mike g. posted:Jon1443, here are the pictures I promised you this morning & one little video!
As you can see in the 3rd picture I also use the tray to store my DCS paperwork. I hope this helps, it works slick for me!
Mike, That is super!!!
Sadly, I have not been here since Sunday, so I am distributing "Likes". I just had to make special note of Mike's great Z4000 shelf!!
briansilvermustang posted:
looking GREAT Elliot
hope your knee feels OK after doing all that work !
Ditto on the knee health, Elliot!
CoastsideKevin posted:Been putting in many hours on the attic layout and finally got the new siding project close to finished.
Here is a drone shot. The six new sidings are on the far side.
Kevin
A drone shot in your attic... me thinks an intervention is DEFINITELY in order!!!
And that street in the opening shot looks incredible.
briansilvermustang posted:
Gotta love GG1’s, Brian - even the boring black PC version (is it missing a pantograph???).
Does anyone else get angry with the MTH website? Nobody answers the phone, I can’t find any engines with an exploded parts view, terrible part descriptions and finally when I find my correct headlight harness they want $24 to ship it!!! What the actual heck, about to pull my hair out
Vincent Massi posted:Vincent Massi posted:Houston, we have an "Oy Vey"!Just seconds ago, the unmanned Israeli spacecraft "In the Beginning" crashed onto the Moon.It sent us its last photo minutes before its engine failed during its unsuccessful landing attempt.
The beginning of the end of the Beginning.🤔
Small mistakes; big crashes.😯
Jack118711 posted:Does anyone else get angry with the MTH website? Nobody answers the phone, I can’t find any engines with an exploded parts view, terrible part descriptions and finally when I find my correct headlight harness they want $24 to ship it!!! What the actual heck, about to pull my hair out
They have to have minimum orders in many parts divisions, not just MTH or trains. They'd loose money sending out tons of little orders. I think Lionel has a $50 min & shipping.
Would ordering something else allow a better overall value? Or is it basically $25or more each item.
Neither company has an extremely good site imo.. MTH is better for looking at new, Lionel is better for parts that new (I haven't seen a new Lionel catalog since the format change years ago)
The skyrocketed shipping prices don't help. But $25 shipping for something that could go into a bubble envelope seems steep to me, yes.
Adriatic posted:Jack118711 posted:Does anyone else get angry with the MTH website? Nobody answers the phone, I can’t find any engines with an exploded parts view, terrible part descriptions and finally when I find my correct headlight harness they want $24 to ship it!!! What the actual heck, about to pull my hair out
They have to have minimum orders in many parts divisions, not just MTH or trains. They'd loose money sending out tons of little orders. I think Lionel has a $50 min & shipping.
Would ordering something else allow a better overall value? Or is it basically $25or more each item.
Neither company has an extremely good site imo.. MTH is better for looking at new, Lionel is better for parts that new (I haven't seen a new Lionel catalog since the format change years ago)
The skyrocketed shipping prices don't help. But $25 shipping for something that could go into a bubble envelope seems steep to me, yes.
It could go in an envelope for all I care... I’ll try to call again tomorrow
Jack118711 posted:Does anyone else get angry with the MTH website? Nobody answers the phone, I can’t find any engines with an exploded parts view, terrible part descriptions and finally when I find my correct headlight harness they want $24 to ship it!!! What the actual heck, about to pull my hair out
Jack, I have a bizarre suggestion. I bought a train set not knowing that it had been in a box for 18 years. When all else failed, I took it to a mechanic, who fixed it on the first try.
Dave, thank you for the diagram and info. Elliot, thank you for your method and the picture. I’ve extended the control of one of my switches. Not sure if it will work with my other switch. But now I have a few ways to attack the problem. I’ll post a picture tomorrow to show how I did my first switch.
Andy
I could only go to York for one day this week but I had a great show. I'll share what all I bought in the appropriate thread but here are some pics from the show and when my dad, uncle and I got back to the hotel we set up a loop of track and ran my new 2065. What a great day with trains!
He may be very capable and just needs a harness.
Original parts are very important to some folk peace of mind too.
And costs per hour for the labor too? Double? Triple the $50(?) total. More than $50; almost for sure.
(personally I prefer to do it myself mostly, including putting plugs on harnesses. I'll be aware of any weakness in my work, while theirs is a coin toss for me)
Much more so in O because of the collectable aspect attached over the last 100 years. Smaller scales never acheived the same collector notoriety and though modern ones here, still applies quite often.
The subject as a whole reminds me of Red on the 70s Show and his impression the car will run better and last longer with the stock delco speakers in it, nixing his kids want for a set of better ones.
(of course today uprading a radio, your old radio may need to go into the trunk with a 20' cable to the dash or the car won't run 🤣)
Apples55 posted:CoastsideKevin posted:Been putting in many hours on the attic layout and finally got the new siding project close to finished.
