Can you believe it's November already? It was a great weekend here in Central Illinois. Well Saturday started as a rainy cold mess but then again, I spent the day at an Auto Auction and ended up picking up a pretty 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GT. "What!? Jim in anything but a Jeep?" I've owned Pontiac's before and I'll need something to drive this winter while Jess gets here well deserved rebuild. So Saturday was kind of a automotive day. Sunday I got up after an extra hour of sleep (You fixed those clocks right?). I spent the entire morning working on one module, gluing in ties into all the gaps from the flex track and trying to find that short. The local switcher used a track cleaning car going at a scale 5 MPH back and forth while I inserted ties and looked for the short. So far I have yet to find the short, so the search continues. I did not get the track painted, but with two days off this week and temps reaching mid to high 70's, I have hopes of getting that done soon. So how about you? How did you fare? Did you get kits assembled, areas scenic-ed? Let us know! We'll all come back here on Friday the 6th and do this all over again. Until, have a great week, stay safe and... High Greens!
Got started assembling a kit. Stopped to do some research. Had some fun looking for that information and becoming much more familiar with the prototype.
The biggie for me this weekend was assembly of the benchwork for my new switching layout. It's a 1"x4" frame covered with 1/4" plywood, and is still in the workshop with heavy things holding down the 3/4" foam top while the glue dries.
Nothing done. Went through my pile of stuff. Was thinking of getting rid of some old pictures my dad had. Well didn't. I don't want them but he did Purchase them from the UP. Sigh..... Next week is a train show. May go may not. Cheaper if I didn't. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Drove trains around for a bit. All there was time for. Worked, worked and worked a bit more trying to get stuff done pre-snow. A roof that don't leak is usually a plus for folk. So when snow hits, aaah! Then time to play!
I had major accomplishment this weekend, locomotive wise. The three locos shown were all purchased, used, 3 to 5 years ago. At the time of purchase, I was able to install new decoders, and all three ran well (the Kato GP 38-2 is an old Blue Box, that I needed to mill the frame, and then do manual decoder install). At different points, all three started "acting up", refusing to run (although lights would still work, sort of), and then the RS2 started shorting the track. Since I was getting into building my FreeMoN modules at the time, I put these three into their jewel cases, put them in the storage drawer, and basically forgot about them. So, this weekend, finally, was a "what the heck is wrong with them". RS2 (UP 1291) -- this was the one which concerned me the most -- it was shorting, yet I knew it should be fine. Well, when I opened it up, I saw what had happened immediately. Somehow, a piece of Kapton tape had come out from under the decoder board, so not only was there a short, it had gotten pulled onto one of the fly wheels! (I had installed the decoder in the days when I would use the tape supplied by the decoder manufacturer -- now I have a clean spool, which has better adhesion). Cleaned up the interior, new tape, all seemed well; except was shooting off like a bat out of hell (yes, DC was still on for the decoder). But why acting weird? No clear culprit, but started looking carefully, and realized the wheels had a lot of gunk on them. Cleaned them up, and works better than ever! SD26 (SF 4636) -- This Atlas model was from a fellow TBer, and ran wonderfully at first. With a drop in decoder board, should not have had an issue, but it mysteriously had simply "stopped running". Opened it up, tested that motor was fine (9V DC direct to motor tabs), but still nothing through the decoder. Tested wheel contact to board, 0 ohm resistance. But no power to the motor tabs..... hmmm. So, just like on the Kato decoders, decided to put a touch of solder from the boards to the motor tabs. Voila! Also, had a wad of something in the front truck gears, so cleaned everything up, and now runs so quietly and sweet. GP38-2 (SP 4832) -- This is a Kato blue box, and was my very first hard wire install way back when. I dreaded what I might find. Well, opened it up, and it was very clear. I had a terrible cold solder joint on one of the motor tabs, such that it had come completely disconnected. When I reconnected it, power ran to the motor just fine, but.... Something was very wrong. The reverse direction lights were on all the time. Forward lights responded properly to the decoder/throttle. Also, forward direction would respond to throttle commands, but reverse only sometimes, and then, it would lose control and start running at top speed, even after I reset the decoder and turned DC off! Took the whole unit apart, and verified I had modified the light board correctly, and no stray connectivity. Put it all back together, same story. So, yesterday, I was looking in my DCC drawer, and found a spare Lenz Silver Mini W decoder (was reserved for a Kato Mike I have never gotten around to). The loco had Digitrax DZ125 installed (as do two other GP38-2s which run just fine). Well swapped decoders, and now this GP38-2 runs so sweetly, can creep at slow speeds.... WOW! Now, the only "issue" I have is this guy does not have number boards. Any suggestions? All three probably could have been repaired a long time ago, but I am certainly glad to have them running again. And, I got to take a photo of them using my new light diffuser set up
Made quite a bit of progress on the train attic. All of the molding is installed, the cubby doors are in to the access behind the knee walls, the door to the HVAC closet is in. Painter came tonight, a highly recommended painter and gave me a very reasonable price to paint all the molding, the attic stairwell, and stain/finish/paint the steps up to the attic. I'm done airbrushing my backdrop and will start hanging lights this weekend now that the airbrushing is done. I anticipate building benchwork right after Christmas. Also, this past weekend, picked up my C&O Allegheny from a guy that installs sound. Had him put a WOW Sound chip in w/ the Keep Alive thing. He also sound equipped an A-B-A set of Intermountain FP7's for me. C&O. Slowly but surely I'm getting there. Time to start thinking about ordering homasote roadbed. Other than my NC State Wolfpack getting kicked by Clemson, it was a good weekend.
