Running Bear's Coffee Shop XLIX


Yes, from China. I avoid buying anything from China if I can, but sometimes you can't. Both of the light sets shown above were separate orders and they arrived withing 10 to 12 days. Suprised me totally.
 
montanan said:
Yes, from China. I avoid buying anything from China if I can, but sometimes you can't. Both of the light sets shown above were separate orders and they arrived withing 10 to 12 days. Suprised me totally.
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I guess since Paypal is going to process my card, I'll give these a try.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-HO-S...769?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d34c305d1
I hate waiting that long for a delivery though.
I have no reason to think you would turn me onto something you wouldn't do yourself so I'll give it a go.
E.
 
I wouldn't purposely turn anyone onto something if I thought it was bad. Both orders arrived in a reasonable time and they worked. The wires for hook up are a bit fine I will admit. I think LASM also go some lights similar to the street lamps for his layout.

I don't buy a lot from ebay because I have seen so many items bid up to prices way above retail, but they do have their buyer protection plan. I did a lot of looking and like you probably found out, sometimes some things are hard to find. I plan on using the ones on the left of my picture in the yard area.
 
saronaterry said:
Afternoon, all. 44f with sun and wind.
Planted more trees this morning and repaired a fence. On the layout! LOL!
Mil113: here's a shot of the shell. first attempt at weathering years ago. Free if you (or anyone else) wants it:

004_zpsdjyn0olk.jpg


Terry in NW Wisconsin
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Oh bugger, it got dynamic brakes! :( Thanks for the kind offer though Terry....nice weathering though!
 
1997

1998

 
Big E--I purchased some of those china street lights like Chet (montanan) has and they all worked without a hitch.

He is right about how fine the wires are and I found the easiest thing to do was use a match to burn off some of the insulated covering so I had a longer area to work with. It worked well and did not damage the wire or lamp. I think I read someone else doing the same thing. I tried stripping with a knife but that was a disaster.
 
Good afternoon model railroaders!

Busy day for me in-between naps :)

Now I have to get ready to go to a little league coaches meeting, I don't like this part of little league. Some coaches think this is MLB, they are kids. Fun, fundamentals and sportsmanship, that's all folks!

Have a good night everybody!
 
logandsawman said:
Big E--I purchased some of those china street lights like Chet (montanan) has and they all worked without a hitch.

He is right about how fine the wires are and I found the easiest thing to do was use a match to burn off some of the insulated covering so I had a longer area to work with. It worked well and did not damage the wire or lamp. I think I read someone else doing the same thing. I tried stripping with a knife but that was a disaster.
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Thanks for the heads up on the thin wires guys!!
So how will I hook them up?
I mean what exactly do I hook them up to?
I really don't remember ever hooking up any railroad lighting in my past life.
E
 
BigE - Eric, hook the lights up in a parallel circuit. I use a terminal strip. This way I can use one switch to control all lighting, but have separate circuits for interior lighting and another for street lights. Run 2 leads, one positive and another negative and attach the street lights to these leads.

Bow to my freight cars. As I mentioned, I started assembling them over 20 years from Athearn kits. At the time, they were among the better kits, and I could get them undecorated. I got a bunch of them. I did a bunch for my Logan Valley, Box cars, feerers, hoppers and flats. I also did a number for my friends railroad, the Gallatin Canyon & Western. He unfortunately passed away years back, but I like the am use them all the time. Here's a box car.

freight cars 001.jpg

I also did a number of them using dey transfers for railroads that interested me, but unfortunately, none were east coast railroads.

freight cars 002.jpg I sort of screwed up with this GTW cars herald, but with a little paint and weathering, it came out fine. The next two are also some of the ones that I did using dry transfers.

freight cars 003.jpgfreight cars 004.jpg

These are all over 20 years old and all have metal wheels and Kadee couplers of course, some with sprung Kadee trucks.
I can't post any more pictures in this post, so I'll go to my new cars in the next post.
 
I had picked up one Kadee box car years ago when they first came out and was impressed with the detail. Last year while visiting some model railroad friends, we went to a swap meet. Don't have them up here in Montana as there are few modelers. I picked up this Soo Line hopper for $20. Love the detail. Recently I have been able to find some on Amazon at very reasonable prices so there goes my statement about having enough. The New York Central was my first for an east coast railroad.

freight cars 006.jpg

freight cars 007.jpg Then the CNW car.

freight cars 008.jpgfreight cars 009.jpg Then the Vermont Railway car.

