Quote from: bob39520 on December 03, 2008, 11:33:46 AM

Quote from: pdlethbridge on December 02, 2008, 04:31:25 PM
12" radius or less would be great for a trolley line. Curves like this, even for trolleys, were taken very slowly. How fast do you want to go?

As slow as I have to. Speed would not be an issue with me. Although, after some of the advise I have noted, I have dropped my plan to have a radius curve less than 15'' thru a tunnel.

I think that's a wise decision. A derailment on a 15"-radius curve inside a tunnel would not be fun. 

Quote from: WGL on December 05, 2008, 02:22:18 AM
pdlethbridge,

  You have provided another reason for me to keep my layout on the floor! 

                             Bill

Of course, when rolling stock falls off the layout, it isn't the fall that does the damage. It's the abrupt stop at the end. ... 

Quote from: pdlethbridge on December 04, 2008, 03:50:48 AM
I had a run away the other day. Hitting the stop button on my NCE power cab did nothing. I couldn't punch in the numbers fast enough and thought I was going to loose my connie. I had just put Hayes (Walther's ) bumpers at the end of each siding, good thing too. The connie hit it and stopped dead, wheels were still spinning but the engine wasn't going anywhere. Had the bumper not been there, its momentum would have carried it over the mainline and off a 3 foot cliff into concrete gulch. Those bumpers are great. Stopped it dead in its tracks.

If you ask me, this sounds like a good reason to stick with DC. ... 

Quote from: Jhanecker2 on December 02, 2008, 08:59:42 PM
I agree that colorization should not be performed on Old Black & White Movies. First of all very few people know for certain exactly what the real colors originally were . Secondly depending apon what type of black & white was originally used and how that film was lit would would significantly effect the contrast ratio of the picture. That is one reason all those color filters exist for both black & white & also color films .  The interaction of light with film stocks was dependent on color temperature and contrast ratios.

Also, I discovered that they once gave Academy Awards for set decoration for Black and White films. Though it has nothing to do with trains, one of my favorite old films, The Heiress, with Olivia deHavilland and Montgomery Clift, received an Oscar for Best Black and White sets. Can you imagine colorizing a film that actually won an Oscar because it was in Black and White?

Quote from: ebtbob on December 01, 2008, 07:56:55 AM
Good Morning All,


         Here is my perspective on the original comment.   Yes....prices are up by a considerable margin if you just look at pure numbers.  But I think there are some subtle(sp?) changes in us as modelers.  Let me prefice my comments on saying that not only am I serious(not a rivot counter) modeler,  but also work partime in a train store in the NW subs of Philadelphia.
          I see modelers who appreicate things like finer added on detail,  not molded on detail.  Also,  like it or not,  we are much more of a ready to run society,  so the pre-built type product sells well today.
          Next,  and really not un-noticeable,  is the advent of DCC which has,  in turn,  increased the interest in sound equipped engines.
           Thinking of the ready to run cars.    In my earlier days,   Athearn,  Varney,  and Roundhouse(MDC) were the three manufacturers I enjoyed.   Now think of the time that it would take you to build a car and pay yourself what you would consider a reasonable wage - today - and where does the cost of the car go to.   At my store,   when I assemble a car or detail an engine I charge $10 an hour and that is cheap for this area.    Next thing you know,   that Athearn ready to run car is not so expensive when you factor in the cost of putting on those detail parts such as grab irons etc.  or you consider the time it took to file smooth and paint the under frames of some of the MDC products or paint the weights for the Athearn cars.
      Next,  lets look at Athearn blue box diesels.   Remember putting all the details on the truck side frames and installing those metal hand rails?    All was time consuming.   Also remember that the Athearn line - Ready to Run - is also quite different in respects to the drive trains.   Drive shafts now connect the motor and flywheels to the gear towers,  so that annoying "Athearn nosie" is reduced by about 75% and the engines run,  in my opinion,  much better than in the past.
       So.....I think cost is how you look at it.    And.......another thought,  remembering that I said I work at a train store.   All the stores in our area were open on Black Friday,  and while I must admitt the crowds were not what they were a year ago,   we were still  hopping pretty good most of the day.   Also,  you must know,  diminishing numbers on Black Friday has been going on for more than two years now.
        One last thought......remember,  a store only has so much space and manufacturers now produce things in limited runs.   How do you stock your shelves under these conditions?   You try to bring in what sells since boxes on the shelves are earning you no money.    In our store,   we rarely,   and I mean rarely get requests for things like blue box kits from Athearn and we do get some in,  they just sit there.  Bowser,  whose kits are really nice do not sell as well as the ready to run cars.   Same goes for Proto 1000 and Proto 2000 from LifeLike.

