Coffee Shop XXXIX-9/21/2013

[railfan]

Hello People, Nice truck hitting the trestle bridge diorama.....Garry!

These three BNSF locomotives are all from Atlas......had them more than a year, The only Atlas units in my fleet...two are Dash 8-40B and other is an SD70MAC...they are older and paid not much any for them. They run very well although the SD70 is missing some copper pickup bars on one truck. When lashed together and pulling 58 cars, they make really remarkable and somewhat realistic growling noises that change and get louder depending on the speed. It's not due to need of lubrication or anything.....I think it's just their particular idiosyncrisies. Maybe I can capture the sound in a video?

 

[bnsf971]

Hello People, Nice truck hitting the trestle bridge diorama.....Garry!

These three BNSF locomotives are all from Atlas......had them more than a year, The only Atlas units in my fleet...two are Dash 8-40B and other is an SD70MAC...they are older and paid not much any for them. They run very well although the SD70 is missing some copper pickup bars on one truck. When lashed together and pulling 58 cars, they make really remarkable and somewhat realistic growling noises that change and get louder depending on the speed. It's not due to need of lubrication or anything.....I think it's just their particular idiosyncrisies. Maybe I can capture the sound in a video?

Umm, Atlas never made an SD70MAC, that was Kato. #9277 is an Atlas SD60M.

 

[kbkchooch]

Oh, another day, another 48 cents minus taxes
The youngin came over today. I didn't tell him about the new John Deere, I just asked him to get the Cub out of the shed so we could move some tree trimmings. Suddenly I'm hearing him squealing for joy and saying how he needs to drive it. I told him to ask SWMBO who promptly said NO! Silly boy!
We did manage to get the Ranger out of the weeds and into the garage for repair. Oh what a sight! After it became evident that even on blacktop, the Cub had the power to pull, just no traction. Since it is Hydrostatic, we set the throttle to 1/3, engaged the trans and he and I (arm brace and all) were pushing on the truck and it still didn't roll. Next step, jack up the truck and put a piece of 2x4 under each wheel. Finally it rolled out! 6 months in the yard it had sunk 3 inches!!
Now comes the fun part. 1st, tear down the steering column to repair the slipped rack behind the cylinder, then once it gets running fix the trans and/or transfer case. Then new valve cover gaskets, a tune up, then turn it over to son #2 for bodywork.
No trains today, maybe tomorrow during Nascar!

 

[GarryCBQ]

Terry .... Thanks for the comment..... That is quite a locomotive fleet you have.
Karl ,,,,, Sounds like you have a lot of projects going on.

Here's another whimsical photo. .... The billboard is very much like one that was visible from I-65 just south of Louisville for several years.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Karl and Jeff ..... It is fun to include whimsical scenes. .... The rivet counters elsewhere informed me they would just let the air out of the tires to move the truck. Can't please everybody.

That's what I would have done. If you can't raise the bridge then lower the river.

*

Got a couple more upper body workouts today. Went grocery shopping. So I got a workout going from the house to the garage. With the post commissary and PX shut down the stores in town were packed! We (my father, step mother and myself) couldn't find a suitable parking space right away so we circled the parking lot like a hungry vulture until one in the handicap zone came open. My father wasted no time getting to it and cut in ahead of a very healthy looking guy in a 4x4 with no handicap placard in sight. Then he went to find a cart for me. There was one sitting three spaces away and fully charged. How lucky can you get! So we all went in (Wal-Mart) and got our respective shopping done. I was the first done. Imagine that. Of course I only spent $44.25 on thirty-eight items, all paid for on my food stamp card and none requiring refrigeration. My father on the other hand, I think that man lives in the freezer section. We got back home and I got another workout going from the garage to the house. My arms already look like I bench press a cast iron V8 block. Shoulders and upper back don't look too bad either. If only the rest of me matched. Only train related activity was taking the GP50 apart and doing a general cleaning on it. When I get enough time I'll tear it down and do a thorough inspection of the motor and drive train. It's blue box so it'll be a snap.

 

[DairyStateDad]

And amazingly prototypical. There's a RR bridge in Kenosha that had 3 or 4 trucks scrape their tops because the drivers didn't pay attention to the clearance warning, all within a few months of each other.

Great modeling there!

