My grandpa (not the g scale one, the trucker) went to a flea market and said he bought me 3 cranes. They were tyco. a rock island crane and boom car (item 865), UP operating piggyback loader & unloader depot (item 903) and last but not least ( probaly even my favorite) a conrail operating giant crane with a magnet (item 950) now I know tyco isn't worth $$$ so its gonna make some smiles instead!  Only got to the rock island crane so far but will update later. They may be hornhook but I got both cars and engines for that lot! Will post a video when I get the time.

im sure 4241 would cry about her sis in this shape (4240 in the background)
http://www.getphpbb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=887&mforum=ntres2

links of pictures to 4241 are at the bottom.

Wish i didn't sleep in today because i read on the train board that the NS F7s passed by on the Chicago line.. Being in a crummy mood, i took my time going to triskett. came their at 3:20ish and if i knew they were an hour late, my bike tires would've been on fire! They were due at 2:00 P.M. but they passed berea at 3:15. An educated guess would say, they passed M.M. 187 at 3:05. I don't have a train board account so i can't go to page 2 but i figured someone knows where they're at.

Anyone know if they're gonna come back on the same line and if so, what time?

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,2248955

I'm working on a...mini overhaul.  The engine is a ihb(don't have the box so not sure) atsf S1 or2or3or 4 (I know ny classes but I got it off E-bay last year) before anyone goes "its not worth it" (don't waste time   ) I'm a huge switcher fan and if I got a switcher, I'll go the extra mile to fix it to running order. Its not gaining any traction. I showed my dad and he said "are you sure its not doing a burnout?" (Drag race term) My grandpa mentioned weights but I want this engine to pull freight cars in the staging yard and such (5-8 cars average) so the GE70-ton can do local switching. When looking at the info, their are different sizes. Does anyone know what size I'd need? Can't measure the wheels at the moment but can later if needed.

well, i probably find something that stumps me about every other week but i finally downloaded my clips on the computer and i got 2 this time.

The first one is a little GE 25 switcher found outside of belleview but the line its parked on is a siding on the W&LE line. I called up my friend and said that they used it to move things around the museum. i could see that happening sense the engine hasn't been tagged yet  but i thought they borrowed a crew and a NS unit. So does anyone know if the engine is operitable, some history...something?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACnQFBU6cfU

The next i caught yesterday morning and i wasn't planning on catching any kind of freight at all on the ex. NKP. the subject is the second clip (9799 leading) give it about 20 seconds and you'll see what i mean. Does anyone know what it was/what in the world what it was doing on this mixed freight? it looks familiar in ways but im not sure. i just know its M.O.W stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W95FjJx0ro&feature=channel
thanks for the info!

Its that time of year again, full crew at rocky river and I'm just sitting under some steps waiting. (its still drizzling a bit but its coming to a stop). I'm sure they'll run today I just don't know what time. I don't even know if the crew is even on the sight yet. (I'm down about a block and a half) so does anyone know what time I should expect them to get started?

UPDATE:That was about 7ish. as soon as i posted this, one of the longest mixed freights that i've seen on the Ex. NKP probably in the last 2-3 years passed by. It was doing track speed and only 2 auto racks (trust me, i got sick of auto racks on that line)and some strange M.O.W equptment on it. after that i go up the hill and all the M.O.W. engines are running with 4 N.S. trucks.So i filmed them coming by and then attempted to chase them but it was a bit of a failure. Finally, i just pulled up to the only good spot left that they were gonna work at  but had not passed up yet and what a show it was! I'll post the videos up later.

here's part 1, ill upload the rest tomorrow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W95FjJx0ro
part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9SoOo2euyM

I was going to buy a left hand and 2 right hand NS switches at Wingz but they didn't have the left hand so it would not be runnable with out it. so i looked around and i think im going blind! i was looking at this 1940's New Haven box car (its what the model i based off) and thought this and the C&NW piggy back would be enough to make my day a bit brighter. My mom comes in with my money (i wrapped it up and she sent it to the bank...$58!) and she said heres a crane. i turned around and it was in plane sight on top of the pile! How did i miss it i'll never know but it was ATSF so i bought it. When i came home, I noticed it had a liftable roof and a metal key piece. No directions but their was a hole in the side.

Does anyone know what the key piece is suppose to do?

Its somthing my dad brought up last week. He said somthing about filming trains and putting them on DVDs to sell. I'm planning on getting a tripod later so that's no problem, I know the line well too, so that will come in handy (things like the conrail caboose on switch jobs). The question is, is it a profitable bussiness? According to my mom, Mcdonalds hires at 15 and I really don't want a job their (if only model trains paid for themselves). Thanks for any info!

