Front end Friday.....

I'm a day late and a dollar short as usual but Happy FEF and weekend everyone!

John

@jgtrh62 posted:

I'm a day late and a dollar short as usual but Happy FEF and weekend everyone!

John

JOHN.......YOU ARE SOOooo WRONG IN POSTING A PHOTO LIKE THIS. 

( I can't tell if this is real or a layout ) 

John maybe a day late but definitely not a dollar, or anything else, short. Great modelling and photograpy.

You are right @Coach Joe, @jgtrh62 has a beautiful set of Sante Fe diesels, 2 rail scale, looking so real, and he’s not short on anything except more pictures, I’m loving this thread. Happy Railroading Everyone

Joseph, Joe and Larry, thank you and ditto! All the great photos and videos is what I enjoy most about these forums!

John

Larry do you have a Blue Bonnet and Black Bonnet to go with the War Bonnet and Yellow Bonnet?

@Steve Tyler posted:

, , , and for something completely different:

On my immaculate workbench: a disassembled Menards '48 Ford police van, being temporarily powered by a buck converter to display the blown headlight LEDs, the replacements for which are hopefully on a "slow boat" somewhere . . . *sigh*

Well, the "slow boat" finally arrived yesterday, so I finally was able to dig into the van last night.

First, I removed the offending LEDs (a real test, since the original 'top hat' LEDs were inserted into a plastic piece glued into the shell, and I had to pry both sides loose to get the LEDs out), then temporarily lashed up the new LEDs with the old wiring to test them (they worked!), then inserted the new LEDs into the plastic pieces, bent the wire leads and maneuvered everything into place, and finally used CA glue to lock the plastic LED holders back in place. Since attempting to resolder the resistor and leads in place would put stress on the new glue joins, I let everything set up overnight.

This morning, I bent the LED wires into position, temporarily applied power to make sure everything still worked, and carefully resoldered the resistor and power leads in place (the only mishaps were a couple of close encounters between the soldering iron and the plastic fender!). Everything still lit up, so I reassembled the van and restored it to the layout. I think I may have failed to fully and properly align the plastic LED holders with the headlight opening and cover on the shell, so the headlights are a bit dimmer than I recall, but IMHO they are still well within the prototypical range I was shooting for. I'll post a pic when I get a chance (next Friday, of course!).

The bottom line: it appears Menards lighted vehicles are cheaply made, apparently with a fairly high LED fail rate, but with some cheap components and a *lot* of challenging fiddlin', you can at need DIY the necessary repairs! I also ended up with a boatload (see what I did there? ) of spare LEDs and power connectors, so I might attempt to "electrify" some non-lighted vehicles on my layout (as a FEF project?), now that I've successfully navigated the innards of one such vehicle!

@Coach Joe, no sir, just the red and silver War  bonnets, and the yellow and silver Yellow bonnets, and at one time, the Blue Whiskers version, however do to downsizing, the blue whiskers were sold. I’m actually downsizing, selling more, buying less, but sticking mostly with Legacy engines. Thanks for the kind words and Happy Railroading Everyone.

Great photos everyone and some nice videos. just a couple comments,

@RSJB18Bob, Great looking engine, but I don't think I have ever seen that logo before! Who is it?

@jgtrh62 John don't worry about being a day or two late, with the photos you posted you could be a week late! Heck look at me I am a good 5 days late and don't have anything to share!

I just love all the engines!

@mike g. posted:

Great photos everyone and some nice videos. just a couple comments,

@RSJB18Bob, Great looking engine, but I don't think I have ever seen that logo before! Who is it?

@jgtrh62 John don't worry about being a day or two late, with the photos you posted you could be a week late! Heck look at me I am a good 5 days late and don't have anything to share!

I just love all the engines!

Mike- the D&H...Delaware and Hudson "The Bridge Line"

@Steve Tyler- I went through the same thing....getting the blown led's out was a PITA. Glad you got yours back together and on the layout again.

@leapinlarry- I would need to do more up-sizing just to catch up to your down-sizing.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

@Steve Tyler- I went through the same thing....getting the blown led's out was a PITA. Glad you got yours back together and on the layout again.

Definitely a PITA, but here it is back on the layout, and lit!:

And, for a bonus, my latest challenge -- lighting an unlit early '50's Ford sedan:

To be fair, in two tries I have yet been able to get the white headlight LEDs to light when everything is buttoned up (long, frustrating story for another day!), so I ended up just changing the story, with the driver I added in the Ford just arriving home a bit *before* sundown, with his foot still on the brake, so . . . no headlights!

Oh, and on the right of the pic, one of my recent Menards purchases, a lighted stake-body truck. As you can see, I've not yet gotten the right balance of Tamiya clear yellow paint on both headlights to tone down the non-prototypical bluish OEM LED glare. Also, I'm thinking of adding some sort of trash load, to give depth to the backstory for the trashman between the vehicles. Hmm . . .

