Bill

On 26/06/2023 at 03:05, hartleymartin said:

 

I am doing something similar and have purchased a quantity of Trix C Track. I would like to figure out the possibility of converting the Marklin C track to 2-rail as they do not produce a 3-way point in the Trix range at the moment. I was using Bachmann EZ-track for my "Floorboard Central" as I obtained a vast quantity of it very cheaply, but I am not pleased with the messing about for setting it up and packing it away.

https://www.marklin-users.net/forum/posts/t49928-Use-AC-HO-Marklin-turnouts-with-DC-power-supply

This might help with a turnout/points conversion from Marklin AC to DC running.  

I managed to convert a RH turnout successfully. 

The three way should be possible to work out.

The main tricks are in

(1)  isolating the metal frog - Its a pressure fit and with some force it pops out  - then grind it down so it no longer connects to the rails

(2)  removing the flat metal piece that connects the switch blades. 

(3)  connecting up the rails to restore power to them

The video gives one the confidence to perform the necessary surgery. 

Its in German and the guy works very fast so I needed to keep stopping it... .

But one you get the principle its all good.

I too have a ton of EZ track.  The Trix track is easier to set up and break down.

Sometimes one simply has to bite the bullet  and write off the investment.

Such is the pain of learning.

Below is an image of the three way.

The way its constructed suggests it is one large frog.

It could be quite a headache !  It could be expensive to find out..

It seems that they do - I have been wasting my precious time - an interesting waste of time - It would be cleaner and simp0ler to use Trix! The good news is it looks as though the Trix and Marklin will click together

Thanks - I'll check it out... It depends if the dimensions of the track are the identical - Lengths of the straights and radii of the curves and so on.. I managed to adapt some Marklin points to DC...

The Impermanent Way is my current  modus operandi in layout building.  Every time trains run the track goes different places.  As part of this I am experimenting with using Maerklin C track for DC running.  A small operation with a pair if snips at each end of a piece of track and voila - AC becomes DC. ( I have yet to figure out what to do with points/turnouts... ) I was wondering if anyone else has any experience to share  in this field of experimentation?  C track is very versatile and to my eye has a pleasing profile.  Maerklin also make a useful range of accessories for it..

I've finally admitted to myself that I'm getting old because..

Half my teeth are missing - I have some nice implants though..

My left hip is no longer my own, I had a new one for Christmas... (And my right hip is now starting to grumble a bit...)

I no longer need to get my hair cut by a professional - I just run the electric clippers over my head once a month..

I enjoy cooking my own meals...  Life is great! 

Spanish transport secretary resigns after new trains too big for tunnels! Head of state rail company, Renfe, also quits as anger rises over fact trains built in £227.5m contract are too wide...

Spain’s secretary of state for transport and the head of the state rail company have resigned amid continuing public and political anger after it emerged that dozens of new trains ordered for two northern Spanish regions were too big to fit through some tunnels.

I saw this in downtown Luxor in Egypt and it made me smile, a lot....

The Egyptian Railway still uses them - apparently..

I have a Lenovo laptop with a Ryzen processor.  It upgraded flawlessly to Windows 11.

Mind you I only purchased it 3 months ago, so it is still in its infancy.

My ancient ACER will probably stay with Windows 10 it is already way too slow for my sanity.

Although it seems that Windows 11 is a little livelier than 10 - it maybe a perception thing rather than real..

I do have three of these beasties from the first batch in Olive green all different. All boxed original and pristine not weathered .  Downside - I live in Canada at the expensive end of the postal chain!

Computer announced today that Windows 11  was ready to be installed -

Press, click and ten minutes later it was all done.  No fuss. It works

(Very, very unlike the Windows 10 debacle! I still have the wounds)

Do I recommend this upgrade?

At the end of the day does one really have a choice?

(No answer required!)

Now there is a fundamental axiom that needs challenging in this thread.

Its the elephant in the room that few if no one seems to have noticed.

An its so obvious I would have thought someone would have brought it up before.

Its like this..

Marmalade I get. It's one of the four essential food groups. man cannot live without it.

And there is only one country that has the knowledge of how to make it and that is good old Boris England.

