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Thanks. I'll give that a try. I knew someone on the gauge would have an answer.

Wow, tough news. You have my empathy. I've lost people very close to me very unexpectedly and at a young age - left me with a lot of "whish I would have"-s. I'm sure you'll take full advantage of the limited time you have with your son and probably pack more into those years than a lot...

The greed for as much mainline and spurs as possible in my space blinded me to their inconvenience. I have three duck unders now - one is a crawl under - nice heigth for the kids but I'm in my 30s and kick myself in the butt every time I have to crawl under, literally and figuratively. The...

Just curious, Jennifer Love Hewitt?

I saw some patched CNWs down in Boone Iowa, an SD60 I think. And have seen one or two CNWs up in the Twin Cities (AC4400) but none have rolled through Mankato yet - I hope one does, then I feel more free to model them on my layout (self imposed rules help curb spending). I've yet to see any...

Is anyone getting together in Southern MN/Northern IA for HO operating sessions? If so, please describe. I am trying to develop some operations for our model railroad housed in our basement. Mostly it is my 5 year old son and I, and we are able to do some sorting and some put outs/pick...

The basement railroad is on a very tight budget also, mask over the old numbers leaving a rectangle, spray armour yellow, let dry, then microscale UP diesel engine number over that. I've got two Kato SD45 SPs I hope to do the same with once I find a photo or two of prototype patched units.

I snapped a photo (I think it is my picture, I collect from the internet, so sorry if I'm hogging someone else's credit) of an SP patched to UP AC4400 at the yard in Boone Iowa back in October (Day out with Thomas - my wife had to keep tugging me away from watching the double track mainline near...

Somewhere, I have a fairly recent (within the last year or so) magazine (mainline modeler, model railroad craftsmen, or something) that talks about this specifically. It includes info on the old box cars and equipment used to shake/tip the cars and discusses the transition to the covered...

The kids and I listen to a John Denver train CD that is still on the market. Very good if you like JD.

On lunch break today, I watched a UP freight pull into the Mankato, MN yard - two AC6044s on the lead with another pusher. It was a mixed freight of about 100 cars. The train was uncoupled at about mid-point on the mainline beside the switching yard. The two on the lead pulled ahead and...

I'm having trouble with a Kato SD40 I just picked up. It is an early release (has the 8 pin DCC socket and yellow diode lights). I can't get power to the motor consistently. There seems to be a problem with the copper strips that run from front trucks to rear trucks on one side. At first I...

Thanks for the great advice. I'm impressed with the high morale character displayed in the responses. I plan to discuss with my wife and hope to agree upon a monthly budget for train expenses. Perhaps I'll be on this board 22 years from now able to give such good advice - thanks a ton!

When I called home today to check in with my wife, she told me our five year old son (my model railroad partner) begged her to come down and "play trains" today. She was quite impressed that he knew how to operate the layout (22 x 12 around the outside, HO with DCC). I'm concerned about...

I have an Athearn AC44 and am having trouble getting it to run smoothly. At times, pairs of drivers will bind up and not turn at all as the other push them along the rails. I've tried some bushing break-in fluid followed by a flush and re-lube. I'm pretty new to the hobby - is there a...

I have an unpainted Kato dash 9. I would like to make it look like C60-AC. The most notable difference I've been able to see on prototypes is how the radiator hangs over the rear on the C60. Has anyone tried this? Any suggestions?