Recent content by mentor63

I haven't been active on the forum for a while, but had a question on a different subject so it reminded me I should update/closeout my thread on the turntable project. It has worked out pretty well and I am still happy with the Walthers 130' turntable. Most everything is in now and running so I...

I checked it out - good info. Thanks mentor63

I think you may be right. I originally bought three of these SD70ACe's, but had so much trouble with the first that I have already sold one of them unopened. I understood they required higher voltage than most DCC decoder locos, but I was hoping to consist the remaining two. I am pretty heavy...

I just bought an MTH SD70ACe with DCC and sound. Problem is that it seems to be unreliable on my NCE system - sometimes unresponsive, reverts to address 3 rather than the long address when power is shutdown, engine sounds go silent, etc. Any ideas?

I don't see anything in their literature about who funded the Tower, but I would guess it is mostly UP since North Platte is a town of only 24,000 people. A lot of the volunteers who work there are former UP folks. The one I spoke with had run the West Bound Hump Yard for about 25 years before...

I just returned from a trip to North Platte, NE, to see the new Golden Spike Tower and Bailey Yard, but I also spent some time at the nearby Cody Park in North Platte. It is a nice park for family get-togethers (barbeque, grass, baseball, trees, etc.), but for railfans the attraction is the UP...

I just returned from a trip to North Platte, NE, to see the UP Bailey Yard and the new Golden Spike Tower that opened on 26 Jun. It was a great opportunity to see one of the premier railfan spots and the new Tower gives you a great view of the entire yard (yes, there is an elevator). I will...

Well, I rechecked the rail guage all along the turnout and it appeared to be good, so I decided to try adding some random shims under the foam roadbed in several different places, one at a time. Low and behold, when I put a shim under the outside rail at about the pivot point for the moveable...

Well, I rechecked the track and found that the width was a bit wide where the flextrack joins the turnout and the ties were removed at that point for soldering. So I used a nail to move the rail in to the proper wideth and it seemed to work. Everything worked fine for about 30 minutes of...

Logicman, That sounds like a good idea to look into too. I have thought more about your previous suggestion that there might be some distortion. Due to the location, it will be tough to sight down the track, but it seems to me I did end up having to shim under the ties of one of these...

Thanks for both of your inputs. They give me some more things to consider. I had checked the coupler trip pins and they are in tolerance (above the railhead), and the plywood surface has been in place for over a year. I checked the bottom of each of the locos and found nothing, and since I...

This type of thing may have been discussed before, but I can not find it on the Search so I thought I would see I anyone has any thoughts. I have several code 83 Walthers #7 curved turnouts on the layout I am working on. They seem to be prone to derailments, but I have generally been able to...

That sounds like something worth trying! If I can get the assemble off the layout (I probably used GOO to secure it to the surface), I'll give it a try. Thanks, Gary

That is kind of what I suspected. Thanks, Gary

Chesticus, I have just done a transition era engine service area. You might want to check thread "turntable". From my experience on this project, it looks to me as if the 2.5' width is your biggest problem. I doubt if that will permit a wye and, as RonP mentioned, the TT takes up a lot of...