Great Northern railway

Dallas,

Figure a lot of us are reaching the 'checkout' age so we need to, at least, make an 'inventory'.

=====================

New delivery.

CMX track cleaning car.

These things are expensive so it took awhile until I finally won a bid that was under 100 bucks (92 plus shipping, etc 109 delivered).

It's all brass so it's heavy. This is a used item.  Came with trucks and couplers.

Suppose to adjust the two knobs on top to get a desired flow of liquid.

The two wires at each end snap over the brass bed to hold the cleaning material to the pad.

I ran the car with a Bachmann PRR GG-1 (my 'work train' and 'mainline tester' engine).  I changed between 2 pieces of cloth about every 100' and then every 200'.  After about 3 or 4 trips and about 1000' of track, the rail is very clean as, using a paper towel, it was clean after wiping the towel on the rail.  I'm very impressed with this 'track cleaner'.

I used lacquer thinner as it removed 'gunk' quickly but evaporates quickly and leaves no residue.

The pads only get dirty along the rails and they got 'gunked' pretty fast so I just soaked one while using the other.

I found it easier to just soak the cloth versus using the knobs to adjust the flow of any liquid.

One gets about 2' of cleaning cloth that can be purchased separately.  I thought I'd try some felt but the surface is too coarse and doesn't work well.

My old track cleaner can be retired after only 45 years.  I believe it's by Ulrich from the 70's.

New truck bed soft cover installed after the old one got destroyed by the high winds when taking the grandkids 3-rail layout to their house.   My 17 year old Chevy Silverado truck with only 200,000 miles and no rust and the best part: 325 CI V-8

Of course, under the hood has to, also, be kept super clean:

@samparfitt posted:

Dallas,

Figure a lot of us are reaching the 'checkout' age so we need to, at least, make an 'inventory'.

Sam.......I'm really in the Twilight  Zone on this..

Shortest I can make this.......Judy was married to Bernie and I was married to Anne . We all went to St. Joseph's , we rode motorcycles together.   Bernie and Anne passed from cancer issues.

Judy and I were married at her age of 65 ,I was 66.   

I told her if we married at our ages we would have to live to age 125 to make it worth while.

SO................I'm still having a rough time trying to keep away from visiting the for sale and auction sites.

Some PM before Saturday's operating session.

The two B&O EM-1's 2-8-8-4 lost 'steam pressure' at the last operating session.

These are by Westside made in 1979.

The first one had a momentary short on the trailing truck as the insulated tire would contact the truck frame.

Also, I had to clean off some of the 'bullfrog snot'.  From the 'gunk' on the rails, it can get nasty. 

Some Kadee insulators to keep the wheel sets from 'side play'.

All better.

Engine painted last year with decoder and lots of LED's installed.

Painted the lanyard a 'rope' color!

Back in the passenger yard.  I'll let John 'road test' it!

The second EM-1 had the lead truck shorting.  Some electrical tape fixed it, hopefully!

One wire leading to the lighted trucks needed re-soldering.

Had to reverse 2 passenger trains via the mainline from the last operating session.  Both 14 car trains ran East and West with no derailments so the mainline is 'good to go'.

Pennsy train.  I like to use my 3 diesel sets for all 'road testing'.  Was nice to leave off the sound and just hear the metal wheels.

B&O passenger train 'reversed'.

Turned on the roundhouse toggles as, sometimes, I forget to turn them on and railroaders say 'there's no power' and I take a few minutes to figure out 'what's wrong'!  I leave the power off during the month when I 'run trains' so less 'wear' on those decoders not sitting there in 'idle'.

3 new buildings have new 'homes'.

The upper staging, reverse loops were never intended to have any scenery, ie spiked the rail down with no ties but, over time, I've added buildings to make the 'visual' journey more enjoyable for the engineer.

Manard's Shell station with rotating sign for 'memories' of things I saw when I was young.

Well, railroad seems ready!

Looking good, Sam!!

Joe's club set up their modular HO layout at Liberty township mall.

Large L shape.

That is quite a nice modular.  Is that Joe in the first photograph?

