Congratulations NMRA MCR Div 7!
All those layouts look very nice!
"HONGZ" stands for HO scale, N scale, G scale, and Z scale.
Post your non-O scale stuff here!
PM for this Saturday's operating session.
The St. Paul turntable stopped rotating at the last Ops.
The white gear was close to the motor and not engaging the bottom gear.
Had to put the 'bridge' on foam to prevent damage to the railings.
All seems to be 'working' again.
One of the 42 year old switch machines was failing in 'one direction' so a new one was installed.
3 passenger trains had to be reversed running them up the mainline to the upper return loop and back down which, also, gives the mainline a 'good' test. Some diesels used to 'turn around' the Zephyr.
More diesels to 'turn around' the SP daylight.
A short section of track would, periodically, lose power. The 'snow' deteriorates the 'connector' so I soldered it.
One commercial turnout in the passenger yard shorted when a car passed over it. Put a piece of tape on the outside of the points to keep the wheels from touching it.
The lead baggage car on the 10 car N&W passenger train would derail 2-3 times on the mainline so some weight was added to the baggage car.
The weight seems to have fixed that problem.
The traction tires on the MTH N&W J are worn so replaced it with the 'non traction' tire. I thought MTH put 'extra' traction tires in the box but 'nada'. Unfortunately, the engine can't pull the 10 cars so some 'frog snot' was added to one set of tires.
Checked MTH and they don't have the traction tires but found some on Ebay.
The mainline, dispatcher's screen, signals, etc. now seem to be an 'OK' for Saturday.
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You are well versed at maintaining the railroad after 40 years! Good results.
GNRW operating session;
The usual start with pizza. Mark got there 'late'.
Ben brought his UP 2-8-0 and some freight cars to 'run'.
Bill (new guy from the Dayton area) ran a GN P-2 4-8-2 mountain while John has a DM&IR S-7 0-10-2 freight.
Mark brought his PRR MP54 (?)
Bill's GN P-2 departing Seattle's freight yard while Bob's DM&IR L-131 2-8-8-4 is pulling the Zephyr passenger train (All diesels were in the 'shop'!).
Ben's UP 2-8-0 at Wilmar and the Zephyr is at Marias pass.
Mark's MP54 approaching Waverly.
Bob's L-131 approaching Hillyard.
Ben's UP 2-8-0 at Glacier.
Joe doing the usual 'dispatching'.
DM&IR 0-10-2 at Marias pass.
DM&IR S-7 taking 'water' at Hillyard. One of 4 functional water tanks. We had to oil the booster truck on the tender so it would operate correctly.
Ben's train at Tumwater Canyon trestle.
Bob's Zephyr approaching Waverly.
Bill's GN P-2 at Chumstick canyon trestle.
John's 0-10-2 taking water at Wilmar.
Bob's D&RGW L-131 approaching Waverly.
Ben took control of the GN P-2 as Bill has to depart.
D&RGW 2-8-8-2 leaving Waverly.
Bob's Zephyr at Wilmar's water tank.
GN P-2 approaching Waverly.
GN P-2, also, taking water at Wilmar.
The 0-10-2 at Glacier's water tank.
GN P-2 leaving Wilmar while the Zephyr is at Marias pass.
All that 'train running' 'wore out' Mark!
DM&IR 0-10-2 at Havre.
O-10-2 approaching Hillyard.
O-10-2 at Tye's water tank.
Zephyr bypassing Seattle's freight yard.
Zephyr entering the passenger yard.
0-10-2 at Skykomish.
0-10-2 entering Seattle's freight yard while the N&W J 4-8-4 passenger is on the passenger track.
0-10-2 'heading' for the turntable.
Some 'switching' in Seattle's freight yard.
PRR T-1 4-4-4-4 passenger train.
PRR T-1 passing the freight yard.
PRR T-1 at Skykomish.
PRR S-1 6-4-4-6; one very long engine.
PRR S-1 at Marias pass.
PRR S-1 approaching Waverly.
Bob's PRR T-1 at Waverly.
A 'meet' at Waverly.
