Running Bear's February 2022 Coffee Shop

ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.


Status
Not open for further replies.
Good Morning All,

I'm wondering if I could get some information from one of our DCC guru's here. Is there a CV that kills the sound on a locomotive until it's address is called up? I've tried F8 and it turns off the sound but as soon as I turn on the layout everything starts up again. I have mainly Tsunami sound decoders and 2 with WOW sound.

Thanks for any help.
Curt, I copied this from the Tsunami guide:

Engine Auto-Start
When active, the Auto-Start feature starts up the prime mover sound
automatically whenever the decoder is powered up regardless of whether
or not it is addressed by the user. In this manner, the locomotive will begin
producing sound without any user intervention.
To use the Auto-Start feature, first determine the baseline value for CV 116
based on your choice of manual (setting of 0 or 16) or automatic engine
notching (settings 1 through 15). Then to enable auto-start, add 32 to the
setting in CV 116.
Example: We want to use automatic notching with a one notch increase
for every eight speed steps. From the section under ‘Engine Control’, we
determine the base setting for CV 116 to be 8. Then to enable Auto-Start, we
add 32. Thus, CV 116 is set to:
CV 116 = 8 + 32 = 40
 


Good Morning All. Clear and 41°, headed up to 71° today. Yesterday it only made 65°, respectable enough for 2-19! The wind turns from the north Tuesday afternoon and stays that way for at least a week, bringing more seasonable temperatures in the 50's. At least the trees haven't started budding out yet; it would be different if it had rained any in the last seven weeks! Freezing rain and ice predicted for Wednesday and Thursday which didn't happen last week when it was previously predicted.

Sore last night but not this morning after spending the day yesterday with outdoor stuff. I split another weeks worth of firewood for next winter and hauled several wagons full of compost over to the new garden. I am having to relocate the garden this year after 41 years in the old spot because of a fungal infection that invaded a couple of years ago. Supposedly it takes seven years for Mother Nature to eliminate it. Of course all of the compost is over there requiring a 75 yard trip to get it to the new location...after filling the cart. It's a decent exercise. Topped the day off by grilling chicken breasts for fajitas Grilling again tonight for the third night in a row...I love this weather and my grill, although I have used it with snow on the ground and freezing temperatures many times.

Thanks for the many reactions and comment regarding my wish list for upcoming projects; Karl, Steve J, Troy, IB Ken, Rick, OB Ken, Joe, Tom O, Hughie, Gary, Smudge, Patrick, Chad, Guy, Curt, James.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I started and almost finished one of the very small upgrade projects that I posted about a couple of days ago. I added an interior to Dolly's Confectionery, which can just barely be seen.
IMG_0418.JPG

Then I added two trees to the back side of the building.
IMG_0427_LI.jpg

Fixed the unscenicked corner by the road and tracks.
IMG_0424_LI.jpg

And added a vehicle and three customers out front.
IMG_0426 (2).JPG

Still have to fix the grade crossing where the masking either slipped or I didn't have it positioned correctly when I painted the track/ties. Oooopsie! And then continue the road onto the backdrop.

Guy - I also loved that picture of the Whitecourt station with the girl and mom sitting on the platform.
Tom O - I was lucky with the implants, all anchors grafted the first time around without incident. Not so fortunate with the crowns as two eventually broke and had to be replaced (at no charge) later on. They were faulty from the manufacturer and his insurance paid for them. Labor was free as I had spent over $45K with him already, not including routine cleanings.
Hughie - Yep! We were required to wear hearing protection at work when we ventured out into the plant with all of the saws and punch presses working on aluminum parts. That's when I started to be cognizant of the hazards. Before I retired, the Safety Manager handed me a box of 100 pairs of NRR32 earplugs to use in the future.

Everybody have a wonderful Sunday. Stay safe.
 
Good Morning from the Canadian Siberia! The temps will be dropping down to -13F from the 0F temperature that it is right now. Plus, I'll have to go out there and shovel again.:(

Tom - The rotary dumper project is sweet. The dedication to reality you guy's consistently show amazes me.

