RMweb Gold Donw Posted October 28, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 28, 2022 Janet and John was done by Ray Moore first I think there used to be some banter between him and Terry. He also did the Bogeyed Jog Don 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ramblin Rich Posted October 28, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 28, 2022 26 minutes ago, Donw said: Janet and John was done by Ray Moore first I think there used to be some banter between him and Terry. He also did the Bogeyed Jog Don I know it's Bog-eyed but read it as Bogey-ed 🤪 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 18 hours ago, Donw said: Janet and John was done by Ray Moore first I think there used to be some banter between him and Terry. He also did the Bogeyed Jog Don Yes, they were written by somebody else, using the pseudonym 'Mick Sturbs' I believe. I meant "courtesy of Mr Wogan" only in the sense that he read them out on air. 😉 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted October 29, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 29, 2022 Ray Moore used to do the early morning slot and was a wonderful presenter. We used to really enjoy his program. When he succombed to cancer Sarah Kennedy took over his slot Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
2E Sub Shed Posted October 29, 2022 Share Posted October 29, 2022 (edited) On 07/10/2022 at 17:59, F-UnitMad said: I got the two Crew Bundles, for Transition Era (1940 - 1970)* & Modern Era (1970 - now)*. It doesn't look like there's much difference in the clothing, albeit the Modern crew should wear Hi-Viz. Given that US Steam mostly died in the 1950s, it's a pretty generous definition of 'Transition' to me!!! D&RGW narrow gauge ceased steam operations in 1969, the last Class 1 Railroad using steam. Mobile & Gulf used a steam switcher to 1970 Source see Last of Steam Edited October 29, 2022 by 2E Sub Shed mis type 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctor quinn Posted October 29, 2022 Share Posted October 29, 2022 Don't forget the Reader RR which was the last steam only common carrier railroad in the US when it shut down in 1973 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reader_Railroad 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 1 hour ago, 2E Sub Shed said: D&RGW narrow gauge ceased steam operations in 1969, the last Class 1 Railroad using steam. Mobile & Gulf used a steam switcher to 1970 Source see Last of Steam 46 minutes ago, doctor quinn said: Don't forget the Reader RR which was the last steam only common carrier railroad in the US when it shut down in 1973 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reader_Railroad Indeed, U.S. 'common carrier' steam did carry on in places for some time, & still does at the famous Strasburg RR. As 2E SubShed quotes what I wrote, though, I was very general in saying that US steam MOSTLY died out in the 1950s. I knew it didn't ALL die out then & I think I mentioned the Strasburg as well as the Crab Orchard & Egyptian. I'd not heard of the Reader RR, thanks Nick. Key wording is that it was the last "All Steam" common carrier; it was not the last one to use steam, but other roads also had diesels on their books. I think the management of the Portway Terminal would quite like a steam engine, preferably a 2-8-2 Mikado 😍 but there are understandable concerns that it wouldn't be able to cope with the state of the Company's straight track, never mind the tight curves. 🤔😉🙄😁 2 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 Shock horror!! I've done a bit of modelling!! Well, painting, anyway. I'm sure that counts? The heritage Coach has had decals removed, & a repaint, from the dark Pullman green it came in, to Tamiya Flat Green (FX-5) to match the bobber caboose. In the photo some matt black is still drying from touching up some bits... On the Atlas BNSF Dash-8, part of it's 3-rail legacy compromises was a rather severe case of daylight above the rear truck in particular. At Stafford I got some Plastruct [-section strip; cut a couple of pieces to length & glued in place on the chassis... (I neglected to take a 'before' pic of the gap itself) Tonight while the matt black was out, I painted the sections to blend them in. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 A couple more pics of work on the Dash-8, as they exceeded the download limit for one post. After painting.... 