Joe's in the first picture.  While there, I handed out candy canes to the kids.

'Open loads':

6 new 'open loads: 1 with transformers, 2 with tractors and 3 with wood.

Gathered all the 'open loads' into one train.  About 28 of them.  The one black, center drop flat with the grey transformer is from my first HO train set: a Gilbert NYC Hudson and 4 freight cars back when I was around 12 years old ('switching over' from Lionel).

GNRW operating session:

These aren't my best 'picture taking' but they'll have to 'do'.

Pizza first, starting at left: Bob, Dave, Jack, Ben, John, Bill and Joe.

Bob took the SF 2-10-10-2 freight drag.   We had several engines that had trouble slipping on grades; I think part of the problem was that I made the track too clean with my new 'track cleaner'.  I, actually, think it's best to have some dirt on the track for the engines to get traction!

Dave getting the PRR J-1 2-10-4 out of the roundhouse.

John in the passenger yard starting a NYC Niagara 4-8-4 passenger train.

Ben with an N&W A 2-6-6-4 freight drag at Hillyard.

SF 2-10-10-2  at Skykomish.

Bill's N&W J 4-8-4 passenger train.

NYC Niagara bypassing the freight yard.

Joe the dispatcher.

Dave's PRR J-1 2-10-4 freight drag.

N&W J at Hillyard taking water.

The J at Chumstick canyon trestle.

NYC Niagara at Havre.

N&W Class A entering freight yard.

Bob's train at Wilmar.

NP A-5 4-8-4 passenger train bypassing the freight yard.

NYC Niagara passenger train.

GN R-2 2-8-8-2 freight drag at Hillyard.

Niagara approaching Tye.

GN R-2 at Wilmar's water tower.

SF 2-10-10-2 on incoming track at Seattle's freight yard.

NYC Niagara passenger train bypassing the freight yard.

D&RGW L-131 2-8-8-2 Zephyr passenger train.

GN R-2

GN R-2 at Seattle's freight yard.

The usual ending with orange cremesicles.

Looks like another successful operating session!!

Post operating session PM:

After 5 hours of work, the layout is back to 'normal'.

Had 4 passenger train sets to 'reverse' in the passenger yard via the mainline.

Used 2 of the 3 diesels I have to 'reverse' the train sets.

The NP set had one car that derailed several times.

Good to run engines with the sound off; can hear things that don't sound 'right'.  Engines and cars were 'bumping' over this turnout.  Needed a flat head screw driver to remove all the 'gunk' built up in the frog.  'Track cleaning'  cars don't get that stuff!

One NP passenger car that derailed several times was 'leaning' on curves so eliminated that with added Kadee washers on the bolster pin.

More gunk cleaned out of all the frogs.  Hard to find a 48" radius intersecting a straight track crossover on the 'market'!

All the frogs were built using the NMRA gauge so the frog depth is very low so any 'gunk' buildup can affect reliability.

After checking the gauge, etc on the one NP passenger car that kept derailing, I removed it from the train.  One less car in 14 is not noticeable.

One train was left on the mainline from yesterday.

It was taken to the passenger yard and then 'reversed'.

One cable choke for controlling the yard turnouts broke a solder joint.

All fixed.

More 'frogs' cleaned.

The Broadway limited cars weigh in at almost twice the weight of the 4 oz AHM NP passenger cars.   Usually, I don't added more weight to the cars as the 48" minimum radius is, usually, sufficient to maintain reliability.

Some Walther's SF PA's A-B-B-A to 'reverse' the Zephyr set.

All powered so can handle just about any train.

Got the SF E1's 'out' to 'reverse' the NYC passenger cars.

The last passenger train that needed 'reversing'.  N&W 10 car set.  This train gave me a lot of derailments when I added 4 more cars but all seems 'good' now.

Everything back to 'normal' and ready for the next 'session'.

Lots to do after operating!  The hand laid turnouts look great!

Thanks, Mark.

