Good Morning All,   Happy Father's Day

       I am looking for a Walther's doodlebug,  prefer Lehigh Valley,  but any roadname will do,  in running condition.   This product has been out of product for several years.   I have looked thru Ebay but the only doodlebug there is a Bachmann unit which is longer than the Walther's and I need the shorter version.
       If you have one you would like to sell or know of a hobby shop that may have one laying on a dusty shelf,  please contact me.  I appreciate any and all efforts.

Thanks.

Good Evening All,

      I have two of the 4-6-0s and both have the same maledy.   Going downhill,  they surge.   Is there anything that can be done to correct this?  I had a friend who thought he had a fix for this problem but it did not work.

The enclosed pic was not staged.   My cat,  Nittany,  got up on my railroad without my knowledge and managed to knock down one of my deer herd onto the eastbound mainline.   

Good Afternoon All,

      Recently on the Athearn Facebook page,   Athearn announced "a recall"    It seems that several ready to run Wabash cabooses got out with windows painted in and they ask for them to be returned.
     This made me think about another "recall" that Athearn did thru Model Railroader Magazine,  sometime in the 1980s.   It was a blue box kit of an Erie gondola with red canisters.  I thought some of you might be interested so here is a picture of the car,  still in kit form with the box wrapped in clear plastic wrap.  Reason for the recall,  look closely at the bottom of the car between the 2nd and 3rd canisters.   You will see the Lionel "L" logo on the car.

Good afternoon all,

       I know,  several years ago,  this topic was discussed.   I am looking for a source to by screws such as 1-72 and 2-56 in varying lengths.   I cannot afford to continue to by the Kadee offerings of 48 pcs for $4.00.
I want to buy in large quantities such as 100-200 pieces.

Good Evening All,

       A couple of weeks ago I got one of my Bachmann 2-8-0s and 4-6-0s back from my painter.   He lettered the engines for EBT and did some subtle weathering.    Now,  for all you EBT purists out there,  these engines are not meant to represent what the East Broad Top had at anytime in their history.   Here are a couple of pix of the engines.

Here is the 4-6-0,  #110


Here is the 2-8-0 #149

Good Morning All,

       Can anyone out there give me a comparison between the Bachmann Berkshire and the Proto 2000?   Why would one make a better purchase over the other?   DCC included is not a selling factor for me.

SMAM ALERT!!!! - If you get something in your snail mail from National Magazine Serivices in Reno,  Nevada telling you that you have a renewal notice and they can offer the best subscription price,  TRASH IT!!   It is a SCAM!!     I got one of these notices yesterday and today I called Kalmbach Publishing,  home of Model Railroader Magazine and Jenny told me it is a scam and not to send any money.   She then checked my account and assured me that I am paid up for almost a year yet.

Good Morning All,

        This past Thursday,  May 6, 2010,  my son Darryl and I had an opportunity to be part of a night photo shoot at Steamtown,  in Scranton, Pa.   The shoot was run by Peter Lerro Productions.   Following are some pix from that shoot. 
        The three engines included are the U.P. Big Boy,  freshly painted but not relettered yet,  a Grand Trunk Western 4-8-2,  and a Reading T-1 #2124.   The last pix is of the "engineer" climbing up to his cab.

Good Morning All,

      I am working on part of my HO/HOn3 railroad's scenery.   I have a small town,  not way out in the sticks type town that sits along a portion of my HOn3 mainline.   It is time to do the one street....what would it have been made out of in the late 1950s or very early 1960s?

Good Evening all,

       A number of you have mentioned having problems with the pilot truck on your 4-6-0s not tracking very well.   I had one place on my whole On30 railroad where the engine left a left hand curve and went into a #6 turnout.   Almost every time that I tried to take the engine into the divergent(curved) part of the turnout the pilot truck would derail.   
       Well,  those days are over.   My friend Tim Anders(he lurks about here on the BMan forum) found a problem with the pilot truck.   Not only on my 4-6-0 but also on his.   The two axles in the assembly did not have smooth,  free lateral motion in the assembly.    He simply put some graphite lubricant on the axles and now my 4-6-0 passes thru the problem area just fine,  thankyou very much!   
         So if you are having some derailment problems,  check those axles!!

Good evening All,

      I am working on an elongated flatcar for my On30 railroad.   It is made by cutting two frames and decks and then splicing them together.   The photos I am enclosing show an unfinished car.    To finish the product I am waiting on some Banta flatcar decks.   The car will then be weathered.   I am not sure what I will letter it yet,  but three letters come to mind.   An "e",  a "b" and a "t" might be a good choice.

first pic shows comparison between a standard Bachman On30 flatcar frame and the new elongated frame



This pic is the elongated flatcar.   It does not look like much now because it is nowhere near being finished.    This pic shows the comparison between the standard On30 flatcar from Bachman and the new,  longer car.


The next pic shows the car upside down so you can see the extra weight I have added.   Look closely at the truck bolsters and you will see that each has two .177 caliber pellets added to the bolsters for weight.   The only freight cars in On30 from Bachmann that you cannot do this to is the two bay hoppers.


       Hopefully,  before the end of this month,  I will be able to show you photos of the finished car.  Just waiting on those Banta wood decks.

Good Morning All,

       If anyone out there has the Broadway Limited Pennsy J-1,  I need to know is the center driver the only blind driver or is another axle set blind also.

Good Afternoon All,

       Back in the early 80s,  Atlas offered Funits in O scale.   They show occasionally on EBay,  but I find none there now.    Does anyone out there have an idea what one of these units might be worth today.

     Here are two more new cars on my On30 empire.   They are made from shortened Bachmann flatcars.   The logs are real wood.   The chain is from A Line.   Cars were given to me by a good friend.

     Here is a picture of the newest freight car on my On30 railroad.   Decals came from the Friends of the East Broad Top company store.   Lettering done by Tim Wells.   Weather done by me using Bragdon chalks and over sprayed with Dulcoat.

Enclosed is a picture of an O scale model sanding tower based on one that the CNJ used to have in its yard at Jim Thorpe,  Pa.   It is made from an O scale Plasticville signal bridge and a Rix tank.   The small tank on the top of the bridge is from a Walther's kit containing several sized tanks.   The piping is Evergreen styrene.   The sanding hose is a piece of heat shrink tubing.

Hopefully,   the picture comes thru......I would love to see Bachmann consider bringing out a model of the California and Western #45.  I feel that this deminuative 2-8-2 would fit right in with the other On30 engines in the Bachmann roundhouse.

Good Morning All,

       I have two of the On30 4-6-0s that suffer from the same malady.  When running down hill - even without a train behind - the engines run in a jerky motion similar to being in an automobile,  going downhill,  and pumping the brakes.
        A friend,  Tim Anders,  who posts here,  did some sound work for me in both the 4-6-0s(again,  thanks Tim,  VERY nice work!) told me that this is cause by gear lash.   Tim told me that he has seen this problem with all the 4-6-0s that he has had his hands on.
         Tim said to run the engines in reverse,  pulling a train for several trips and replace the gear lubricant with LaBelle 102.   Not sure if that is grease or oil.  By doing this Tim says his 4-6-0 runs very smoothly now.
        I am in the process of doing this now.   Hope this helps others with the same problem.