PRR S-1 at Wilmar's water tank.
More 'switching' at Seattle's freight yard.
Finished up with creamsicles and talking 'trains'. Bill had to leave early.
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It looks like everyone had a great time once again!
Pizza, dream sickles, and trains… you guys know how to live!
the last time I set in those wooden folding chairs is at my 1971 graduation 😆
@Seth Thomas posted:Pizza, dream sickles, and trains… you guys know how to live!
the last time I set in those wooden folding chairs is at my 1971 graduation 😆
John, We have 4 of those wooden folding chairs if you would like to come over and relieve history! 😄 BTW, congratulations on 50 years! I still have 3 until I hit 50.
Greenville, Ohio train show.
Didn't decide on 'if I was going to this show' until this morning. Only an hour away so 'why not'!
Darke county fairgrounds.
Two floors. Main floor and basement.
Why Bill had to leave my ops session last night as he had to get up at 5:30 to 'set up'.
'Loads'.
Instant 'bottle cap' collection.
Old Gilbert 'modular' sections.
Basement.
HO layout. Vandalia group.
Old maps.
The really 'old days'!
3 rail.
N scale
My 'booty'.
One large train set for the grandkids. Only 20 bucks. See if I can get the motor working else 'kid power'.
6 Athearn all metal freight cars for 10 bucks each.
A couple Varney all metal cars for 5 bucks each.
One very nicely done freight station for 40 bucks.
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That certainly looks like a great show! I saw one of those riding engines about 5 years ago. I would have liked to had it, but it was already spoken for; a donation for a kids club. A worthy destination, since we still don't have any grandchildren.
Nice show. Looks like Plenty of trains an stuff for sale. Not enough masks…
enjoyed the photos. Thanks
Not enough masks…
several displays I don’t understand. Like the ones which may possibly be pop lids?
Funny Sign reading “firmly negotiable “
Wife, who is once a teacher always a teacher, retired teacher says, “Oxi-moron”. Firmly Negotiable.
Nice structures for sale.
Have a good Monday
John
Seth,
I'm guessing 'they' let some non railroad items be 'for sale' as in the bottle caps for pop.
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The Nickle Plate Historical Society is having a convention in Cincinnati and they're visiting the GNRW on Sunday.
Some more PM is needed.
From the last ops session had to run 3 passenger trains on the mainline to the upper interchange loop to reverse all the cars plus it tested the mainline. Some diesels to pull the N&W, Zephyr and ACL cars.
BLI SF E-1's (both powered).
I can pull 15 old AHM passenger cars from the 70's with no derailments but the MTH highly detailed 10 N&W cars derailed twice. Of course, it doesn't help that I, sometimes, run them at max speed!
A 4 set of Walthers SF PA's: all powered.
That bad rail connector that I, supposedly, fixed; wasn't. Had to re-solder it!
The N&W J 4-8-4 coupler spring was missing which was, periodically, uncoupling.
Found out that when there's a short from a car derailing in one district and passenger cars with lights span that district plus another district, a lot of the circuit breakers start blinking and can't reset until I power them on the 'output' side. I resolved the problem by putting 'on/off' switches on the 'output side' but didn't, initially, know the cause.
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Diesel riding set PM'ed.
As previously mentioned, I purchased this at the last train show for the grandkids.
I 'googled' riding trains and this set didn't appear so it must be pretty old. I found no indication of who made it.
Engine was a little grungy.
Some '409', a toothbrush and some car polish 'worked well'.
The red cover allows access to where the battery is suppose to be.
I tested it with an old HO DC power pack and the motor still works. The volt meter indicated 15 volts for a 'good' speed.
12 volts seemed very slow moving. Instead of getting a battery, I decided to just use the power pack as one can very the speed via the rheostat.
The track easily connects to each other and is all plastic. There are 8 curve pieces and 2 straight.
One negative is, eventually, the wire cord gets twisted so I installed a connector so the wire can be untwisted. Also, I bought a plastic bowl, drilled a hole in it and routed the wire through the hole and put the bowl over the power pack to help keep the wire from tangling on the power pack. A positive is there is no battery that needs charging and, eventually, goes bad and a new one has to be bought.