Then there is butter which is the second essential food group without which... dad de da dee dah.

Then we hit a road block TOAST well it is just that TOAST..

Toast should be toast.

Toast just does not cut it.

Ruins the bread. Good honest bread. Mother's pride or whatever but its BREAD and its not meant to cooked twice.

Its an insult to all the bakers. Its like saying you did not cook it enough.

How would you feel if someone saw your trains and said "They are not cooked enough?"

And proceeded to microwave them?

Bread - Butter - Marmalade..

Now repeat after me....

Well what did it was the H.G. Wells classic  'The Time Machine' - the 1960 version with Rod Taylor.

It was X rated and somehow I got in to see it at the local Playhouse

In one scene the machine turns up in London  when a Nuclear blast is about to Happen..

With the Cold war and all - that scene got to me and opened me up to the rest  and it all went downhill from there..

A kind of existential horror that became locked into the over impressionable subconscious mind of a 14 year old.

It kept playing itself out in my head and emotions for years.

Shudders he does..

1 hour ago, DavidB-AU said:

When you work it out, how many can you count?

 

 

Hello Good Bye and I'm out of here in my Yellow submarine...

Ah! BSOD! 5 days ago I had a KMODE exception not handled (with no indication)  what have you -

The computer kept restarting before the problem could be fixed.. (The fix was to get rid of the Fast Start Up option)..

Eventually  the computer got sloppy and I got fast enough to fix the problem before the inevitable BSOD with KMODE.. could appear..

It still took a couple of fresh starts before the problem went away (Possibly a non compatible driver needing an update - but there was no indication of what it was.)

It may also have an underlying hardware issue - it's an HP! - but for now it boots and stays that way,

If the real PayPal were as bad with their graphics as these villains, then they would have no customers to scam..

Hello 

The good news is that I have both MR-003 BR Early 68184  and MR-004  BR Late (Dept 57) up for grabs

The bad news is that I live in Canada..

Happy to post if you can afford the freight..

Best regards

Bill

11 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

The Python Spirit lives on elsewhere too  

 

I think we’ll call this the Holy Grail of photoshop  

Now " Your Mother Was A Hamster" replacing the more usual "Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense" is a stroke of genius.. Bravo!

Hello - what would you like?

Network Rail boxed Pair 97302/97304/ in original box with bits unattached

Network Rail 97302 single with bits unattached

DRS 37229 - Jonty Jarvis with bits unattatched

Only ever test run

Please let me know if you are interested..

(I do live in Canada so postage won't be that cheap..)

Actually is was not these superannuated warplanes that I had in mind to sink HMS aircraft carrier

Something more like a stealthy Chinese submarine  or two...

Today the NATO exercises must be over the 'Enemy' appear to be migrating back to base...

That sitting duck of a UK aircraft carrier arrived in Halifax a week or two ago to join in..

It's very impressive, but like HMS Hood, does look eminently sinkable..

There is a private air force in Canada that is hired by the RCAF to act as the enemy for training purposes..

Here is one their fleet of 16 old Dassault-Breguet-Dornier Alpha Jets..

The new Canadian Air-Force..?

They are not abundant as they used to be - A Monarch Butterfly on its way to Mexico

By way of opening this up

My respect for the need for justice  supreme..

Justice is ultimately divine,..

Statutory laws are man's honest  attempt, sometimes faulty, often biased and somewhat shallow  or even cynical interpretation of the Ten Commandments..

Honest and sensible laws one can respect..

But as not all laws are sensible or honest and are sometimes even biased in favour of one interested party of another..

(Take a look at the tax code sometime and eye the benefits you'll never claim..) 

It forces one to be ambivalent and selective and sometimes even ignore a law or two, just so one can continue to breathe..

What if someone makes a law  tomorrow designed to prosecute anyone over the age of 12 who plays with toy trains?

Will you or anyone else respect and obey that law?

Willingly, out of respect for the law, take your entire collection down to the Toy Train recycling centre?

Inform on your fellow collectors to the authorities?

Total respect for the law by the masses can easily turn into existential threat to humanity..

Just think of Galileo and his run ins with the law of his times.. 

Or even my father operating a radio station in Rotterdam in 1944; now that ended badly..