Hi guys, i just won to Athearn RTR Engines off e-bay, one is a CSX GP38-2 in the Dark Future Paint and the other is a BNSF GP35 in the new Swoosh Paint.

Im wondering, are these DCC Ready? According to the product pages on Athearn's web site, the BNSF one is DCC Ready but the CSX GP38-2 Does not say if it is DCC Ready or not....

BNSF GP35:

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default....D=ATH94226

CSX GP38-2:

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default....ID=ATH8008

Anyone have the CSX one? Is it DCC Ready? Thanks in advance

Well it wasnt easy, but i got a huge set of paints finally that have been on the list of things to buy for the longest time now lol

I bought all the Polly Scale paints that i need/could use for projects right now and for future projects.

Here is what i got:

• BNSF Orange
  
• BNSF Green
  
• BNSF Silver
  
• BNSF Yellow
  
• CSX Tan
  
• CSX Yellow
  
• CSX Blue
  
• CSX Gray
  
• UP Dark Gray
  
• SP Lettering Gray
  
• SP Lark Dark Gray
  
• BN Green
  
• CNW Yellow
  
• Mineral Red
  
• Special Oxide Red
  
• Reefer White
  
• Reefer Yellow
  
• Oily Black
  
• Grimy Black
  
• Engine Black
  
• Rust
  
• Roof Brown
  
• Railroad Tie Brown
  
• Mud
  
• Earth
  
• Dirt
  
• Concrete
  
• New Gravel Gray
  
• Sand
  
• Flat Aluminum

• CNW Green
  
• UP Harbor Mist Gray
  
• UP Armor Yellow
  
• SP Lark Light Gray
  
• Aged Concrete

Finally, after years of wait, I have a Zephyr system up and running (albeit with some glitches at first programming a decoders).

My thanks to all who have provided their hints, tips and experience that shaped my DCC selection and ultimate layout setup.

I do have a question...regarding the decoder in a Bachmann HHP8. I haven't been able to program the decoder. Each time I've tried, I get a "d nd" error. I haven't been able to find out what make decoder is installed, and although trying several times, haven't been able to reprogram the decoder from the factory set - cv03 address - to the engines four digit road number. From the very little I know about decoders, I've read that not every one is reprogramable, and that some decoders are "set" at the cv03 address value. But I successfully reprogrammed two other decoders today, so at least I know I can follow the directions successfully to reprogram the diesel's address. The HHP8 engine works fine using the cv03 address on the layout. But I was hoping to change the address to match the diesel's road number. (As an interesting side note...when I first tried to reprogram the HHP8, it starting moving under power down the programming track - which I thought it wasn't ever supposed to do. I changed the track and wiring I was using for a programming track and the engine stayed still...but the Zephyr still gave me the "d nd" error and I couldn't read or write to the decoder.)

Any ideas why I can't reprogram this guy? :?:

I just spent the past few days scouring the archives of the Big Blue Railroad and how it came to be. There's a lot of information on the Internet, but to get the whole story I had to dig through a pile of musty and dusty boxes stored in our headquarter basement. The story is fairly complicated and lengthy, with mergers, acquisitions and speculators, that span over 100 years, and so I've condensed it here for you all. In addition to this interesting story, I was able to dig out some of the artwork for a lot of the old and current logos and reporting marks, so as soon as I'm able to get these things organized in my computer, I'll be sure to post that here as well. Note that I left off names and specific places so as to protect the identity of those involved, good bad or otherwise, they'd really want it that way.

Here's the honest history of our railroad:

Quote:

THE STORY BEHIND THE BIG BLUE RAILROAD

The Gauge Railroad start:
Sometime around the late 1880’s, there appeared to be a void in rail service to some communities and newly created industries along the growing areas around Ohio, Pennsylvania New York and parts of Canada. It appeared that none of the bigger railroads were interested in spending the resources to develop the area, so several community-spirited individuals thought it best to strike out on their own. With enough capital in hand, the hired an energetic man that had the right contacts and towards the end of 1890, the Gauge Railroad was formed. Between 1891 and 1900, well over 1,000 miles of track was laid bringing coal and wood to a number of remote industries and allowing many isolated towns rail access for goods and passenger service. The railroad was at its peak when it was sold to a speculator in 1947. The Gauge RR thrived for a good number of years as this speculator pumped up business with clever and innovated marketing techniques, but as is true for most railroads, modern highways and even some local air carriers cut deeply into their traffic and profits and the railroad was merged into other business interests held by this speculator. At some point, the burden of running this combined empire became too great and it was sold intact and as-is to a profit-oriented company with no knowledge of how to run a railroad. They tried, but continued to stumble with poor and intermittent service resulting in the loss of customers. Passenger service dwindled to a trickle, while trains had an overabundance of billboard reefers and boxcars, the seemingly single source of revenue for this new company.

