I was assigned to clean switches today at the CV&WS model railroad club, but wanted to run trains... so, i got a 2 gondolas, a caboose and my Bachmann spectrum 4-4-0 out of Cuyahoga yard(first clip is it leaving cuyahoga yard) and set off to work! It was actually pretty efficient, because i didn't have to come back for more Q-tips or carry them around and forget them (a couple junior members have a habit of leaving them on the layout). Now if only i can find a way to kit bash a proper alcohol car for the job...but that's for another day 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyPE-CiDsmc

This is worth a try to make your track cleaning chores a bit easier (and a bit more fun...).

I hope someone can help me on this one...

The CV&WS model railroad club is selling its old locomotives to make room for new ones, and no one seems to want them. I fell in love with 2 SD9s, and im actually considering them now and getting a bachmann S4 later (maybe for Christmas). The paint is a bit chipped, engines were stored, never ran for at least 2-3 years, will test run them on Thursday with a train (have it run up the helix and back down, along with going through a crossover) if i get permission to. They have DCC (soldered wires, not plugged in or built in) in them, so i at least wanna give them a try.

Anyone know how much these are probably worth as a pair?

I've been trying to find out some history about ATSF 3784, a 4-8-4 northern steam engine from the 3776 class. I was wondering if anyone knew about what she mainly did (passenger, freight....both?) and where she was around when she was retired then scrapped. I'm guessing from what i have found out that she was retired around 1957 and scrapped in 1959.

ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT!

In real life, can a electric diesel, like a E-44, be MU-ED to a couple of road diesels without the need of overhead wires? If not, is there another way to power it for service in real life without overhead wires?

Finally got to talk to a person about filming on the property of a warehouse that owns 3 cabooses,... and what are the odds that they'd be Illinois Central...? heck if i know, they have a Erie caboose down the road, but that looks a LOT better, (litterly!) Anyway... does anyone know about IC 9676, 9670, or 9691? They seem in very ruff shape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF_0J-okUoE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg4NMmB7arA

Well, it seems like the railroad always has something new to offer, and for an over sized load... this is quite a variety for 1 train!

Can someone tell me what the loads were? I can tell tha the yellow machinery was CAT equipment, half of it being either bulldozers or buckets for equipment. Train I.D. was NS 053

The shipment is due October of this year, and i was wondering if there is any pics of the paint schemes yet? Really want to get a ATSF one with sound when it comes on E-bay or modeltrainstuff.com

As some of you may know from a previous post i put about a week or 2 ago, I'm helping repaint a Pennsylvania Railroad caboose. Now, the leader of the project came up to me today and says he wants me to make a mile post... i said alright but then he added that it must be the latest New York Central mile post before the Penn central merger, and must be made of the same thing... must be done when the caboose is done.

So... does anyone have any pictures and have any idea what it would look like? Possibly even how to make one? It just needs to look like it with 196.8 as the mile marker.

ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT!!!

Not an everyday experience but 2 guys and a couple of the juniors from the CV&WS, including myself, are starting to repaint the Pennsylvania Railroad Caboose that the club owns. The plan is to work on it during the weekends and hopefully get it done by early September. It's something that isn't really documented but i figured people would be interested so i'll be posting a progress report weekly. So far, north and south side of the caboose are ready to be sanded.

Day 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXsAtwBXh7k

Day 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gqqmPN5C7o

who would think that a Northern and a Santa Fe (referring to the type of steam engine, not road) could pull 37 cars up a over 2% helix? ATSF 3784 was originally pulling a short line of CSX hoppers but i got bored and added on the almost 20 bachmann N&W and CV&WS mixed hoppers onto the train. Asked Dispatch for permission to fire up my Chessie GP9 and he assigned me his bachmann DM&IR 2-10-2 to double head instead. What i thought would be a disaster because of the speed difference really didn't cause any accidents! a failed switch nearly put the 2-10-2 on the ground but the 2 carried on with the heavy load. A perfect example of how well Bachmann Steam runs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeEtcAoxqGY (video starts at 0:23 but skip to 1:30 for the double head)

