Dear Friends,

Last Friday was Thomas day at Strasburg.  Thank goodness I was there just to visit other stuff, and not that.  I took my son on the 1200 noon tour of the Shop and was pleasantly supprised.  The tour was informal, friendly and very informative. 

They are restoring a Denver, Rio Grande & Western from the frame up;
A Baldwin 0-6-0 switcher with Juniata stampings on the boiler; 
A heavy weight passenger car, privately owned, replaced trucks from 3-wheel to 2-wheel;
A boiler repair from the same DRG&W that had rolled the engine and dented the boiler:  the section was cut out and welded and the weld x-rayed;
Etc, etc.

The gent told me Strasburg trains the feds how to inspect, and lots of times they get telephone approval for work done.

In addition there are all the machines from the 19th century, lubricants, lubrication mods, etc.  We got to see the up close differences for Southern, Baker and Walschaert valve gears.  Very impressive !

I whole heartily recommend this tour to all !

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Wade,

A friend said he found some 160 lb rail in the Rose Yard, on s side line.  The stuff on the NS mainline at Coburn in Altoona is 141 lb.  Have you had a chance to look at the rail designations in Rose Yard ?  This friend of mine is not prone to exaggeration, so I believe it is there.  Any thoughts on this, or does it even matter ?   

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Sheldon,

Howdy !  Have not heard a fig about your project with the Train Engineer and block control.  "Twofoot's" thread got me thinking about it.

On my end, I have been busy, way to busy, with other "stuff" which, thankfully, is getting resolved.

I hope to play with my TE and F scale this weekend.

Still planning the trip we talked about.  Just have to work out the details.

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Friends,

I cannot find LS Side Tank Porters listed at Trainworld or St Aubin Station.  Are they available for sale ?  Any help is appreciated.

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Friends,

Anyone know how many narrow gauge type cars that this baby can pull ?

Has anyone put weight in the form of lead shot, etc in the boiler, similar to what TOC did with the Indy ?

Any comments would be much appreciated.  I want to make a small logging or industrial LS layout and to negotiate 3-4 % grades.

Best Wishes,

Jack

Howdy !

I have an Aristocraft Rogers LS set with plastic with plastic wheels in the freight cars.  Would Bachmann steel wheels, 33 scale inch, be easily swapped for these plastic wheels without modifications to the trucks ?  I am wondering if axle length and bearing/wheel point geometry would be a problem.  Anyone ever do this ?

Thanking you in advance.

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Friends,

Does BM sell LS trucks?  I want to kitbash a few flat bed cars and cannot find any reference in the online catalog.

Thanks in advance!

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Friends,

Hours and days of watching freight trains roll through Altoona on the flats, curves and Horseshoe Curve with 1.75% incline and ~100 foot vertical rise have led me to ask a few questions:

1. How do the lead engine and pusher engines have to work to avoid derailment?  Especially on hills and curves?

2. Why doesn't an empty flat car in the middle or near the end of a heavy consist derail with pusher engines attached?

3. How are empty cars placed in a consist to avoid derailment?  Does it matter?

I would imagine weight, length, condition of the cars, and trackage all contribute.  I have on CD a Santa Fe demo that shows oscillations of trucks at speed and how certain derailments occurred at 50-60mph, thus necessitating speed restrictions in the 1960's.

Some links I found:

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel3%2F1152%2F1871%2F00051901.pdf&authDecision=-203

http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/1226

Any thoughts and comments are much appreciated and thank you in advance!

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Mr. B,

This error occurred whilst I was trying to access the "Products" area:

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Best Wishes,

Hazel

Dear Friends,

I cannot find the discussion how to make your own reversing track. Can anyone help me out, or repost the procedure?  Thanks a million.

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Friends,

Growing up 20 miles NW of Pittsburgh, PA I got to listen to trains being built all night in the Conway Yard, billed as "The World's Largest Automated Railway Yard."  The creaks, clangs and groans were music to my ears.

