Recent content by JeffH

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  1. JeffH

    Ohio Valley - somewhere between Weirton and Wheeling

    Thanks! Nothing new with the layout, but I've been busy outside. We have a swampy area that is currently infested with silver maple. I have about 2/3 of the silver maple eradicated, and planted 25 Sweetbay Magnolia trees which like wet areas. They are also much smaller than the common...
  2. JeffH

    Ohio Valley - somewhere between Weirton and Wheeling

    Thanks!!! I haven't done much other than fill in fields and meadows with shrubs and weeds. The river was the most difficult I have a lot of ballasting to do. But I prefer to run trains instead.😎
  3. JeffH

    Dave's Layout v. 4.0

    That's great!!! Sorry I have been away for a while, and now that colder weather has started, I'm back in the basement, having fun with my layout. Congrats on the new job! I'm about to do the opposite... I'm in discussions with a company that would be an hour commute each way. And the...
  4. JeffH

    Kudos to Atlas

    He's the best!!! BTW, I sold my Marlin model 39 when I was 19 years old and thought I needed a bigger hunting rifle. Man, I wish I still had that rifle. It was my go-to for hiking through the woods as a youngster.
  5. JeffH

    Kato Unitrack Routing

    Yes, Scott. It could very well be that Kato turnouts already come with insulated uni-joiners on those frog rails from the factory. As I mentioned, the Kato stuff just seems to work right out of the box. A short on a passing siding can occur when both the entry and the exit turnouts are not...
  6. JeffH

    Kudos to Atlas

    Was the guy who called you named Wilson? They have a couple really good customer service people. When I had a problem with one of their locomotives, Wilson helped me out tremendously. He went way above and beyond what I was hoping for.
  7. JeffH

    Kato Unitrack Routing

    I don't have much experience with Kato. From what I've seen, their products just always seem to work the way you want them to.
  8. JeffH

    Dave's Layout v. 4.0

    I'm in the opposite camp, lol. I started with N scale, just because i had a few locos, some rolling stock and a lot of track. Hindsight is always 20/20. Turns out I ended up selling off all my old stuff anyway. I'm not disappointed with N scale, but there are a lot more products out...
  9. JeffH

    Kato Unitrack Routing

    All I know is that I bought a bunch of N scale Peco "Insulfrog" turnouts to use on my layout. They were power routing, and in order to avoid shorts, I had to gap the joints on the frog rails, and provide drops to those insulated rails. So... having an insulated frog on power routing turnouts...
  10. JeffH

    Kato Unitrack Routing

    In a DCC layout, it is good practice to insulate the 2 frog rails, and run power drops to all 3 sides of a turnout.
  11. JeffH

    Show us your pets!

    Our Mini Aussie knows no strangers. We're lucky he has never been skunked yet. He wants to play with everything, including animals that would otherwise like to eat him, lol. Here he is with a chance encounter with either e Red Tailed Hawk or a Red Shouldered Hawk. We have both living nearby.
  12. JeffH

    Running Bear's August 2023 Coffee Shop

    Back in 1984, I participated in a volleyball marathon that lasted 84 hours. We got in the Guiness Book of World Records, having shattered the former record by something like 6 hours or more. It lasted a year until the next book came out, lol. We could rest 5 minutes per hour. Our longest...
  13. JeffH

    Running Bear's August 2023 Coffee Shop

    Edit to add: Is your phone trying to use your work wifi to place the call? Some phones have that ability. Perhaps yours is configured that way... to try wifi calling first? If that's the case, they may have a firewall that prevents people from hacking into their wifi just to place calls...
  14. JeffH

    Track/layout planners ...?

    I used Anyrail. I had to start with all sectional pieces to get the feel for the program until I figured out how to shape flex pieces. None of the software options are very user friendly. They do have a bit of a learning curve. I watched several YouTube videos 5o help get a start.
  15. JeffH

    Track/layout planners ...?

    If around-the-room style layout is not possible, then the next best is a floating island that you can walk around. With a room 10 feet wide, I would consider a 5-foot wide table, with a 3-foot aisle on the main side, and a 2-foot aisle on the back side. (Check fire codes, if necessary, if...
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