Coffee Shop XXXV-12/3/2012


Did some wiring work on the layout today. Back when I rewired the blocks for DCC I ran feeders to all the blocks but one that was on the back side of the extension. Instead I had soldered the end joints of that blocks at either end of it. That worked great for quite a while but I guess the solder joints on the inside rail weren't as good as I thought. For a while it's been randomly cutting out. Pressing down on the area next to the track would restore contact for a couple of weeks or a month or two. It progressively got worse. The last week or so I've been feeding power to the inside rail of that back from the corresponding rail on a service track near it by attaching a clip lead to the inside rail of a spur on the troublesome section and put the other end of the lead on the rail on the good service track. That worked OK for the short term but it looked downright tacky. Today I drilled a hole next to the troublesome section and ran a feeder to it from the buss as I should have done in the first place.

Well, that's it for today I guess. See y'all tomorrow, the first Saturday of the new year.

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Good Morning!

30F at daybreak. Early start to our day, as we drove our son to Newark Airport for a 6:30 AM Flight.

Noticed that the new Freedom Tower, in lower Manhattan is lit up brightly at night. This is the replacement building for the World Trade Center.

Need a nap before continuing my day.

Joe
 
good morning crew . its 65* going up to 82* partly sunny, ;) gonna check out the scalerails club again today :D
 
Good morning. It's 40° with 100% humidity. It'll be cloudy with a chance of rain. The high will be 48°.
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It's cool and wet outside this morning and warm and toasty in here. There's a long slow rain falling, no thunder to speak of. Just the sound of raindrops on the over-roof.

After my sign-off last night I got to work on a couple of locos. The end loco on the F unit Frankenloco trio started cutting out and was getting dragged. It has an old DZ125 decoder with short wires meaning it has additional wires added to extend those. That means multiple solder joints to check out. I found one that hadn't been soldered. The one the goes to the bottom of the motor. It was a simple job to clear any corrosion from the connection and solder it. That put it back in service. The other loco I worked on is another F unit, an F7A. A Bowser/Stewart body on an Athearn frame, Athearn trucks, Proto 2000 motor, blue box/hex drive hybrid drive shafts that I made for it and a custom made center weight that I made myself, not as heavy as an Athearn super weight but it gets the job done. I finished up around 3am. As a consequence I'm not feeling so great this morning.

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good morning crew . its 65* going up to 82* partly sunny, ;) gonna check out the scalerails club again today :D
I used to live 5 blocks from that club. I hope they have their act together more now than they did then.
 
I used to live 5 blocks from that club. I hope they have their act together more now than they did then.
lol bnsf971 i went today its a nice layout the guys seem nice althou my self & a 21 year old guy seem to be the only ones there that arent greyhairs:p
i think they need to push getting more youth involved but i hope it doesnt end up like alot of clubs .... politics rule the way things are done.
overall it gives me a place to run my stuff :D
 
Been working on one of the Frankenlocos in the F unit trio to make some adjustments on the drive. The shafts have always been a little long and that would cause it to bind in the turns a little bit. Not enough to slow it down but enough to make a bit of noise. So today I cracked it open and just for giggles uploaded a photo of the drive. That's below. Don't burn out your brain trying to figure out where all the parts came from. There's stuff an Athearn enthusiast will recognize and stuff a Proto 1000/2000 enthusiast will recognize with some other recognizable brand items that have no business being connected to either one of those and some items that would have you scratching your head.

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lol bnsf971 i went today its a nice layout the guys seem nice althou my self & a 21 year old guy seem to be the only ones there that arent greyhairs:p
i think they need to push getting more youth involved but i hope it doesnt end up like alot of clubs .... politics rule the way things are done.
overall it gives me a place to run my stuff :D

Do they run any public open days, or do any shows? A couple of the best ways to attract new and younger members.
 
Do they run any public open days, or do any shows? A couple of the best ways to attract new and younger members.
They have a show and open house the weekend after Thanksgiving.


As for the greyhair thing, the club I joined here is definitely for retirees. Their meetings are Tuesdays at 5:30 PM. I work until 5:30. By the time I drive home (45 minutes), take a shower and change clothes (30 minutes), grab a sandwich to eat on the way, and drive to the clubhouse (another 15 minutes), it is 7 PM, and usually everybody has gone home. And they complain I never attend any of their meetings. But I do get to go run trains some Sundays with some others that work during the week.
 
The Answer to that complaint. Turn up all sweaty and dirty, they'll soon appreciate your lack of attendance:eek:. I can't get to my club either for home reasons, even though I would like to be more involved, so I am limited to much the same as you.
 
I'm really feeling my age tonight! Drove to and from Harrisburg, PA, to visit my sister who's in the hospital there. 90-minute drive in each direction. 30 minutes after I got home, I needed to make another round trip of over 2 hours to Blue Ridge Summit to pickup some loco shells that I had sandblasted. Now all the muscles in my abdomen and lower back are hurting, and I don't have the energy to do much of anything...mrr or otherwise. Just waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in...
 
well they are open tues during the day & thursdays nov to jan & every sat , so yea they are open but if you have regular job then sat is the only real time you will get . bsnf971 when did live down by the club??
 
I'm really feeling my age tonight! Drove to and from Harrisburg, PA, to visit my sister who's in the hospital there. 90-minute drive in each direction. 30 minutes after I got home, I needed to make another round trip of over 2 hours to Blue Ridge Summit to pickup some loco shells that I had sandblasted. Now all the muscles in my abdomen and lower back are hurting, and I don't have the energy to do much of anything...mrr or otherwise. Just waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in...

Yes, but now you have them!!!:D:D:D

I take it Sis has not improved?
 
We have parts of a team! We pulled them from the sled dog teams, curling teams and ice fisherman!;)

The good news is I've scheduled train time tomorrow! Don't know what I'll do but I'll think of something.:)
 
well they are open tues during the day & thursdays nov to jan & every sat , so yea they are open but if you have regular job then sat is the only real time you will get . bsnf971 when did live down by the club??

I lived in an apartment complex on Pondella Road for several years before I moved to a house in Cape Coral. My brother still lives in the complex, though he is moving here when he retires at the end of February. I used to work at the Firestone on Del Prado Blvd, near the bowling alley.
 



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