enginear joe

 Man, is that a great price!! I wonder if they'll ship to NY? Maybe a road trip will be in order.

HERE'S THE DOOR!! Will be fun trying to side the garage and make this look and work good.

Sheesh. I ran the Amtrak Genesis out the middle track and it hit the door! Got to make room for the big swingers. Wait 'til I run out the Challengers!! I'd better keep them on different rails.

 My track leaves the shed and doesn't have any elevation change. The upper bench will leave the shed and probably be a 2% down grade to the layout.

Wow. You want to know if your rolling stock's wheels are in gauge?

Try cutting some saw blade grooves down a shelf. Some cars roll right. Others don't even land in both grooves!

Looks like my fleet needs some attention!

 Yeap!

I wanted that ability to drive them in for easy and speed. Carrying stuff up and down stairs is a real pain in.....

this came up in another forum (OGR o scale forum). Urrggg. I can't past the link. Go to the OGR forum and look in the for sale for the live steamer if anyone is interested.

 What brand of deck boards are those? I can't find the hollow ones around here yet. I do have one pamphlet from a co that ships direct.

 Yeah....but... the shock value was great, right?

making something to store extra trains on. I'll need more supports for another shelf.

 When the weather got better, I made a promise that I would just get something running outback. I did. I threw down the outer loop, which I ended up having to move a good portion of to make room for the double mainline. The track didn't turn the way I had expected it to when it actually was laid down and connected. At least, I ran some trains a couple of times.

 Now I'm getting things organized, and trying to make stuff for the longer term. It has kept me from running! It has to be done. I need the ability to drive a train inside for protection and security. I can't carry stuff up and down stairs every time I want to run. So I had to compromise my run time and concentrate on getting stuff done for the future. It has only been a little while. I just feel that the great weather days are slipping by. I should probably take advantage of them and do this stuff on rainy days? My rainy day project list would be HUGE!!!

 Soon this will be back and I won't have a choice!

 That sure looks like the stuff at the home stores that goes on the vinyl lattice for edging it. He could have at least filled the gap!

 I did try several brands and try to keep an open mind. There's just a few brands I won't buy (2 or 3? cheap ones). I really don't know about Piko and haven't gambled on them yet. I don't hear much about their equipment good or bad??

I go for modern equipment the most anyways.

 Well....good luck!

I hope all goes well. Things always crop up on me when I'm not ready for them.

 Never say sorry to me. You have to fix it. I'm just along for the ride!

She just looks like a beast. With all the troubles you've gone thru, you deserve a good showing!!

 Is she running smooth yet? These things can get frustrating I know first hand.

This post is great to follow though. It looks pretty well built anyways. I didn't know that it had two motors.

 I wish I had one of these. I've got way too much already, and more modern stuff on order. So this post helps my TAD ( Train acquiring disease ).

 I had already started this project before coming to this site. I hear of guys looking at this and wanted to show them that it was just sheet plastic as a start. It took many mods and some scrapped tries.

 Moderator: if this is too much space used: please delete at will.

 I threw down the outer loop just to run some trains. I should have marked out clearly where each track would go. I don't have a track plan written out, just in my mind a general plan. I figured anything would need adjusting anyways in the real world. So I ended up having to re-ballast most of the outer loop after moving it. I could do this faster than the years I spent pre-planning to move outside anyways. Mother nature has to pack down the rock more than I could.

 Jerry, nice train! It looks great from here anyways.

I always thought that the MTH tank car was modeled after a more modern version and is painted for too many era's? I have bought around a dozen of them and like them overall on my modern diesel trains.

 When I look thru the pages of the real train pictures I see many tank cars used for long periods. I would have thought they would wear out quicker?

Has anyone here tried the #1 gauge track from Gargraves? It seems to be tight across the rails on most of my stuff. I now wonder if it's actually correct? I'll have to go measure it now! 