Alan - Nice haul on vehicles. I've got 5 new ones coming in the mail, but, paid considerably more for them than you did.

TomO - Great looking engines you picked up. I do like the BNSF orange scheme.

James - You picked-up some nice stuff at train shows, as well. I can only wish there was train shows up here. For that to happen, I suppose there would have to be a far greater population of interested people.

Curt - I can't help you with the DCC question, but, tech problems like that are exactly why I've decided to stick with good ol' DC operation. DC might be out-dated, but, there's a-lot less tech issues.

Thanks for the likes and comments on my recent posts.

Today, I'll just show a couple of crappy photos of how I made my layout legs yesterday. Drill a hole, thread it, fill it with CA and then re-thread. The 5/16th levelers are about the cheapest, strong ones I could find. Tom - I don't even know what 'T-nuts' are, but, I do thank you for the suggestion.
I believe my evil plan will work well enough, but, no dancing on the tables:
LayoutLegs_02-19-2022 (1).jpg

LayoutLegs_02-19-2022 (2).jpg


Well, that's today's post. Suppose it's time to warm up the snow-shovel! Have a good one!
 
TomO/Alan - nice hauls from the show! I've noticed the same trend with the Timonium show in my area, it seems to be only a shadow of what it was "back in the day." Could it be because many of the small-time hobbyshop vendors that used to rent tables at shows are now doing most of their business on eBay? These days I only attend if another friend wants me to go along.
That's some of it. Some of it is maybe fewer hobby shops, and you're right, the internet is taking a chunk of that business. In my experience you have three types of vendors at these shows. The "from my basement to yours" guys selling off estate stuff or stuff they aren't going to use, or just plain getting out of the hobby; the "Hobby Shop in a van" guys who have no actual brick and mortar store, and the actual hobby shops. The hobby shops started doing this to blow out extra inventory that hasn't sold at a discount. The pre-order system is changing that business model, and you aren't seeing the deals you used to. They're still there, but there are not as many of them. I think shows are in a transitional period. They'll change some, but they won't go away, though there may be fewer. We're a social bunch and we like to see layouts and shoot the breeze. Even Covid won't change that much. I'd say probably 90% of the crowd was masked up yesterday. One last thing, to prevent this from morphing into another "the hobby is dying" discussion :) I saw plenty of young guys with bags full of stuff. My son happened to be with me. I got him started when he was about 3. He's 30 now and after the usual "the other kids make fun of me for playing with trains", and the middle and high school years where cars, girls and parties were all more important, he came back. I think as long as we expose people and mentor, the hobby will be in good shape.
 
Last edited:
Hi All! Not going to do another vehicle weekend, but I did go to the Mad City train show today. Bitter cold outside, and some snow the night before which kept the attendance down some. I hope tomorrow is better for them. My first show in a couple of years, actually since before Covid. I took a fair amount of money prepared to go crazy, but, alas, it didn't happen. I got off surprisingly easy. A couple of 57 Chevy Nomads from Oxford, ten bucks each. A couple of old Mini Metals White COE trucks. The green cab is going to get repainted in Daylight colors and get lettered for Pacific Motor Transport. Mail Bag catchers for a couple of my RPO cars, and a pleasant surprise, a locomotive test stand. Been looking for one of those for a while! Total damage: about $100.00. Cheapest I've gotten out of a train show in a long time! A good time was had by all. View attachment 141278
Alan - Braggart! I'm jealous of both your booty and the fact you got to go to a train show. Nice economical haul.
Our first local train show will not be for a few weeks yet.
 


A late good morning to all! 43, sunny and windy here heading for 54, sunny and windy. Slept in today so I can stay up even later tonight than usual. Starting tomorrow night I have to work overnights Mon-Thur working on inventory prep for the store. Little do they know I'll do that but I won't actually be there to do inventory next month LOL Can't say I'm sad about that.