Here is a drone shot. The six new sidings are on the far side.
Kevin
A drone shot in your attic... me thinks an intervention is DEFINITELY in order!!!
And that street in the opening shot looks incredible.
Ha. Thanks, Paul. I’m with you in the basement/attic layout realm!
darlander posted:Tortoise Switch Transfer Throw Assembly
Mike & Andy:
Note Diagram: As Elliot stated, you can locate the TSM far from the switch. The RC Gold-N-Rod kit I bought, limits you to 48” - the length of the 2 sleeves and slide bars supplied with the kit. Elliot's method would give you even greater spacing - he mentioned a 5' run. Do you have a Dremel tool? If so, routing the groove in the table top would be easy. You also need some small bits to drill a small hole through the yellow slide bar. The vertical pin that activates the switch throw bar should be force fit - I would not glue it. I would make the hole a little bigger for the switch machine wire. Note the bottom red rod: you need to cut out a slot, top and bottom of the red sleeve, both ends. Looking at the lowest rod, the one without the pin, notice the two slots, one at each end - one for the throw bar pin and one for the Tortoise throw. You can also see the yellow slide bar and the hole for the pin and Tortoise throw. I don’t know the exact size of the metal pin, but it is heavier gauge wire than the one packaged with the TSM. The diameter of the red tube is 3/16” so I hope that gives some perspective. They need to be piano or spring wire. I believe Hobby Lobby would be a good source for the replacement wire. Also note the remanent of hot glue on the red sleeves. This transfer assembly needs to be glued in place.
I hope that this gives you a better idea to the process I used to work around obstruction and clearance situations. Glad I reclaimed and saved these over the years. I knew that they might come in handy someday.
Happy Switch installation!
Cheers, Dave
My method doesn't need a grove, everything is done under the table, because the bell crank transfers the motion through the decking. The only thing you see is the upper arm of the crank.
As for getting more than 4' away from the Tortoise, it's a simple matter of splicing on additional yellow inner rod and red outer tubing. The inner yellow rod is done with a piece of 2-56 threaded rod, which comes in the package. I ended up buying extra on eBay. I splice the red outer tubing by super gluing a piece of Plastruct tubing, of the proper size, over the joint.
Butch, I am with you! I am about done with slotted and phillips screws!
Lee, that looks wonderful! But then again in the mid 60's I would have been 2 or 3 so I don't remember much from then. But here today it looks great to me!
Dave, thanks for all the great information. I think I am going to give it a try and if it works well then that just means more switch machines! LOL
Kevin, nice view from the drone! You sure have a large layout and you can tell you have put in a lot of hard work! Looks Great!
Jack, congrats on the up coming wedding! You must of found a girl that likes trains!
Mark thank you! The towel slide was a freebe and I knew I could use it somewhere!
So yesterday I took a little break from switches and started to scratch build a modern engine service building from things that I have laying around. some old sign boards from the store, some old Christmas blocks, some balsawood that was on a shelf. today I hope to get more time working on it!
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
I do have a local repair man that does fantastic work but he is super booked up. I just need some odds and ends and it’ll be perfect. And thanks Mike! I wouldn’t say she likes trains, but she puts up with my madness
Cody, Thank you for the photographs from York. Hopefully I can get back there in the fall.
Mike, reuse is my friend!
briansilvermustang posted:
ALL ABOARD! Let’s take an excursion.
Jack118711 posted:I do have a local repair man that does fantastic work but he is super booked up. I just need some odds and ends and it’ll be perfect. And thanks Mike! I wouldn’t say she likes trains, but she puts up with my madness
Jack, the point is she knows what she's getting into.
Both of mine did. The second one even helps once in a while.
Speaking of marriage, my wife is an only child, but her father, bless his heart, realized the importance of having a train in the home. In 1950, my wife received a Lionel train for Christmas. More importantly, she played with it all through her childhood and gave it the tenderest of care. Today her Lionel Prairie 2-6-2 #224 proudly sits as the crown jewel of my, pardon me, our collection. I tell everyone that little train set was the Dowry I received 55 years ago! Life is GOOD!
Jack, congratulations on your up coming wedding. As you can see, I too got lucky and found a girl who likes trains!!
Cheers, Dave
Big_Boy_4005 posted:Jack118711 posted:I do have a local repair man that does fantastic work but he is super booked up. I just need some odds and ends and it’ll be perfect. And thanks Mike! I wouldn’t say she likes trains, but she puts up with my madness
Jack, the point is she knows what she's getting into.