Visit to Cincinnati Model Railroad Club (O gauge, 2 rail):

INFO:

The Cincinnati Model Railway Club, a 100% NMRA Club, was formed in 1934 and is Ohio's oldest model railroad club and one of the five oldest clubs in the United States. The purpose of the club is to promote model railroading in general and two rail O Scale railroading in particular. They construct and operate a multi-level club layout in a 30' by 60' room. Anyone interested in O Scale or any aspect of model railroading is invited to contact them and receive more information on their open work sessions and their monthly operating sessions. Visitors are always welcome and membership is open to any NMRA member. Visit their web site at www.cincyOscale.org or contact them at contact.cmrc@gmail.com and they will get back to you.

Mostly hand laid track and turnouts.

Bob's B&O E-8 passenger train.

Bob's C&O 4-8-4 passenger train.

Bought 3 HO cars from Frank. Two vintage wood and 1 metal.

They have excellent scenery and trains on that layout!

PM and road test a GN R-2 2-8-8-2.

Installed my 'train' clock in the layout after I removed it from my daughter's dog grooming business since they don't have time to replace the batteries.

GN R-2 2-8-8-2 by Tenshodo.  I installed the TCS 1517 decoder 4 years ago and it's making a strange 'beeping' noise on the chuffing.  There is some slight melting of the green cover so I replaced the decoder and all seems fine now. I'll send the old one in to have them replace/fix it, especially since it's free!

Road test.

Videos:

At Skykomish:

This is before I replaced the decoder when one can hear the 'beeping'.  I unplugged the wires and re-inserted them just for a 'check'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=her3RyZKjy4

Departing Hillyard:

New decoder installed.  Only took a few minutes as the decoder has connectors.

I used JMRI decoderpro to reload the data saved in the PC but, 'way back', I failed to upload all decoder data into the PC after making changes to the decoder via the throttle, ie chuff rate.

An all 'open loads' freight drag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7aS4PCoRHY

At Havre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVhqld5cs_s

At Skykomish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZOjrQ3unQ4

Wilmar:

East of Waverly.

A wood lumber kit I built sometime around mid 60's; don't remember the manufacturer.

Taking water at Wilmar.

Glacier.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Tye.

Seattle's freight yard incoming track.

Neighborhood kids wanted to run trains.

DM&IR M-3 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone by MTH with smoke plus smoking whistle.

Skykomish.

Tye

Marias pass.

Hillyard

Havre.

Tumwater canyon trestle.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Whitefish.

Glacier.

Basin tunnel.

Wilmar.

MERRY CHRISTMAS:

Merry Christmas! And thank you so much for sharing all these photos.

@samparfitt posted:

MERRY CHRISTMAS:

OK.......howdid youget the look of falling snow. 🤔

Nice

Samparfitt, Your layout is simply amazing, yes, at age 75 it’s time to downsize a little bit, Your friends in the pictures look like they are having a lot of fun running trains and socializing together, it’s a great way to share the hobby, not only with your local buddies, but via this fun to review OGR Forum. We feel right at home with you while looking at the great pictures you post. Merry Christmas Everyone, and Happy Railroading. May 2022 be a great year for all of us.

Larry,

Thanks for the kind words.  I've seen your layout pictures and they, too, are great.  You do nice work on the scenery.

New delivery:

UP FEF-3 4-8-4 2 tone gray with aluminum striping by Broadway Limited.

An all cast boiler and tender so this model is heavy plus it has traction tires.

I tried to open the ends of the box but the 'clam shell' plastic fitting just slides out of the top of the box.

A slot on the bottom of the box to hold the instruction manual, exploded view and function key list.

Spare parts.

The usual 'clam shell' plastic enclosure.

Programming track to change from address 3 to 836.

My 'software' is not 'up to date' for paragon 4 (P4).  The main difference on P4 is the 'keep alive' on all engines.   I just used P3 and all worked well.

configuration file.

basic file.  Write and save.

Loaded into the 'roster' file.

Besides the lighted headlight the marker lights and number boards are also lighted.  'They' haven't , yet, installed running board lights that I do on my decoder installs.

Excellent paint finish.

