Sunnyvale_plasticvale

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SUNNYVALE_PLAST

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Nov 24, 2003
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This is my towns, my dad is 80 years old & I am going to need help with it. I have a unknown disability in my brain

WIRING
PUTTING LIGHTS IN WHEN THEY BURN OUT
SODERING
PUTTING TRACK TOGETHER
CLEANING MY ENGINES & CARS

I can do some things, but most of them I cannot do.

So far dad has tried, but there seems to be no one in MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD that is in to N-SCALE trains.

Also my towns [& other hobbies that I use with my towns] are all I can do, I cannot get a paid job or get a full time job.
So my hobbies are my life :D !

BOB
 

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Welcome to The Gauge, Bob!
There's a lot of people at The Gauge with a lot of knowledge, so I'm sure you'll get the help you need. For a lot of the things you listed some more information would be nice - for example, are you having problems with what wire to connect where, or how to connect them?
Why don't we take the questions you have one at a time just to keep the confusion to a minimum?
 
BREAK DOWN

WIRING;

I can read instructions & hear them like;

RED WIRE SCREWS ON HERE TO MAKE THE SWITCH THROW RIGHT, GREEN WIRE [EXAMPLES - SHOOT, I JUST LOOKED & MY EXAMPLES ARE THE REAL WAYS IT IS HOCKED UP :p TO ME] TO MAKE IT GO LEFT.

The problem is that I have small motor problems.


PUTTING LIGHTS IN WHEN THEY BURN OUT

[I can get bulbs @ the hobby store & screw them in, but I guess I would have to buy a set with the wires to connect them to the power]

SODERING [Never tried it, scared I might mess it up, maybe next time I will ask dad to show me.]

PUTTING TRACK TOGETHER [Kind of hard when the connectors will not work, I can do it some what that way. But no a days we glue the roadbed & track down, & the last time I tried it [when dad watched me] I got glue on the rails which is bad. So dad does that now, see when I glue or squeeze the bottle to make it come out it comes out when it wants too not when I want it too.]

CLEANING MY ENGINES & CARS [small parts are hard to get @, also I need to know how much oil & where. Also I can take the trucks [wheels] off, but there again my small motor problems stop me.]

#########################################

Other things;


About me,

I have an unknown disability that is close to mild cerebral palsy, I can do some things but not what matters to others.

I am 48 years old & my mind is 10 years old, there is a lot I can do but it is with my hobbies. My hobbies are;

# 1 = TRAINS [LIKE TO WATCH REAL ONES + HEAR THEM & GO WITH DAD ON TRAIN TRIPS WITH THE NHRS, AS WELL AS GO TO TRAIN SHOWS.]

#2 = COMPUTER [I HAVE SOME TRAIN PROGRAMS LIKE;

TRAIN ENGINEER
TRAIN SIMULATOR
ENGINE & CAR SPREAD SHEET [WHICH I SAW ON SOME TRAIN WEB SITE & DAD MADE IT FOR ME;

ENGINE OR CAR# PERSON WHO MADE IT WHERE ON THE LAYOUT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |


I even made a computer network [bulletin board system] for my towns as in me calling the network;

All I got now is

CHAT & MINUTES OF THE MEETING

I pretend my towns are real :) & most people may think this is childish, but I found out this 1 HO club does it too & someone says it is not childish.

I use my walkie-talkies & talk to myself + answer myself, I have 1 FRS [FAMILY RADIO SERVICE] that only works up to 1/2 of a mile. So I would listen first then get on the radio;

"BREAK 10"

"GO AHEAD 'PEE-WEE [ME]'"

"THANKS FOR THE BREAK 'SHEET SHAKER OR WILD WEASEL' [CB NAMES I USE, I USE REAL ONES OR MAKE UP ONES, LIKE;

YARD CREW - MEN WHO WORK IN THE RAILROAD YARDS, US TO HAVE THEM AS HANDYMAN BUT MOST CB NAMES ARE LIKE PEOPLES FIRST & LAST NAMES SO I CHANGED IT.