@RSJB18 posted:

Mike- the D&H...Delaware and Hudson "The Bridge Line"

Bob

Wow, Bob… that paint scheme would look GREAT on a pair of Baldwin Sharks, don’t you think???
I’ll let myself out now…

@Apples55 posted:

Wow, Bob… that paint scheme would look GREAT on a pair of Baldwin Sharks, don’t you think???
I’ll let myself out now…

Just watch the door as you pass.....🤣🤣🤣

Am I fashionably late enough?

RK N&W PS2 FM TM

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Am I fashionably late enough?

RK N&W PS2 FM TM

I really like the FM Train Masters (have the Demonstrators, PRR, & EL - really regret never getting one of the Virginian versions). They just looks big and powerful. That said, Saturday… Sunday afternoon at most is fashionably late. Tuesday night is either waking from a weekend hibernation or very early for the next FEF

@RSJB18 posted:

Just watch the door as you pass.....🤣🤣🤣

From many years experience, I always do

@RSJB18 posted:

Mike- the D&H...Delaware and Hudson "The Bridge Line"

@Steve Tyler- I went through the same thing....getting the blown led's out was a PITA. Glad you got yours back together and on the layout again.

@leapinlarry- I would need to do more up-sizing just to catch up to your down-sizing.

Bob

Thanks Bob, What a wonderful paint scheme!

I just love how Paul drops in, plants a seed, and away he goes.

@coach joe posted:

I just love how Paul drops in, plants a seed, and away he goes.

I've noticed he's very adept at dropping little train grenades and running for the hills......

@coach joe posted:

I just love how Paul drops in, plants a seed, and away he goes.

Joe… if you are referring to my D&H Shark observation, I must take umbrage with your comment

As Bob must begrudgingly agree, that particular seed was planted so long ago that it has had ample time to grow into a mighty shade throwing oak (and I have continued watering it on a very regular basis)

@RSJB18 & @Apples55 Either way I just love how you guys keep it going! LOL

Paul, it was a general observation, however, the shark nose comment did trigger the response even though that seed has been germinating for quite some time,.

1965 GTO cruising main street on The SOUTH FORK RAILROAD.

I purchased a ‘65 GTO like this new in ‘65, 4 on the floor, 3 deuces under the hood.  Hot car!!

I remember in 1965 high school in Salina , Kansas the Pontiac dealer's son showed up in a new 65 goat. Almost the whole high school stuck around when school was out to watch him spin the tires.

I didn't get my goat till 67 followed by a 69 midnight blue 442.

Great memories.

@W&W posted:

1965 GTO cruising main street on The SOUTH FORK RAILROAD.

I purchased a ‘65 GTO like this new in ‘65, 4 on the floor, 3 deuces under the hood.  Hot car!!

I remembered the guys from down the valley who came to town with one of these and Icould only dream about having one.    Really a big deal. Nice.

One of the really great cars of those years.

Had a 65 GTO with 3 deuces and a 4 speed. Fast car. Where did you get this car?

Here's my ends of the front kind for this find Friday!  

B&O Atlantic and N&W Y6b.

@mike g. posted:

@RSJB18 & @Apples55 Either way I just love how you guys keep it going! LOL

Thanks, Mike. Hobbies should be fun, so a bit of good natured ribbing goes a long way… I think I owe Joe a witty comment. Now where did I put that case of grenades???

DAAA....DUUUMMMM......

😎😎😎

Well hello F.E.F. fans, I am taking a break from "hospital" duty with my wife and thought I would sneak a posting to this thread.  I selected a favorite of mine, a Konrad Dressler clockwork locomotive and a set of Heinrich Wiemer coaches that I purchased some time ago.  They date from the 1950's.

Here is the "Front End Friday" view .  By the way, somewhat unusual, this little gal came complete with key that someone had thoughtfully tied to the cab.  It works fine despite its age.

Here she is pulling her HWN coaches out of the yard and onto the main.

"And Away She goes!"  moving her train up the main line.

Best wishes to all

Don

@RSJB18 posted:

DAAA....DUUUMMMM......

😎😎😎

OMG… They are real

With apologies to Sheriff Brody… this is going to need it’s own, bigger thread

B&O F3 by K-line

In this short video, you can see the bullet nose of the awesome Dreyfus Hudson:

In this short video, see my favorite front end:

My black and white beauty: the Boston & Albany Hudson.

3/10/23 FEF  Here's a couple classics for this Friday.  The NKP 765 Berkshire and the PRR K4 Pacific.  Have a great day...

A Lionel NYC Hudson ready for a day's work.

DAAA....DUUUMMMM......

DAAA....DUUUMMMM......

DAAA....DUUUMMMM......

Front end of an R40 F local coming into Queens Plaza on this Friday Morning. Happy FeF!  -

PreWar Lionel 2-6-2 from 38-42 With diecast tender, Has PW Trucks on tender from past owner. Have a good weekend! God Speed!

Morning guys, I hope to get a photo for you guys later today, but I have to say you are all bringing special shots of some nice engines!

I want to that Bob and Paul for being able to play nice together! LOL

I also want to tell Don, I hope your wife gets well soon and back home!

I will check in later with something for FEF! I hope you all have a great day!