Coffee Shop XXXV-12/3/2012


Wish mine was in dog years, I'd be a lot younger. Happy birthday to you, you're only a young fella.
 
railfan said:
Today is my birthday......I am 57 today........that's in people years......not dog years......ha ha! :)


Mike
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Happy Birthday!!:)


Good Morning

Everything is dull dull dull and cold out there right now..only 34F going to our 'high' of 28F later on...

Got a few things need doing around here...such as touching up a couple of small vintage decs we have...and getting a few groceries ...again...:rolleyes::confused:
 
railfan said:
Today is my birthday......I am 57 today........that's in people years......not dog years......ha ha! :)


Mike
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Happy Birthday Mike :).

Good Morning Everyone.

It was 54F this morning. The temperature is supposed to drop into the 40s as the day progresses.

Public Works is outside, they are removing the broken limbs and debris stacked up curbside from Super storm Sandy. Five weeks later, and they still have much to do.
 
Happy birthday Mike. You're five years ahead of me. Why do I feel older?


WJLI26 said:
Public Works is outside, they are removing the broken limbs and debris stacked up curbside from Super storm Sandy. Five weeks later, and they still have much to do.
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Give them time. They'll get it done. It took over six months to clean up here after Rita.
 
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Good morning. It's 58° with 100% humidity. It'll be cloudy with a chance of rain. The high will be 68°.
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I hadn't run a train for quite a while so last night I took a minute to give the rails a quick wipe with a dry cloth then started up a thirty unit freight headed up by my three F unit Frankenlocos and saw immediately that the second loco, the heavy puller was being dragged. A quick examination revealed that the right pickup wire on both trucks was broken. Despite the fact that the trucks were made by different manufacturers (Athearn and Life-Like Proto) the fix was made easily and quickly. It looked as if the wires had shrunk! Is that even possible? Within five minutes the three locos were hauling that heavy train like it didn't exist. Maybe today I'll run the GP7's and GP9's.

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Ran the GP7's this morning. No problem with them. The GP35 I run with them however was a different story. It was having pickup problems. A quick examination revealed that the jumper wire from the front truck to the rear truck (left rail pickup) had broken loose from the rear truck. The right rail pickups on the trucks are connected through the frame so no wire there to give me problems. These are Proto 1000 trucks so very similar to Athearn. A fifteen second soldering job fixed the problem and I was able to put the loco back in service. Moving on to bigger things I started in on an ex-UP Atlas FP7 that was in need of a decoder change. It already had an operational decoder in it (Bachmann) but it had no speed table control, therefore I couldn't speed match it. It's going to be used as a trailing unit (behind an F7) so it doesn't need a light. Just so happens I have this Digitrax DZ125 decoder with a burned out light function, so... I put that into the FP7, did the initial programming then speed matched it to run with my SP Daylight F7A that also has a Frankenstein claim. Would you expect anything less of a loco I own? Stewart AAR trucks. The F7 is a relative lightweight. The FP7 brings the pulling power to the party.

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blackz28 said:
nice loco jeffery , you keep on top of your motive depts preventitive maintaince program :D:D
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When you have very little you pretty much have to. There are few if any replacements. Many of my locos were made from scraps, bits and pieces I scrounged together from care packages, Ebay, donations and junk parts. One loco I built contains parts from eight manufacturers and some parts I made myself.
 
Trussrod said:
Karl I though I ask if you or others have had the same problem with a Rivarossi Dockside, I know yours is different, but mine seems to want to run fine and then it seems like if wants to bind up and I'm not quite sure where the problem lies?

If you or anyone else has had similar problems it would bed good to hear what was done or what the problem was determined to be?
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David. I've got a lifelike dockside ,,it runs fine, What may be going on is a clearance issue in the valve linkage that occasionally snags on itself. If it runs, then stops, but backs up a little and goes from there, that might be it. Careful inspection may reveal abrasions on the linkage where it been hitting.

Mike, happy birthday to you :D

:)
 
Unfettered said:
Your just a little over 5 years older than me...Happy Birthday old fart!!!!:p

Not much going on in Missouri today. I can't wait to start looking for a new house. The wife will finally join me over the weekend.
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Patrick, good to hear you've sold your house and things seem to be working out. Missouri (K.C.) is where I was born on my.....birthday. Small world!


Mike
 
Good news! My mother opened her eyes today. He can't talk but she apparently can understand. She can move a little but can't sit up.

Ran the GP9's today then ran the old Atlas GP40 and the two Atlas FP7's. The older FP7, a 70's era model, is one I remotored. I had to do some surgery on it to shoehorn in an Athearn motor. It's running great. The old GP40 (70's era Atlas with Bachmann body) sounds like an old man with chattering teeth but it runs well. Here's a short video of the three in action.

I have to take my father to the dentist tomorrow. That's five hours shot!

Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow sometime.

Nope! It's not a Bachmann! An Atlas in Bachmann clothing.
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Jeff: yes!! Good News for sure!!

Good Evening

I'm also in the process of rethinking the layout plans...yep...again... This time I think I am going to buy one of the plan books and see what I can conjure out of that....

It was a dull grey day here with little stips of sunlight...but a few snow streamers and wind set in, just to make one chilled....blech...:rolleyes:

Anyhow, have a good evening ....
 
Good evening all,

Jeffrey, I'm glad to hear your Mom is making improvement. Did she have a stroke, it somewhat sounds like it. Usually if it on the Left side of the brain it affects Speech but she can get that back hopefully.

Talk with you again,
 
railfan said:
Jeffrey, My laptop vibrates when all that heavy iron rumbles by. :eek::)

Mike
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You should feel what it does here! Both those FP7's are super weighted for maximum pulling power. The GP40 is it's factory weight (15.1 ounces). When the FP7's hit the rail joints you know it. The cars aren't light weights either. Each one is weighted to NMRA RP 20.1 recommended weight. The whole train weighs about fourteen pounds.
 
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Good morning. Still dark as sin here. It's 55° with 100% humidity and patchy fog. It'll be mostly cloudy and 70°. The wind will be changing to the south.
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Couldn't get a bit of sleep all night. The alarm is set for 6am and that's about a half hour away so I'm not even going to try now. Darn meds keep me wound up so tight sometimes I can't relax at all.

I have to take my father to the dentist this morning. Maybe I can get some rest in the waiting room. With my luck some woman will have to bring her whole brood of screaming brats with her. Oh well. It is what it is.

I have the F unit Frankenlocos running right now. The double headlight of the A unit looks good in the dark.

See y'all later.

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