A couple days ago i was texting a friend and he complained that he didn't know what to play.... so i just said play railfanner. all i got was "...?" it was just a random thing because i happened to be railfanning. Lately, i was thinking this could actually be a good game. So far i came up with you choose an area to railfan... like horse shoe curve, Tennessee valley railroad, berea ohio, Etc. and you can either do sandbox mode (which is basically free play) or you can do missions to film/photograph trains and chase them. You get money from the pictures you take, then you can buy bikes, cars, tripods, scanners, more missions, and so on. bikes and cars would be transportation to chase trains, tripods improve your shots and scanners just help with letting you know a train is coming. Now, the thing is, the game has to be real, not random ATSF, CSX & NS all on the same line then a steam engine comes out of no where, it would be based off actual railfanning in that area. The obstacles would be speed limits, trespassing, etc.

I thought it was a good idea and thought I'd share it... who knows, maybe so computer game maker will actually work on it, and people can make their own town's railfanning, sort of like Microsoft train simulator

I was wondering if anyone wanted to share there cab ride videos? I made one for a person who wanted to see it on the CV&WS ho scale layout, so i did and it actually worked out pretty well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33vyL-_oPpg

Anyone want to share one or a few?

Is bachmann planning on re-releasing this? i would like to get one but there are other engines on my list. The only ones i can find from the website i go to (hobby shops are where i get my freight cars 80% of the time, engines is the other way around) has 9, but they are all undecorated. If this is the last run for a while, i'll save up now.

any info would be great!

Well, my mom wants to clean out the attic and i got A LOT of Thomas videos, and VHS for me is a no go unless its a good train video. Plus, im trying to save $275 to buy a Bachmann Shay. i plan on selling them on E-Bay but i don't know how to list it or if that's the best idea

HELP WOULD BE GREAT! (I know that i probably won't reach my budget on that alone, but I'm trying to also sell some other videos and such that i don't use.)

P.S. Conditions vary, some have the case ,but most don't labels are on. i can get a full list if that helps anything.

IM NOT TRYING TO SELL THEM HERE! IM JUST TRYING TO GET HELP ON HOW TO SELL THEM!

I figured its been a couple of days sense they made there trip, so a couple people probably have their shots up by now, how about we share them? 

Heres what i got.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A-m_V22QLU

A friend of mine loaned me 5 engines for long term lease (a year or more)... over kill? Yea, but I can't complain. All of them ran pretty good but 1 ran really smooth, and it didn't look too detailed so I guessed AHM. Take a look and what do you know, its walthers. I made a deal with him to pay $45 at the end of the lease for that engine and a SW1000 dummy. I was wondering where I can get handrails for this feller and what kind of decoder can be put in this engine?

For the curious, both of the engines I'm gonna buy are BN.

Was looking at a ice breaker car (pennslyvainia hopper) and got interested in it. Can these cars be used in spring\summer running? Can they be shoved into a random train to be moved? If so, is there a certain\recommended area of the train? When using the car for realistic opertaion, what cars should be on it and where should they be located?

Thanks!

the CV&WS train show is next week, and i want to run my Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0, but the whistle really needs to be turned up. Last time i tried it didn't work. I think it had something to do with not knowing the right decoder?

What is the sound decoder in it and what CV numbers do i need to know?

Went railfanning and caught the Loram Rail Grinder on 3/19/11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y102Cu0Nv-w  (skip to 6:35 for the rail grinder)

I had a good amount of questions and was wondering if anyone could help me with some of them.

What is the purpose of rail grinding?

Is it needed?

Do short lines and tourist railroads do it?

How long has rail grinding been around and what was the early technology?

What is the liquid they were spraying out of the hose on the caboose?

Thanks!

I seem to catch something new about every other month, this one being 3 weeks ago but i finally got the chance to upload this one, its pretty entertaining, when else are you gonna see a truck make a lot of sparks?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wKzpfY2DdQ

So...what the heck is this?