I have seen similar threads on other forums and thought one would be a good topic for the Big Blue. I always enjoy seeing what everyone is buying for their layouts. Locomotives, freight cars anything goes and all scales welcome.

I'll start with mine first. I picked up a pair of Athearn RTR Procor tank cars for my propane distributor tonight off of ebay like this one.

Doctorwayne was on the MR forum and found a post about Jeffery. Here's what his sister said:

Quote:"As you know Jeff has been in nursing care sense November. Just before thanksgiving Jeff had a stroke it affected his right side. Lost of speech, can only move his left arm. The doctor say there may be no improvement. We were also told his body is trying to shutdown. He know where he is at, he knows his family."

Just got back from the Lehigh & keystone Valley railroad open house in Bethlehem PA. Took a bunch of pics and thought I would post a few here.

Their model of the Huber breaker in Ashley PA. ( this was the main reason for me going there.)    

   

   

   

   

A few shots of the ARHS FA-2 from the inside. It is currently being restored back to operating condition at Steamtown in Scranton PA.

First up is a upward look at the cooling fan. Normally there is a radiator here, but it is currently out getting a leaky spot fixed.    

   

A look forward from the engine room towards the cab.    

   

"Wind Rider" is back at the Seaport Village and Museum
   
She will probably be heading South, in the next few days, before the snow flies.

Just realized I missed my 6th anniversary here, 8 days ago.

Hi gang,

I am tempted to buy myself one of the Broadway limited SD40-2's - however, are such units used in local freight?
My current (only) loco so far is a GP15-T, and having a bit to choose from would be nice.
Another option could be a Trainman Genset II, but I am not sure I'd be successful in installing a decoder without a) utterly melting all Electronics and b) demolishing detail parts...

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

Martin

This is something that I have not been able to fully control.I have tried to keep the tracks and motive power wheels
as clean as I can. I even took a track cleaning block and cleaned the inside edges of the rail head to make sure there
was no crud that could cause sparks.
Try as I might,I still get them but not really bad,but they are like a tooth ache that won't go away.
Has anyone else experienced this and what steps have you taken to prevent this?
BobS

Today, my son got his first clue that we are Santa Claus...he got off the bus and saw a Trainworld package on the porch. He recognized the word train. My wife succeeded in lying to him...it's for his cousin or grandpa.

Trainworld has the Mehano/IHC/Pemco 2-6-0s for $30! I ordered him one, as that's quite the price for such an engine. To be prototypically accurate, I ordered him a Southern Pacific one. It came in a tray but without the box, and equipped with NEM couplers. Still, the coupler swap is easy. They also had a pacific for $50 and the mountains for $60. Not bad in my opinion. No sweet deals on their 2-8-2s or 2-10-2s. I'm not a fan of their locomotives other than the mogul and OO scale 4-4-0s, but the price was definitely right. I would have also liked to get him one of their 2-8-0s, but they didn't have those either. My son is 6, so getting a BLI 2-8-2 or Spectrum 2-8-0 wouldn't have gone over well. After a year, he's yet to damage his Bachman 0-6-0...but killed an Athearn PA-1, Mantua F-unit, and a Life Like dockside.

Regardless, I thought I should pass on the 2-6-0 find.

My nearly 3 yr old son is really into Thomas, so the wife and I took him to a local show just so he could look at some trains. Ended up with:

- Thomas train table. $40 (new, they're $200+)
- Brand new Kevin and Victor (Sodor Steamworks crane and engine)
- Thomas bedroom light that looks like an oil lantern

I haven't bought anything train-related for a long time. All of my stuff has been sitting in the garage for the last few years. Moving, getting married, moving again, having a baby...I just haven't had the time to get a new layout up and running. There were only 2 N-scale tables in this entire show (and it was big), but I did manage to score some sorely needed livestock cars:

- MT Soo Line 40'
- Atlas NYC 40'
- Atlas N&W 50'
- $20 for all

These will go nicely with my yet-to-be-built N Scale Architect Quality Meat Stock Yard.