So, probably won't see much of me here this week as my hours will be opposite of normal. Looking forward to getting this week and the next couple after that over with so I can start my new adventure.

Staying in to watch the Daytona 500 today and that's my only plans. My wife and I are going to fix a bunch of good food and snacks to consume during the race. She doesn't care about the race but she knows how much I'm looking forward to it. I invited the daughter and son in-law over but doubt they'll be here. My grandson has a ballgame somewhere so I'm sure they'll be busy at race time. Either way, I expect to be watching the race and getting fatter today. Hope you all have a great one!
 
Good morning Shop Dwellers!

Thank you everybody for the likes and/or comments on my photo of the dumper drive: James, Chad, Patrick, Hughie, Joe, OB Ken, Guy, Dave, Gary, Tom-C51, Willie, Jaz, Louis, Smudge, TomO, Karl, Tom-H, Curt

Tom-C51
: Enjoyed the rebar video! I noticed that the TTX car he was demonstrating with had the earlier tuscan paint scheme. I thought they were all yellow starting in the early 1970's? If so, that car may be someting I can use on my 1969-72 era layout.

TomO/Alan - nice hauls from the show! I've noticed the same trend with the Timonium show in my area, it seems to be only a shadow of what it was "back in the day." Could it be because many of the small-time hobbyshop vendors that used to rent tables at shows are now doing most of their business on eBay? These days I only attend if another friend wants me to go along.

* * *
After finishing my Saturday chores yesterday, I installed the rest of the neoprene hose over the dowels on my dumper drive mechanism [what a pain!], wired up the motors and connected to the old MRC power pack. Gave it a test run, and was pleased with the results - even though the motors are a tad noisy. I attempted to shoot a video of it but, since I can't attach my cellphone to a tripod and I also control the power pack, it came out a little shaky. I used a solid pre-fab coal load for the test since I didn't want to spill Black Beauty granules all over the workbench [that's the "clunk" that you hear when it's falling out].

http://ironbelt.net/images/DumperFirstTrialRun.mp4

Now it's time to get ready for Sunday Mass; then after lunch, one of my local mrr friends is coming over to help me install the contraption. Hopefully there won't be any showstopper surprises...
Now that is a nice piece of engineering, looks really good.
 
Good Morning Everyone....warming up and windy today after a cold day following the snow squalls we had on Friday night. 75 mile an hour winds on Friday night that are close to hurricane strength. Lucky not much damage.

Just catching up on the web subject and sadly the financial news. A bit behind on the Forum News. Have to clean up the paperwork that collecting on my computer printer and shred some of the private information. It's funny a realtor that Cathy used to sell her mother's home sent us a market survey of our residence and the projected sales price if we were interested in selling. A lot of the information was incorrect and should of never been used.

Missed the Madison, Wisconsin Train Show and I never had attended the show in the past. It wasn't until TomO mentioned the show that I remembered that I forgot the date. I miss the annual TrainFest in Milwaukee and used to saved my pennies to spend at the show. But, the last time I was there I didn't spend a dime! Now I have a Jack Daniels 1.75 bottle now over half full of coins.

The web store are taking a lot of business out of the brick and mortar hobby shops, no different that the stores on main street and in the malls. I shop the internet for basic supplies and one of a kind needs. Since I'm not 100% percent, the web store make it easy for me to shop on line. I made a purchase of Vallejo paints at Hiawatha Hobbies on line and received my order three days later. Excellent customer service.

I shopped often at Hiawatha when it was a smaller shop in Waukesha, Wisconsin and it was a fast trip during my extended lunch breaks at work. I spent a small fortune on locomotives and Kadee freight cars at Hiawatha that I purchased basically on impulse.

I purchased locomotives and KD cars with color schemes I liked and different, odd road names. Like a Black River loco or Buffalo Creek box cars. On line shopping I avoid a lot impulse purchases. Trouble is I'm stocking up on supplies that I'll need or I'm low on when I get back to model railroading full time, not to mention buying a few pieces of rolling stock.

I look forward to shopping at my LHS in person!

