Buy anything cool lately?

Sorry; 500 S Salisbury Ave,

jim pastorius posted:

Spencer !! ??   Is there a hobby shop or just at the museum??  My son & I are going there tomorrow.

Jim, FYI there are no toy train shops in Charlotte, not for years.

BUT, tomorrow Saturday the 25th  there is a toy train show just north of Charlotte at the Metrolina Expo Trade Center from 0900 to 1600 hours.  This is located at 7100 Statesville Road.

Ron

PRRronbh posted:

Allan Miller posted:

         

 

Yesterday's purchase at Dave Minarik's Mercer Junction Train Shoppe, along with matching steel-side cabooses and a couple of Ohio Central Coil Cars. Doing my best to keep the hobby strong!

Allan, Dave's Mercer Junction appears to be a Great place.  But, is there not any toy train places left in Youngstown?  Back in my day there was Amers, Triggs, Boardman Hobbies, and then TAS.  I know they are all gone, but nothings new to place them.

Or is it like Charlotte?  When I moved here in 78 there a few very good places.  Now for the last 5/7-years absolutely NOTHING.  Closest in in Spencer.

Ron

There are ZERO hobby shops/train stores in the immediate Youngstown area these days. A couple of area hardware stores have train sections, but there are no dedicated, full-service hobby/train shops.

Thanks for the NC info. Will check out the store. Not too sure about the show although I would like to go. My son is using a walker as he recovers from a stroke so the show might be too much.  Hope to have a good time.

"Cool"? Well...

1 - Lionel GM&O Legacy GP35 from an acquaintance. Good price; have the correct AAR(Alco) truck side frames to replace the Blombergs on order from Lionel Parts. Cool.

2 - Finally found an Atlas NYC "cat's whisker" F2 NIB A-unit; from individual. Faulty gears (chewed up; from factory, I guess) on one truck; will not move more than 1". Not Cool. Seller left me out in the cold. Not Cool, again. There's a word or two for those guys, but I'd get kicked off here if I used them.

3 - Not a purchase - but discovered that my Lionel ATSF Alco S2 switcher has crumbled internally at both gearboxes, or so it seems. Dead, jammed, mechanically (electronically very durable). Not Cool.

4 - Won a brass tender at auction, only to find out that it was mis-listed and described as "O scale", when, in fact it is HO scale. One forgets how small HO is (I don't handle it much). The seller said mail it back for a refund. So, not Cool, but it could be worse, if resolved acceptably.

You had to ask. 

There is a lot of ground to cover.  You may want to ask if they can help with a golf cart.  If not, I would bring a wheel chair.  I have been there many times and the round house alone is huge and there is a lot to see in the round house, but it is a long walk to the roundhouse.

Thanks for the info. Their website mentions a cart but he wasn't happy with that idea. Will play it by ear. Is a train ride worth it ??  

Yes it is, they have a recording telling you about the history of the property.  the whole town was developed around that Southern RR hub.  I found it interesting plus have been there for the 611 and Leviathan.  I am originally from Youngstown, Ohio, so am used to P&LE, B&O, C&O, Erie and Pennsylvania, so it was nice to learn about  Southern.  They have a great video in the roundhouse about steam engines and how they had to service them there.  Some nice auto's as well.  

A pic showing the latest acquisitions on the layout. My dd and I picked them up today from the seller. 

Just got the MTH DCS WIFI Module for father's day. Talk about awesome!!! Such a great leap forward in train control. Added the app to my wife's phone and my mom's phone so the boys can run trains with whoever is at home. Fantastic!!!

Allan Miller posted:

PRRronbh posted:

Allan Miller posted:

         

 

Yesterday's purchase at Dave Minarik's Mercer Junction Train Shoppe, along with matching steel-side cabooses and a couple of Ohio Central Coil Cars. Doing my best to keep the hobby strong!

Allan, Dave's Mercer Junction appears to be a Great place.  But, is there not any toy train places left in Youngstown?  Back in my day there was Amers, Triggs, Boardman Hobbies, and then TAS.  I know they are all gone, but nothings new to place them.

