Coffee Shop XXXVI-2/4/2013

[PNKFLOYD]

Ken- so sorry to hear about your sister.

I have a brother who is a genuine pain in the ARZZ, but he is my pain in the arzz. I would miss him if something happened.
I'm sure youur sister was not like this, but I know she is missed.

Pink Floyd had some pretty good tunes!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Pink Floyd had some pretty good tunes!

"Another Brick in The Wall" was a big hit when I was at Fort Leonardwood in '79. It was somewhat harsher than what I was used to hearing from Pink Floyd. I think that's why I liked it so much. If I remember right it was their only #1 hit. A few other groups I liked at the time were Kiss, Molly Hatchet, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent.

 

[railfan]

I have a few pink floyd CD's and am a big fan. More recently have begun to appreciate the greatness of irving berlin, george gershwin, rodgers and hammerstein, burt bacharach and others I had dismissed in my youth. Another huge favorite is chet atkins and jerry reed, and many of the old time country western artists. Thank goodness for youtube that we can re-live those amazing times!


Mike

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I finally received my Atlas FP7 in the mail today, eleven days after it was shipped. It's a 70's era model as I expected. Originally Santa Fe, somebody stripped it and very carefully sanded off all the molded on grabs then painted it primer gray. A diesel detail kit came with it. It's standard DC of course. I test ran it to see if the motor works. It works quite well but the gears were as dry as burnt toast and very loud! Add to that the pickups on the rear truck were loose and the pickup keepers had fallen off. I had my work cut out for me. I got all that sorted and it runs smooth and quiet now. That makes five FP7's I have now, four 70's era Atlas and one 80's era Con-Cor. Here's what $20 bought:

Now I gotta get me something to eat. My blood sugar is down to 67. When I get to working on stuff like this it's almost to the exclusion of all else!

 

[WCWBrassHat]

Ken, sorry to hear about the loss of your sister.

Glenn

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Had Fettuccine Alfredo for dinner tonight, something I don't have often. Well as I reported earlier I got my fifth FP7 today. That makes four Atlas and one Con-Cor. I don't much like the mostly plastic motor Con-Cor used. When it fails I'll slip in a PPW can motor. Enough about that. Back to the new arrival. It's a 70's era Atlas model. I had to put a bunch of work into it, little things mostly but they were time consuming. I did something new on the rear coupler. On all my FP7's a #5 or #148 would be too low. This time I calculated how much I'd have to shave off the rear of the shell to have #148 in a #242 draft gear box at the proper height then ground off that much. I also had to chop off about half the length of the box to clear the rear truck. I installed the coupler and box then checked it with my Kadee coupler height gauge. It's right on the mark. I know what I'll be doing to the other four FP7's. I also installed a DCC decoder. I hard wired in a 9-pin harness and plugged in an old Lenz decoder. It'll do for testing and a good run-in. Later I can pull out the Lenz and plug in a Digitrax DH123 when I have one to put in. That was my fun for today.

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

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning...

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

It's Wednesday, February 27, 2013.

TIPTON

 

[tootnkumin]

Looks very homely Bill, when're you movin' in. Expecting some pics of you relaxin' on the "stoop" with your cup o' coffee.

No need to say anythin', jest a wave to the camera.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 41° with 94% humidity. Mostly cloudy now clearing to partly cloudy later. The high will be 65°.

Today I'm working on the FP7's. The work is easy but a bit time consuming. I'm cutting factory coupler mount off the rear of the shell and removing a predetermined amount of plastic along with it. I'm then mounting a Kadee #242 draft gear box with a #148 coupler in that location. I've already done two this morning. That leaves two more yet to be done. Below are before and after photos from the same loco. The top one is before the conversion, the bottom one obviously is after.

The only tricky part is cutting the right amount off the Kadee coupler box so it clears the rear truck. A self tapping screw is then used to hold the box and coupler in place. And yes, I know Kadee calls for a #34 coupler for the rear of the Atlas/Roco FP7 but doesn't tell you how to get rid of the flop. I'm putting a center shank coupler at the proper height and doing away with the flop.

