Wandering topic--Doldrums--Ebay Bargain--Atlas GP-38 with 2 decoders still bites-could use advice.

It’s been almost 3 weeks since the May MRR came out. Tonight I felt like reading something besides homework. I checked the mag section at Wally World and they still don’t have the May RMC.

And to top it off, this is the best post I could come up with to start a conversation.

Maybe tomorrow night I will have something to talk about. I fit an N scale NCE decoder into my Atlas GP-38 alongside the crappy SoundTrax LLC. Tomorrow, I’ll try it out on the club layout. I’ll have something to report one way or the other.

Hopefully, we can somehow muddle through until then. : )

Jeff

Yer makin’ me laugh, Chip. I have been bummed for this past week, but you’re still making me laugh. I can “feel your pain.” I have a feeling that you are on the cusp of a breakthrough of some kind…the giant is about to awaken.

BTW, I spent a grand total of CDN $198.58 on 200’ of 1X4, 24’ of 1X2, and 60’ of 1X3 for my new plan. I also got a surform, screws, finishing nails, masking tapes, countersinking bit, etc. It will be open grid and spline…'cuz I want to do it at least once in my life. Now, if I could just find the time…

Hang in there. The light at the end of a tunnel is your train…

-Crandell

Sounds like you need one of those cool laser levels.

Canadian Tire has them on sale this week, tripod and all![:D]

Well it’s not that I was bored or anything but I relaized that the clearances on the Coaling Tower was too tight so I ripped it out and am doing “something-or-other” to it[:0] What exactly well i dunno I’ll have to wait and see. I also have the Allegheny apart trying to improve the electrical pick ups, something Rivarossi wasn’t to good on! I still have the ballast on the yard to set. Nah no duldrums here thougha sun day would be kinda nice. At this rate I might be building an Arc, I use to build model boats.

No Duldrums here… Well maybe[sigh]

chip, I know what you mean. I paid for the second MR video and said I would like the next and its been almost three weeks[:(], The family thinks a bit nuts but I keep telling them we are all bit touched.[:o)]

Well don’t buy the March 2006 “Model Railroading” which just came in mail today. I was very disapointed with it. Other than a piece on the SD45-2 it was mostly about trucks. Trucks as in dump trucks, semi-trailer trucks, cement trucks, etc. Twenty pages of trucks and only 4 of them dealt with MOW trucks.

Well, a good time killer for me is browsing eBay for bargains.

This isn’t one of them. Mellow Mike’s Logging car–a single car-- is up to $420 with 4 days to go.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Custom-Weathered-Loaded-BCOL-Skeleton-Log-Car_W0QQitemZ6051802915QQcategoryZ19139QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Someone should let Aggro know about this one. $420!?! E-gads

Fergie

ok i really like Mellow Mike’s work , he’s an artist . you really have to look at the photos to be sure they aren’t real cars (usually the give away is the foreground scenery) BUT… i have serious concerns about the sanity of anyone who’d pay $420+ for a single freight car . and what’s the point really , if you were modelling a train you’d want at least a dozen of this particular car , because just one log car doesn’t look right by itself

Luckily I’m doing redwoods and those wimpy sticks won’t work for me. I’d have to spend $30K just in cars. Whew!

Which is exactly why I want that issue ![:D] I model an awful lot of vehicles for my layout and have been looking forward to that issue. Different strokes for different folks. [B)]

That reminds me, when I go up to Arcata this summer I’ll have to pick up some redwood sticks to use for logs for the mini Humboldt County redwood logging scene I’m gonna do Someday Real Soon Now…

I just got a CD of scans from a Sacramento Northern mechanics reference guide which includes plans of various SN rolling stock and motive power…most interesting stuff.

My brother is supposed to send me a bunch of sticks when he heads up to Trinidad this year. (But that is what he said last summer and at Christmas.)

Gee, I love it when you talk dirty. I picked one up today at Canadian Tire, one with a tripod, @ 65% off, for a mere CDN$30.00.

Coolness.

Okay, so I got the N Scale decoder installed next to the SoundTrax LLC and it works–about as good as it did with the SoundTrax by itself. My next step will be to look at the connections with the trucks.

How do I get the trucks off?

Hey Guys: Could someone out there tell me what color grey was used on The C&O Steam Engine Smoke box. Thanks Jerry

I’m not having so much trouble with any doldrums, I just have trouble keeping FOCUSED.
Like, I go into the trainroom and start to work on something… say… sanding down the cork roadbed. I get around to where the bridge that I’ve been trying to level is and I see it and quit sanding and start working on the bridge again. I can’t find my level and I then spot it on the work bench, go over to pick it up and notice some tools lying there that I didn’t put away so I start hunting the tool box…
get the picture?
Jarrell

30 bucks at canadian tire ? well i know where i’m going tomorrow [:D]

Yup, it was actually $27 and change, plus tax. Each store is different, though. We found an entertainment/stereo stand for $199.00 in Courtenay today, but only the display item was left. They found two in Campbell River, 30 mins away, but that store wanted $27 dollars more! Sheesh!

Chip, it really is too bad that you are having such a hard time with that loco. I admire your perseverance, though. Still plugging away, even after all the electrical work on it. Good form, Bud.