 I don't see this transformer on the MTH list of the acceptable ones. I don't know if there's any problems with the Hz or something. I would caution to wait for Raymond or others to see this post and respond.

 Someone recently posted about running on Marklin code 200 track I think???

I'm sorry I can't help more. I don't have a GG1 myself yet.

I'm pretty sure I've read stuff about MTH's compatibility with Marklin?? I couldn't swear to it.

 I apologize to any others for wondering off topic...., but this thread is once again helping me out big time.

Grant, I had never seen your reviews. I wasn't a forum member there back then and I believe it was even before I got my first Challenger?

I didn't know I could even adjust those wheels on the tender so I'll have to check all of them. Some great info again. Thank you!! I had figured it was the switches causing trouble and looked right past the Challengers. I had a few engines act up on those switches and I think I remember even putting a router to them to make the flange ways deeper for clearance?

 I got that gauge from Old Pullman for my O scale. I didn't know that they even made G scale stuff but they're out of business now, right? I have seen some Micro Eng stuff around and never knew where to get my hands on big amounts. It does look great! I started with Aristo and got in heavy now.

 The only GR wheels I have, came on four used coal hoppers. They have BB axles and the wheels slide very easily in and out of gauge. I have not rum them yet to see if they'll stay put on their own after adjusting. The flanges are very pointed and picked a switch the minute I tried them. I found they were out of gauge and that's when I found how easy they slide. I will try some CA on them to fix that.

 My G scale MTH Challengers don't back thru Aristo wide switches very well. The tenders jump a bit, so I go slow. I need to research what's the issue.

 Grant, I did lay a tiny bit of rail on my 2 rail O gauge layout. I made a diesel fueling shop where the rails go into a service area. It was very easy once I got over the fear of handlaying track. I know switches are complicated. I look forward to making some someday. Having this aluminum switch already made from Switchcrafters, it should be easier to just replace the rails right???

 Thank you for the chart!! I'll have to study it to figure out what I'm doing.

Do you still make switches for sale?

Your quote from Sagan makes me laugh. I remember dealing with very smart individuals who were wrong about somethings. I never corrected them as they could find out down the road. I have no need to to bash them for I make more mistakes then they ever did. There was a line in the TV series Men who built America, " ...the brightest minds are capable of making ...." huge mistakes,... or something like that, talking about how Edison favored DC voltage and stuck with it.

 I did get an email saying the Dashes would come in July. It's the fourth delay I think??

I'm wondering if anything has come out yet from the online catalog?

Thanks Chuck!

Here's another shot of the bridge. Ok, well it was an excuse to run the fast train!!

Thanks again Grant.

 I did buy a Aristo gauge and then heard that it didn't match the specs. I should get a vernier caliper. I used to have them at work to measure stuff precisely. I do have to look up the exact specs.

I am using crusher fines and then hosing it down with water. It seems to pack it down like cement. I will keep doing it as it settles. I roll a car around with my torpedo level on it to get the track level across the ties. It is tuff to get it perfect. I'm hoping that the rock will pack down and provide stability soon.

 I do appreciate your RR! The pictures you posted motivated me to attempt my own. That's why I'm screening my own rock to get it close to scale.

I'm sure that my premade switches will be rougher than yours. My MTH Challengers don't like backing thru them already in the basement. I hope to try some from Train-li soon. I have one aluminum one from Switchcrafters that I wish was made of stainless. I may try and replace the rails myself to upgrade it. Maybe I'll try some of his in a smaller code??

Thanks Grant. Do the USA wheel sets come to gauge usually?

I was looking at the extra wheel sets from AML also. Have you checked them out?

In the past, I got my wheels from San Val in California. I got a few of his bearing sets and they roll fantastic.

I usually just run them and see if any problems pop up without checking them further.

I have 4 cars with bearing wheels from GR and they were out of gauge? They seem to slide too easily on their axles. I hope they stay put. They have very pointed flange ends that may pick the switch points? I need to test them this summer. They look very nice otherwise.