I made a new model railroading website. It's about my HO scale layout, the Emhurst & Area.

www.freewebs.com/texaspacific

thanks!

I've made more progress on my layout. I'm almost done with the track, (as soon as I get the EZ track left-hand turnouts in from Trainworld, then I'll be set) and I'm about to begin wiring the layout. After that I'll add scenery and structures, which are the part that are the most fun, to me, at least.

I fooled around with a new addition to my layout, and came up with this shot:


That was the first shot that I've made that hints at what the layout will become.

Note: There will be a backdrop mounted behind the background buildings.

...led me to some rare finds.

I was walking around the outskirts of Union Pacific's Centennial Yard and I saw some interesting things.

I saw a line of UP diesels.


Under closer inspection, I realized that two of the locomotives, #s 220 and 203, were fairly old GE B30-7A s.




When I got home, I looked up the official UP roster on the web, and did not find #203 and #220, which is never a good sign.

I also saw 2 ancient Missouri Pacific trailers, a Union Pacific trailer and even a Texas & Pacific trailer manufactured by Pullman in the 70s sitting by the side of the yard!

I'm re-painting an Athearn H24-66 Trainmaster dummy right now. I picked it up at a train show a few weeks ago for $10 in a bargain bin, and I figured I'd re-paint it for my fictional road, the Emhurst and Area.

I'll keep you posted as I build it. Some pictures to come!

-Paul

After reading several posts on the board about converting horn hook couplers to knuckle couplers, I decided to try it myself using an X-Acto knife. It's actually easier than you might think.

First start out with a regular horn hook (X2F) coupler.






The converted couplers are like IHC's Magic Mate Couplers. They can couple with both knuckle and horn hook couplers. These don't have sprung knuckles, so they're not as good as real knuckle couplers, but they're cheap (free is you have a big pile of X2F's lying around)

Try some experimentation. Your first one might not be great, but keep experimenting until you get it.

If you CAN easily add knuckle couplers (like on those Athearn Coupler-boxes, DO IT. They'll be much better than my converted horn-hook's. But if you can't (ie, old Tyco cars), doing this isn't a bad idea....

I put a new slideshow on Youtube this week.... It's a collection of photos from both the 1975-1976 and the 1946-1949 freedom trains.

Take a look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIASMT5zWKc

Another hobby shop in my area, Hobbytown USA is closing. There used to be 3 here, but now there will be only one hobby shop. The Hobbytown USA will close in March. They weren't my favorite hobby shop, but once I got the discount the prices weren't that bad. I guess that means that I'll stock up on Model Railroading supplies, though.

BTW, the LHS I like best is still open. It's locally owned by 1 woman, and have really cheap bargain prices on almost evrything.

My first kitbashed structure.




Note The Bricked-Over loading doors.







What do you think?

BTW, At Bob's suggestion, I'm going to re-paint the roof of the Freight House.

Now that Model Railroader has increased their standard subscription rates to around $40, I looked around for cheaper MR subscription rates. Of Course, the rate on the fake paper covers advertising new special issues always has the option of paying a little less for the subscription than you would if you bought it at the regular subscription rate (ie, $39.95 vs. $41.95), but still, that seemed like a little much. Fortunately, when I was thumbing through Great Model Railroads 2008 at my LHS, I noticed that the subscription cars were for subscriptions of only $32.95! I know how I'm renewing...

My email has changed, from slmoses@msn.com to texas-pacific@sbcglobal.net. Just thought y'all should know.

I finally got my "benchwork" (used Ping-Pong table) cleared off and am now laying track. I am trying to get pictures and maybe a video or two posted when the track is laid. Scenery is yet to come, and will probably stay like that, at least until summer...


The picture is of the old track arrangement

Go to FreeRice.com. Every time you get a word right, they donate 10 grains of rice to people who need them!

http://www.freerice.com/
___________________________________________________________
Total Donations by Day
Date         Grains of Rice
7 October 2007 830
8 October 2007 5,670
9 October 2007 76,020
10 October 2007 287,960
11 October 2007 4,584,100
12 October 2007 3,541,350
13 October 2007 3,194,630
14 October 2007 4,343,350
15 October 2007 6,403,920
16 October 2007 6,645,520
17 October 2007 12,157,010
18 October 2007 26,703,160
19 October 2007 40,373,060
20 October 2007 16,175,550
21 October 2007 13,276,900
22 October 2007 26,881,930
23 October 2007 30,423,770
24 October 2007 37,670,700
25 October 2007 30,819,620
26 October 2007 29,607,480
27 October 2007 37,056,070
28 October 2007 42,153,550
29 October 2007 48,720,340
30 October 2007 56,893,100
31 October 2007 59,167,790
1 November 2007 52,142,290
2 November 2007 45,925,390
3 November 2007 45,760,870
4 November 2007 48,038,530
5 November 2007 53,847,080
6 November 2007 73,566,480
7 November 2007 75,201,580
8 November 2007 77,126,310
9 November 2007 63,253,810
10 November 2007 122,377,240
11 November 2007 136,236,930
12 November 2007 188,987,290
13 November 2007 192,744,570
14 November 2007 184,681,920
15 November 2007 201,226,610
16 November 2007 198,342,510
17 November 2007 160,497,630
18 November 2007 170,885,620
___________
2,628,006,040

FreeRice began on 7 October 2007.

Can anyone tell me about this Athearn box? I haven't seen one like it before.

I made another video that I put on Youtube.

As Seen From A Commuter Train

the Route of the Eagles Forum Is now up and running, if anyone's interested.

Is the Rapido selling great HO scale passenger cars the same company that designed the lousy N- scale couplers that were standard for many years?

How was grain transported by rail in the '50s? I know covered hoppers weren't widely used yet, so they used boxcars. Was the grain bagged before it was loaded onto the boxcar? If so, would the grain have been bagged at the site of the grain elevator, or would they ship it to a large plant to be bagged? I seem to remember reading something about them sometimes loading unbagged grain onto boxcars.... How did they pull that off?

Thanks in advance for an explanation of how the shipped grain by rail in the 1950s.

This is my first video that I've put online...
I made it from clips I took on the Fourth of July
It contains everything from aging U-Boats to brand-new Green Goats
Here's the link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3299783649948220941&hl=en
Any suggestions on how to make better ones in the future?

PS- Can anyone tell me how to add sound to the background of a movie? I use Windows Movie Maker.

Okay, most of us know how Model Power probably infringed some of Bachmann's patents on Bachmann's E-Z track while MP was making their sectional track w/ roadbed that looks slightly different than E-Z track. Anyway, it appears that Model Power is STILL selling their track, but now it has a name:

Easy Track

That's got to be plain WRONG, right? First you infringe patents on another manufacturers' track, then you give it a name VERY similar to that same manufacturer's track. What's going on in their heads?

(See the upper right corner of page #27 of October's Model Railroader if you don't believe me.)
Have Bachmann and Model Power reached an agreement? Has Model Power done a serious no-no?

Inform me if you know anything that I don't.... I'm really wondering on this one.

I've found another source of inexpensive HO scale vehicles at Wal-Mart.

Hot Wheels has joined the bandwagon and are now selling HO vehicles in plastic display boxes. So far I've seen a hot rod, a tan 2005 Mustang GT, a VW Beetle, a Dodge Charger and a few other cars. They're about $2.99 each, and they look all right. I bought the hot rod.

So, now we have Hot Wheels HO scale cars in addition to our Malibu ex- MP cars, Peterbuilt trucks, race cars, and cars w/ trailers. And don't forget the Fresh Cherries.