Coffee Shop XXXIX-9/21/2013

[IronBeltKen]

Good morning. 50*F, wet and foggy here in central MD.

Friday's op session was a success. A friend of mine who was there for the first time since the rebuilding, said he had a great time and didn't see a single derailment the whole time he was there [luckily Karl kept quiet about his, LOL].

This friend I mentioned above is also an avid steel modeler like myself, and he says he has enough leftover kit material to greatly enhance my coke ovens and rotary dumper. I also have a walthers United Petroleum Refinery kit that I can kitbash into a coke by-products facility. So now I've decided to go ahead and re-install all of my packed-away steel mill structures. Not quite as easy as it sounds: The blast furnace is extremely complex and the only way I'll be able to figure out how to re-assemble it is to look at some old under-construction photos I snapped of the subassemblies during the build process (this isn't the Walthers kit, except for the cast house). Glad I got those photos!

Garry, I truly envy your being able to visit Birmingham and visit Carey and the gang. [Carey, try to work-in a trip to Rex's if possible!] I sure hope SWMBO and her sister stop feuding before next summer so I can start making trips down there again...

 

[kbkchooch]

A friend of mine who was there for the first time since the rebuilding, said he had a great time and didn't see a single derailment the whole time he was there [luckily Karl kept quiet about his, LOL].

Who me? Naah, I run right through them switches that are set against me??

I sure hope SWMBO and her sister stop feuding before next summer so I can start making trips down there again...

You can always hope, BUT..................... It took almost 30 years before my Mother and Uncle settled their differences after my Grandmothers death. But then again, they were 2 hardheaded Germans!

 

[gseritt]

Good afternoon!
Carey and gseritt ... It would be nice to have a get together when we are in AL possibly this Christmas. I'll let you know. I was thinking of model train shops in AL.

Sounds good to me!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well Oliver is finally out of the observation car but not without incident. There are several items he needs to pick up while he's there. One is a blue key, another is a green key. He uses the red key he found in the motel room to unlock a box in one of the obsv cars few rooms to find a blue key. He then has to find a locker and open it with the blue key so he can find a green key. He also needs to open another box to find a manual on how to operate a GP40 locomotive. A baseball bat could come in handy too. The 'incident' I referred to earlier was when he found the blue key the box it was in should have been empty the next time he looked at it. Instead he kept finding a blue key every time he looked in it. I looked at the command line for that sequence of events many times and couldn't find the problem. When he finds the blue key the blue key variable ,BK1 is supposed to be reset from BK1=1 to BK1=0. This was being done. The box should be empty after the key is found. I followed the command line execution and it went off flawlessly. The key was found and BK1=1 was reset to BK1=0. Then when the cursor returned to the 'WHAT NEXT:' prompt BK1=0 suddenly switched back to BK1=1. The key was in the box! WHAT!! It took more searching but I finally found a 'IF BK1=0 THEN LET BK1=1' buried in the command codes. I removed this and everything now works the way it's supposed to. Oliver finally got the green key from the blue locker and was able to unlock the door of the next car, the last coach in the train. He's in the coach now and is about the check out the first group of twenty-four seats (twelve to either side of the aisle). There are three more groups of seats in this car and plenty of places for people and items to hide.

 

[bnsf971]

Good evening. I made some further discoveries about the consisting issue with my Digitrax decoders on the NCE layout. It seems they will consist with no problem IF I reset cv5 and cv6 to 0. So, they will consist together after I remove the settings that allow them to be consisted together... Naturally, a couple of them tried to run away from the pack, and a couple others were way too slow. I tried loading speed tables, and got the same results as i had when CV5 and CV6 had a different setting from 0.
In other news, we are moving along with plans for our open house. Some of the modifications include spiking some turnouts in one position, and completely removing another pair of turnouts.
In other news, I took the Cub out yesterday and mowed the leaves in the yard, mulching them up for the winter. I then drove the tractor over to my brother's house, and proceeded to mow/mulch the leaves at his house. All went well until I discovered a tree stump buried under the leaves... Now I'll be replacing the broken belt and bent blade before next spring... And I can assure you I will remember where that stump is.
Lastly, it's raining and 60 here.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

All went well until I discovered a tree stump buried under the leaves... Now I'll be replacing the broken belt and bent blade before next spring

Hey, I found a concrete block that way once. Didn't break the belt but one of the mower blades took up a new career as a rototiller blade!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Our boy Oliver is in a pickle now. He's gotten in the first of the four Kings Port and western passenger coaches and can now search the overhead racks. So far I've programmed in one item for him to find. A large wrench. But he has to be on his toes as there's an ugly goon out to do him in. He'll be OK as long as he can defend himself.