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted October 30, 2022 Author Share Posted October 30, 2022 A Salutary Tale. Recently my Atlas RS3 has been 'playing up', for want of a better phrase. When running for a while, it would stop responding to throttle commands. This included refusing to speed up or slow down, or more importantly, stop!! When pressing the horn button, it would stay on afterwards, however much I pressed the button. Lifting the loco off the rails & then back on again had no effect, it wanted to carry on at it's previous speed. Only switching the whole system off (NCE Powercab with SB5a booster) would reset the engine. This all got very frustrating, & I was beginning to suspect the ESU decoder might have developed a fault. However the behaviour seemed to suggest the decoder was losing the signal. The wheels & track were cleaned but there was no improvement. Then it dawned on me that it could be an issue with pick-ups. The insulated wheels have very nice sprung plunger pick-ups; no issues there. But the other pick-up for the non-insulated wheels is screwed to the truck block itself. Maybe all was not well with power collection that way? So this evening I stripped both trucks down, a bit of a faff, but once they were apart & the wheelsets out I could sum things up with one word - "Ugh!!" - lots of oil & gungy grease everywhere!! I haven't had these trucks apart before so 'Not Guilty' myself of over-oiling!! No wonder the DCC signal was getting lost, it's a wonder power could get through all that grease at all..!! Long story short; cleaned everything up & reassembled, and proper running has been restored!! 🙄😁 So the lesson is - sometimes if DCC seems to be playing up, it might not be a programming or chip problem at all, but a good clean-up of the mechanical side of things that's required. 👍 The one thing I didn't do was stop to take photos of things in bits!! 1 3 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted October 31, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 31, 2022 Odd really there was enough power getting through to keep the loco going. Don 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMO Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 Digital is fragile and need a lot of attention. I remember to see a layout in a shed for an exhibition during autumn days. On the morning there was too humidity to run the trains: the digital was out of order. My layout which was in analogic system with my KFS controller ran very well. So I can say digital needs more attention than analog ;) (no dilemma, just an experience). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMO Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 I like the styrene profile you have installed to hide the "big hole" on the "toy world" locomotive. 😋 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 4 hours ago, JAMO said: Digital is fragile and need a lot of attention. I remember to see a layout in a shed for an exhibition during autumn days. On the morning there was too humidity to run the trains: the digital was out of order. My layout which was in analogic system with my KFS controller ran very well. So I can say digital needs more attention than analog ;) (no dilemma, just an experience). Not so much nowadays, modern decoders have alot more brown-out protection built in and with the advancement of smaller and higher capacity stay alives I've been able to run small and light locomotives over track covered with static grass without stalling. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 3, 2022 Author Share Posted December 3, 2022 Pretty much Zero modelling done recently, but in my best Not Going to Warley Tradition I have spent the money I saved on a model instead. This time it was on Ebay, & arrived today.... An MTH covered hopper, with Kadees & 2-rail trucks - although they aren't roller bearing type trucks so will have to be swapped for Atlas ones. My fairly brief research shows this is a pretty accurate car & livery, with wire grab irons & see-through walkways, if a little clunky, but overall, Happy Bunny time. 🙂 13 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasond Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 You did well Jordan. In my usual reckless way I picked up an early version of these MTH cyl hopps in the days before MTH had to admit that Atlas had got it right, forcing them to switch from plastic planks for handrails to separate slim parts. I've snipped and carved the 'planks' off mine, the rest of the MTH car was nice enough to justify it. So there I was at Mannheim station a few years ago, at the east end of CP's Bensenville yard when a grain train came round the curve onto the commuter line and there was an MTH stand-in with a new reporting marks rectangle, but the big Canada paint scheme still visible under the solid weathering! Jason 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 10, 2022 Author Share Posted December 10, 2022 I got in a pleasant hour or so's modelling tonight instead of watching some Wendyball team called "England" fail yet again to get close to winning something called a "World Cup"..?? Not much to show for it - no similarity intended!! - but I swapped the MTH trucks on the "Canada" hopper for Atlas roller bearing ones. This was the easiest swap between makes I've done - using the Atlas-supplied plastic center 'bits' & screws that come with their trucks it was a straight swap, although the car did need dismantling to get inside the chassis for the MTH truck mounting screws. Before fitting I checked the Atlas back-to-backs and painted the wheels & axles Tamiya flat brown, which whilst maybe not 100% "rusty wheels" colour does look far better than shiny metal, & 'lifts' the car past Out of The Box even if the rest isn't weathered. Final step for now was fitting Kadee 745s with the trip pins removed. 