Buy anything cool lately?

@RSJB18 posted:

I have 3. NYC, B&0 97, and a blank # 99. They are great engines.

Aside from that siderod issue on my original one I fully agree. This little thing can pull way more than expected and is perfect to throw into a railcar box as a "backup engine". Only issue I have is the serrations on the wheel for traction, they work great but at speed sound like I went from the side of a railroad track to a Formula 1 raceway

Recently purchased a Lionel unibody tank car and after a bit of modification, I created a Lichtenstein pop art inspired  X-Files smoking man tanker.

Nice work das boot!  Where'd you get the artwork?  Any relevance to the 92301?

@Patrick B posted:

Aside from that siderod issue on my original one I fully agree. This little thing can pull way more than expected and is perfect to throw into a railcar box as a "backup engine". Only issue I have is the serrations on the wheel for traction, they work great but at speed sound like I went from the side of a railroad track to a Formula 1 raceway

The serrated wheels do make a lot of noise, especially on tubular track. There were a few posts a while back about grinding them off with a dremel. I haven't attempted it yet but when I can get them into the shop I will. Basically put the engine upside down in a cradle and apply power to turn the wheels at a low speed. Hold a flat grinding wheel against the drive wheels until the score marks are gone.

Bob

@coach joe posted:

Nice work das boot!  Where'd you get the artwork?  Any relevance to the 92301?

Artwork - When a personal idea or inspiration has been decided, I normally surf the internet for potential decal and sticker sources. In this case, Ebay, Fine Art America and Red Bubble provided what I needed to complete this project.

92301 - I have a long history of betting the horses, many stories to tell.

Thanks.

PS1 Railking Turbine

From Berwyn's l just be got in two MTH custom run Rio Grande reefers.  What l didn't realize was that Berwyn's also offers a DeRGW outside braced boxcar, too.

Picked up 2 ERR AC commander sets to upgrade 2 of my postwar locomotives. I know, it's probably not worth the money to do this upgrade vs buying updated versions or these locomotives but these are my favorites that my father passed down to me. They are responsible for getting me hooked on the hobby. The Santa Fe has an E unit that needs work and the wiring inside needs to be replaced, so I figured just go with ERR.

I didn't get the railsounds kit, anyone have an opinion if that is worth adding in too?

@ArtsModelTrains, I have to admit, I’ve given some thought to upgrading some of my older trains with the ERR upgrade, the only problem I have is no one in my area to do the installation. Therefore I just buy TMCC/Legacy. The engines you’re upgrading are beautiful and favorites of mine. @PRRick, that’s a beautiful picture of the smoking PS1 Railking turbine, it’s a Wow. I just received this little K-Line TMCC equipped 0-4-0 steamer, it’s really nice but I need to get a set of owners manual for this particular locomotive. Any help would be much appreciated.  Happy Railroading Everyone

@ArtsModelTrains posted:

Picked up 2 ERR AC commander sets to upgrade 2 of my postwar locomotives. I know, it's probably not worth the money to do this upgrade vs buying updated versions or these locomotives but these are my favorites that my father passed down to me. They are responsible for getting me hooked on the hobby. The Santa Fe has an E unit that needs work and the wiring inside needs to be replaced, so I figured just go with ERR.

I didn't get the railsounds kit, anyone have an opinion if that is worth adding in too?

It's not about the cost as long as you can afford it, It's about the cherished memories, and they are priceless

Every once in a while I get a bug uma to buy something railroading ... if I can get a reasonable deal IMO,   So got quite a score from the recent Cabin Fever auction.  As a kid I was constantly making models of all sorts ,.. time to get back into it and drag the grandkids in as well.  4 hydrocal buildings, two freight car kits (one has brass sides) and a 2 rail Atlas reefer. Now all i have to do is figure out how to paint brass. Now all I have to do is finish laying track for  TPRR2,

@luvindemtrains  photos of the Downtown Deco Kits FYI

Pre-ordered this. Unfortunately there's not enough pre-orders so it probably won't get made. Need at least 40.

When the package arrived today, I anticipated showing a couple of PW work cabeese. Well they’re already back in the box to ship out tomorrow.

“Not as pictured” Not as described “😡😩

My new 3rd Rail E6 Rock Island...

This one

@ArtsModelTrains posted:

Picked up 2 ERR AC commander sets to upgrade 2 of my postwar locomotives. I know, it's probably not worth the money to do this upgrade vs buying updated versions or these locomotives but these are my favorites that my father passed down to me. They are responsible for getting me hooked on the hobby. The Santa Fe has an E unit that needs work and the wiring inside needs to be replaced, so I figured just go with ERR.

I didn't get the railsounds kit, anyone have an opinion if that is worth adding in too?

Go for it! I upgraded a pair of F3's last year with an AC Commander and RS board. You can see all of my trials and tribulations here...... I did a BEEP first, middle of page 2 I started the F3's.

Bringing these post war classics into the modern age is well worth the time and effort. That they were your dad's is priceless.

Bob

Ryobi has some nice sales. I just picked up a three battery cordless rotary tool. Good price plus military discount from HD.

I don't know if any of you have many trees on your layout. If you do, you probably know you can never have enough of them. I'd been looking for some Dept. 56 12 inch winter pine trees which are not easy to find. But eBay came through and I found 14 of them at a reasonable price.