The only other plans for today are to clean up the layout a bit more.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Thank you everybody for the continuing condolences about Kris.

I've had time to reflect on it, and I've reached the conclusion that she probably wanted to leave this world anyway. She had major issues with depression and her docs couldn't seem to find any medicines that would alleviate it. Most encounters I had with her during family holiday gatherings during the past 5-6 years, she never seemed happy. She was on medical disability and, aside from her husband - a great guy who did everything he could to help her - she lived in total isolation. She told me she had contemplated suicide on a few occassions but didn't go through with it because she knew it would devastate her son & daughter.

Bottom line: I'll miss her, but I believe she has finally found the Peace she could never find in her earthly life.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I can understand her depression and unhappiness. I'm pretty much home-bound, unable to hold anything resembling real employment. I'm happy to get any chance to get out of the house for a while. Believe me, the four walls of a home a prison can make.

*

The coupler conversions on all the FP7's are done. The front and rear couplers (all center shank Kadee's) are spot-on with the Kadee coupler height gauge. Now I can relax for a while.

 

[Boris]

Bottom line: I'll miss her, but I believe she has finally found the Peace she could never find in her earthly life.

Ken:

That's all that really matters.

Joe

 

[Boris]

Good Evening:

Currently it's partly cloudy and 46° in Central Jersey. It was mostly cloudy until late afternoon.
Good report from the Doc. today, that and an afternoon nap made my day.

Going to watch Montreal play Toronto on the computer, while watching Washington play Philly on TV. Nothing like Hockey Rivalrys to get my blood moving.

Layout will have to work to tomorrow.

Joe

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

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

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning...

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

It's Thursday, February 28, 2013.

TIPTON

 

[tootnkumin]

And someone's gone'n parked there Raceabout on the platform, even in those days they couldn't be bothered walking a couple of extra paces to get to where they were going.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 39° with 65% humidity. It'll be sunny with a high of 58°.

The plan for today is to clean up the layout. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. I hope to get out later today when it's warmer. There's some light outdoor work that needs to be done and I need to do general preventive maintenance on my van.

 

[Boris]

Good Afternoon:

I'm running a bit behind today, just cannot get moving.

It's been 46° and overcast all morning. No need to check the UV index.

Since we decided to test the water and put our home on the market, I'm planning a downsized layout based on possiblel floor plans. I'm researching short lines such as the Heart of GA (HOG); Georgia Central; Nashville and Eastern: and the Caney Fork and Western as inspiration for the new layout's theme.

However, something tells me a new layout will somewhat resemble the Pennsy, like everything else I do.........

Have a nice day, y'all.

Joe

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I had chipotle cheese-steak pasta for lunch. I added some of my special hot sauce to it and man was that good! Good and hot! I'm still sweating. I did some clean-up work on the layout this morning. I can see more of it now. There's still quite a ways to go though.

Contractors are at my nieces new home (formerly my parents house) starting the tear-out on the west wing (my father lives in the newer east wing). All the ceiling tile, paneling and floor covering in the west wing has to go. After that the wiring will be brought up to code (currently pre-1970). That means grounded three prong outlets! Before today the only room in the west wing that had them was my fathers office and that was only on one wall. We had put down an eight foot grounding rod outside and run a heavy copper wire inside to ground those three receptacles. That put an end to fried electronics from lightning, in that room at least. The entire west wing is to be remodeled. No more paneling. Sheetrock will be going up. Two full bathrooms will be combined to make one large bathroom. Part of the wall between a large den and what was my fathers office will be removed so it's one very large room. That's all I know for now.

 

[blackz28]

well my son is down from BRRRRR new hampshire & is having a blast down here, doesnt want to leave lol, infact he , i went to scalerails with him, the local club & he found a card for a hobby shop in ft myers, i told him i havent found a decent local hobbyshop that sell train stuff , well wouldnt you know it , we drove there and BAM great train hobbyshop fully stocked & has old & new kits & flextrack & wow , GREAT FIND