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Good Morning All. Looks like winter has finally hit here. It's currently 43 degrees and we have a light rain. Wind is out of the north at 27 mph, won't diminish until around sunset. It's not expected to go much above 50 for the next ten days. While I had some thunderstorms and high winds through the night, we are about 75 miles NW of the tornados and severe weather that devastated areas south and east of Dallas. Who was asking about tornados in December a few days back? Last night was proof. My sister lives in Rowlett TX where some of the tornados occurred. She was without power for about seven hours and five people died about four miles from them, but her family is unscathed...they did spend about an hour in their "safe room".
CS3 - Repeating what others have said, drill first. Those nails are made for driving into homosote or cork. Don't even think of using them on MDF board! That's worse than plywood. As far as keeping the track from moving, I usually use "push-pins" to hold it in place. After the first few successful nails it is easier. Nail about every third or fourth nail to begin with, then go back and fill in.
new guy - Good luck with the Shark. This is how all of us learned (and broke) engines in our past. At least you have Terry to give a how-to. Imagine trying to do that before the Internet. Stories like these make me glad I am sticking with DC even though it is "old school".
Eric - Your winter weather is on the way.
Now as I'm typing, my old neighbor is heading over "see if you wanna get drunk".
Was he buying?
Louis - Good to see you're back and in good spirits.
Well it will be light soon, I'm going to get dressed so I can go out and inspect for any wind damage and check the rain gauge. All on the way out to the train shed of course. Won't be doing any yard work today unless it is removing tree branches that might be in the way.
Willie
Thanks guys! I think I'm going to take a wee breaky in the action and change my view for a few days, go walk the tracks and trails and visit some old friends and think about it. A little "Spanish pause" if ya know what I mean. See ya's all next year.
Gomez Addams
Staff member
Good morning. It's raining and 66.
Good morning everyone. If I'm able to find a drill bit small enough I'll give the nails another shot.
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Thanks guys! I think I'm going to take a wee breaky in the action and change my view for a few days, go walk the tracks and trails and visit some old friends and think about it. A little "Spanish pause" if ya know what I mean. See ya's all next year.
Nothing at all wrong with taking a break.
Go get your mind right and them come back fresh.
E
Good morning everyone. If I'm able to find a drill bit small enough I'll give the nails another shot.
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Be sure to use a very steady hand with the fine drills. They will break easily. Don't twist them from side to side to get the job done. Don't ask me how I know about that.... LOL. I used to buy them and keep a few in stock when I was using them. They are not terribly expensive, but do tend to be very brittle.
Well, Its a pretty nice day around here/ Temp is 45, heading towards the 60 mark. Overnight low was 34 with a smattering of snow on the peaks just a few miles to the South of me - that's the location of the Palomar observatory. The mountains up north near and around Cajon Pass have enough snow for some skiing and snowboarding. Kids enjoy it .. I had rather enjoy a nice fireplace and look out at it.
I am still worn out from Christmas. We had a total of 20 adults and 5 grandsons (oldest being 9 down to 7 months).
I have never picked up so much paper, cardboard, bows and ribbons in my life. I swear, women need to put a lid on the presents for kids under the age of 10-12. The smaller ones didn't care about the presents .. they just liked tearing open the paper and playing with the boxes!
TOOT your comment about the water reminded me of back home in Louisiana .. they know all about that. its impossible to dry yourself off after getting out of the shower.
Eric - Your winter weather is on the way.
Was he buying?
Of course not. He never buys.
Apparently, he got arrested walking home - public intoxication I assume.
He even talked about crashing out on the couch last night but talked himself out of it and decided to walk.
Good thing he wasn't driving otherwise I suppose they could have come got me as well for letting him go.
He knows all the cops around here so I'm surprised they bothered with him instead of giving him a ride - which they have done before. Must have been some new kid he doesn't know.
Merry Christmas, again... still, until January 6th in my house that is.
Thank you again for all the kind words and welcome back messages everyone, I greatly appreciate them.