The train is started by rotating the handle a few degrees to the right (clockwise). There are two 'foot rests' on each side of the engine.
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I’m glad it works great!
I've been informed that this is 'Mighty Casey' by Remco only made in 1970.
I had forgotten the name! Yes, Mighty Casey! Now I remember the guy said the name of it. I think he had one or two cars also. I must have looked it up, because I remember seeing the boy's mum giving him a sandwich as he rode by. 
Just 'test running' steam engines!
Only installed decoders in about half of my engines. I can only run the 'DC' engines in the Seattle's freight yard where I can 'toggle' between DCC and DC. Thought I'd just 'test run' a few of the DC engines.
UP 7002 4-8-2 factory painted by Balboa in 1971.
Southern 4-6-2 by PFM (United) imported in 1976 custom painted by the previous owner.
SP AC-12 4-8-8-2 cab forward factory painted by Tenshodo in 1976.
NYC Niagara 4-8-4 factory painted by Tenshodo in 1985. The drivers have TPE equalization suspension as on the prototype.
UP 4-12-2 factory painted by Tenshodo in 1995 with a 3 cylinder working greasley valve. One of the last engines made by Tenshodo for the USA.
Greasley valve rocks forward and backward into the cylinders.
GN O-8 2-8-2 imported by Sunset in 1976. Painted by me. Sunset was never considered a 'hi end' product but this engine is very nicely detailed and runs great.
Greenbrier Cheat & Elk 150 ton shay imported by Key in 1984. At 150 tons the engine looks more like an O gauge engine!
GN S-1 4-8-4 factory painted by Tenshodo in 1979. Coast drive and functioning power reverse lever. One of the first engines with coast drive.
D&RGW L-105 4-6-6-4 factory painted by Key in 1984.
GN C-1 0-8-0 factory painted by Tenshodo in 1968. Very few engines came painted 'back then'.
Engines that need re-assembling from last Spring. Most are done with decoders and lights, etc. Just have to do the 'final step'. About 8 of them.
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Looks great!
Open house for the Nickle Plate Historical Society's convention in Cincinnati.
Videos:
GN R-2 2-8-8-2 freight drag:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27v702bItB0
GN S-2 4-8-4 passenger train: (ps: no derailments on my 'empire builder'!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfcHdEOzkDM
Ben and Joe 'ran the trains'.
GN R-2 leaving Tye.
GN Q-1 departing Seattle's freight yard.
GN R-2 at Wilmar.
GN S-2 at Marias pass.
Some of the visitors: One from Wisconsin and others from northern Ohio.
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New delivery.
UP Big-Boy. Model is factory painted by Key in 1987 and has 'tons' of functioning hatches.
During the 80's Key was making engines that were 'super' detailed.
Key warns you to be carful when handling these engines as the functioning parts can be damaged.
The cab is really nicely detailed and has a glow fire box with the doors open.
This engine has 'coast drive' so can push it like a Lionel engine.
Some parts need to be repainted, ie brake shoes, etc as they have some 'crud' on them. I'll have to strip the paint and repaint them. The main super structure is good: just some removable parts need repainting. They knocked 20% off so that convinced me!
The trailing trucks are sprung.
Sand hatches and center hatch open.
The 2nd sand dome also has functioning hatches. Lagging 'stays' also along the top of the boiler.
Turret doors open with internal details. Cab hatch opens.
The tender journals are sprung and move vertically.
Headlight in engine and tender.
Tender hatches open.
Tender auger.
See through walk boards.
With no coupler and no noticeable wear on the wheels, I'm guessing this engine 'sat' in the box for the last 34 years.
A very heavy engine at over 2 lbs.
With tender. The tender rolls like it has 'roller bearings'.
Deck plate. Drawbar has 3 holes to align the tender close to the engine.
The near big boy is also by Key but was made in 1983. This version does not have all the 'bells and whistles'. It was not factory painted but a decoder with all the lights were added. The center big boy is the 1987 version and the 3rd big boy is by Tenshodo made in 1981.