11 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted December 10, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 10, 2022 Agree about the wheels Don 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 17, 2022 Author Share Posted December 17, 2022 Nostalgia Time. As this year draws to a close, for a bit of a change this post reflects on some articles from 40+ years ago that had possibly the greatest influence on my modelling of anything ever published, even if it took a while for the results to show. They were all written by Chris Ellis, for Model Trains magazine that he edited in 1980/81. I have the original mags still, but read these articles so much I ended up photocopying them to read the copies instead. I still enjoy looking back at them now. First off from Feb & May '80, & Jan '81, the three articles Chris wrote that opened many UK modeller's eyes to American Short Lines - a whole world away from the 'typical' impression of US trains all being miles long with 5 engines on the point. The other article, which it took me nearly 20 years to actually put into effect, was this one from May 1981. An F-Unit & bobber caboose in the heading photo - what's not to like??!! The article also had Chris's Atlas Plymouth switcher in it. Years later he sold me this very loco, which as I have said before, I am very proud of, and named in his honour.... 10 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMO Posted December 18, 2022 Share Posted December 18, 2022 Great! Maybe nostalgia but very interesting to discover and to read! Thank you to share! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasond Posted December 18, 2022 Share Posted December 18, 2022 Thanks Jordan ... North American 2-rail O-scale ... the best kept secret in the model rail hobby. Well it was for me back in 1969 when I started. W&H had a scratch-built CP boxcar for sale in their window for a couple of quid and Bernie Victor had the magic biscuit tin in his cupboard under the stairs of his Dad's music shop. Then Beatties had the Atlas F9 and freight cars set on sale so I got Capital Model Railroaders committee to approve a twin-track roundy-roundy. I've been tempted to stray by 16mm:1ft Sandy River and that Dapol 66 looks nice, but sticking with Nth Am 2-R O-scale has forced me to try hobby-biz importing (Atlas, Weaver, InterMountain, Red Caboose, etc), etched brass kits (U-boats, etc), shows (eg: Winchester) and starting Facebook/Email groups. Jason 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 The "O Gauge without tears" article is, unsurprisingly, well out of date of course, from the point of view of what's available, especially R-T-R. For British stuff it focussed on Lima, & kits like 3H. For American it was the Atlas/Roco range, then available at prices that make you weep, these days. It was Chris's approach to O scale in the article that still holds up to this day - the focus on the 'bargain' end of the market, so a collection can be built up over time without costing a fortune. Being larger, models can easily be personalised with a bit of extra detail work. The size & 'presence' of O means that a little goes a long way, and a "too simple" plan on paper can give satisfying operating potential. It was all inspirational stuff, and I got there eventually!! 6 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted December 21, 2022 Author Share Posted December 21, 2022 Today I'd like to quote these pearls of wisdom, taken from Model Rail magazine's website, under "Track laying for beginners"... Well laid permanent way is essential for reliable operation, whether using ... 'Setrack’ ... flexible or hand-built finescale track. Keeping everything flat and level without distortion is crucial... Oh botherations. Does that mean I have to start all over again??!! This matter came to light whilst preparing this version.... 1 1 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Holmes Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 4 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said: Today I'd like to quote these pearls of wisdom, taken from Model Rail magazine's website, under "Track laying for beginners"... Oh botherations. Does that mean I have to start all over again??!! This matter came to light whilst preparing this version.... Looks pretty accurate track laying to me. I’m sure I can find some just like that around here. Thought it’s likely under snow right now ian 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted December 23, 2022 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 23, 2022 Jordan I would suggest that only someone who knows how to lay track properly and understands the essentials could lay 'bad' track because it probably takes more care than good track. Don 2 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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