So, I installed them today. I took out shorter trees which were there before and put the 12-inchers in their place as you can see in the before and after photos below. Like them?

Received this today from Pat’s trains. A very nice car to compliment my Santa Fe my black bonnet series.

Weston

@Weston posted:

Received this today from Pat’s trains. A very nice car to compliment my Santa Fe my black bonnet series.

Weston

How cool is that?!  I got the exact car from them today!

Jack,                                                                                                                                          
That’s funny. Several folks have these cars posted on fee bay for a premium price.  
  I’m very new to the forum, so when the trains that I like are for sale by the sellers  
   that are contributing vendors, I try to support them.

Weston

Weston,

Soooooo true!  I have several Black Bonnet items on order from Pat's.  I also have the Menards covered hoppers in Black Bonnet, but the red isn't as bright as everything else.  They will all be pulled by my K-line F3 Black Bonnet ABA set

IC number 1. Panama Limited from 3rd Rail.

3rd Rail's new Jenks offering from the E5/E6 run.

City of Los Angeles and the City of San Francisco.

Just received my third set of Boar’s Head cars from the fine folks at METCA (I already have their first set of reefers and the pups on BEDT flats). These are MTH Premier cars and sport the usual crisp graphics and fine, if delicate detail.

And I added an Amtrak train to my fleet posted over on the What Trains Did You Run Today thread:

https://ogrforum.com/...6#171626511221868196

I bought a NIB Lionel PRR tank car, 6307, and a NIB Lionel Sunoco tank car, 16150.  I bought both of them on eBay for very reasonable prices, far below Greenberg's listed price.

The bottom picture is of a Lionel Santa Fe Baggage Car, 19109.  I posted it on this thread back on 1/27/23 after I received it NIB.  I included it again since I added LED lights and people/luggage to the interior.  Many thanks to Jeff from Train Tender who went above and beyond to help me add a roller to the trucks to provide power for the lights.

@MikeH posted:

My new 3rd Rail E6 Rock Island...

That is the coolest Rock Island engine I have ever seen!  What a beauty!

Just got my Lionel Strasburg 0-6-0

Didn’t buy it but my daughter and son in law gave me this for my birthday!  Pretty cool one of the few NASA cars I don’t have.

This isn’t the actual one because I don’t have my layout running yet but hopefully by the end of my birth month!

Got some Standard O mpc and LTI era cars along with a extended vision caboose for my Santa Fe train master. I'm really happy with the size and quality!

@BRIAN WHITE posted:

Just got my Lionel Strasburg 0-6-0

Brian,

Are you going to share some pictures?

@texgeekboy that’s a nice addition to the baggage car!

Two Lionel boxcars.........

.........and one MTH Premier DM&IR caboose.

@pennsyfan posted:

Brian,

Are you going to share some pictures?

I'm  with Bob......are you going to show us the Strasburg 0-6-0  ?

Its not train related, but I picked this up today, a pre-1950s stop sign, probably older as it's heavy pressed steel. I traded a couple of WW2 US Jerry cans for it.

I'll be printing O scale photos of each side of it to place on my layout eventually. This is the type of stop sign you'd see in my layout timeframe of 1943.

@p51 posted:

Its not train related, but I picked this up today, a pre-1950s stop sign, probably older as it's heavy pressed steel. I traded a couple of WW2 US Jerry cans for it.

I'll be printing O scale photos of each side of it to place on my layout eventually. This is the type of stop sign you'd see in my layout timeframe of 1943.

No successful bullet holes; looks like plenty of attempts!

BB gun of the son of the guy who'd previously owned it.

I have a rare Santa Fe Super Chief passenger car set from the early 2000s with LED lighted interiors and painted passenger figures. It's the 4-car initial set and the 2-car add-on set. Problem is, neither set came with a diner. Where are the passengers going to eat?

So, from eBay, I just received an earlier Lionel NIB aluminum diner with incandescent lighting and silhouetted passenger figures. Not a perfect match for the newer cars. But at least, the passengers now have a place to eat.

When I first put it on the track, those incandescent lights produced a blazing, over-lit interior. So to tone it down some, I replaced the 18 volt bulbs with 24 volt ones and now the diner's interior lighting matches the other cars' interior lighting a little better. Although, the silhouetted passengers stand out from the other cars' painted passenger figures. I guess when the passengers move from their Pullman rooms into the dining car, they transform into silhouettes. Oh well, can't have everything.

@Yellowstone Special posted:

.....So, from eBay, I just received an earlier Lionel NIB aluminum diner with incandescent lighting and silhouetted passenger figures. Not a perfect match for the newer cars. But at least, the passengers now have a place to eat.

They look good together. I like that shiny aluminum finish.

John

A box from Trainz arrived on the doorstep yesterday. It's a K-Line K4580 Fleet of Modernism 13.5" 8-car set I've been looking at for some time. These shorter cars are good for my small layout and they look beautiful, although I can't run more than 4 or 5 cars or it will be chasing its tail. I like the window blind inserts they have. The proportions look very good even though they're the same length as the LionChief Super Chief cars, which look short. Then I realized that these ones are shorter in height, so they don't measure up to the Williams PRR F unit I coupled them to. Eventually I'll have to get something they look ok next to. Maybe the curved ends of a smaller GG-1 might make the height difference less noticeable. I don't know if I would get the matching K-line alco A-A set because the FOM scheme would limit it to pulling this train.

John