Deck plate.  The hanging wires work well as they look like hoses.   As normal, the engine and tender comes pre-attached.

Headlight plus lighted marker lights.  Nice: a Kadee coupler.

Beside double smoking stack, there's a hole under the whistle for the smoke when the whistle is blown.

I, already, have two UP 4-8-4's made by key but I wanted the BLI with smoking stack and whistle.

BLI model is to the 'far right'.

The two Key models were made in the mid 80's when Key was at their 'finest'.

The Key models have several enhancements.

Factory painted 2 tone gray; one aluminum striping and the other yellow striping.

Functional smoke box doors.

Functional turret hatches with interior detail.

MMM: need to clean that dust 'off'!

Functional sand hatches.

Functional cab doors.

Functional water hatches.

Top view.

Last Key item is see through walk boards.  Also, the Key models have coast drive.

Grandkids operating my original 3-rail layout.

Grandkids operating the GNRW layout.

'Road test' the new UP FEF-3 4-8-4 engine.

Video:

Departing Whitefish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVKMjcZnGdk

'For once' my pictures came out 'half way' decent!  My camera gives 'fuzzy' pictures if the trains are moving at 'anything but the slowest speeds'.

Wilmar.

Havre.

Whitefish.

Marias pass.

Tye.

Skykomish.

Seattle's freight yard.

Thought the smoke wasn't working as the function 7 showed on the throttle screen only I had to have the function 7 NOT show to get the smoke to work.

So I ran the engine again to get pictures with the smoke.

Tye.

Also, ran the PRR P5A 'box cab' electrics.

Skykomish.

Tye.

Marias pass.

Hillyard.

Havre.

Tumwater canyon trestle.

Engine wheel cleaning worked well with paper towels on the track.  This worked as this MTH picks up both rail feeds from the tender otherwise only one set of drivers could be cleaned 'at a time'.

Projects to finish.

Figure I'd PM 20 vintage metal Varney/Athearn freight cars for the layout that I purchased last Spring .

'Road test' videos:

Had a couple cars 'leaning' and 3 derailments.

The leaning cars were due to the very 'soft' truck springs as the truck side frames were at an angle and had to be 'released'.

I replaced most of the wheel sets but some, I did not, and they caused derailments and were replaced.

Using a UP 8500 turbine.  Scaletrains museum version.

Departing Seattle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mat_ZApZ0qA

Departing Tye:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOpgQ0DBl3k

Leaving Hillyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E_cJm4S_VU

Using a SF 2-10-4 for testing.  A PFM (United) model made in 1972.

Approaching Hillyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnFbh2GQdIU

PM'ing the cars:

20 cars to PM.  Most are metal Varney freight cars made in the 50's and 60' making them 60-70 years old.

Early Varney boxes.

Some still had baker couplers.

And  I forgot what these are called.  They came with Japanese made engines.  Some, also, had the 'horn hooks'.

Very early Varney had metal floors and they changed to plastic.  I have some of each.

Most of the wheels were replaced with Intermountain metal wheel sets.  Tried to keep the original metal trucks that are sprung but some had to be replaced with plastic trucks.

Some coupler pockets needed drilling for screws.

Cars PM'ed (first row).

All have metal sides, roofs and ends unless noted.

These wheels sets derailed and were replaced.

Some of the truck springs were very soft so care was needed to not 'rack' the truck sides.

Different 'runs' had different car numbers as seen a few pictures below this one of the same type of car.

Ends are, also, nicely detailed and lettered.

Resin model.

wood sides.

A brass model made in Korea with no 'importer' name.

Wood construction.

Bulk buying of 100 per box is cheapest.

'Road testing' with the UP 8500 turbine.

Marias Pass.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Basin tunnel.

Wilmar.

This engine has a 'ton' of detail including many LED's.

East of Waverly.

More 'road testing' with a SF 2-10-4 by PFM.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Tye.

Now I can start 'working' on about a dozen engines that I purchased last Spring.  They are painted, LED's, decoders, can motors installed and some re-geared.  Just have to finish assembling them.

Neighbors throwing out perfectly good chairs.  I took two for the basement.

