An O Gauge Nightmare……

Isn’t it funny about dreams! 😃  I may have changed clothes and gone out to the car right then. 😊

I have not had any railroad nightmares that made me think twice or even thrice. I do know it my twenties, I would think about five or six times before buying rolling stock. This often led to me taking forever to decide what to grab and buy. I think that it is possible, that I may have bought the same thing twice on two separate occasions. I think I have gotten better over the years, but I always think a bit before buying unless I know for sure I don't have it already.

I am curious as to what the car of your nightmares looks like! Post a picture so we can analyze your dream…lol

Tom

I had a new TMCC steamer that was driving me nuts for days. It was an intermittent problem I just couldn’t come up with a reason as to why it would just come to stop. Fiddling with it always got it running again. Went to bed and woke up at 2AM. It came to me in my sleep and I knew exactly what was wrong. Got dressed and went down to the basement gathered some material and it was fixed. I separated the tender so many times from the engine for other issues the light bulb must of went off in my head while sleeping. It was a brass model that used the tender shell as the antenna. But the pin for the drawbar was mated to the shell not the chassis. So it 2 needed to be insulated. When hooked to the engine it now at times would ground out the antenna. I used a piece of styrene to mate the 2. Ran the engine minus sound for about a half hour to test my repair so I wouldn’t wake anyone. Stopped the engine in it’s usual spot to take it off the layout. Looked down and between the ties sitting in the ballast was a plastic insulator that must have fallen out when I first purchased the engine. A drop of glue has held it in place for about 20 years now.

How about this?:

Just imagine if you had dreamed that you had purchased a PRR 2-Rail boxcar? 

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

I have not had any railroad nightmares that made me think twice or even thrice. I do know it my twenties, I would think about five or six times before buying rolling stock. This often led to me taking forever to decide what to grab and buy. I think that it is possible, that I may have bought the same thing twice on two separate occasions. I think I have gotten better over the years, but I always think a bit before buying unless I know for sure I don't have it already.

Will do……..it will be a few days……post York, I met my wife and kids (one in Philly; one in DC; and, one in NYC) in Philly to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Now,  I’m in Tarrytown, NY……detoured here because my sister is in the hospital (and, doing much better)…….leaving for Central VA tomorrow…..

Peter

@Putnam Division posted:

...snip...  (and went off in my current Cabin Fever pile). ...snip...

Peter

Just what is your cabin fever pile? Vacation work projects?

We used to pull the coil wire on our Ford rental truck when I was on tour. I went to sleep in a cheap motel in Boston and woke to the sound of the truck motor cranking. I ran out to find the steering column was totally yanked out and the idiots couldn't figure out why the truck wouldn't start. They must have ran away.

I was sleeping about 30 feet away and never heard all the work going on. All the band's gear was untouched.

Not that you were going to lose your car. Just that I lose sleep when stuff's left in cars! I try and sleep with one eye open.

I'm trying to go to sleep soon tonight. I test ran a new engine and now I'm curious about the sound of the horn. I'm thinking of tearing into the engine but it's late.

I won't sleep. Another nightmare is awaiting.....

My nightmare would be the opposite. That I bought a 3 rail Atlas car by accident.  

Now that's funny!

-Greg

@Putnam Division posted:

That night (Thursday to Friday) I went to sleep and about 2 AM, I dreamed that in my excitement to find a Tuscan 40’ car, I may have bought a car made for two rail with Kaydee couplers.

Peter

My nightmare would be going to bed/sleep at 2 AM.  Way beyond by bedtime!  NH Joe

@PRRMP54 posted:

Just what is your cabin fever pile? Vacation work projects?

Cabin Fever is an auction house in Pennsylvania. They are located about 1/2 way between Valley Forge and Reading off PA Rte 422.

Roughly, every year or two, I assess my train inventory and literally come up with 3 categories:

1. Keep.

2. Sell.

3. What was I thinking?

Categories 1&2 are obvious. Category 3 means that if in the preceding year, the trains/accessory/item has not been used/run….. Sell pile. I just handed them my third load (this time at York) since I retired in 2020.

Peter

Congrats on 40, Peter!

Best wishes for your sister. Now that you've turned 70, your waking up nightmares are more likely to be whether you will make it to the bathroom on time.

Gerry

I bought a Coors Beer reefer that was 2 rail with Kadee couplers.  Googled "3 rail trucks" and bought a compatible pair.  Cost almost as much as the car.

@Steve Tyler posted:

How about this?:

@Steve Tyler - that train was awesome.  Thank you for posting it so we all could enjoy it.

- walt

And here I sit…. 2 railing the stuff I bought at York…

@Glenn Fresch posted:

My nightmare would be the opposite. That I bought a 3 rail Atlas car by accident.  

Yes, but they are easy (much easier than most Lionel, in fact) to two-rail.

@Boilermaker1 posted:

And here I sit…. 2 railing the stuff I bought at York…

Justin……if i ever have that dream again, I’ll just chill and trade trucks and couplers with you!

Peter

@Putnam Division Happy Anniversary Peter. Sorry I am a bit late. Good to hear your sister is doing better as well.

@Boilermaker1 posted:

And here I sit…. 2 railing the stuff I bought at York…

That's a nice car, is it a Atlas or MTH? There were two vendors at York that had a lot of 2 rail stuff. Being a 2 rail guy I was in hog heaven. No conversions for me as everything I bought was already 2 rail. I got 3 Atlas cars for only $40 each. I was surprised to meet two other 2 railers there and you Dave makes at least 4. The vendor told me a lot of 2 rail guys stopped by his booth which was adjacent to Mr.Muffin.

Peter, that's an interesting story. I have had dreams like that. Glad everything worked out well. That's a good idea about the Cabin Fever Auctions. If I ever cut down on my collection I will seriously consider it.

It’s an MTH car (now on atlas trucks). The MP15 is a 2 rail York find.
I combed through the big pile of 2 rail stuff, most of it wasn’t quite modern enough for me, but there’s always a bit of it floating around.  Converting cars doesn’t bother me that much, but some are easier to do than others.

Here is the aforementioned  New York Central 40’ box car…….

Have a great and safe week, everyone!

Peter

Too funny!

You have real mind powers being able to not go outside and double check it!

My nightmare was a 2-rail locomotive, I swore it was a 3-rail when I bid on it!

@Putnam Division posted:

Here is the aforementioned  New York Central 40’ box car…….

Have a great and safe week, everyone!

Peter

That’s a gem, Peter!

Peter, congratulations on your anniversary!  And great news that your sister is doing better!

I don’t recall having any model train nightmares but whenever I get hiccups, Lynley will use a scare tactic.  She tells me she heard that the York Meet has been permanently canceled! The hiccups stop instantly!!

@Traindiesel posted:

I don’t recall having any model train nightmares but whenever I get hiccups, Lynley will use a scare tactic.  She tells me she heard that the York Meet has been permanently canceled! The hiccups stop instantly!!

😄😄

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

My nightmare was a 2-rail locomotive, I swore it was a 3-rail when I bid on it!

I'm not sure if it was a nightmare or not, but it was a headache.  We bought a Weaver chain-drive GP38(-2?) (Reading) that I swore said 0-27 diameter curves.  We have 0-31, so that's okay.  Received it and it turned out to require O-27 (or greater) radius curves.
We later found out that even the hobby shop fellas thought it kinda odd for the packaging to talk about radius instead of diameter. :/