On the 1983 version I added extra decals, ie air tank service dates, 'fire hose' on tender, etc.
I installed 13 LED's in the 1983 version.
Surprised the Tenshodo is not longer than the Key's as Tenshodo made the drivers scale and built the engine around the drivers.
Besides liking multi-colored engines, I like a lot of functioning hatches.
This UP challenger factory painted by Key has the same functioning hatches plus the closed cab has functioning doors, see through walk boards and coast drive.
A UP 4-8-4 FEF-2 factory painted and besides functioning hatches, the front smoke box opens plus functioning doors on the all weather cab and see through walk boards and coast drive. Yellow stripe.
Another Key FEF-2 only silver stripe.
UP 4-12-2 factory painted by Key with hatches, smoke box and see through walk boards, coast drive and working Greasley valve for the 3 cylinders.
Key did the bulk of the functioning hatches on engines but Oriental Limited did a few as this GN O-8 has sand hatches and coast drive.
Another comparison of details.
While biking, someone was having a 'garage' sale so I picked up some nice oak stools.
Also a couple garden stools. Cleaned them up and give them to my 'daughter in law'.
Getting old: bought a self propelled lawn mower and a snow blower.
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That is a really nice looking one!!
Berea train show at Cuyahoga county fairgrounds.
Located off I-71 in the Cleveland area.
4 buildings.
I dropped my camera and damaged the lens to I had to use my phone and the pictures, mostly, came out blurry.
These N gaugers had 3 layouts and one was very large.
Lots of N gauge passenger sets.
HO layout.
S gauge layouts.
One dealer had a 'ton' of Walthers kits.
Dave from Middletown, Ohio.
Small N gauge layout.
Only bought a few items. A power pack for lighting 'stuff'. The reefer is an old Varney all metal car.
The seller's father built this car and did a really nice job so I had to buy it.
My friend Gary Oliver that I've know for about 40 years. Models the NP and lives in Lancaster, Ohio.
While in Cleveland I picked up a 93" wingspan F4U corsair
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NMRA MCR DIV 7 monthly meeting.
Awards.
Attendance plus 'zoom'.
Contest entries.
Zoom equipment.
Company store.
Bob's friend.
Feature presentation by Peter.
Layout visits.
Visit to John Listermann's layout.
Chuck Behymer's layout.
HO track racing cars.
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Very nice looking layouts!
Repaint faulty parts on the newly acquired UP big boy by Key.
The supports for the valve gear, brake shoes, front driver retaining plate and front truck on the tender has the 'white crud' on them. My friend Gary said this is when they used the chemical to blacken these parts, they didn't, fully, remove the chemical.
Put 'low tack' tape over the functional hatches to they don't get damaged or scratched while disassembling the engine.
All parts were cleaned with a brass wire brush in enamel reducer. This cleans off the old 'crud' and paint and leaves the original 'blackened' surface. The cow catcher had some defects so that is, also, being painted.
The brake shoes were pinned to some cardboard since they are too small to hold and paint at the same time.
First and 2nd coat were added.
Tools of the trade with my preference for Scalecoat paint. Painted in my detached shop so all the fumes aren't in the house.
Bake for 2 hours at 200 degrees in my 45 year old toaster oven.
Parts that needed to be removed for painting. First engine that I've had where the screws holding the brake shoes to the frame are hex head, as with the prototype. Not that you can see them but they are there!
Being made in 1987, it has incandescent lights along with bridge rectifiers, etc for the 1.5 volt bulbs.
A nice large cannon motor. First time I've seen a fly wheel on a brass steam engine.
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Oct 9,10: NMRA MCR DIV 7 train show in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Held at the Lakota West High school in West Chester, Ohio.
Main hall of the school.
Test area for purchasers.
Some "how to's" by Nancy and Sam.
Sides are just paper prints.
Chuck for the NMRA memberships.
Frank's 'white elephant' sales.
John the Div 7 'pres'.
stuff.
N-TRAK.
'Young uns' watching the 'tornado'.
All 'Revelle' layout.