Redskins in first place, Ravens have beaten the Steelers AGAIN this season, a great football day, GO JETS!!!
Have a great night everybody!
Ok guys....lets look closely here. Maybe it's nothing seeing as how I'm a perfectionist. Do y'all see what I see?
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Got up s morning and thought I was in Sississimippi for a moment. It was
TWO BELOW. 
The snow I've been piling up around the driveway are going to be a good start to my own private glacier.
Took a trip to Deer Lodge to visit relatives for a while for the holidays and enjoyed some great home cooking, but we had to take off early because we're having people over for dinner ourselves tonight.
Got to go now but here's a parting photo. The old roundhouse in the Gateway Yard.
I think I've had enough aggregation to do for awhile. I'm taking a vacation.
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Gomez Addams
Staff member
Good evening. It's cloudy and 71.
I found the problem with the T1. The harness plug going into the back of the engine developed a short, and nuked the decoder. Hopefully, just a matter of getting BLI to send out another box of parts.
Good Afternoon All.
Eric - Maybe he didn't step far enough behind the bushes. Sorry to hear of his trouble, at least he had enough sense not to drive.
CS3 - How did you get my portable drill? I not sure what you are referring to, I see two possible things, a slightly bent drill bit sticking out of the track, or a slightly mis-aligned track section beyond the turnout on the left. That bit (if that's what it is) is too big. Also, if I am seeing another bit in the drill, then "Drilling 101" - don't have more of the bit sticking out of the chuck than you need. They will bend or break for sure. If you already know this, forgive my intrusion. I would be using a 1/32" or smaller bit in a pin vise myself, you don't need much of a pilot hole. Of course I haven't seen your nails yet...they may also be too big. The out-of-alignment track might just be the camera angle, but I wouldn't be too worried if it is truly out.
Chet - Another great photo.
Louis - Like you the season in my house lasts until The Epiphany on January 6. Continued good luck on your recovery.
Willie
Good evening. It's cloudy and 71.
I found the problem with the T1. The harness plug going into the back of the engine developed a short, and nuked the decoder. Hopefully, just a matter of getting BLI to send out another box of parts.
Whats going on with all this "factory decoders" failing lately? You are about the 5th or 6th person this week that i have heard complain about a factory decoder dying?
Are the little Chinese kids pinching the wires on assembly? or just crappy wiring? Kinda makes me glad that most of mine are ones I installed.
I don't need any steeenkin decoders. I'm happy.
Evening All,
Haven't accomplished much today but that's OK. Last night I went to the club and ran my L1 for about 2 hours without issue, so that made me happy. Tomorrow I am helping a friend move that is divorcing his wife.
Montanan- Nice shot.
NG- Sorry for the long post yesterday. I could of sworn they had the P3 decoder. Did you get the shark running?
Bnsf971- Glad you were able to figure out the T1 problem.
Chessie- I thought we were talking about ground throws then all of the sudden it seemed like everyone else was talking about laying track.
I hope everyone has a good night.
The track plan I have is fun to play around with but its lack of alignment is really getting on my nerves. And it was nota drill bit sticking out of my track. It's one of my foam nails I was using to straighten my turnout. That's how I found that my curve isn't spot on. I have the track nail idea down. That's not my issue. It's getting my track to line up perfectly. Which it is not.
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Good evening from Roanoke, VA, Mecca for N&W fans, and steam locomotive lovers. It was a relatively nice drive from Clarksville, TN mostly sunny and quite mild.
Tomorrow, back to Jersey, and a busy schedule. Looks like a wet ride, but we should be home by the time it gets cold.
Yeah I am going have to take my loss on this and go back to the drawing board....AGAIN! This track plan isn't going to work. Too many pinch points I didn't even know were there. Not to mention my spacing is all over the place! So I'm going to take a good break again and contemplate what I can make happen. I'm in a rut where this hobby isn't much fun. At least for the moment. I feel like its more work than anything given the huge amount of frustration its giving me. It makes it worse when you have a lot of time invested to see all that time account for nothing.
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