Tortise and Atlas turnout switch

[Yampa Bob]

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LX5834&P=7

[OkieRick]

PD said:

Take your rail joiner and flatten it on one half, slide the open end on a piece of code 100 rail. Lay a piece of code 83 on the flattened end and solder just the code 83 side. A touch up with a file is all you need. By the way, does your stick have its own file?

Ok - I had to study this a minute.  I need to flatten one end - half of it lengthwise - then do the soldering to the 83 sitting atop the flat joiner. I can get that done easy enough to save me a bunch of bucks.  My 36" long Flex Track is 100 & I do want to use it.  Thanks for the tip!


Bob

I have plenty of 83 and 100 rail joiners.  I don't have any idea how many joiners are in a package, if it's less than 100 it's highway...or train robbery.
Then again, I couldn't make them for that price.

Thanks guys - as always, it is appreciated.

Rick

[Yampa Bob]

The page I linked to are for transition joiners, to connect 83 to 100. They are a bit pricey, only 12 for $3.00.

[pdlethbridge]

 Rick, you've heard of the swiss army knife, why don't you invent the swiss army stick. 100 attachments for your stick.

[OkieRick]

Bob, my 1" Starrett mics are down in the shop.  It didn't occur to me there width difference as well as height difference.  By the looks of the joiners I'd say yes - very little, but 83 is narrower than 100 at the base.  I have a few of those joiners and will try them.  thanks for painting me a picture. I do catch on first time occasionally.


PD, I have a 1/4" dia. dowel rod for mouth sticks.  On most I have a plain rubber secretary's finger stall on the workng end held on by a technologically advanced light weight green rubber-type compound called "the rubber band saved off the daily newspaper."  I do have different length sticks for turning pages of a book, reaching for the thermostat, one for typewriter use (yep, still have a typewriter) and one for flipping playing cards out of a holder & Scrabble letters. 

Too much weight on the end of my stick makes it hard to wield but yesterday I did think about having a small file attached so I could touch up the soldered rail you mentioned.


Rick

[Yampa Bob]

Rick,
PD uses his teeth....when he's not trimming his toenails. Out here we call that "Hoof in Mouth" syndrome.   

I've never used the transition joiners, don't have a clue how the overall height difference is compensated. 

[pdlethbridge]

I've suffered from hoof in mouth  for years. I still like the idea of a swiss army stick, but it would have to be ultra light weight. Rick, with all those sticks, you'll need a golf bag

[OkieRick]

Fellers, If we don't get our hands slapped for carrying on this light hearted conversation I'll get a picture of my docking station where I park some of my sticks I use daily and post it sometime.

I've suffered from a few severe cases of hoof-n-mouth.  I imagine purt' near everyone has. It doesn't discriminate nor does it know and monetary, political, ethnic or geographical boundaries. It cripples the best of us when we least expect it.


                        
                                 


I still have my 4x8 double oval leaning against the wall.  I'm going to get my Bachmann Geep and my 2-10-2 Light Steamer out.  I haven't heard and bells, whistles of chuffing in a week - except for the train just east of the house.  I'd get my Russian out also but it's on a shelf somewhere at Bachmann repair.  I called today and asked about my repair order number 10311 and was told the techs were in the 103s and it shouldn't be long now. I need a HO fix.

Rick

p.s. ya think this is disguised enough to look like a real loco / train message?

[pdlethbridge]

A stick docking station? Why didn't I think of that? You could put little booties on the sticks to represent golf clubs.
Does your layout fold up against the wall or is its edge at the wall? I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't run my trains. Have you ever seen a grown man cry? Have you ever seen an ugly grown man cry? Not a pretty site

And to get back to the thread, are you going for the atlas switch machines and the digitrax ds-64?

[Billm10454]

Factory Direct trains has a Memorial Day sale on the Tortoise.  Check it out at: http://factorydirecttrains.com/search.aspx?manufacturer=27

[pdlethbridge]

better prices are here
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/SearchResults.asp?cat=1454&RefineBy_Manufacturer=Circuitron&RefineBy_Price=&Search=
and here
http://www.nhshobbies.com/category_s/207.htm

[OkieRick]

PD said:

Does your layout fold up against the wall or is its edge at the wall? I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't run my trains. Have you ever seen a grown man cry? Have you ever seen an ugly grown man cry? Not a pretty site     

And to get back to the thread, are you going for the atlas switch machines and the digitrax ds-64?


The 4x8 doesn't fold up against the wall - it stands on edge on the floor and leans up against the wall to get it out of pedestrian traffic.  Someone thought this room needed vacuuming after three weeks of train running, loco & rail stock fixing, wire striping and excess tape, parts wrappers, price tags, etc. getting accidentally dropped beneath the board. I wish I had a layout that would fold against the wall.  Truth is I have a window or door spaced every 3-4 feet in my room.  I'm going to be forced to buy a 12x16 storage building, have it closed in, insulated and finished inside for my train room.  Parents, sisters, bro-n-laws, neices and their husbands are starting to realize I'm serious about my hobby.


I ordered the DS64, Atlas #6 and #8 Custom-Line turnouts and an Atlas switch machine for each turnout.  I thought they'd be in today only coming from Tulsa (55-60 miles away from my house as the crow flies south down HW 75).


Rick