Jim and Jane.
A very nice HO layout that would make a nice home layout.
PRR historical society.
George.
Sam
Main basketball floor with two huge layouts: HO and 3-rail.
8' curves.
Legos
3 rail
WW II war layout.
Live steam.
S gauge
HO layout.
Steve.
Dan and Joe.
Alan and Paul.
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Wow, Sam! It looks like there was a lot of everything at that show! Great job by the division to organize such an event.
I think my old gym teacher from 50 years ago would have suffered the big one if anyone put a mat down and setup train layouts on our high school gym floor! 
Mark,
My high school had a very unusual basketball floor. The wood was laid with the end grain up which created a very unique look. Anyone walking on that with street shoes was in 'big trouble'.
Picture of it from my 40th reunion back in 2004:
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UP Big Boy LED installs.
0402 LED's used.
All the old wiring and incandescent bulbs removed.
While trying to install the marker lights, I noticed a piece of brass inside the firebox from the slot on the bottom of the boiler. Found out that the smoke box door opens: cool. The instructions said nothing about this. Inside is a piece of brass representing the interior of the boiler.
Hinge side.
Marker lights installed after drilling out the marker lights. Also, had to drill two small holes next to the hand stanchions to route the wires. With the smoke box door open, able to push the wires past the front lead weight to the back of the boiler.
Some canopy glue used to secure the LED's in the marker lights. I painted the inside of the marker lights plus the canopy glue insures the LED's don't touch the brass and cause a short.
Tender LED installed.
Four running LED's installed, one over each valve gear.
The two front LED's were 'fun' to install. After pushing all of the wire into the hole in the side of the boiler, used a fine piece of piano wire with a 'hook' on the end to push along the side of the lead weight and pull the wire to the back of the boiler.
The 0402 LED is in the center of the picture.
Red LED glued in the fire box area.
Since this engine has an open fire box door, had to align the LED to get the 'fire' showing in the fire box
Used some silicon caulk to secure the LED.
Bought extra traction tires for my MTH engines.
A fellow modeler was having his decoder installed engine stopping periodically.
Found the 'tender' side wires are defective as moving them would stop the engine.
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New delivery:
Got a 'sound car' decoder to install in one of my freight cars.
If it works well on producing 'rail' noises, I'll buy a few more.
Spare tractions tires ordered from BLI for various steam engines.
Figure I'd better gets these before they become unavailable, which is common in this 'cottage' industry
Tested the layout for this Saturday's Ops session. Ran one of the passenger trains for testing as I had to run it up to the upper 'return loop', anyway, to get all the cars 'in the correct order'. All worked well except the observation cars front coupler which kept uncoupling so I replaced it. The original coupler was a scale size, plastic coupler.
Some better pictures of a car I just bought that was made by the sellers father. Very nicely done.
Even added the brake 'gear'.
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Sam, I know it's been awhile from my last comment, but I see your still doing amazing work! Just a heads up I just sold a MRC DCC system to a forum member that is just getting into DCC and told him if he had any question to reach out to you and you are the DCC Guru here on the forum!
Mike,
I know how to install decoders in brass steam engines and have some knowledge on my Digitrax to make me 'dangerous' but not a 'guru'.
==========================
For an HO engine!!!!
https://www.brasstrains.com/Cl...ler-2005-Run-Boo-Rim
For an HO passenger car!!!!
A video review of decoders.
Personally, I have just about all steam engines so I use TCS 1517 WOW 101 steam decoders and they have 'keep alive'.
Whichever decoder you use, it's best to 'stick' with just one brand, if possible, to not have to remember which decoder is in which engine for different functions. I've got several BLI engines and several MTH engines so I need to keep a 'paper' list of the functions for reference when those engines are operated.