Or is it like Charlotte?  When I moved here in 78 there a few very good places.  Now for the last 5/7-years absolutely NOTHING.  Closest in in Spencer.

Ron

There are ZERO hobby shops/train stores in the immediate Youngstown area these days. A couple of area hardware stores have train sections, but there are no dedicated, full-service hobby/train shops.

Allen I am a native to this area.And there once were at least 5 or 6 hobby shops.There all gone now just memories now.

seaboardm2 posted:

Allan Miller posted:

PRRronbh posted:

Allan Miller posted:

         

 

Yesterday's purchase at Dave Minarik's Mercer Junction Train Shoppe, along with matching steel-side cabooses and a couple of Ohio Central Coil Cars. Doing my best to keep the hobby strong!

Allan, Dave's Mercer Junction appears to be a Great place.  But, is there not any toy train places left in Youngstown?  Back in my day there was Amers, Triggs, Boardman Hobbies, and then TAS.  I know they are all gone, but nothings new to place them.

Or is it like Charlotte?  When I moved here in 78 there a few very good places.  Now for the last 5/7-years absolutely NOTHING.  Closest in in Spencer.

Ron

There are ZERO hobby shops/train stores in the immediate Youngstown area these days. A couple of area hardware stores have train sections, but there are no dedicated, full-service hobby/train shops.

Allen I am a native to this area.And there once were at least 5 or 6 hobby shops.There all gone now just memories now.

I live in the Youngstown area and even if there were stores there, id be more opted to drive to Mercer. Such a nice store and owner. Nice purchase, Allan.

I guess we are lucky in western Pa. because there are still a few around.

Been wanting an Ives 30 for a while. Finally got one.

Steve

That is a cool engine !!

Got this delivered this week from Pikesville Models.  They were at York back in April displaying this S gauge motel.  I actually thought with the right paint color I could actually turn it into a prison.  I talked to them to see if they could make one in O scale and they said they would see what they could do.  Well it showed up this week and I really think it will be fun putting this together.  A picture of it from their directions is shown.

Also not train related but as a LONG time suffering Cleveland sports fan I also bought something really cool this week... a CAVS CHAMPIONSHIP t-shirt. 

Nice pick up on the prison!! That's exactly what I thought it was when I saw it too. You must have a lot of bad dudes around your layout!!��

as soon as I saw that I thought prison!

Bryan in Ohio posted:

Got this delivered this week from Pikesville Models.  They were at York back in April displaying this S gauge motel.  I actually thought with the right paint color I could actually turn it into a prison.  I talked to them to see if they could make one in O scale and they said they would see what they could do.  Well it showed up this week and I really think it will be fun putting this together.  A picture of it from their directions is shown.

Also not train related but as a LONG time suffering Cleveland sports fan I also bought something really cool this week... a CAVS CHAMPIONSHIP t-shirt. 

 

I want one!

I went to BJ's and bought 2 LED shop lights for above my layout.  40 watts, 4500 Lumens each.  Really lights up the space. $33.00 each.   Nice but for anyone needing a lot of light.  My trains are set up in the second floor of a 2 story garage and the ceilings are 10 ft high.

Went to the Spencer gift shop and bought a paper back book on rails to trails in Virginia. lousy day for photos but got a nice on of the 611 that will be next month's calender photo. i must say that the 611 is more impressive in person and just sitting there. Talked to the engineer and he admits to following the forum.

Saw the picture Bryan. Nice building. If I had seen it at York I would of thought the same thing. Looks like a prison. You will need it for the expanded red light district and all the arrests made there LOL...............Paul

Big Ken posted:

I went to BJ's and bought 2 LED shop lights for above my layout.

I have seen the light 

  I'm I really the only one that noticed Big Ken and his avatar posted again right after that last prison gig?

Rats! Packing the wrong tie .

MTH SD-60E, Veterans from my LHS, Brentwood Antiques.  More photos on my Post on OGR.

MTH Pennsy Gondola obtained from one of the good guys here on OGR!  Not as cool as the Veterans above, but I like it.