If anyone would like to see the yard today, you can go to Google Earth and type in "Conway, PA," and it will take you there.

The possibilities are endless for viewing train related sites the world over.

Too, you can type your address and see where you live.

Best Wishes, and Big Brother IS Watching!

Jack

Dear Mr. B. & Friends!

Can anyone answer this question for me, and win a year's supply of dehydrated water?

Q.  What is the ideal dog for a piano teacher?

A.  ??

Best Wishes!

Jack

Dear Mr. B,

Any word if our dear little Indy is poised to make a return?

I betcha it might do as well as the Crystal Skull!!

Best Wishes,

Hazel

Dear Friends,

Please excuse if this has been posted before.  Anyway, it does not hurt to inform the younger modelers, me included, of the common names of the steamers.  This is a nicely organized link, IMHO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whyte_notation

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Gene,

I have been following your posts and the mention of the days of Christmas.  So here goes a link for any and all who are interested:

http://www.cresourcei.org/cy12days.html

Very interesting stuff and increases my knowledge.  Thank you!

Best Wishes & "A Statue of a Naked Lady With a Portable Transistor Radio Where Her Stomach Oughta Be."

Or something like that! 

Jack

FROM PARADE MAGAZINE, DEC. 1989

“Our Present to You.  A Guide to a Happy Life.”

No one will ever get out of this world alive.  Resolve therefore to maintain a reasonable sense of values.

Take care of yourself.  Good health is everyone’s major source of wealth.  Without it, happiness is almost impossible.

Resolve to be cheerful & helpful.  People will repay you in kind.

Avoid angry, abrasive persons.  They are generally vengeful.

Avoid zealots.  They are generally humorless.

Resolve to listen more & to talk less.  No one ever learns anything by talking.

Be chary of giving advice.  Wise men don’t need it & fools won’t heed it.

Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving & tolerant of the weak & wrong.  Sometime in life you will have been all of these.

Do not equate money with success.  There are many successful moneymakers who are miserable failures as human beings.  What counts most about success is how a person achieves it.

Dear Friends,

Best Wishes & Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from your friends in Altoona, PA.

Jack Majcher & Family

Dear Friends,

I have purchased the engines and rolling stock from a friend who modeled the Erie-Lackawanna.  I want to get a few Spectrum steam engines that might look good for this era.  Even if they are not prototypical, what the heck!  I still want to run some steam!  (This is for our friend SteamGene).

The rolling stock is mixed freight, open and covered hoppers, gons, and a real nice set of heavy passenger cars. 

I would appreciate any suggestions.  Thank you!

Best Wishes & Happy New Year!

Jack

Dear Friends,

A nice chat with our dear Old Curmudgeon brought up the mention of his friend, "Mackers" who has posted here.

His web site is full of amazing stuff.  I hope you all like it!

http://4largescale.com/

Best Wishes!

Jack

Dear Friends,

Excerpt from today's newspaper:

"On this date:  In 1910 the Pennsylvania Railroad began service at New York's Pennsylvania Station."

Anyone who wishes to add to this thread is welcome.

Best Wishes,

Jack

Dear Friends,

The "Altoona Railroaders Museum" has a new director who is a ME with project management and marketing skills.  He hopes to take the museum in a new direction to increase contributions and endowments with a national marketing effort.  To that end, a recent newspaper article in the "Altoona Mirror" stated that the K4, #1361 is back in town, in pieces, and much of the serious repair has been down by Steamtown.

The plan is to build a quarter sized roundhouse to facilitate reconstruction and for the public to have a place to view the work as it progresses.

This sounds like a noble endeavor.  I suppose we shall see, as many of the local rail buffs had thought this ten year project was dead.

Anyone can contact me via e-mail for article reprints, etc, or for more information. As always, if in Altoona, you are welcome to meet for a cup of coffee and to talk trains.  We have two nice clubs here with interest in O gauge and scale, S and HO.

Best Wishes,

Jack