enginear joe

 Wow!

 Man, there's only one thing I could think of to resolve this as moving them inward may still cause problems? Each wheel would have to be chucked in a lath and reshaped??? Am I over thinking this??

here's a USA tanker with the new KDs on it. I know it won't help the OP here for his problem. Something to consider if you're going to mix brands.

 This is terrible! Thanks for sharing this. I have a feeling they have a huge problem on their hands.

 I bought some of the AML hoppers on sale at RLD's site.

Now they have USA's 60' box cars on sale too. I missed the modern tankers sale there!

I love the modern stuff the best. I can't wait for the new bethagons to come out.

 Me too. The problem with G scale is not only all the different coupler designs that don't play well with each other, then each company mounts theirs at different heights???

It's easy to see why so many go with KDs. They work great!!!

 ( I like the MTH couplers too. They work great for me. Second would be the Aristocraft. The USA's don't mate well with other brands I have. Maybe they work with LGB's??)

I have to replace all my USA cars couplers with KDs to work on my RR with the others. They do make great cars and they come with KD pads. Probably not on their passenger cars???

 I can't type the other one it's ebay under Trainz for sellers.

 Sorry, I finally got logged on. I couldn't all day again?

I meant to say Trainz auctions site. I can't paste it with my browser for some reason. They come up on both ebay and Dash train auctions.

http://marketplace.collector-modeltrains.com

look under G scale.

 I'll have to try that black glue.

I've been using Gorilla super glue since it was recommended for Korber buildings. I noticed that my other superglues and even a special solvent glue I got from the plastic supplier, crack off and fail. I tried my pipe solvent with purple primer, and wasn't happy with that either.

looking at that east end 5th shot down, makes me rethink my layout. It looks like it adds good interest to the layout the way the trains cross over each other and can seem to have a different destination.

Nick, how good does that work for U? Looks great!

I wanted to get a Dyson vacuum the other day. It came with a free mini vac. I was hoping to sneak that outside on a flat car and see if it would work? It would probably not work out and she wouldn't pay that much for a vacuum. Rats!

I really like the idea of that blower in the video. How cool would that be if it could be pointed by the remote!

Thanks Mark. Lots to learn.

 I know a lot has been said about the ability for the new MTH engines to have DCC on board. I'm sure it will help out a lot of people. I run DCS myself, so the only thing for me is that there's no polarity switch anymore. I really didn't mind having it anyways. If I turned the loco around, I threw the switch.

 I think the biggest thing that would help the toyish look of the MTH Dash engines, would be to address the pilot area better. The rest of the engine I'm very happy with. It strikes a great balance of detail, yet remains rugged. The huge hole in the pilots and the snowplow, to accommodate the long truck mounted proto coupler is an eyesore to me.

 MTH includes extra pilots for guys who wish to have the pilots fixed to the body. That's the first thing I do when I get one. I wish these pilots came with hard mounts for the couplers. USA and Aristo diesels have their couplers mounted to the bodies.

 I've been contemplating mounting all my MTH engine's couplers to their bodies. I think it would be easiest to make some type of coupler mount and then cast it for making duplicates. I just wish MTH would consider doing this on future releases. I would pay extra for this upgrade. I maybe opening a can of worms, making new problems with tracking. I'm hoping it will work better when hauling huge trains and baking them up. I'm using helper engines on the rear of the train anyways. So the couplers don't see all the forces they could if the lead engines were on their own.

 I hope this doesn't sound like I'm bragging....

Trains auctions had three different ones (all 5' double track!) with a starting bid of $100 each  or less if I remember right? No one bid on them. So I grabbed them for the starting bid. I figured they were worth way more than that in time and materials. They are built very sturdy.

 I have a small hobby welder. I just ordered some steel and will make my next one at 7' long.

Hmmm. It is just what I was thinking of. It looks like it works. I see a lot of leaves stuck under the pusher engine's wheels. Maybe a blower would be better???

 Man, am I getting old! It took me all day to do about ten feet of track! ( Well I did it and then quit.) We hit 81 degrees and I wasn't used to it.

I'm learning to apply the crushed stone dry and then hose it in.

 The emerald ash borer is eating all the trees up here, after killing off all the ash trees. I find them inside the maples now.

I wouldn't doubt it's moved into the pines and spruces now. I've had to kill them off with chemicals to save my trees. We have a big problem that's growing and it's kept quiet???

 I think I see a couple versions of that jet engine car here in the Niagara Falls CSX yard. Maybe I could borrow it???

I got a feeling it would blow away everything!!

I simply put a sponge with the scotchbrite side towards the track under my MTH coal hoppers. I push them around a couple times and they clean the track. They don't do anything with these seeds!! They will derail a train.

 I'm have to either blow them off the track with a custom car or vacuum them up??

When the ballast glues itself down I probably could use my leaf blower.

I got spoiled in the basement!!!

 I've seen a lot of homemade cars for removing snow. I'm already running into big problems with all the neighbor's maple trees throwing tons of their seeds all over my track. I cleaned it while I was laying it down and it's all full of those whirly bird seeds the next day!

 I'm wondering if any of those snowblower cars could get rid of those seeds off my rails??

 Doesn't LGB make a car with backwards spinning brushes?

What do U guys do for track maintenance?

I have friends that make up unit trains in smaller scales. They usually get around fifty of the same car. I bought one of each scheme instead!

 I couldn't help getting this car. I used to work there for a short time. Tankers are my favorite cars. My Dad and my Uncle both worked for chemical companies and I loved watching them as a kid. I wish there were more modern schemes like the grey HOKX. We had a ton of chemical co cars rolling thru Niagara Falls while I grew up there.

 This car will need some upgrades for my RR. I just like the paint!

 I would have thought that all the heavyweights would need 6 axle trucks?

 I have had better luck with Trainz, and a tough time with sellers getting out of the hobby that don't care. Guys that had better RRs and in it longer, packed stuff better and most kept the boxes!

Trainz usually bubble wraps stuff and then adds the styro peanuts. Maybe I've been lucky?

 I had a seller shrink wrap a passenger car so tight, the truck side frames snapped off. He blamed it on the shipper.

 I was struggling with getting the track level. I laid my torpedo level on a coal car and it helped me out. Much easier than sliding the level around anyways. I tried pushing the car with an engine, but it was harder to get it right. Seemed easier pushing the car back and forth to get the track level. I got tired of ballasting so after some time at it, I just ran the train!

Track's not straight, not level yet either. My back and neck said forget it for now!

Tried one TIU channel and a couple of drops with the loop split in one spot. Signal dropped out a few feet from each drop. So I split the 200' loop in two, and added a second TIU channel. All tens, all the way around for signal strength now. I got two of Ray's filters hooked up at each track connection. I have two bulbs hooked up at each TIU channel output. Don't know if I needed all that? It works great and I'm not playing with it anymore today.

 I will try my newer TIU rev L when I get the time. Probably could have stayed with one channel but why bother? Got to go play now!

It's cool that every time you post, we get another view of your great layout. Very nice.