Nothing much to report today. We got thunder and lightning this morning but not even enough rain to call a short shower. My nieces husband found a snake out front this morning. It was a harmless hognose snake but being a very much anti-snake type he naturally flipped out and killed it. They also discovered an underground hornet nest. To make it worse the hornets had neighbors. Yellow jackets! Both got treated to some of the very best gasoline available in this area and got a first class demonstration of how to burn out hornets and yellow jackets with themselves as the subjects of the demonstration.

That's all for today. See y'all tomorrow.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

It's Mon 11/18/13

G]

Temperature in TIPTON IN

Temperatures will range from 37 to 43 degrees with clear skies. Winds will range between 14 and 20 miles per hour from the west. No precipitation is expected..

 

[Boris]

Good morning!

The weather front that created so much havoc in the Mid-west, passed off the coast without notice this morning. The temperatures are still hanging around 58°.

I spent entirely too much time watching sports programing over the weekend. Nothing got done on the layout though. Maybe today?

have a great day.

Joe

 

[kbkchooch]

Happy Monday gang!!
Joe, I noticed the front last night! Leaves smacking the siding, the tarp over the firewood was whipping, and the yard that had NO leaves on it Friday afternoon is now covered again! But it is pleasant outside, so a straightening up of the garage and painting of a freight car will occur today. The rest of the week will be cooler, with Tuesday evening temps dropping down near freezing!
Tonight, the local auction house will be having their fall train auction. 80% O&G, 15% HO and 5% N. I like the box lots. For 5-20 bucks a box, I usually keep 1-2 items, then the rest goes to ebay. Usually I can at least double my money from there. Some of the nicer stuff can be had cheap (ex. NIB Genesis A&B F7 sets for 80 bucks with sound) or can go for almost retail. It all depends on the crowd.
L8ter gators!!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 62° with 68% humidity. The high will be 75° with a slight chance of some wet weather.

with a

I have no idea whatsoever about what I'll be doing today. I may work on the game a bit more, I may watch some movies. I just don't know.

 

[bnsf971]

Good afternoon. It's sunny and 72 here.
My DCC woes continue. Last night I placed a pair of locomotives that I had reset cv 5 and 6 on the track on my home layout, and one of the decoders went up in smoke. It was a Digitrax DN135PS. I looked at the locomotive, saw nothing wrong with it, but I did remove the motor before installing an NCE board replacement decoder. With the motor removed and isolated, the NCE decoder also went up in smoke. This one even caught fire.
Needless to say, I'll be checking everything possible with a meter before attempting install #3.
Maybe I should begin collecting stamps...

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

If you're wondering what kind of wrench Oliver has to find on the train here it is. It's for 2" and 2.5" nuts and bolts and is great for hitting things. My father uses it for arm exercise much as you'd use a dumbbell.

 

[Boris]

Good afternoon. It's sunny and 72 here.
My DCC woes continue. Last night I placed a pair of locomotives that I had reset cv 5 and 6 on the track on my home layout, and one of the decoders went up in smoke. It was a Digitrax DN135PS. I looked at the locomotive, saw nothing wrong with it, but I did remove the motor before installing an NCE board replacement decoder. With the motor removed and isolated, the NCE decoder also went up in smoke. This one even caught fire.
Needless to say, I'll be checking everything possible with a meter before attempting install #3.
Maybe I should begin collecting stamps...

Somethings really wrong there. Were these units on the club layout also? Does anyone collect stamps any more?