I also use every thing I done & learned in life with how I do things, I add real changes to how I do things.

I also use sound effects from my computer like;

HELICOPTER FROM MY 3D TBS THAT CAME WITH THE COMPUTER WITH MY HELICOPTER ON MY TOWS.

I also have a scanner [police, fire/rescue. train [CSX/AMTRK/MARK/& METRO [DC/MD/VA SUBWAY]

I am also trying to get a movie house so I can use my TV & VCR for my towns as in going to the movies.

I also have music CD's I play as background concerts.

I have a church on my towns [1 town] & use it as a real church because man seems not to want me to volunteer in their church so :p to them! So I learned how they do things in church, so I do things like a pastor does + play my CD for praise & worship. I also have things like they do on the 1st Sunday of every month [bread & grape juice], I also have fellowship time too. I have my people in 2 shifts as in AM & PM. I also go by the 24 hour clock too.

Also if you see miss spelled words :p
Words not spelled write :p
Wrong words :p

It is all due to my type of disability!

I had wanted to put a web page up for my towns, but with all these virus & Spam + other :mad: [nasty] people. I decided not to have one in 2004 :( , I wanted to also make 1 just for how I operate as in just myself, but if I did that I would need to come up with 70-80 user names [& I have tried doing that too :p ]. But it takes for ever & what if someome wanted to use this to 'pick on me?] Some people would not mind even letting me do this & 1 time [I GOT TO TELL YOU ALL THIS] I was talking to myself & someone heard me [& I did not know it them, but I started a REAL CLUB] & liked what I was doing, so this started a club. Then some person got :curse: @ me [it said curse when I picked that face, but curse is right he did curse @ me.], then repeate or played a recording of me on the radio + made noises. Then I stopped & made it myway as in making my own antenna just so I can use 2 radios to hear myself talking [also so to see the lights on the radio]. So like someone once said to me;

"As long as you are happy it is ok."

I also got some :cry: news about my disability too;

Dad told me that I can never marry, but I did & thought to myself :p. Right, WRONG! I got dad :mad: @ me & he got cold on the whole thing, my wife wanted things her way only & I got to tell the truth. I was kind of :( & :mad: , because as dad said 'I am a loner'. All I do is operate my trains as a real town or village, I also remembered all my layouts & on TRAIN ENGINEER I made all of them! Also dad is begging to understand that this is all I can do, so dad is building my layout the way I want it. Also I moved in this apartment building due to my marriage, & the 1st thing I wanted in my apartment was my train set. So half of my living room is trains, I also have TRAIN VCR TAPES TOO!

I also us to belong [dad did too] to a CB EMERGENCY CLUB called REACT, so I made an emergency club for my towns. I call it 'SPERT [Sunnyvale Plasticvale Emergency Responce Team' & I wanted to use REACT but e-mailed them because I wanted to have them on my web page, so I asked first. I got a reply back [nasty too] & was told NO!!!, in 1988 I got kicked off the team because I was handicapped.

So this is how I operate my life, there is nothing for me. I am close to getting a [mans world] volunteer job in a school for disabled kids & adults [well from 2 - 21 years]. I was told that I will be told either :thumb: or :( but either way it turns out, I will not be :cry: or :mad: or :( but :) ! Because I know God is looking out for me, also dad is trying to help me too. Dad told the boss about my skills & so did I [dad on the phone, me walking there] & the boss seem to be :eek: & was :) that someone had skills. He told me that 1 of their voluteers left so he has an opening, all he needs to do is talk with his staff [staff meeting]. But it looks like it will be an :thumb: for me!

Well I hope all of this will save & the sysop of this board will not be :mad: @ me.

So later all........
 
Bob - Here's what I can offer on the various things you mentioned:

WIRING
After you connect a wire double check with the instructions Good advice for everyone, including me!). Be patient, don't be bothered if you have to re-do something.

