Goodbye theater, hello layout.

Can’t find any info about a show in Kittanning on the 14th. Just Altoona, which indeed is a little too far for me.

In other news, I’m already tired of parking trains on sidings and having passenger cars in the way of everything, so tonight, the board of cats approved the yard extension that was going to be saved for the future. It will be roughly 3x8 and will pretty much finish off my available space (on this level of track). It will be home to the eastern railroads and the turntable area will be home to the westerns. Hope to build it this weekend.

@David K. Simpson posted:

Looks like it’s 2 hours from my door. Any clue what “type” of show it is? Meaning, we went to a show or two last year that were 99% HO or whatever flavor you choose but had very little O. Hate to drive 2 hours to look at a scale I’m not working with.

David, It has been a while since I went, but in the past it was mostly O gauge.  There was lots of prewar trains but some newer ones as well.

Actually thinking about Altoona. Do you know anything about that? Could drive over Saturday and stay for free with points. Might be a nice day trip.

@David K. Simpson posted:

Can’t find any info about a show in Kittanning on the 14th. Just Altoona, which indeed is a little too far for me.

In other news, I’m already tired of parking trains on sidings and having passenger cars in the way of everything, so tonight, the board of cats approved the yard extension that was going to be saved for the future. It will be roughly 3x8 and will pretty much finish off my available space (on this level of track). It will be home to the eastern railroads and the turntable area will be home to the westerns. Hope to build it this weekend.

David, Here is a photograph of the flyer that a friend sent me.

@David K. Simpson posted:

Actually thinking about Altoona. Do you know anything about that? Could drive over Saturday and stay for free with points. Might be a nice day trip.

I do not know anything about the Altoona show.  I have wanted to go in the past, but never made it.  I looked on the club Website http://altoonatrain.org/public-events/    It just gives the date, time, and location, but no more details than the announcement on OGR Forum.  https://ogrforum.com/...lto-model-train-show

Looks like we’re going to the Altoona show. You had mentioned Ohio being more laxed than Pennsylvania as far as the mask and occupancy situation. What are we looking at when we get there in your opinion? Would hate to go and not be able to get in.

This week the governor loosened up a little.  You still have to wear a mask, but more people are allowed in any given building.  Case in point; today we went to Burger King and there were no signs on any of the tables saying those tables couldn’t be used.  Last week over half the tables would have signs saying you couldn’t sit there.  It had been that way since indoor dining was allowed again last fall.  This week PPG Paint Arena finally allowed a limited number of fans attend a Penguins game for the first time this season.  Up until now they played in an empty arena.  You should be good to go!!

Thank you.

👍🏻

A little perplexed by my track inspection car. Got it out of the box (looks basically unused) and took it apart to change the battery only to find no 9v inside but instead a 2.4v nicad. My understanding was that this loco came out in 2000 so would be a 5v. Also has no charge jack. Does this mean someone upgraded it to 3v at some point or am I missing something and it’s newer than I thought. According to GRJ in another thread 3v transition was around 2005. Anyways, starts and has lights but won’t move yet but the battery is low. I know when I got my big boy it wouldn’t move until the battery came up.

It has a 3V board, obviously installed when the 5V board died.  Don't fret, you got a great deal with the better PS/2 board!

It probably has no charging jack because they took the old round 5V jack out and didn't put the later one in.  I'd probably recommend putting in a Supercap battery replacement and be done with batteries.

After the battery charges for maybe an hour, try a factory reset and search for the engine again.

I can find it no problem and it now moves. Probably just let it sit here and charge a while. Am I correct that it has to be powered up and “idling” to charge fast? Thought I read that it just sitting there dead would make it charge super slow.

The anxiety attack I had turning the power on was sickening. The last two 5v locos I bought were doa. Seems like I did pretty good on this one at 150 bucks!

Would this be the super cap you’re referring to? It’s obviously 4 capacitors but can’t tell if they are wired series or parallel.

T

@David K. Simpson posted:

I can find it no problem and it now moves. Probably just let it sit here and charge a while. Am I correct that it has to be powered up and “idling” to charge fast? Thought I read that it just sitting there dead would make it charge super slow.

The anxiety attack I had turning the power on was sickening. The last two 5v locos I bought were doa. Seems like I did pretty good on this one at 150 bucks!

You did great at $150.  It does not have to be making noise, it'll charge just as fast dark and silent.

@David K. Simpson posted:

Would this be the super cap you’re referring to? It’s obviously 4 capacitors but can’t tell if they are wired series or parallel.

That's a Super-Cap setup for a 9V battery, not one for the 2.4V battery.  This is what the 2.4V replacement would look like, I make them.

Well, as I refuse to give up easily, I pulled the battery and put it on the intellipeak charger. Looks like it has about 18mah of life which is far short of the claimed 700mah. Time to upgrade to the capacitor setup.  

David I got the super caps from John and am slowly converting all of my engines over to them. It’s not worth the risk. When you have engine open inspect the speakers for flaking and swap it if it is

@CSX FAN posted:

David I got the super caps from John and am slowly converting all of my engines over to them. It’s not worth the risk. When you have engine open inspect the speakers for flaking and swap it if it is

Thanks. I’ll have to research speaker flaking as well.

We’re in Altoona for the night and going to the show tomorrow. Hoping to pick up some switches to be able to track the new yard extension. This brings up a question. Am I better off sticking with o72 switches in the yard for the short ladder track or would I get more in the same space by going tighter? If the latter is true, how tight is too tight? The yard will have a small loco shop for the eastern equipment so no worry of the big boy or DD40 needing to go there. Other than that it will be car storage. I want to utilize the space as best as possible but I also don’t want to constantly derail because I’m backing through too tight of switches.

