or two, thank you Google Earth! Before we knew it, it was time to take the layout down and for me, say goodbye to dealers I may not see again or at the least, a very long time. We came back to my place, got Angela and went out for dinner then Bill helped me get my modules up in my shop. After that we all went to bed. Bill left just a few hours ago and since I called in today, I'm off to bed again....stupid creeping crud. So how about you? It sounds like we all may have had a busy weekend, let us know what you did and share a picture or two. We'll assemble again on Friday the 14th to start a new weekend. Until then, don't catch what I got, have a good week and... High Greens!
Well, I had a decent weekend. Had some decoder programming issues. One is with ESU and the other with Soundtraxx. Other then that I added a speeder shed: And, added some tress and shrubberies to Oxnard hotel: Thanks, - hope ya'll had a great weekend, Wolf
Installed 8 turnouts and most of the track that will be in front of "Albemarle City" on my layout. All in all, it was a productive weekend. Wiring and control to follow. But its in and "blocked". The buildings are in reasonable shape after 8+ years in storage. They need some touch up work. A few windows fell out, some had some warp spots that fortunately just need bracing. All in all, good shape. The station in the foreground is one I'm working on. I just placed it there to spot 2 holding tracks for passenger cars. (Tracks still w/ pins)
Not as productive as I'd hoped, but I have today off too - I did some experimental ballasting across the service tracks and a couple feet of the main. I'm off today, so I'm buying some Elmer's glue and try gluing it down - or more likely, spraying some glue on the shoulders of the cork and getting some ballast to stick. The ballast seems to be way too light - so I've toned it down by adding liberal amounts of "earth" into the ballast. It seems to be a success. None of the ballast is glued down, so I can't run trains for the time being. Anyone who's seen any of my pictures will note that the James Bond poster in the background is missing. The poster frames come down today (moving to another part of the room, not gone completely) and the backdrop will make its first appearance sometime today with a bit of luck. Just rudimentary, but it's all a learning experience! .
Added another chapter to the maintenance handbook... I have a couple of Kato GP35s that had been making some high-pitched, short but frequent (and annoying) squeaking noises (loud, too). I took a close look at the trucks - with magnifying gear - and spotted the bearing that is on the outboard side of the wheel, just inside the truck frame. I decided to lube all eight bearings with a small drop of oil, and... blessed silence! So I lubed the other loco, and an Atlas RS-3 with a Kato drive. All squeaking has been completely squelched.
Jim Wiggins, Who is "We"? Chip and I started assembling his Heart of Georgia concept layout made up of four porkchop sections. We did not do nearly what we hoped to but progress was made. The Intermodal yard module drill track modules received legs and stand on their own just fine. The yard drill tracks are priority now as we plan to set up on May 5th for some freemoN action. {photos removed at poster's request} The holes are there to lighten the modules. My fortner bit needs sharpening after 76 holes.
Friday "Cyclone Cook" was downgraded to "very bad storm" and came to visit NZ, bringing much rain. (A full scale cyclone is like a Florida Hurricane, we don't get those very often, thankfully) Saturday, after it stopped raining, I went for a drive to the second closest hobby shop. This one still has trains Bought some bits and pieces, including the third tortoise I needed for the staging deck. Sunday I finished the wiring on the staging deck, including the new tortoise. It all seems good now. Monday I played "network engineer" and upgraded the house WiFi to hopefully reach the garage (layout room), so I have more internet while I work