In the 'old days', for the most part, steam engines were not accurate for a railroad, had pizza size flanges and weren't very good. Now, manufacturers are coming out with excellent steam engines and I, particularly, like smoke (some even have smoke for the whistles). BLI now has hybrid engines where the superstructure is brass so lots of detail is present. All the engines that I have purchased lately are extremely reliable, 'engine' wise as well as 'decoder' wise. I even bought a few MTH engines that were several years old and the decoders have performed excellently with no problems. I took a chance on the MTH engines figuring that since they have been making 3-rail engine for a long time, their same high quality would 'carry over' to the HO engines. I've been partial to the cast metal steam engines as they provide a lot of weight for 'pulling power'. MTH seems to make all their steam engine in cast metal and BLI has several either cast metal or hybrid.
Also, in my old age, after painting engines for 40 'some' years, it's nice to get an outstanding steam engine that I can just 'put on the tracks' and run!
GNRW operating session, Oct 16.
I broke the lens on my camera so I used an earlier bought camera but failed to notice the lens cover didn't open 'fully' until the last few pictures 
Videos:
NP Z8 4-6-6-4 (Sunset model) freight drag and a SP AC-5 4-8-8-2 (Key) passenger train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuzYs_gQJhY
NYC 4-6-4 Dreyfus Hudson (MTH) passenger train and a UP Big-boy 4-8-8-4 (Key) freight drag:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUDFBVBmONQ
The usual pizza before operating.
SF 4-6-4 Blue goose (Tenshodo) passenger train at Skykomish.
Ben's SF at Chumstick canyon trestle.
N&W J 4-8-4 (MTH) passenger train bypassing the Seattle's freight yard.
Ben's SF at Wilmar.
Bob's N&W J.
John's SF AC-5 4-8-8-2 (Key) passenger train at Havre.
N&W J west of Waverly.
Bob's N&W J 4-8-4.
Ben's Blue Goose at Waverly.
Freight and passenger meet at Glacier.
Bob's N&W J arriving at the passenger yard.
NYC 4-8-4 Niagara (Nickel Plate Products) passenger train departing Seattle. The Niagara had 'steaming' problems and was replaced with a Dreyfus Hudson (MTH).
NP Z-8 4-6-6-4 (Sunset) and SP AC-5 4-8-8-3 (Key).
UP 4-8-8-4 (Key) at Skykomish.
Dave's NP Z-8 at Tye.
NYC Dreyfus Hudson (MTH).
Joe the dispatcher.
NYC Dreyfus Hudson and UP 4-8-8-4.
UP Big-Boy at Hillyard.
Big Boy at Wilmar. (I, finally, noticed the lens cover needed to be, manual, opened fully!).
Final cream bars and 'train discussions'.
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Post operating session PM.
At my age, I figure I better PM all the problems that occurred last night before I forget what they were!
Had to re-solder the wire to one of the trucks for the marker lights to work.
An ore train was on the mainline and a few of the ore cars derailed. I've got, mostly, the MDC ore cars that were made back in the 70's. However, about 10 are from an 'easy to build' kits that are very light. The wheels, which I just noticed, are not very good so I replaced them with Intermountain all metal wheels. I'll test a few to see if that resolves the problem else I'll add weight to the axles (see later pictures on that procedure).
The ore cars are very light at only 0.9 oz.
The majority of cars are the heavier MDC cars but the 10 on the right, front of the picture are the 'kit' ore cars.
Some shorts resolved.
This cars insulated wheels were opposite of each other and with a metal undercarriage, it caused a periodic short.
The trucks are the Central valley trucks with the functional springs.
A few more cars needing PM. These are two vintage all metal Varney freight cars.
This engine's sound was acting strange with a 'echoing' sound. Put it on the track this morning and all's good. Looks like the usual 'power down and back up' procedure worked.
The NYC Niagara stopped 'dead in its tracks'. The rubber coupling broke.
The engine was pulling about 14 NYC passenger cars and the coupling, probably, twisted from the weight. An extra metal tube was added to reduce the large gap between the motor and gear.
The Niagara 'weighs in' at a hefty 39 ounces.
A piece of tubing put over the draw bar pin to keep the draw bar from coming off the tender's pin.
This engine was made by Nickel Plate Products. I never considered NPP a 'high end' product but they did a respectable job on this engine. The engine was made in 1977.
