Coffee Shop XXXIX-9/21/2013

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Watched an old world war II movie today. 'Go For Broke', the story of the 442nd Infantry regiment. No train related work today. I'm at a standstill. Nothing to work on. My step mother and I had a great meal tonight. Beef Rice-a-Roni with stew meat, chopped onion and diced red bell pepper. Three hours later and I can still smell it throughout the house. Delicious!

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

A scarred veteran on it's way to keep an appointment with the scrappers torch.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Greetings from chilly MD [56*F]. Calm now, but it's gonna get ugly here over the next few days according to the dart-throwers at TWC.

Dale - might I suggest you put up a small temporary layout to keep you and your grandson occupied, until your Armstrong book arrives and you've had a chance to read it the whole way through. It'll show you a lot of mistakes to avoid that newcomers often make [don't ask me how I know LOL!].

. . .
Finally, I have DecoderPro working on my laptop! Using a Keyspan USB-Serial adapter made all the difference. Apparently, the Keystone is what some of us geeks would refer to as a 'smart' device - once you install the device drivers, you just plug it in by itself and the op system will recognize it and assign it a COM port#. It will stay in an 'idle' state until you power-on your command station, plug it into the other end of your keyspan and launch DecoderPro. Those cheaper adapters apparently need to have a powered-on device plugged in just to be recognized on earlier versions of Windows; and if you're stuck with Windows8 as I am,... forget it!

So take it from somebody who had to learn the hard way

- if you want to use JMRI software with a command station that has an old 9-pin serial interface, do yourself a favor and get a Keyspan adapter first!

 

[kbkchooch]

Greetings from chilly MD [56*F]. Calm now, but it's gonna get ugly here over the next few days according to the dart-throwers at TWC.

Ugly, what, is my Ex wife in town again??

Finally, I have DecoderPro working on my laptop! Using a Keyspan USB-Serial adapter made all the difference. Apparently, the Keystone is what some of us geeks would refer to as a 'smart' device - once you install the device drivers, you just plug it in by itself and the op system will recognize it and assign it a COM port#. It will stay in an 'idle' state until you power-on your command station, plug it into the other end of your keyspan and launch DecoderPro. Those cheaper adapters apparently need to have a powered-on device plugged in just to be recognized on earlier versions of Windows; and if you're stuck with Windows8 as I am,... forget it!
So take it from somebody who had to learn the hard way

- if you want to use JMRI software with a command station that has an old 9-pin serial interface, do yourself a favor and get a Keyspan adapter first!

Keyspan serial adapter,,,,,,smarter than your average Road Slug??? Didn't I tell you that was what was wrong? All that testing and swapping of pieces of yours and mine all pointed to one thing. You just keep laying and upgrading track, Keith and I will keep you running! BTW, got the steel mill switcher fixed yet?

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

It's Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Temperature in TIPTON IN

Temperatures will range from 64 to 68 degrees with clear skies. Winds will remain steady around 6 miles per hour from the east. No precipitation is expected.

 

[IronBeltKen]

BTW, got the steel mill switcher fixed yet?

Karl that thing is in pieces, it will need a new motor in order to run reliably - unless you can dissemble its existing motor and find whatever is loose inside of it. It also has a broken male universal coupling, one of the two 'fingers' broke off of it when I pried out the motor.

 

[Cjcrescent]

Karl that thing is in pieces, it will need a new motor in order to run reliably - unless you can dissemble its existing motor and find whatever is loose inside of it. It also has a broken male universal coupling, one of the two 'fingers' broke off of it when I pried out the motor.

Ken, if this is a sealed can motor, and something sounds loose in it, chances are one of the brushes broke into pieces and is rattling around on the inside. And you're right, the motor needs replacing. As to the broken universal, you've heard how quiet my locos are. I've replaced most of my universals with short pieces of neoprene or model airplane fuel tubing, and some small rods, (made by cutting nails to proper size). These are much cheaper than buying new universals.

 

[kbkchooch]

Ken, if this is a sealed can motor, and something sounds loose in it, chances are one of the brushes broke into pieces and is rattling around on the inside. And you're right, the motor needs replacing. As to the broken universal, you've heard how quiet my locos are. I've replaced most of my universals with short pieces of neoprene or model airplane fuel tubing, and some small rods, (made by cutting nails to proper size). These are much cheaper than buying new universals.

Yeah, what he sez!
I bought a package of tubing 5 years ago, 3 feet in length. I still have some!
Takes a while to go though 3 feet of tubing an inch or so at a time!

 

[Boris]

Good Morning!

Well, it's overcast with rain in the forecast for the rest of the week. Jersey weather is back to normal.

The Branchline Pullman, ran the complete layout once without incident, pulled by a SW1500, and Cabin car. Second trip, behind a P2K PA1, let's just say, it found more defects than a Sperry Car.......What was surprising, was where it found fault. On a tangent section of track at a level joint. The car is one of the "kit assembled in China" offerings, and the trucks seem somewhat inflexible. Other than that, I couldn't find anything wrong with the truck, or the track. But the truck kept climbing the outside rail.

