Dear All,

In the tradition of giving nicknames (e.g. "Connie", "Annie") to new Large Scale locos, let's start a thread to name the new articulated. 

A knowledgeable Large Scaler has recently said that new LS "Mallet" is more accurately a "Meyer".

My entry:  "Oscar"

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear All,

Merry Christmas !!!

Just a few minor tweaks and I should have my train running under the tree by this afternoon.   

http://www.2719.com/images/lunda6.jpg

Two hour drive to my side tonight for Christmas Eve Mass, Choir, way too much buffet food, caroling, noisy fun kids/neices/nephews, obnoxiously fun brother complete with lampshade, burning wood fireplace broadcast on TV, kid cousins' gift exchange, and "Dirty Santa" over-18 gift exchange. 

Who will get stuck with the 3 year old gallon size can of pork and beans?

A little more formal on Barb's side this Sunday. Careful with the crystal.

God's blessings to you all.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik     

Dear All,

Every track powered electric train owner should have a test lamp made out of an 1156 automotive tail lamp (bulb) with one test lead (wire) soldered to the tip, and the other test lead soldered to the metal case of the bulb.

If you cut an "alligator clip style jumper lead" in half, you will have two test leads with an alligator clip on each end.  Very handy. 

This 1156 test lamp has 2 functions:

1.) It's a crude voltage indicator (brighter light = higher voltage),

and most importantly,

2.) It provides a stationary electrical "load" to "exercise" your power pack and track connections. 

Your moving load, is of course, your locomotive. 

If you clip the lamp leads to your volt-meter leads, you would get an "under load" voltage reading on your volt-meter, which is much more useful than a "no load" voltage reading while troubleshooting pesky track power problems. 

For example:

1.) Take all locos and cars off the track. 

2.) Split the first track-to-track connection just to the right of the power pack. (This assumes you have an oval track.) 

3.) Turn the power pack on and measure the voltage (test lamp clipped on to volt-meter leads) as close to the power pack output as possible. 

4.) Move the leads (left) down the track away from the power pack, measuring the voltage across the two rails at every track section. 

5.) Slightly move (flex) the rail connectors between the previous section and the one you are now measuring.  If the voltage drops considerably, or jumps all over the place, you have just flexed a bad connection.

6.) Repair the bad connections. (A gentle squeeze with a pair of pliers on a loose rail connector often works...Careful, don't smash the connector).

7.) Move down the line testing and repairing all bad connections.  When finished, re-connect your (split) oval. 

Voltmeter readings are nice, but using the brightness of the lamp as a crude voltage indicator is often good enough for troubleshooting track connections.   

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik     

Dear All,

The Indanhead Model Railroad Club is having its 7th Annual Train Show

today, Saturday Oct. 11, 2008, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

and Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Regis High School
2100 Fenwick Avenue
Eau Claire, WI 54701

Admission: $5
Kids under 12 free with adult.

$1 off admission with non-perishable food item donation for local food bank.

Concessions provided by Boy Scouts.

Sellers, Displays and Operating Layouts (N thru Large scales)

Hey, WGL, can ya get there?

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

Dear All,

A poster had asked how to get the corner of his shelf layout to work. 

Others had suggested using CAD layout drawings, which would work but would need a learning curve.

Here are non-CAD instructions:

Note: "Inside" is away from the wall, "Outside" is close to the wall.
Note: Track radius is to center line of track.     

Create a corner piece by cutting a square CSL x CSL (CSL = Corner Square Length)

Cut a quarter circle (off the corner of the square) of radius IR (IR = Inner Radius) 
The center of the circle is one corner of the of the square.

Think of a square saltine cracker with a bite taken out of the corner.

SW = shelf width

TRmin = mimimum track radius

TBW = track bed width

DIEB = distance from inner shelf edge to track bed

IR = TRmin - TBW/2 - DIEB

CSL = IR + SW

Example:  Given 15" minimum track radius, 2" track bed width, and 3/4" inner edge to track bed distance,

IR = 15" - 1" - 3/4" = 13-1/4"

Given 8" shelf width,

CSL = 13-1/4" + 8" = 21-1/4"

Hope this helps. 

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Please see message in "General Discussion" area. 

