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  1. DakotaLove39

    Mail Call! Railway Post Office, commonly abbreviated as RPO has rolled in!

    Long time, no see. My friends are bad influences and one of them sold me a BLI Northern Pacific A3, 4-8-4. I played with the idea of building a passenger train for it but only recently have I started trying to collect one. I have a couple cars already, but of note are these two Atlas 10-1-1...
  2. DakotaLove39

    Have Proto 2000 questions

    Arrow pointing at the "dummy" or DC jumper plug protecting the socket. This loco was made when DCC was just gaining real popularity and so model manufacturers weren't used to making these ports easy to access.
  3. DakotaLove39

    Time for me to show off!

    We had a hard shutdown of our layout due to expansion construction over the summer. Usually we are just closed to visitors but still open to members during the summertime. Also I haven't posted for a while. I've been collecting more passenger and express cars to start running a Fast Mail...
  4. DakotaLove39

    Never seen this before

    Given that the spine is distended and the paint or surface appears to be cracking, it looks like you've got zinc rot or zinc pest. The alloy process for that metal part didn't quite go to plan and now the minerals within are doing their own thing. Time to get a replacement part.
  5. DakotaLove39

    Time for me to show off!

    Long and busy summer! Between the warm weather and the Hennepin Overland layout being shut down, I didn't touch trains at all. I got a pair of brass Boxcab models. Fun stuff! These are a Nickel Plate run from 1975. The motors are unhappy and the drive gear is bone dry, so this will be an...
  6. DakotaLove39

    .

    Video of my WIP 1970's pig train. This is a bit dated now as I've gotten a few more nice trailers. Also doing a custom Hennepin Overland flatcar for this train, because why not.
  7. DakotaLove39

    Mail Call! Railway Post Office, commonly abbreviated as RPO has rolled in!

    Check a HUGE box off my "want list". I scored this pair of Nickel Plate brass MILW Boxcab electrics off BrassTrains for $450. Normally I only find these at stupidly high prices. They need work, and that's fine. I think I'm up to the task.
  8. DakotaLove39

    Hennepin Overland Railway Historical Society

    Oh man, so much has happened since my last post. This weekend is the NMRA Thousand Lakes Region convention in Minneapolis, and the Hennepin Overland is on the list of layouts to see Friday, the 19th. Stop by and check us out! I'll be there. Look for the giant guy wearing a Milwaukee Road shirt.
  9. DakotaLove39

    Running Bear's May 2023 Coffee Shop.

    Hey you all around Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc. This weekend is the NMRA Thousand Lakes Region convention in Minneapolis, and my club is on the list of available layouts to see on Friday, the 19th. Anyone attending and planning to stop by the Hennepin Overland RHS?
  10. DakotaLove39

    Time for me to show off!

    Headlights and amber beacon only, no other lighting from the factory.
  11. DakotaLove39

    Who knew

    Uh.. huh.. but everyone else's wooden poles were somehow termite proof? I'm not sure I buy that explanation. What about the regular phone line poles right next to em? What I do buy into is the explanation I read, which the locos were worn out or wearing out and there were no good replacements...
  12. DakotaLove39

    Who knew

    Kind of related, one of my favorite arguments to see in the modern day is "High speed passenger rail won't work." Yeah, It's going to cost a lot, but it was a thing we USED TO HAVE. We HAD IT! The Hiawatha was doing 90mph+ between Chicago and the Twin Cities on a daily basis, times two! Then...
  13. DakotaLove39

    Time for me to show off!

    Speaking of MTH HO Little Joes.. E20, the 'cigar band' scheme one, suffered a derailment and subsequently a significant short on a switch last month, which was strong enough to de-solder two power pickup wires from the trucks, and two other wires within the DCS guts. I absolutely can't stand...
  14. DakotaLove39

    Running Bear's March 2023 Coffee Shop

    Thank you, Boris. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to eastern US railroads.
  15. DakotaLove39

    Running Bear's March 2023 Coffee Shop

    Hey kids, dropping in to ask a question. I have this Seaboard heavyweight sleeper. I'd been wanting to sell it, until I started finding photos and video of PRR stuff running through the Rockies on Milwaukee passenger trains. I'm now tempted to use this Seaboard car as a run-thru sleeper. It's...
  16. DakotaLove39

    Time for me to show off!

    Got a new Little Joe! One of the last from MTH HO as we know it. Sadly it's just as much a lackluster performer as my older one. Between MTH and BLI, I can't get over the hilarity that these so called "premiere" model makers can't help themselves but overcomplicate the electronics. Atleast...
  17. DakotaLove39

    Time for me to show off!

    Thanks KB. That was something I really wanted to do at the North Metro club, but I was never able to implement it. They wanted the fixed cars returned to exactly where they had come from. At the Hennepin Overland, we have a much smaller layout which we're trying to squeeze every available bit of...
  18. DakotaLove39

    Time for me to show off!

    Runs very well. Nice and smooth.
  19. DakotaLove39

    Time for me to show off!

    Behind-the-Scenes video of my pet project at the H&O RHS this past year, Nokomis grain district! This thing had me absolutely enthralled and forced me to dive into actual research into the grain industry. I am happy to say the final result is a near-perfect example of "OPERATION", as in...
  20. DakotaLove39

    Time for me to show off!

    Some photo highlights from yesterday. NP #858, my Bowser RS3, also got a full LokSound & Scale Sound Systems install recently. The result is an RS3 model that sounds friggen awesome and draws a lot of attention. I've mostly used 858 as a switcher since the sound upgrade, so last night I...




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