I don't know if it would help but they make visors with magnifying lenses in them so that things look larger than they are, also large magnifying lenses on a flexible stand so you can position it where you want and still use both hands to work.

PUTTING LIGHTS IN WHEN THEY BURN OUT
If you use 12 volt lights but only power them at 6 volts or so, they'll last so much longer you won't believe it. They won't be as bright, but it will sure help the burn out problem. You can use an second, cheap, power pack to get the 6 volts.

You can get bulbs that have the wires attached directly to them. You would have to still connect the wires to the power, but you will have to do that in any case. Just make sure they're easy to get replace if they ever do burn out.

SOLDERING
It's a handy skill to have, but you can get along without it. If you want to try to learn to solder, start with and practice on things that will be okay if you mess up, like just soldering two wires together.

Sometimes it feels like you need to have three or four hands to solder things - you can get a thing at Radio Shack, etc., that has alligator clips on the ends of flexible arms that willl help hold the parts together while you're soldering them.

If the soldered joint isn't nice and shiny that means you have what they call a "cold" joint, which is bad. It's caused by letting the parts move during the few seconds it takes for them to cool off. Again, be patient, you can reheat the joint again until the solder melts and let it cool off again.

PUTTING TRACK TOGETHER
You don't have to glue down track and roadbed. Kato, Bachmann, and probably others make sectional track with the roadbed already mounted to the track. I'd check that out.

At any rate, if you use a water-soluable glue, like Elmers or Aileen's Tacky Glue (from a crafts store) it is not that big of a deal to get some on the rails - you can just wipe it off with a damp rag.
I'm sure most of us have to clean off the tracks after ballasting, etc. You can also squeeze out the glue into a container of some sort and then use a disposable foam brush to put the glue where you want it.

CLEANING MY ENGINES & CARS
You don't need to take the wheels/trucks off to clean them. Imagine how tedious that would get for those who have several hundred cars! One way is to take a thin cloth with cleaning stuff on it and lay it across a section of rail, then roll you cars back and forth across it.
For things that do require that the locomotive be taken apart, like lubrication, it's not something you will need to do too real often. A lot of hobby shops do repair work and the like, so maybe there's one around you that would be willing to do "maintenance" type stuff, (for a small fee of course!)
 
:wave: :wave: :wave: Welcome to the-gauge Bob! :wave: :wave: :wave:

Nice people here, all willing to help. On soldering, it's a fairly easy skill and it's very useful to know. If your father solders, it's best to learn from him and practice on scrap wire. It's not so easy to learn how to solder well without a techer. There is information on hte internet, but it's best to have your Dad show you how.

You have found ways to have fun with our hobby that some of us never tried, great! :thumb: If someone thinks it's funny, it's just because they forgot how to have fun themselves. So don't worry about them ;)

I hope your dad is able to join us here as well.

Good luck with your job at the school! Please let us know how it turns out!
 
Hi Bob and welcome mate to the gauge.
Lots of good advice up above, so no need for me to add anything except lets see some photos of your work later on.
Shamus
 
Hi Bob and welcome to The Gauge :wave: :wave:

Looks like you have a nice layout there.

I am starting a new layout, the first one in 28 years. When I was a teenager my Dad had a layout that he would let me help with. Now, I am almost 50 and he is 73. He lives about 30 minutes north of me and he will be starting a new railroad layout too. He is going to use HO Scale, but mine will be in N Scale becuase I wanted alot in the small 11.5' x 5' space I have.

I live in Canada about 200 miles north of Toronto.

The one thing I have learned is DO NOT be afraid to ask questions. That is the only way I learned. Ask all the questions you want, someone here will have an answer or maybe know where you can look for an answer.

You can check out this site: http://www.modelrailroads.net/ to see if there are any new railroad clubs in your area.

Good luck and keep smiling.
 
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