The trailing truck on the SF Blue Goose derailed a few times so some lead was added to one axle plus the 'stabilizing' wire's loop was broken so I made a new loop on one end. I used lead sheeting on this axle but it's easier to use soldering wire (posted later in this post). The 'connecting' rod prevented adding lead to the front wheel axle.
Will need a 'road test'.
These two 'articulated' cars were causing a short in a 18 car train plus a heavily lighted SP AC-5 4-8-8-2 train. Checked the lighting for any shorts and found nothing. Put the cars on the track and all's good. I'm guessing the amount of wattage may be too large and caused the short to appear. Some more 'road testing'.
My original MTH N&W J 4-8-4 and 6 MTH passenger cars used to work fine. I purchased 4 more MTH cars and a couple have been derailing. Found no 'out of gauge' or other problems so some weight was added to this car. They disassemble easily as only need to spread the cars sides for the bottom frame to be removed.
The 'air hoses' and couplers need to be removed before disassembly.
I added some interior weight over each truck plus added solder wire to each axle insuring neither end of the wire can touch both ends of the wheels and causing a short since both sides are used for electrical 'pick up'.
MTH makes very nicely detailed cars.
Before weight.
After. Put a piece of tape on the car so easy to monitor when 'road testing'.
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'Road testing' the PM's.
Ran all the PM fixes along the mainline, both East and West, which should be a good test at 900' to 1000'; counting the passing sidings, up to 1100' of testing.
N&W passenger car no longer derails after weight was added to the car and trucks.
Added the SP 'articulated' 2 car set back to the 18 car set and all ran well. Not sure why they caused a short on the previous day.
My initial thought of a 'power drain' to that district doesn't 'hold water' since I have a 20 amp power source!
Also, the passenger train was run, this time, using 4 PA diesels, all powered so 4 motors. Weighing in at 53.5 ounces per 2 engine set, that's 107 ounces of pulling power so exceeding the 'systems' power output seems unlikely.
The neighborhood kids wanted to 'run trains' so I let them test the NYC passenger train. One car derailed so it has been removed from the 'consist' and no problems with the remaining cars.
Last was testing the very light ore cars after installing Intermountain wheel sets.
With 14 cars behind the two ore cars, no derailments so 'wheel sets' do make a 'difference', especially when each car only weighs 0.9 ounces (or is that ounce!).
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Heck of a write up! I can't wait to reach this stage of having my own layout. That blue goose is one sharp looking engine!!!
Sam,
Have been following you on the form for several years now and I am at amazed at how much work, effort and detail you have on your layout. I modeled HO for the better part of 60 years, GN, NP and CB&Q. Changed to ) gauge about 7 years ago.
When I see some of your model kits from the 1950's and 1960's, it brings back a lot of great memories.
Of course the brass GN and NP engines are some that I had and wish I had kept some of them.
Anyway, with all the GN and NP engines you have, and that fact that your title is "Great Northern", wonder if I'll ever see some Q engines on your layout. Would be nice to see 3 or 4 CB&Q E7/8 A units pulling the EB in elephant style. Or the Q 4-6-4's and 4-8-4's with a string of heavy weights.
Keep up the great work. Maybe someday if I ever get out back east, I'll look you up.
Ray
Member BRHS and the GGLRR Club
Thanks guys,
Since GN interfaced with Burlington, I have two Burlington engines; An O-5 and O-5B.
Also, the original Zephyr plus the later Zephyr train.
Sorry, you won't see any diesels.
Videos:
Original Zephyr:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aIvgag7_og
O-5B pulling passenger train:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-GHSQyOghY&t=1s
Freight drag:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA8zm3IMxwI
Departing Seattle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_l4AJEAuo0
Santa Fe Blue Goose leaving Hillyard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4z2M96V-DY
O-5 and O-5B 4-8-4.
SF Blue Goose 4-6-4:
I 'googled' your club layout. Nice looking railroad. Good that you have a place to 'run trains'.
Attachments
Images (4)
Although taken 2 years ago, this video shows the bulk of the updates that have been made including a complete signaling system and several hundred new trees added.
Very impressive number of upgrades, Sam!