Now a B&O wagon top is on the way. Thanks Louis ;)
 
Roger that on the parallel hook ups. I get that.
But what do I hook that all up to? The old DC accessory poles? The regular DCC hookup (I doubt).
Yes, I'll put in a switch to turn them off and on - already thought of that and will have to get another terminal strip as expected.
E
 
I use the variable DC for the track. I prefer to lower the voltage to between 7 to 9 volts. The bulbs will be bright enough and the bulbs will hopefully last longer by not running at full voltage.

MRL Dave lives close by and he dropped off a couple of MRC powerpacks that I will use for my last town.
 
montanan said:
... There are a lot of railroads that I don't have represented for the east coast or southern railroads for that period. Can't get them all, but as soon as I figure out how many more I can handle, I'll probably selectively add some more.
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One East coast road you should definitely have represented - if you don't already - is the Pennsy (PRR). They had the largest-ever fleet of freight cars in North America, IIRC.
 
I do have one gondola so far. Working on it. Pretty soon Garry will be whining because there ore none from the CB&Q.
 
montanan said:
I do have one gondola so far. Working on it. Pretty soon Garry will be whining because there ore none from the CB&Q.
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Burlington did haul ore trains from Great Northern connection in St Paul to the steel mill in Granite City, IL. ... So GN is a good choice. My railroad, however, is a fictional division of CB&Q allowing me to exercise Model Railroader License. So I have GN, NP, CNW, Soo, and SP ore cars. Majority are GN. Most are weathered, and it is hard to see which railroad.
 
montanan said:
I use the variable DC for the track. I prefer to lower the voltage to between 7 to 9 volts. The bulbs will be bright enough and the bulbs will hopefully last longer by not running at full voltage.

MRL Dave lives close by and he dropped off a couple of MRC powerpacks that I will use for my last town.
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So are you saying to hook them to the DC on the DC power pack with voltage turned down?
If so, that's fine. I'm not using the DC cab for anything except to run the turnouts anyhow.
My buddy sent me a MRC PowerCab 1500 to get me running before I jumped into the DCC world.
I believe the ones I ordered are LEDs so they probably won't like AC.
E.
 
After a nice warm shower I think I'll go for a long pull of cars on a consist since it seems like everything is running much smoother.
Of course this is really fun! Without picking up an engine or cars I'll make it like a real ops session. (I try to do that anyway because it's just dam fun!!!) Of course I'm the only one here to enjoy it but that's OK.
This will be a fun test (hopefully fun) of all all my efforts of swapping out couplers and wheel sets goes along with Carey's help last weekend.

If all goes well enough I'll make a video and post it.
Wish me luck.
E.
 
BigE said:
Since I'm on the subject of lights, it's been forever since I've done any lighting. What would I wire them to? The accessory terminals on the DC cab that I use to power my turnouts?
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Say Eric, you might want to take a look at, Woodland Scenics, 'Just Plug', lighting seystem, it's very simple to use and offer some unique advantages.
Just Plug™ Lighting System

No electrical knowledge or special tools needed...just plug and you're done! The Just Plug™ Lighting System is a quick and easy way to add realism and interest to new and existing layouts and other projects. Individual bulb brightness can be controlled, and the modular design allows for easy expansion. Just Plug is compatible with DCC and works for any scale. For more information, view the Just Plug video.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/JustPlugLightingSystem
 
Trussrod said:
Say Eric, you might want to take a look at, Woodland Scenics, 'Just Plug', lighting seystem, it's very simple to use and offer some unique advantages.
Just Plug™ Lighting System

No electrical knowledge or special tools needed...just plug and you're done! The Just Plug™ Lighting System is a quick and easy way to add realism and interest to new and existing layouts and other projects. Individual bulb brightness can be controlled, and the modular design allows for easy expansion. Just Plug is compatible with DCC and works for any scale. For more information, view the Just Plug video.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/JustPlugLightingSystem
Click to expand...

Yeah, I found their stuff earlier. Seemed kind of limited to me.
 
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