[Gramps]

Phone booths used to be everywhere. I remember always checking the receiver to make sure someone had not stuck gum to the ear piece. Struggling to get the change in to slot with frozen fingers, or being in a sauna during summer. Nice grab.

That brings back memories of when I was a kid in New York. I would go into every phone booth and see if any change was in the little cup on the bottom of the unit. Sometimes money would be returned in there for whatever reason. Back in the 50's finding 10 cents in the phones could buy an ice cream or soda.

 

[Chops]

You been working like a one armed grave digger! Like the farm, and the iconic Mail Pouch roof ad. Never seen that silo.

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=how+to+make+ho+scale+hay+bales&type=E210US91088G0#id=2&vid=5022b761682d6a505bc9f95d1f72632a&action=click

 

[SF Gal]

I am on vacation in southern Indiana...will check out your haybale link soon, many thanks!!!

 

[Chops]

I know diddly about Southern Indiana. What does one do on vacation there? I am thinking of trying to do a trip to Alaska in early September, when the leaves start to turn. Got a $4 K city tax bill I have to settle up first.

 

[Lemonhawk]

Cliffy Falls State Park along the Ohio River, amazingly tall falls for Indiana! New Harmony for the art minded people.

 

[Longvallon]

I am on vacation in southern Indiana...will check out your haybale link soon, many thanks!!!

Oh no ! Another vacation. You will never finish your layout...

 

[SF Gal]

I am here near Nashville, Indiana, as I do craft shows in the summer with my crocheted things I make. Also, Nashville is a artsy place us gals like to visit. I picked up a cute apron, some carmel corn, a whirlygig for the yard, and a sheer embroratered blouse with a cute white skirt. Ill be back Monday but with good weather comes down time for my trains. Vacations are the norm this time of year for me. giggle.

 

[Conductorkev]

I am here near Nashville, Indiana, as I do craft shows in the summer with my crocheted things I make. Also, Nashville is a artsy place us gals like to visit. I picked up a cute apron, some carmel corn, a whirlygig for the yard, and a sheer embroratered blouse with a cute white skirt. Ill be back Monday but with good weather comes down time for my trains. Vacations are the norm this time of year for me. giggle.

What is that word you speak of?? Vacation is not a part of any vocabulary that I use lol.

 

[Magic]

SF Gal I'll bet your the only one on this forum to ever say "a sheer embroidered blouse with a cute white skirt "

Keep up the good work and have fun on your vacation.

Magic

 

[Chops]

I want some caramel corn.

 

[SF Gal]

What is that word you speak of?? Vacation is not a part of any vocabulary that I use lol.

My dear sir, there IS no hope for you! Oh My! *giggle*

.....I'll bet your the only one on this forum to ever say "a sheer embroidered blouse with a cute white skirt "
Keep up the good work and have fun on your vacation.
Magic

I had a good time with friends. I have found a lot of my girly things can be used in Model Railroading. From extra hold hair spray to tweezers, clothes pins to nail polish, nylons and hair dryers! You should see what you can do with the underwires from a used bra!

I want some caramel corn.

Checkout all the different flavors you can get if you order on-line!!!!!

Gourmet Popcorn

Shop Nashvillefudgekitchen.com and explore over 80 flavors of gourmet popcorn. Buy 5 bags Get 1 Free plus FREE SHIPPING over $40.

nashvillefudgekitchen.com

I got the Butter Rum popcorn....yum!
The town even had a shop called Brown County Model trains where you could run a train!

Cool place to check out, for sure....
Now that summer is in full swing here, I can only work on the layout on the rainy days. Tomorrow is suppose to be one of those days so stay tuned!

 

[SF Gal]

I had some time today to pick at the huge locomotive collection needing deep inspection.
I figured I look at Santa Fe locomotives that had a chance of running on my layout instead of just looking at other lines I was gifted just because I had a interest and they didn't want to toss them in the trash.
So the first one was at F7 Mantura/Tyco that did run but had a burn't out bulb and was sluggish.