Cross level appears OK and there is no vertical curve present either. Might try a comparison run with a Walthers HW with 6 wheel trucks later, to see if I get similar results.
I normally don't get derailments at this location.

Have a great day.

Joe

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I make drive shafts from anything that will do the job. Model kit sprue, sections of other manufacturers shafts, heat shrink tubing, ink pen tubes, etc.

*

Good morning. It's 53° with 100% humidity. The high will be 82° and will feel like 87°.

USPS tracking shows the motor mounts for the GP50 being in Shreveport. Maybe they'll arrive a day early? If not they'll be here tomorrow. No plans for today except to watch some more old movies. Perhaps 'Corregidor' (1943) Otto Kruger, Elissa Landi, Donald Woods, Frank Jenks and 'Ski Troop Attack' (1960) Micheal Forest, Frank Wolff, Richard Sinatra, Wally Campo.

 

[bnsf971]

Yeah, what he sez!
I bought a package of tubing 5 years ago, 3 feet in length. I still have some!
Takes a while to go though 3 feet of tubing an inch or so at a time!

Using the same tubing an eighth inch at a time is great for keeping drawbars where they belong on HO steam engines. Simply install the drawbar, and slide the tubing over the pin.

 

[rzw0wr]

Afternoon all.
Well I have made a few decisions today.
Time to get moving before I too old to build anything.
I am taking down the bench work I had from an Atlas plan book.
This bench work has never had a track on it.

All in all it is just too much of a layout for a beginner. Way to confusing for me.

I will start out with a very simple plan and build it up as I go and learn more.
I need to learn about DCC and train operation some more anyway.

Have a great day,
Dale

 

[DairyStateDad]

I will start out with a very simple plan and build it up as I go and learn more.
I need to learn about DCC and train operation some more anyway.

Have a great day,
Dale

You have a great day, too, Dale -- Glad you're here and getting into this...

A few weeks ago I mumbled over in the corner about this very issue... allow me to draw your attention to it now...
http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?32585-Why-is-it-so-hard-to-remember-less-is-more&p=319867

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Got the Athearn screw in motor mounts a full day early. The GP50 got the first pair. The mounts in it were so deteriorated the motor was falling out of it. Now it's seated good and tight. The remaining pair went to one of the F3's that had a torn mounting lug. That motor won't rattle.

 

[blackz28]

ok so last night, i was on this forum checking out the new threads & i see this thread

http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?32704-Help-s-o-s

so im looking at it thinking SD-26CHRIS is that my son , hummm i start reading it then i realize it was lol , then again i should have known by the maximum overdrive avatar lol .I forgot he was registered on here & you think he would hit me up , but then again teenagers never make sense . Hes the one that got me into HO MTH now as you have read on his other threads , he hates them .got to admit im glad hes a trainfreak, he could be doing alot worse i suppose .

 

[logandsawman]

Second trip, behind a P2K PA1, let's just say, it found more defects than a Sperry Car.......What was surprising, was where it found fault. On a tangent section of track at a level joint. The car is one of the "kit assembled in China" offerings, and the trucks seem somewhat inflexible. Other than that, I couldn't find anything wrong with the truck, or the track. But the truck kept climbing the outside rail.

I normally don't get derailments at this location.

Joe,

That is the gremlin. He usually comes out when everything has been going fine for a while. I have seen him disappear by doing nothing for a couple days.


(Sounds like a political strategy.)



If refreshments are in order, this keg of beer may be the best remedy.




lasm

 

[kbkchooch]

SD-26CHRIS is that my son , hummm i start reading it then i realize it was lol , then again i should have known by the maximum overdrive avatar lol .I forgot he was registered on here & you think he would hit me up , but then again teenagers never make sense ..

Wut? Ask a parent? Whoa, I'm not that desperate!!! LOL!!

 

[logandsawman]

Anybody ever get the feeling that there should be more than one coffee shop?



lasm

 

[mnbaty]

Hi all,
I just downloaded google chrome. It is about 5 times faster than internet explorer. I knew I should have listened to you guys a long time ago!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Anybody ever get the feeling that there should be more than one coffee shop?



lasm

Why? I like it the way it is.

Hi all,
I just downloaded google chrome. It is about 5 times faster than internet explorer. I knew I should have listened to you guys a long time ago!

Firefox is no slouch either.

 

[Boris]

Joe,

That is the gremlin. He usually comes out when everything has been going fine for a while. I have seen him disappear by doing nothing for a couple days.


(Sounds like a political strategy.)



If refreshments are in order, this keg of beer may be the best remedy.

View attachment 39630


lasm

Second test train, Walthers B&O E7 + Walthers HW Sleeper + Walthers HW Coach - unmodified. Made it over all the bad spots, didn't derail until the frog on a Shinohara curved #6½ on 24" radius reverse loop. (This was expected as Walthers HW cars with 6 wheel trucks really don't like 24" radius curves, no matter what the box says.)
So...it's either the Branchline car or the Gremlins.