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Rick Cartwright (a.k.a. Rick the Railroad Guy) is attempting to set the world's record for model train length

this weekend in the Phoenix, AZ area. (10-9 thru 10-13-08)

For more details please visit his website: 

http://ricktherailroadguy.com/longestmodeltrain.html

Rick says thanks to everyone that has helped in any way. 

His website has live video streaming available. 

Rick is the first person to attempt this on gauge 1 (large scale) track in 1:29 scale.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik   

A question was asked about easements on another thread.  Here is the "meat" of my reply:

"The easiest pseudo-easements using EZ-Track would be:

a 33-1/4"R 18 degree section leading into a
26"R curve, and

a 35-1/2"R 18 degree section leading into a
28"R curve."

Here are two others I have thought up:

33-1/4"R-12 degree section leading into a
26"R-18 degree section leading into a
18"R curve.

Same two leading into a
15"R curve (perhaps overkill).

So far, these examples have the perfect # of degrees, and are symmetrical (split into mirror images) at 90 degrees. 

Future examples may not have both.

Remember that ovals with easements or pseudo-easements take up more space than ovals without. 

You would need flex track to create "bent stick" or "spiral" (real) easements. 

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

edit: spelling

Greetings.

Could you please weigh in on the "ID my Train" by adventuredog in the "general discussion" forum.

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear Bach-Man,

Could you e-mail me, please.   I tried at your old addy and got no reply. 

Thanks.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

joebarb "at" wwt "dot" net

Dear Dr EMD,

Please comment on my reply to the thread "Union Pacific Heritage Series" on the "Williams by Bachmann" board,  specifically, about the visual differences between the SD70ACe and the SD90 (SD90MAC?) prototypes.

Thanks. 

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear All,

Anyone had any luck sending messages to other Bachmann board members?

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear All, 

Boarders in a previous threads seem to be struggling to achieve satisfactory sounding chuffs at all speeds and loads.  Recently, it was theorized that faster triggers were interpreted by sound modules as "noise", and  thus ignored.   

Perhaps we need a new approach.  Up to now, we seem to have one trigger for both cylinders. 

Why not two triggers and two voices, one for each cylinder?  The "stereo" signals could then be mixed down to a mono output to the speaker. 

Think about it.  This would cut the chuff trigger rate in half, allowing for longer "decay" of the hissing sound for each cylinder.

Perhaps overkill: Have 4 triggers, one for each stroke (forward/backward) X 2 cylinders. 

Is there a difference between the sound of a cylinder's forward stroke and its backward stroke?  Is there a significant sound difference between cylinder action/chuff from the left side of the engine vs. the right side of  the engine if you are standing on one side?       

The live steam people are probably chuckling over our struggles to achieve "live steam sound"...

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear Bill,

Is this set in your "master list"?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bachman-G-Scale-Big-Haulers-Weil-McLain-Boilers-set_W0QQitemZ180196759125QQihZ008QQcategoryZ19152QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

Thought I'd give you a heads up if not.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Greetings, all.

I sent an e-mail to someone, and later I thought, "how rude of them not to reply".  Sure enough, a week later, I found the reply in my spam filter.  Arrgh. 

"I will check and clean out my spam filter more often." (Duh!)

How can you tell that you are getting old?  Simple. 

When you are young, you say "my bike is faster than your bike."

When you are old, you say "my hospital stay was longer than your hospital stay."

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik   

Dear All,

Usually the price of coach and observation passenger cars track each other pretty well.  These current auctions of mine are pretty different though.  Any one need another coach... cheap?

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjgsatQQfrppZ50QQfsopZ1QQfsooZ1QQrdZ0

Hope you are enjoying your trains. 

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

Contact me via email.  See posting in General Discussion.

Contact me via email ASAP.  My addy is not hidden in my profile, so you can click on my name to get it,  but here it is anyway:  joebarb"-at-"wwt.net

Hope this helps. 

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear All,

Please see similar topic in "General" catagory.

Thanks.

Joe Satnik

Merry Christmas, All.

Just thought I'd let you guys know that I am selling the individual pieces (new, not yet removed from box) of last year's Sam's Club set on e-bay.  My user name is

jgsat

Feel free to e-mail me:  joebarb@wwt.net

Thanks. 
Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

This would be a great way to get an Annie for kitbashing, etc.