Aw, that’s sweet! My soon-to-be wife gave me some money for the train show as a b day gift and I blew through it so I guess one could say she helps me as well!
darlander posted:Speaking of marriage, my wife is an only child, but her father, bless his heart, realized the importance of having a train in the home. In 1950, my wife received a Lionel train for Christmas. More importantly, she played with it all through her childhood and gave it the tenderest of care. Today her Lionel Prairie 2-6-2 #224 proudly sits as the crown jewel of my, pardon me, our collection. I tell everyone that little train set was the Dowry I received 55 years ago! Life is GOOD!
Jack, congratulations on your up coming wedding. As you can see, I too got lucky and found a girl who likes trains!!
Cheers, Dave
Thank you! My first train also sits proudly on the shelf. The ol’ Pennsylvania Flyer. If you’re ever interested in selling those Lehigh Valley hoppers, let me know 
One more.
What have I been doing on the layout? Not much.
Work has been driving me nuts (we intentionally understaffed to ridiculously low levels) and I've been fighting off a cough I caught at the office that has been going on for well over a month now (I just started antibiotics two days ago).
I've built the first of five wood ET&WNC hoppers, from laser kits from On30IMA, and I'll be looking to build the rest soon. They're not perfect representations, but far better than scratch building! Until recently, nobody made one of those in O scale. I built only to start with so I'd know how to built the rest of them, like the old adage of wishing you had two kits of something; one to learn how to build it and the other to do it right.
Anyhow, I'll update when I can.
Brian, All aboard; Amtrak! I see it is an Amtrak day!
Johan, And another great looking one!
Dave, Looks great!!
Last weekend, I put down the Homasote and cork roadbed on my top loop, minus the area where a switch and siding will go. This weekend I hope to get the cork painted with the rock fleck spray as before, but I'm going to take the advice of Chris @lehighline to paint it first with flat gray, then spray since the rock fleck paint empties fast. I'm going to follow Bob's and Butch's suggestions about combating over-spray as well. After my first go at it, I scraped the over-spray flecks off a bunch of stuff with an old plastic discount card. The stuff came right off, but why get that stuff in the air in the first place?
I used the remote mounting method for one of my Tortoise switches. You can see the remote plate towards the back. It works well, but was tough to install. I have another switch in a tough spot, but I did get some good ideas from Dave(Darlander) and Elliot. I’ll have to see which method would be best.
Andy
geysergazer posted:lee drennen posted:
Retro my layout back to the mid 60s
I had a '52 Ford pickup! The Flathead V8 finally had so many cracks from valve seats to cylinder edge that I couldn't get a hundred miles without having to refill the rad so I did a conversion to a '56 Thunderbird 312. Wow. You took me right back, Lee. Tnx!
Lew
Lew
Glad I could take it back I’m like you I just like those old cars and trucks they was simpler to work on unfortunately I got in on the tail end of this era where you could work on your own Car or Truck
BArgp7 #63,
Would you share your rail painting technique and color? One of the best I've seen.
Earl
ran a westbound reefer block thru Elizabeth City and across the East Branch bridge....
gandydancer1950 posted:ran a westbound reefer block thru Elizabeth City and across the East Branch bridge....
Wow, impressive!
Started laying out some track for the new layout while the ZW is in the shop. Still making adjustments but I’m liking it so far
CoastsideKevin posted:gandydancer1950 posted:ran a westbound reefer block thru Elizabeth City and across the East Branch bridge....
Wow, impressive!
I second that!! I love those reefers
Jon1443 posted:Started laying out some track for the new layout while the ZW is in the shop. Still making adjustments but I’m liking it so far
Looking good Jon
jgtrh62 posted:Happy Friday all!
I got the Armor Yellow on my UP Dash 8, going for the Harbor Mist Gray tomorrow, then on to lettering, windows, etc.
Also did some more landscaping.
Looks good John. Nice paint job
After about two years of searching, I FINALLY got my hands on a Williams B unit in Northern Pacific scheme
Conductor Earl posted:BArgp7 #63,
Would you share your rail painting technique and color? One of the best I've seen.
Earl
Earl. Thank you very much. I use Artist oil paints, extra dark Pan Pastels with a turpentine.
Johan
Greetings everyone- been super busy lately so train time has been just about zero. I did manage to pick up a nice PRR NW-2 in Pennsy paint this week.
Been following everyone's progress and spreading "likes" around. Keep up the good work!
Bob
Nice NW~2 Bob, is that Lionel, MTH, Williams?
Rusty
Diverging Clear posted:Nice NW~2 Bob, is that Lionel, MTH, Williams?
Rusty
Williams by Bachman. I have a few of their engines and they are well made and very smooth runners.
Thanks
I have to agree, Bob. I have acquired 6 Williams locomotives, steam and diesel and all are very good runners. I bought a 6-8-6 and after test running it, had to clean out the gearbox and replace the grease. I don't think it had ever been run, but, I've been breaking it in for the last two weeks on my Carpet Central. I'm pleased with it's performance so far!
Rusty
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