David, I’m glad you are in Altoona now.  I hope you have a good time.  I think you will get longer yard tracks with sharper curves than 072, but I haven’t built a yard before to know how much difference it makes.  

As it turns out, I won’t be going to either show.

Ended up going to both shows and had a pretty good time. Got what I thought were some good deals. The state of Maine car is interesting because it seems to not match any description listed anywhere as it says “potatoes”.

@David K. Simpson posted:

Ended up going to both shows and had a pretty good time. Got what I thought were some good deals. The state of Maine car is interesting because it seems to not match any description listed anywhere as it says “potatoes”.

Nice haul David.

The SOM "potatoes" car is a rather rare bird as far as I know. Most of them say "products". You got a keeper there for sure.

David, I’m glad you got to both shows, and did so well.  That is quite a haul especially the SOM Potato car.  I thought of you as we traveled right past both locations to pick up a rescue dog.  The rescue lady could only meet us yesterday or next Saturday, and we didn’t want to take a chance on bad weather next weekend.  Traveling down US-22 from Cresson to Hollidaysburg, we saw a long stack train climbing up from Horseshoe Curve.  I hope to get out that way next show.  Thank you for sharing the photographs!

Good luck with the new dog. As I said in your thread, rescues are the best. Almost as if they appreciate and know they were "rescued".

@David K. Simpson posted:

Thanks. I’ll have to research speaker flaking as well.

David this is on the 5V boards only. I believe the issue was fixed when they went to 3V boards.

Not true, I've seen some 4 ohm Star speakers that were flaking as well.

So I went ahead and just bought 4 new switches for the yard. Looking for opinions. Is it better to build the yard on cork like the rest of the layout or drop it to table level to be more prototypical? It wouldn’t see much traffic so I don’t think noise would be an issue and most yards (including the one I work with daily) are not maintained to mainline standards.

@David K. Simpson posted:

So I went ahead and just bought 4 new switches for the yard. Looking for opinions. Is it better to build the yard on cork like the rest of the layout or drop it to table level to be more prototypical? It wouldn’t see much traffic so I don’t think noise would be an issue and most yards (including the one I work with daily) are not maintained to mainline standards.

Yes I would. I did on my layout.

@CSX FAN posted:

Yes I would. I did on my layout.

Which one?

I'm putting roadbed under all my track.

@David K. Simpson posted:

Good luck with the new dog. As I said in your thread, rescues are the best. Almost as if they appreciate and know they were "rescued".

I know what you mean Dave .

We drove 6 hours to the Cincinnati Rescue for this little guy.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

I know what you mean Dave .

We drove 6 hours to the Cincinnati Rescue for this little guy.

That's a nice looking dog!  At least we aren't the only ones to drive so far for a dog.

@David K. Simpson posted:

Which one?

Sorry, put the cork roadbed under the rails. I did on all of my track.

how would you transition the rail down to table top level? Model tracks behave the same as real track. Sharp offsets in rail profile will lead to derailments. I simply added more stone in the yards.

Gotcha. thanks for clarifying. The transition would be easy (just like any other grade) but I'll just cork it all as you and John say you do.

Ugh. I’m sure those of you with layouts that dwarf mine have the same complaint, but I just don’t have enough room! Building the east yard and as fast as I can lay track I fill it up. Planning on at least 2 more tracks but may rethink it and try for more. As it sits, I can’t even fit all of the passenger cars and in fact, the B&O set will need split between two tracks. As of now I at least have the two passing sidings cleared up but still have a 14 or so car train sitting on the main up on the bridge as well as having the roundhouse “yard” full. Wife says I’ll just have to stop buying cars… I contemplated divorce. Lol.

David, it looks good.  I have way more cars and engines than I can put on my layout.  I finally got some shelves up and have all my engines displayed.  I still have cars bunched up several rows deep on one shelf.

@David K. Simpson posted:

Ugh. I’m sure those of you with layouts that dwarf mine have the same complaint, but I just don’t have enough room! Building the east yard and as fast as I can lay track I fill it up. Planning on at least 2 more tracks but may rethink it and try for more. As it sits, I can’t even fit all of the passenger cars and in fact, the B&O set will need split between two tracks. As of now I at least have the two passing sidings cleared up but still have a 14 or so car train sitting on the main up on the bridge as well as having the roundhouse “yard” full. Wife says I’ll just have to stop buying cars… I contemplated divorce. Lol.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Davif, it looks good.  I have way more cars and engines than I can put on my layout.  I finally got some shelves up and have all my engines displayed.  I still have cars bunched up several rows deep on one shelf.

David don't contemplate divorce , it seems like you have been able to get as much railroad established already because you have had an understanding mate . 😍

Mark I haven't  gone to some nice display shelving yet.  I do have a set of shelves that just contains rolling stock and a few engines but only with the ends showing. 

As time has passed since getting into this hobby I have wondered , only once in a great while ,if I want to collect trains or have fun running trains.         With all the equipment  I have gathered so far , I'm  starting to find a lot of maintenance that needs to be done before I press into service some of the items.   Am I just being caught up in salivating over the next new item ?     I don't know.  🤔

just purchased an MTH Premier plated SantaFe F7 .😉

Other than being a few pieces of cork short, the “east” yard is complete. Could have completely filled it with track but wanted the gap for the dispatcher station and some other junk that will sit in there. I’m pretty happy with it.

A place to park, that looks great!  I have to get working on my yard extension, that's one thing that I'm short on, parking space!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

A place to park, that looks great!  I have to get working on my yard extension, that's one thing that I'm short on, parking space!

Me too! I don’t think you can ever have enough though.

Re: St of Maine Potatoes...

I know METCA announced one of those last year. Is that it?