Yesterday, I bought a pair of AEC Mack trucks. On the sides, they say "fission control". Too cool. I also bought a small die-cast toy plane. It's not O scale like the trucks, but I couldn't pass it up. When I put it on the back of one of the trucks, it looks like a small spy plane being transported to a military base.

Why that's no spy plane,  paint that thing  brown and white, and you got

Penny and Sky King !!!!!!!!!

All  new in the box.........MTH VIA, 2 MTH Passenger Cars, K Line Aluminum Business Car and a Corgi

Heavy Hauler.

Last week I got my 3D print of the White Pass GE Shovelnose diesel.

There were some problems printing the finer details with my selected print media. 

On arrival several parts were broken or missing.

I went through and deleted or reinforced damaged parts in my 3D modeling program. I'm hoping shapeways will reprint this for free. Especially since the damaged plow is such an important part of the engine. I mean it is called a Shovelnose after all.

I am not satisfied with Shapeways. I ordered a N scale AEM-7 loco shell and it cracked when trying to use it. The guys told me I should glue it back together. Don't think I want to buy another because the price was pretty high.

Didnt buy it, but built it. Still a pretty cool tinplate boxcab, no?

anyone can buy something...but to make something with your own hands....

 Well for me and being recently un-employed, I did manage to win a 3rd Rail CNR U2g Northern for $500 at auction, with some $ I saved from a previous train deal.

   It's nice to get a break every now and again

Al

Bought a K-Line GG-1 w/TMCC & Railsounds on ebay. It's the tuscan red single stipe. My first GG1. Hasn't been delivered yet.  That's it for now. Waiting for the Lionmaster Class A...

I bought the services of John Will (Gunrunnerjohn) to upgrade my Soo Line SD40-2 from PS1 to PS2.  Here's a short video of me floor running it.  John also added the flashing ditch lights and upgraded the lighting to LED.  Now I can light my whole house with it!  I'm super pleased with the upgrade and extremely grateful to John for his excellent, quick work!

https://drive.google.com/open?...mSLkxLUM0dUVZYXUxanM

Basil, Soo runs, looks, and sounds great!  Another great job, John!

Went for a drive to my local hobby shop. To pick up this order from Bert & Tom.

I got to hold the Lionel Union Pacific 844, some other lucky guys order, I brought home this box.

trainroomgary posted:

Went for a drive to my local hobby shop. To pick up this order from Bert & Tom.

I got to hold the Lionel Union Pacific 844, some other lucky guys order, I brought home this box.

Yes, holding the 844 will be the closest I get to one also.  No Matter.  There are lots of other cool locos out there!!

Looks like the Pacific should be a winner.  I'm sure we will be seeing a Trainroom Gary review in the near future!

Managed to pick up a Lionel FEC ES44AC from a Forum member this week. great GE prime mover sound file included!  

It will get paired up with my FEC SD70 in a FEC tribute consist.

I picked up the Lionel tie-jector car.

Cool!  I'll say! 

I picked up my new Z4000 yesterday from our local hardware store that still sells a lot of trains.  That in McCormick's Hardware in Zelienople, Pennsylvania.  It is about a half hour away, and near my aunt's senior living facility, so I picked it up instead of paying who knows how much to ship. 

I have wanted one for some time, but always said later.  Last Sunday, I setup an oval of O54 track on the Patio Pacific to run my new-to-me Premier PS3 N&W J 611.  I took my ZW, TIU, Z500 for aux power, my breakers and diodes as I have read to protect the MTH electronics outside and hooked it all up.  Everything was fine, as I ran the J very slowly.  The first curve it lifted a driver off the rail, which I attributed to a slight unevenness to the concrete the Ross track was on.  I stopped and put everything back on track.  The next curve was level and smooth, and the driver came off the track slightly.  Then I saw a spark, and shut everything down.  When I checked, my breakers hadn't tripped as happened once on my O48 indoors with a freight car.    I put everything away, got on Jeff McCormick's Web site, and ordered the Z4000 and the next larger curve track that evening.

I was concerned I could have fried something in the J or the TIU, but after setting everything back up using the Z4000, everything tested out great!    I'll keep the ZW for now and if I find I don't use it on the new layout, I'll find another home for it.