That's about all for now.....

Greg

#######################​
 
Good Morning from the Canadian Siberia! The temps will be dropping down to -13F from the 0F temperature that it is right now. Plus, I'll have to go out there and shovel again.:(

Tom - The rotary dumper project is sweet. The dedication to reality you guy's consistently show amazes me.

Alan - Nice haul on vehicles. I've got 5 new ones coming in the mail, but, paid considerably more for them than you did.

TomO - Great looking engines you picked up. I do like the BNSF orange scheme.

James - You picked-up some nice stuff at train shows, as well. I can only wish there was train shows up here. For that to happen, I suppose there would have to be a far greater population of interested people.

Curt - I can't help you with the DCC question, but, tech problems like that are exactly why I've decided to stick with good ol' DC operation. DC might be out-dated, but, there's a-lot less tech issues.

Thanks for the likes and comments on my recent posts.

Today, I'll just show a couple of crappy photos of how I made my layout legs yesterday. Drill a hole, thread it, fill it with CA and then re-thread. The 5/16th levelers are about the cheapest, strong ones I could find. Tom - I don't even know what 'T-nuts' are, but, I do thank you for the suggestion.
I believe my evil plan will work well enough, but, no dancing on the tables:
View attachment 141302
View attachment 141303

Well, that's today's post. Suppose it's time to warm up the snow-shovel! Have a good one!
Instead of those flat pads on the legs, ya might consider eye bolts. The eye bolts are easier to get your fingers on than the flat pad.
Another option would be to use an insert close to the top of the leg and a threaded rod. Doing that, ya don't have to crawl on the floor to reach the leg adjuster.

20220110_104321.jpg



20220110_104712.jpg




20220110_105524.jpg
 
Afternoon All,

Spent probably 4 hours in the train room on my Tsunami decoders programming them so that sound comes on when I actually move the loco and not when track power is turned on. It is so much quieter in the train room. Of course, there was one in my heritage Y6b that would not take any CV modifications, so I decided to try a factory reset and now all I get is no acknowledgment, so I'm figuring its toast. I have 2 WOW sound board steamers, so I need to research how to do the same thing to them.

Terry- Thank you very much for your assistance this morning. It's really appreciated. Nice LHS haul. Good luck on your new job tomorrow.

Ken D&J- Great looking load.

Alan- You did well for yourself.

TomO- You did nicely also.

James- They're interesting but unfortunately way to new for me.

IB Ken- That is very cool. Well done.

Tom- Neat video. Are the 4 uprights that grip the car spring loaded?

Willie- Nice scene.

Louis- Glad I could help! :)

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
How is this possible TLOC, do they all suck out of the box ?
I don't know.

This locomotive based on my computer records (Terry keeps the records of everything) is my 33rd Genesis locomotive model and the first with issues of ANY kind. I know this is the 1st run and sat in that box for years but even so. On the roster this currently becomes #5 Genesis as I sell my locomotives every 2 years or so.

It runs tight and stops on a dime with no fly wheel effect. I will pull it apart this week and clean and very lightly re-lub it. For the price I can fix it. I have no issues working on model locomotives. It needs to be running great on DC before I install DCC and sound and I will get it there.

TomO
 


I know they suffered from bad electrical contact issues with the sound-equipped models. The ones I had also had handrails so fragile they broke if I blew on them too hard.
This one
AD4E60C6-3816-453E-8B74-740BD67B836B.jpeg
4BF6BB16-7208-4BFE-9756-89B8BC022DBB.jpeg

is not DCC yet but there is a broken hand rail at the steps. I know it wasn’t broken before I started taking pictures. Yes, I have blown on other Genesis locomotives and had the rails break. Stupid crazy. You can see it in the first picture

Thanks for the electrical reminder. I disassemble everything and I do use a check list when doing maintenance

TomO
TomO
 
Status
Not open for further replies.




Affiliate Disclosure: We may receive a commision from some of the links and ads shown on this website (Learn More Here)

Back
Top