Something that came to my mind when i was working on some things and talking to an online friend.


it took me 2 days to film this because i started at 1 A.M. for some odd reason. So if you railfanned the area, this would probably what you would see. Sorry about the noise in the background but its a basement, its rare for me to have a full operation (usually a switch job and a passenger) without someone coming down and doing laundry or something else. Either way, ENJOY!
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Zmd_hbyHg
part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCI7rR7Jgo8&feature=watch
part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xlbxcmJBO4&feature=watch

Was using my 0-6-0 for a youtube video,"daily L&W" where it shows what happens on a regular day. During the run, it pulled 2 1980s anthem (I think) coaches and a chessie system caboose. When I screwed up a shot, I decided to refilm it. It went fine. I turned my back to turn the power off when a steady pitter patter sound started. Turning around, the smoke genorator came back to life! I just let it simmer for a minute and thenn cut the power. When I last brought it up, ABC made it sound like it would never run again, apparently not. So is it working or should I just ignore it till it blows off? I would like to see it steam again but its not a must.

I'll say it right now, this scared me a lot! the only cars i could use as the best contenders was a Tyco union pacific gondola(rode the rails like it had square wheels) and another gondola. I would love to have had one with metal wheels but that was out of the question. out of the 8 laps of testing and 2 filmed runs, the total ride had one accident, the camera fell onto a fence.  Nothing was injured but i think it scared some residents, but they kept on caroling and building a snow man and what not (who does those things at 11:30 at night?). So in the end, the video was alright but the speed knocked a star off the rating. I'd give it a 3.5 myself. Any suggestions for next time?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9CeH3yV64w

I didn't see any topics/info that would help me so i might as well ask.


Having nothing planned, i ran my 0-6-0 and didn't like the results. It didn't smoke when i ran it for 5 minutes so i added 3 drops to make sure it worked. It didn't make that evaporating sound so i ran it. after 3 laps, little drops were spotted on the tracks, and i took a closer look and it looks like its leaking from the underside. I tried it again with the same results. Its bad enough i had to get  my old engine replaced but with this one only having 2 and a half hours of run time, with only picking it up to set it on the tracks is not making my day much better. i could see if it derailed or fell off something but it never did. Is it possible to fix this or do i need to send it in...?

I got the replacement 0-6-0 from bachmann services Friday. I spent 2 hours running it and I was pleased. Haveing about 8\10 of the smoke fluid left from the old engine, I figured run it and see if it works. It did but not like expected. It smoked but after 10 minutes it stopped. I turned it over to see what was in and nothing came out. So I reloaded it with 3 drops and it smoked fine. 10 minutes later, out. The fluid is a year and a half old so I figured it expired or somthing. Has anyone else had this problem?

A funny cartoon i found, hope you like it
part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8ncCG5BRM8&feature=related
part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h08W1T9aOcY&feature=related

Caught a westbound mixed freight at triskett, normal stuff, when I saw a n.s. ballest hopper, it caught my eye but as it got closer, I noticed 1 erie lakawana hopper pretty faded away and 2 more after the ballest hopper in much better conditon! I didn't get the builder's date and don't know if I got the number or not but is this a rare catch?

Well, my mom said that the bachmann service called saying to call jenny on Monday about the 0-6-0 I sent in. Does anyone know what could be the reason for this?

The Santa Fe gala is an event i have on my layout, The L&W. If Santa Fe had it on their lines, its allowed. Their are 2 every year, one in June and another in August. This happens to be the 3ed annual so its been done for about a year. It originally was suppose to come on June 18th but with allergies, I had to postpone the last 2 trains. For a way to make up for it, i got the steamer running (dockside switcher) so that put on a good show. Well, hope you enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1dPtalpY1I
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PWQ0ZDxfvo
part 2

N.s 25th ann. Operation livesaver unit just passed m.m. 187 at 5:45 p.m this is the chicago line and it is heading westbound! I don't know the number but I think its the same train as when it was with the cn units so ill check. GOOD LUCK!

Update: I'm 65-70% sure that the ID is NS 21Q.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,2211008

Doesn't look like any big steam this year....

I usually come up with strange ideas but i don't think this one is too original. Pretend diesels came out first and then electric was a bit of a failure in ways and steam dominated both and ran today, would we prefer the diesels sense they came first? Would the same be with electric?

just a thought...