Joe

 

[Boris]

Happy Monday gang!!
Joe, I noticed the front last night! Leaves smacking the siding, the tarp over the firewood was whipping, and the yard that had NO leaves on it Friday afternoon is now covered again! But it is pleasant outside, so a straightening up of the garage and painting of a freight car will occur today. The rest of the week will be cooler, with Tuesday evening temps dropping down near freezing!
Tonight, the local auction house will be having their fall train auction. 80% O&G, 15% HO and 5% N. I like the box lots. For 5-20 bucks a box, I usually keep 1-2 items, then the rest goes to ebay. Usually I can at least double my money from there. Some of the nicer stuff can be had cheap (ex. NIB Genesis A&B F7 sets for 80 bucks with sound) or can go for almost retail. It all depends on the crowd.
L8ter gators!!

Have fun at the auction, Karl. There's more wind now than there was this morning. Clear and pleasant. A real nice day. Town just came by, with their leaf vac. Now, what do I do with the new leaf fall? I don't think they will be back again. I suppose I'll bag 'em and take them over to the recycle site. The mower has a mulch blade and bag so it's not going to be that bad. I'm going down to the train room soon as I'm done this cup of coffee. Maybe I'll get something done for a change.

Joe

 

[railfan]

Yeah Jeffrey, that's a pretty big wrench no doubt.

We had tornado sirens going last night......but the front blew past quickly without much drama besides alot of rain. Up northwest near Toledo there was some major tornado/wind damage to at least several homes.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I placed a pair of locomotives that I had reset cv 5 and 6 on the track on my home layout, and one of the decoders went up in smoke. It was a Digitrax DN135PS. I looked at the locomotive, saw nothing wrong with it, but I did remove the motor before installing an NCE board replacement decoder. With the motor removed and isolated, the NCE decoder also went up in smoke. This one even caught fire.

Something is definitely amiss there! The only time I had a decoder blow for seemingly no reason was when a DCC equipped P2K GP30 jumped a turnout.The locos Bachmann decoder went up like a smoke bomb. I put a new one in and all was fine. That was the only decoder I lost to a derailment like that. I was using an EZ-Command system then. If your loco has a short in it the DCC system should react to it. My Zephyr shuts down so fast it'll curl your eye lashes. When next you put a decoder in that loco I advise that the loco be checked very closely for anything that can cause a short. I'd go so far as to replace the motor to remove that possibility. Even after the decoder is in check it carefully with a meter before putting it on the program track. If anything is wrong you shouldn't be able to program it. If all goes right, no shorts show up, you can program it and it still blows you'll know it can't be because of the loco.

 

[bnsf971]

The loco was on the club layout and ran for an hour or so there. It ran for a few minutes at home, then everything ground to a halt with the DCC system screaming bloody murder and smoke pouring out of the locomotive.
A second decoder in the same engine suffered the same fate, with nothing but the electrical pickups and motor leads attached. Indications point to a short in the motor. If so, it is the second Athearn motor in 41 years of model railroading that has done this. If this one follows the other one's symptoms, I should be able to put the dummy plug back in the light board, and it will run fine. Putting in another decoder will cause a repeat of the decoder meltdown.

In other news, the replacement decoder for the BLI T1 arrived today in the mail. That one failed at the club. Everything worked except the motor. I replaced the decoder, which was easy. Two screws and several plugs and the chore was done. I put it on the layout, and everything worked like it should--except the smoke unit would not shut off. I checked. The switch was set to "off". I decided to give BLI a call about that tomorrow, and backed the engine up to couple to a train. It moved less than two feet, and the new decoder went *poof*.
Sigh...

http://stamps.org/A-Hobby-for-Everyone

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

http://stamps.org/A-Hobby-for-Everyone

I don't collect stamps, but I do collect commemorative coins that I like. My father is the stamp collector in the family.

 

[bnsf971]

I don't collect stamps, but I do collect commemorative coins that I like. My father is the stamp collector in the family.

Here are a couple of photos that may interest you, then. It is a coin I purchased at the US Mint exhibit at Cape Kennedy in 1976 (yes, it was Cape Kennedy then, re-renamed back to Cape Canaveral a year or two later):