I am replacing all switch machines with the widely used Tortoise after another one of my old switch machines failed this night.
Overhead soldering is a no go for me and the commercial available terminals with screws are either expensive or not ready available in Germany. The very low cost luster terminals and dual sided sticky tape with some wires are a nice alternative.

Whats up guys? Just getting back into things after being out of the loop for 20yrs. In a week or so when i get my new toy back i will post some pics.

Gents, yesterday was the first ever trip behind steam for the Hickory Creek. Hickory Creek, and her sister Sandy Creek, were the two tail cars from the 20th Century Limited from 1948-1967. The owner/operator/man who spent 5yrs returning her to 1948 as-delivered condition confirms this (the train was dieselized in '48 and backup power was not steam for the Century).

I had the privilege of being on it, but have relatively few photos. I only really saw the engine twice: during the layover in Lafyette and after pulling in at the end of the trip. Air conditioned cars have one major downside: you can't hear or smell the engine...nor can you see it much when you are on the 17th car of the train. I'd have loved to stick around and chase it, but it was enough of an accomplishment to get my wife and kids to join me that I didn't dare ask to stay...

The trips where from Ft. Wayne to Lafyette and back...120 miles each way on the Wabash Mainline.

At the start of the day, the family:

Jim Wrinn was on board the Hickory Creek with us, so I hope he'll have something about it in the next issue of Trains. (he's updated his facebook photo to him on one of the superdomes).

765 in Lafyette:

When I introduced the idea of Dual Dissimilar Speakers back in 2006 it fell on deaf ears.

This really works, one speaker is full range say 220-20000Kz and the other has a middle range of about 550-6000Kz which gives a "woofer" sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAiY5BBzIdQ

I did the HO Bachmann Decapod before Bachmann offered them. I have a "what I did" at:

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/190...pod_sound/



I have used the speaker combo in the HO MDC/Roundhouse Old timer tender:





I have a "what I did" at:

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/190...use_sound/

Thank you if you visit
Harold

Here is a video of my Tsunami conversion of the Mogul:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_78JD4OsBvU

Visit the "what I did" article at:

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/mogul_tsunami/

Thank you if you visit
Harold

My wife and I are doing some cleaning, sorting, redecorating in our house. I've been sorting through my British 00 and North American HO trains (rolling stock) in our basement, and I can't believe how much stuff I have!

I've just spent about 1.5 hours re-organizing much of my rolling stock and it hardly looks like I've touched things! Last night, I counted up the number of my locos and -- depending on how you count them (I don't really want to include a couple very basic, toy-like ones that my son bought) -- I have about 32-34 locos. I consider these locos to be reasonably good models that are suitable to run on a scale layout.

I only have two small layouts -- a 4x6' tail-chaser and a 15" wide by 6' long switching layout. Both of these are covered with locos and rolling stock.

I've just bought a model train wall cabinet that should hold 14 Pacific steam locos plus a few smaller ones, especially tank engines. This should free up a lot of space as well as give folks a chance to "admire" my more detailed models.

So I need to take a break now, do some real work, and then get back to this re-organzing later. I suspect many folks can relate to this but I'd be interested in finding out if I'm "worse" or not as bad as some!

Cheers, Rob

Last weekend, the 4t US-Model Railroader Convention of Germany had been at Rodgau, near Frankfurt/Main.

These are my pics of the shown layouts.

Friday was the day to build up the layouts, therefore, most of the pictures were of the Violet Short Line, I participated at the exhibition:

I have two questions here. I recently bought numerous Proto 2000 '50 ton emergency war hopper' kits for the L&N railroad. I want to gently and carefully remove the L&N and put another name on the cars. 1) What is the best way to get rid of the L&N without damaging the reporting marks or sides of the hopper? These cars were made of wood with outside braced steel supports. 2) What is the best way to realistically weather the sides and steel? Should the wood be a gray tone and steel rusty? I suspect the cars will be used for either stone or coal loads.

Thanks for your comments.
Eric

I've never used Scalecoat paint before and was wondering what you guys think of it? I was pretty much a Pollyscale user, but since it's no more I'm trying to find a replacement. Trucolors seems interesting, but I'm not overly crazy about it being solvent based. But, I guess Scalecoat is solvent based since it uses a thinner :?:

Mark