Never too proud to 'dumpster dive'!

@samparfitt posted:

And  I forgot what these are called.  They came with Japanese made engines.  Some, also, had the 'horn hooks'.

Euro couplers.  You'd see these on Marklin and Fleischmann cars.  Still have a few Fleischmanns knocking about...

Mitch

Thanks, Mitch, for the info.

Sam, You certainly got a lot done...and a lot to keep you busy!!

I've been informed of the correct names of the old style couplers.

Mantua hook and loop.

Baker couplers.

HAPPY NEW YEAR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXBPsXn6f3k

C&O 1309 VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKYGsS-QdlM

My kind of 'one day' mail delivery:

trains and planes

What a bonanza!!!

@Mark Boyce posted:

What a bonanza!!!

Dum da dum da dum daaaa............Hop Sing ,Ben ,Adam , Hoss and Lil Joe.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Dum da dum da dum daaaa............Hop Sing ,Ben ,Adam , Hoss and Lil Joe.

I knew someone would come up with that; figures it was you.  😄

Actually that was the phrase long-time Pittsburgh Penguins announcer, Mike Lange, often yelled when the Penguins scored a goal. 😄

Potpourri;

Had to 'road test' the new 'vintage' freight cars to insure they were functioning well as it took several 'road trips' to remove all the 'bugs' so I used different motive power during the last testing.

SF PA A-B-B-A video;

Left the sound off so I could hear the 'wheel noise'. Don't get to hear that when the engines have 'sound'.

I have bought a 'sound car' decoder to install in one of my freight cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjgp7ojjYSY

By Walthers: all powered.

Tye

Waverly.

Tenshodo's UP 4-6-6-4 challenger.

Wilmar.

Whitefish.

Havre.

Got the engine 'leaning' into the curve.

PRR P5A boxcabs by Broadway limited.

My friend Joe suggested pictures with the pantographs raised.

I'm guessing PRR ran their pantographs like the GN; only having the back pantographs raised in case of damage to the catenary, the front ones can be raised so the train can, still, be moved.

With both pantographs up I call this the 'company's photographs' (Calendar) for more 'visual affect' versus 'scale'.

Marias pass.

Tye: 'scale' version.

'scale' version at Skykomish.

'Calendar' version.

'Scale'

Calendar.

Shipping rates have increased but not that much and for such an item!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/29468...2:g:BGIAAOSwyWZZTnof

The PRR was rear pan operation, as you say.  An exception was made during winter storms; the forward pan was raised for icebreaking purposes.   

Mitch

Mitch, thanks for the facts.

Vintage metal Athearn/Varney and wood Ambroid/Silver Streak freight cars.

I've rearranged the 60's/70's lighter plastic cars (Athearn, TM, etc) from the heavier vintage freight cars so it will be easier to assign appropriate motive power to that respective string of cars.

I came up with some 'stats' that I wasn't aware of:

There are around 210 vintage freight cars as I thought I only had about 150.  The bulk of the vintage cars have either/both Acurail plastic trucks and Intermountain metal wheel sets.   I tried to keep the original metal, sprung trucks but the Intermountain wheels, sometimes, shorts out when the insulated side touches the metal truck frame.

There are only about 100 plastic freight cars at Seattle's freight yard.  The bulk of the plastic cars have Intermountain metal wheel sets.

Seattle's freight yard:

Each track holds from 36 to 43 freight cars.

The 'icing' platform (far left) has all plastic 'reefers' on both sides of the platform.

Besides the 2 'reefer' tracks, there is only one track with the plastic freight cars.  The rest are all 'vintage'.

The St. Paul freight yard only has 1 track (far left) with vintage freight cars.  The rest are all plastic.

About a year ago, I removed about 100 plastic freight cars from the layout.

The passenger yard was installed about 1.5 years ago.  They have vintage and modern passenger cars.  Vintage being the old AHM plastic cars from the 70's.  The vintage cars needed new wheel sets.  The newer BLI, MTH, Walthers, etc, already have nice 'free wheeling' wheels plus their detail is excellent.