I just read Hminky's replies in the Narrow gauge Logging and Mining forum, about scale 55. Combined with the tone of his replies, and the phrase in his signature, I felt it was necessary to PM him. I sent him this:
Harold,
I understand your "disagreements" with On30. I've followed your work and admire it to the point of going back to your posts for inspiration.
In my ship model work, I have been known to splice an eye in fly tying thread, when using it for running rigging.
I try not to make it sound like I demand that others do the same.........."stinkin' letters" sounds to me like a demand, so I'm asking you to please remove that comment from your signature. Replace it with something a bit more positive. The play on the movie line has its place, and can be funny, but its use can also be confrontational.
In your signature it comes across as confrontational, and just doesn't seem appropriate for a modeler of your experience and skill, and doesn't send a very friendly message. Thanks in advance,
Pete

If this is an over reaction......sorry. I just haven't known Harold to be quite so ready to ......"insist". He usually is a far better teacher than that.

I'm using a N-scale steam Tsunami kit on my Bachmann J Class and have not yet installed the capacitor that comes with the kit for dirty rails.

The decoder seems to work well for movement and lighting, but it does not actuallly make sound. In fact, it will make sound after you first turn on the layout, but after a few chuffs it stalls out, sits for a second, then comes back to life and runs like a clock, but does not produce sound.

anyone else come across this?

I got a reverse loop in my layout thats giving me trouble. I'm using Digitrax reversing unit and MRC for my control system. Never had a problem on previous layouts, but for some reason this ones giving me a pain.

On the reversing block I have the insulated joiners as close to the turnouts as possible (using kato unitrack) and the unitrack switches are set to power diverting.

But for some reason, no matter how I adjust the sensitivity on the digitrax reserversing unit it keeps shorting out. Even when the loco is past the cars (metal wheels) are still going through. Seems odd... I double checked for connections where the insulated joiners might not even be doing their work, but no, it's still shorting out.....

Hey guys, time to start an nscale layout thread showcasing my latest n-scale layout and it's construction. This layout will essentially replace the previous "Pacific Great Eastern" layout thread I started on this site and bring us too a new endevour.

My first post will be a detail rundown of the layout with the plan. So far there are holes that need to be filled, and any assistance in filling said holes would be greatly appreciated.

The era is the mid 1950's in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. A medium sized railway town based off of Jasper, AB is bustling with activity and is primarily serving CN rail traffic. The city is undergoing a boom receiving an average of four commuter trains a day, multiple freights, and servicing the locomotives from logging industries nearby.

Canadian Pacific is also renting use of the terminal and facilities here as their Canmore facilities are being updated.

Steam is still a present force in this area, with limited numbers of early diesels starting to show off their shiny new paint just arriving.


The track plan:


As it currently resides in the layout room, there have been some small preliminary modifications. But the tech specs remain true in any situation: 11" radius curve minimum in the small town to the East. But 13" radius curves are the minimum on the mainline, with 15" radius curves consisting of the bulk of the track work. There is also a max grade of 2% everywhere but in the North East approach to the town which is a 3% grade.

Added to the layout is a passing siding in the North West. The lead track for the roundhouse also attaches itself to the mainline, allowing freight to move directly into the yard, and also allowing for a reversing section.

Found a pretty decent train movie this afternoon called "End of the Line". You can stream it for free on Hulu, and I do not believe you need to sign up in order to watch it.

Brief synopsis; small train yard is closed and two of the older employees "steal" a train to go talk the company president out of his decision. It has Wilford Brimley in it. I mean c'mon Wilford Brimley steals a train! I can't think of anything better to do on a Sunday evening than watch that!

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hulu.com/end-of-the-line">http://www.hulu.com/end-of-the-line</a><!-- m -->

- Dan

I just started reading a book called THE MEN WHO LOVED TRAINS by Rush Loving, Jr. published by Indiana Press. This is an outstanding book, telling of the scandals and trials of the failing northeastern railroads and the actions of the men, administrations, and government in an effort to save railroading from self destruction.

I mainly post this for the likes of Ralph and other PC/CR fans on this board. It is a long read, no photos for the most part, but is extremely interesting. Being a PRR fan myself, I wanted to cry during parts of the book. It also helped my to rewrite the history of railroading in my fictional world where my railroad (the Baltimore and Potomac) coexists with PRR and Chessie. The PRR held onto it's controlling interest in the N&W, while the N&W took over the Virginian and Wabash, bringing them into the PRR family. My B&P and the RF&P are both in PRR control but remain independently operated like the N&W.

The NYC was swallowed by a combined C&O/B&O, while the WM was brought into the fold almost as an afterthought. The Southern was then left to the Dixie roads L&N and SBD/ACL.

I really don't know where I'm going with this post. I have been intrigued ever since I read about how the PRR was forced to sell it's interest in the N&W, and have been wondering what things would have been like if the PRR/NW had not been broken up. Not to mention what if the enemy (NYC) had not been brought into the PRR family, and instead gone to Chessie. Like I said, the book is very interesting reading.

Dave

Today, my family and I were going to spend the Halloween weekend outside of the city with friends' at their cottage.

Well, around 2:00am last night, I came down with flue symptoms, which did not let up until about 2:00pm today. So my wife and kids left for the cottage around 1pm, leaving me to recover at home. I steadily improved throughout the afternoon and realized that I now had a huge chunk of time to get on with my new layout.

I'd been saying to myself earlier, that I needed a large chunk of uninterrupted time to make a dent with the changes I'm planning. I've posted elsewhere on this forum about how I've finally decided on a location to model -- Wellow in Somerset, England.

I made good progress today but so much of this took a lot of time. I've probably worked 6 or 7 hours, kit-bashing my current station to (sort of) look like Wellow's, painting the station platforms to a light grey/white colour, painting parts of the station, and I was even able to finally add the decals to one of my tank engines that I'd repainted/renumbered (the latter took well over an hour). As I make more progress, I'll post pix.

At any rate, I'm pleased with my progress. As a father of two active young boys & with both my wife & I now working, I don't get the chance very often to model for 7 hours straight. Can anyone else relate to this?

Rob

Hi everyone,i thought i would throw this out here.Has anyone tried any of the boxcars from DccUncoupling yet,and if you have what are your thoughts about the way they uncouple.I ordered a few just to try out and was hoping someone else has tried them out. Thanks Harold

Are any of us going on the Hamilton, Ont. Layout tour next Saturday? It's 9 'til 4 and costs $5.
My wife picked up a flyer at the hobby shop today and it looks like we'll be going.
(Tickets to be bought at any of the train shops in Hamilton area)