These old units are hearty if the motor brushes don't wear out. The motor is in the rear truck and the gearing is all sealed. No way to replace anything without drilling out rivits. The front truck is just picking up power. The thing doesn't even have a frame or flywheels. So I sprayed it down with silcone lube and blew it out with compressed air. I then used contact cleaner on the areas near the motor brush springs.
While I had the trucks out of the shell I installed a LED with 1000meg resistor in place of the incandant bulb.
It was fiddly to get it all back together also, this gal needed her cheaters.
While I had it open I installed a engineer peering out the side window, just for the heck of it.

I added Kadee couplers to the modified coupler boxes....

I put the F7 on the test track and she crawls very nicely, I was very happy she even runs!
https://flic.kr/p/2npbdJN
Next up was another Santa Fe loco #3233, this one is more modern Lifelike Proto 2000...but has lurching issues.
I ran it on DC power to test it.

So first off I was shocked to see a DCC board in this and it ran on DC power...my other DCC Loco would not run on DC power without a DCC command...how did this run on DC? Some DCC boards allow DC control? Very confusing?
But it does run on DC control WITH a DCC decoder connected to it!

First off was to modernize the lighting with LED but they do not work with a DC input so the decoder does control them.
I will have to retest them later when I start testing all my DCC locomotives.
So I did what I did with the last loco and sprayed it with silcone lube to loosen any gelled lube and then blew it out with compressed air. I then used contact cleaner on the areas near the motor brush springs.
Unit still lurched and hesitated...so I removed all the trucks and inspected all the gears.

AH HA! A broken gear! Without any replacement parts, what's a girl to do?

I suppose I will see if I can buy gears for Proto 2000 locomotives if I can find a part number on line. In the meantime, why not just fix the gear!?!? So I glued it and clamped it for a spell...I doubt it will stay fixed for very long so I marked the truck with a red dot. I also replaced the taped feeder wires to the decoder power input with new wires.

I got the chassis back together and was VERY Happy that this locomotive was so much easier to work on, take apart and lube, inspect, and fix than that old Mantura/Tyco junk. I have to put the body and couplers back on the chassis yet and test the DCC decoder to see if it still works, so I stopped as I had to make dinner. Tommarrow is another day.
I am no guru on fixing train stuff but I know how to watch videos and tinker with things. 2 down and 20 more Locomotives to go....


A Work in Progress!....Stay tuned!...

 

[Lemonhawk]

I think you mean a 10,000 ohm resistor (brown, black, orange)? That's probably close to the limit of keeping the LED on. A 1k ohm (brown, black, red ) with 12 volts might work a little better. Probably depends on the age of the locomotive was from.

 

[Chops]

Is that Mr. Bill poking out of that F unit?

 

[SF Gal]

I think you mean a 10,000 ohm resistor (brown, black, orange)? That's probably close to the limit of keeping the LED on. A 1k ohm (brown, black, red ) with 12 volts might work a little better. Probably depends on the age of the locomotive was from.

Yes, you are correct, 10,000 ohm. My DCC system is close to 15 vdc so I run the brown, black orange resistor. I also use bright LEDs and the resistor keeps it looking more like a spotlight than overpowered, if that makes sense? I use 4vdc on my landscape lights and a much smaller resistor.
Chops, he does look like Mr Bill!!! And that is what I will name him! 😆

 

[Chops]

Oh, no! Mr. Bill!

 

[Longvallon]

Oh, no! Mr. Bill!

Who's this guy ?

 

[OilValleyRy]

I’ve actually been wondering how many folks, or if any, represent actual people on their layouts? I create figures of people who’ve influenced me, and try to capture their appearance adequately.
I “figure-bashed” my boss from my very first job (had to swap heads so it looked like him).
Without question I’ll have a figure of my pops and probably my younger self as a throw back to a visit to my prototype town.
Planning to have a @Trackjockey05, a @Raege, a @SF Gal, and 1 British car with a Jon Grant (don’t think he’s a member here).

 

[SF Gal]

Oh cool....interesting and actually wonderful idea! I plan to see my relatives visit the layout in the near future and will start to find those look alikes. It could be as part of the treasure hunt "Proverbial 10 Questions" like the thread I started on the forum. Where viewers get to participate even if they cant run a train! Can you find your self likeness on the layout? Where's cousin Candy? Uncle Bruce?, Mr, Bill?, Sister Terri? etc...

 

[Lemonhawk]

15 volts! Yes , good choice for the resistor!