We've been using the Chat Room for a while now.. A few of us think it's time to set up a "Formal" Chat night... (Thanks LiveSteamer)

It seems that most of us are able to get in there on Sunday nights, from 10 - 11 PM Eastern Time so we'll start with that...

Everyone that would like to chat with each other "real time" try to be there.. If you can't make it Sunday nights, A few of us are oline most every night at the same times...

The doubleheaders are having their drive-yourself home layout tour again this year on March 28.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.trainweb.org/doubleheaders/flyerbl.htm">http://www.trainweb.org/doubleheaders/flyerbl.htm</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.trainweb.org/doubleheaders/dhtours.htm">http://www.trainweb.org/doubleheaders/dhtours.htm</a><!-- m -->
This is a major event. There is a large number of layouts open; in fact, you cannot see all of them in one day if you want to do justice to them.
The registration is in Hespeler. The cities involved are Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph and Cambridge, but also go out to Aberfoyle, Baden and St Jacobs.
Lots of Canadian trains but also the major US lines, British and some years European. Master modellers and Tinplate rails, Lego and Thomas.

(Warning: the maps they sell you are not the best -- you might want to obtain some commercial maps!)

(I can't go this year -- scheduling conflict.)

I started disliking NS, and it pushed me further when I got forced out of taking pictures of a NS rail yard because this guy said I should be taking pictures of tanker cars . well that was enough for me so NS... get out of my collection!

My one and only NS object, Athearn GP50 powered. Say hello to the shell, with his new replacement right behind him!



This Conrail GP40-2 shell I picked up looks great on the chassis






PS: I would like to thank the jerk who works at norfolk southern for getting them expelled from my hobby.

Hello Everyone---Canadian modellers are fortunate to have a couple of manufacturers who specialize in producing some excellent (in my opinion) Canadian prototype freight,passenger and motive power models.True Line Trains and Rapido Trains are becoming my favourite choices when it comes to purchasing new additions to my roster.Here's some samples for your review

True LIne CNR covered hopper



Rapido CNR baggage car



However,I am fortunate that I have another source which beats even these manufactures when it comes to producing some outstanding models---my good friend Doctor Wayne.I've included a shot of an EG&E baggage/express car which the Doc created from a Con-Cor model---the similarities with the Rapido car are remarkable---if I didn't know better,you might think it is a custom painted Rapido car---Doc,you're not moonlighting for Rapido are you :o

Before you jump the gun and blurt out 'GP30' take a close look then come up with a name for it. Keep it clean.

Hi Everyone

I think I want to give my South African stuff a break- reasons including: Hard to find, when you do find- exuberant prices, and most stuff you need to scratchbuild.

I've been looking at- naturally :mrgreen: - BNSF and UP.

Maybe something like Cajon Pass (Rather parts thereof) any other ideas?

Don't have measurements for space yet, but want to get the creative juices flowing.

I just found the new site a week ago. Glad to see it up and running , reminds me of the old gauge. This kinda reminds me of when I was a kid, my parents would send me off to school in the morning and when I come home at the end of the day from school they had moved. It would take me days to find the new house then we would laugh for days . Anyways glad to see you all again and hope im welcome here. Thanks roger

Time to move this over here:

Hello all!
As our club does not have a permanent location to meet, we don't have a place to build a layout at. When we have our regular meetings, we can't run trains (a big problem for a train club ) For the past year or so, I have been trying to come up with some way to build a layout that we could carry easily and put together quickly and take down quickly. We have the bend track modules, but at 4x3 for each of the two balloons, they aren't transportable in my little car. We came up with several ideas, but all were starting from scratch with measurements and building. Finally, I heard about T-Trak (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://ttrak.org/">http://ttrak.org/</a><!-- m -->). The modules are REALLY small and they are light and they setup VERY quickly. I was watching a Youtube video of an Australian T-Trak club and they put together a large yard in seconds, that was good enough for me. Plus all the measurements were already done so no reinventing the wheel!

Minimum you need four corners, and also some straights to add some length. We glued the modules together one night:

Straight Module:


Corner Module:


You set these up on a table, so you put bolts and T-Washers on so that you can level them. Here are the undersides of the modules:

Straight:


Corner:


A few of our members do not like the 3-tracks on N-Track, so they were happy so see it is only dual track. Here is what the modules look like with track on:

Straight:


Corner:


Will start painting these soon and decorating them. I am hopeful that with their small size, I can get lots of people around here interested in building their own little piece and the layout will grow and grow. For now I am building 4 corners and 4 straights and Mooreway is building six straights, will show more pictures as we update them.

Below you will see the locomotives that are currently on my Chessie System roster. Only have 3 locomotives at this point in time. But here soon I plan on to change that.

B&O RF16 - see side note #1


B&O GP38 ( Chessie Paint Scheme ) - see side note #2


B&O F7b


*Side Note #1*
The Chessie System never had any of the RF16's in service during the Chessie Years. I just love this locomotive and just couldn't let it sit by the way side.

*Side Note #2*
B&O GP38 #4810 was never painted in the Chessie Paint Scheme. I am not going to change the paint scheme at this point in time.

I'm building a fleet of passenger cars and have noticed that the only passenger cars that can get around my layout without skipping the rails are my Kato cars.

But it's not just from the 11" radius's, the wheels on the Kato's seem to roll smoother in general...

So of course my question is:
Has anyone retrofitted some Kato trucks/couplers onto Con-Cor or Walthers passenger cars?

I got a nice fleet of Concor cars with microtrains couplers/trucks on them that are just terrible on my layout, and the Walthers cars can't even handle a 15% curve without derailing...