From the DairyStatePhone

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

It's Sunday, October 6, 2013

Temperature in TIPTON IN

Temperatures will range from 55 to 58 degrees with cloudy skies. Winds will remain steady around 6 miles per hour from the southwest. Rain amounts of less than a tenth of an inch are expected.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. I have good news on the J front: The new, new, MTH J is still running flawlessly, after several hours' run-time.
I am still wondering, though, why MTH chose to factory weather this engine so heavily. It looks like it's been sitting outdoors in the rain for 5 years, instead of one of the N&W's crack passenger engines. It is a great factory weathering job, just over-done.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 59°F with 97% humidity. The high will be 78°F and will feel like 80°F.

in the morning becoming

Nothing planned for today. I may watch 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' later. If I feel like doing it I'll tear down the GP50 and do a proper power and drive train inspection on it. I'm tired today for some reason.

 

[railfan]

Umm, Atlas never made an SD70MAC, that was Kato. #9277 is an Atlas SD60M.

Thanks for noticing that Terry. It says Atlas on bottom of fuel tank so it must be an SD60M. I sometimes thought it looked a bit short for an SD70. It did not come with the case.

 

[railfan]

I just invented a new quad-switch-a-roo! Built from everyday items everyone has laying around in your junk drawer........as long as your junk drawer contains the precisely needed rare and unusual 30* degree crossover, two left and two right small radius turnouts......and bits of straight track. I have another 30* crossover with shorter legs.....might try that one to bring the two main lines closer together. One of my main interests and objectives in building a layout (when I'm able to motivate myself to get moving) is to create endlessly complex N scale track work and do it within the limits and scope of inexpensive and available atlas code 80 components.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I've built such things. Fun stuff that.

 

[Boris]

Good Morning, Happy Sunday!

It's overcast, foggy and mild this morning. We might get some rain in the next couple of days, I don't think its rained in the last two weeks or so. In any event, it's going to do something.

Since Hockey season opened, I've done little buy watch games on TV. Today, I might take a break from that, and actually work on the layout.

Have a great day!

Joe

 

[rzw0wr]

Hello all.
Drinking coffee and reading.
I tried a few layout designs for a yard yesterday and all of them grew so big they took up my entire layout.
I think I need to learn something about some stuff.

Ohhh well I will try again today.

Have a good one folks.
Dale

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Tore down the GP50 this morning to it's very last clip, disassembled the motor, checked all the gears. Other than needing a good cleaning and a lube change all I found wrong is the motor mounts (press-in rubber pads) have become brittle and are very loose. So a new set of plastic screw-in motor mounts is on the way and should be here on the 10th.

 

[railfan]

Hello all.
Drinking coffee and reading.
I tried a few layout designs for a yard yesterday and all of them grew so big they took up my entire layout.
I think I need to learn something about some stuff.

Ohhh well I will try again today.

Have a good one folks.
Dale

That sounds like my favorite kind of layout when it's not much more then a busy switch yard...........where the trains reign and pedestrians are nervous!

 

[Dr. John]

Rainy afternoon, courtesy of remnant of the non-hurricane that's bouncing along the Gulf Coast. Cold front will bring us some fall-like temperatures this week.

 

[rzw0wr]

railfan, If it was up to me my layout would be one big switch yard.
However I have a 12 year old grandson that will be wanting a mainline.

I have a 10 x 14 area in my garage to try to fit this into.

Track design is sooooooooooooooo hard..... I need more coffee.

Dale

 

[tootnkumin]

Hello all.
Drinking coffee and reading.
I tried a few layout designs for a yard yesterday and all of them grew so big they took up my entire layout.
I think I need to learn something about some stuff.

Ohhh well I will try again today.

Have a good one folks.
Dale

There was one like that in MR a few years ago, occupied the walls around a large room (or basement). Backdrops were all the backs of buildings, trains came and went, cars got switched and reclassified, loads of just RR action.

 

[Cjcrescent]

Here's another whimsical photo. .... The billboard is very much like one that was visible from I-65 just south of Louisville for several years.

Garry, I very much remember those billboards! When we'd go to Louisville to the old GATS that used to be held there, we always knew we'd be getting close when those signs started appearing north of Bowling Green.

I still miss going up there.