Big Blue Railway begins:
Around the turn of the century, a small group of enterprising railroad enthusiasts decided to run a competing railroad with high hopes of expanding beyond the east, and to venture where no railroader had gone before. It was in 1908 when the Big Blue Railway was established on basically a shoestring and a lot of hope. This was the first railroad to establish service between Pennsylvania and Arizona, and with a lot of luck and hard work, made it succeed. Throngs of people rode the timely passenger trains between the two states while goods and raw material were seen being transported back and forth on a regular basis. Cacti, sand, citrus, Indian blankets and prairie dogs headed east while delicacies such as Tastykakes and cheesesteaks made their way into the stomachs of many desert dwellers thanks to the Big Blue. For the first time in history, many easterners could get a first-hand glimpse of the Grand Canyon. Desert Rats were seen touring the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It was a win-win situation for everyone, and the railway grew and expanded to other parts of the country and even into Mexico and Canada as the first transcontinental railway on the North American continent to serve three countries. The downturn of the railroads in later years had little effect on Big Blue since because of all of its enthusiastic and frugal approach, it became a lean, mean, running machine.

The merger:
The management of Big Blue is always looking for routes to expand to and so when they saw an opportunity to assimilate the routes held by The Gauge RR, well, they snapped it up, thus merging it into Big Blue in 1960 and calling itself the Big Blue and Gauge Railroad, Ltd. Expansion knew no bounds, and through unique engineering techniques and management skills, it was able to expand beyond the borders of the continent and is now able to serve the world with inexpensive transportation of goods and people. By the end of the century, the railroad shortened its name to what it’s know as today, the BB&G Railroad. Management at the BB&G vowed to remove all advertising from their consists and never again to have third-party advertising anywhere on any of their trains. You will not find advertising anywhere on the railroad except for the products and services rendered by the BB&G; this had a positive impact on customers and passengers alike resulting in a sharp increase in traffic. A refreshing difference and is a contributing factor in the continued growth and stability of the railroad. To this day, you can find a mixture of steam and diesel locomotives, wood and metal cabooses and cars from all eras, mainly due to the thrifty nature of how the railroad is run; “Never, ever, throw anything away,” says their CEO, and they’ve held steadfast to this philosophy. It’s a crazy way to run a railroad, but it seems to work.

On weekend February 20th to 22nd we the “American Model Railroaders of Eastern Germany” have exhibited our enlarged modular layout in HO-Scale while a model railroad exhibition here in Dresden/Germany. Modules of seven modelers of our group were arranged as a big single track oval including a four track main station, a seven track staging yard and a large siding. Additional we could add a three track container terminal outside of the oval which was connected by a junction as part of the oval. The whole arrangement has a measuring of 63’ by 16’.

Preparing the modular layout.



Our main station while the exhibition.






The exhibition crew - I'm the senior member in center, fifth of right.

The layout was equipped with a DCC system so that we could run eight different long trains (sorry, 25 freight cars only) and a few locals, passengers and freights. Most of locos were equipped with sound decoders so all our guests did not only see our model trains but also they could hear the sounds of American locomotives.
What we not did was to present a specific railroad time or a specific area of USA. All of our members build or collect after own interests and we tried to show wide scenery of American model railroading. Most of visitors come for seeing a Big Boy and when they have seen it pulling a heavy freight train than their wishes are fulfilled about American model railroading. Diesel powered modern trains are of interest however missing without a Big Boy and without other large steam locos - that is not a right US layout!

Look here the whole picture gallery.

This was a very good event also for us modelers because most of us do not own a private layout in homes.

Hopefully soon i will be getting this airbrush and compressor:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti...LXDD38&P=M

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti...LXNBB6&P=7


The airbrush comes with #1, 3, and 5 tips. How fine is the #1? will this be fine enough to do small details and such? If not can i get a smaller tip like this?

http://www.myatomic.com/Paasche-1-Fine-T...04151.html

Or is this one that same one that is included in the set already? In the description it says for use with H and HS series airbrushes, would this work with the VL-Set in the first link?

I guess my question is the #1 fine tip is finer then the #1 tip that comes with the airbrush already? And if it is could i use it with this airbrush?

Thanks in advance

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

Mike

This thread is dedicated to any steel mill, anywhere, Please add some of where ever to make this a great reference for anyone wanting to model Steel or who just wants to look at history that is just a memory anymore. I'll start out...



Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, Pa: 1857–2003
Height of employment was around 300,000





























Others...

Real Estate was running small but I needed to add this Western Coal Flood loader to the layout, took a while (1 1/2hr) but I got it, and it sure is tight with a Dash 8 Loco! Nothing is tacked down yet



and the video going thru wide open

Recently at my LHS, I noticed they had the new Bachmann fixed knuckle coupler on two axle trucks. I replaced an older Bachmann rapido style coupler/truck set with these new ones and they worked fine (they should - that's what they were made to do.) But I also have an older Con-Cor 125 Ton Gunderson double stack car that had rapido couplers. The rapido coupler popped out easily leaving the centering spring in place, and after popping out the Bachmann coupler, I reinstalled it in the Con-Cor truck and it worked perfectly. (The whole Bachmann replacement truck assembly won't fit correctly under the Gunderson car, but you can switch out the coupler and it works great.) If you have any Con-Cor products with the rapido-style coupler...you might want to try the Bachmann's as a $2.00 replacement. Granted, they're not as good as a MicroTrain or Accu-Mate, but for the price, they sure work well.