Bob

Good points, Bob. It's really true, time is money.

Wow, at your store you assemble kits for customers? I never would have thought anybody offered a service like that in this day and age! 

Quote from: Jim Banner on December 01, 2008, 09:13:23 PM
Jeff, there are two tricks that may help ease your 0-6-0 around 15" radius curves.  One is to round the top inside corners of the rail heads.  This makes it easier for the flanges of the leading and trailing wheels to slip down between the rails.  The normally sharp edges tend to grab the flanges and lift these wheels.  The other is to very lightly oil your rails to achieve the same thing.  If these two together don't solve your problem, the only solution is to hand lay the track with a little more distance between the rail heads.

Thanks for the interesting ideas, Jim! Though possibly the best solution is--don't use 15"-radius curves. ... 

Seriously, my 0-4-0s and my 4-4-0s have no trouble on a 15" radius. It's just the 0-6-0s and the ten-wheelers, so I just generally don't run those locomotives on those tight curves.

Interestingly, I just bought, via eBay, an 0-6-0T that was assembled from a Mantua kit that is possibly older than I am (50). The center drivers are "blind" (flangeless). I haven't yet had an opportunity to run it on tight curves, but I'm looking forward to see whether that makes a difference.

Quote from: WGL on November 25, 2008, 02:30:55 AM
  Prior to the 1950s, movies were 1.37: 1, a rather arbitrary choice, since humans' binocular vision is suited to a wider ratio.  TV screens at 1.33: 1 are slightly narrower than the old movie format.  Looking at credits, one will often see that a letter on each side of the screen is missing.
You probably know that Cinemascope was introduced to get people away from their TV screens & back into movie theaters.  The great directors compose each shot & don't like the ends lopped off to fill a TV screen.  In pan-&-scan, you often don't see the actors interacting, because one is lopped off the screen.  There's a scene in "How to Marry a Millionaire" in which two actors are conversing at a table; only their noses appear, but the lamp in the middle seems to be the focus.  I love letterbox.  When I watch "Desk Set," I want to see both Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn in the picture reacting to each other, as the director intended.  "Lawrence of Arabia" profits from ultra-widescreen format, while movies set mostly indoors are usually better filmed in 1.37: 1 or 1.85: 1
  For train scenes, 1.37: 1 is better for cramped interiors of cars, while for exterior shots, widescreen can show a panorama of the entire train.
  I remember seeing film of a dying John Huston on oxygen testifying before Congress against colorization of his & others' films.  I expect that he felt the same about cropping his widescreen films.
  I'm glad finally to have a 16x9 TV screen.  It eliminates letterboxing of the now standard 1.85: 1 & makes images in Cinemascope bigger.

Letterboxing doesn't bother me, but colorization of old B&W films. ... 

Quote from: Yampa Bob on November 30, 2008, 11:12:16 PM
I suggest that 15" radius is the minimum for the 0-6-0, but would look and perform much better on 18".  As usual other's mileage may vary.

For myself, I'd avoid a 15" radius for an 0-6-0. None of my 0-6-0s is happy on a 15"-radius curve. They might make it around the curve--or they might not. I don't go below 18" radius for any six-coupled steam locomotive.

Quote from: SteamGene on November 24, 2008, 10:36:44 AM
Speaking of anachronisms, there was a remake a few years ago of "I'm a Fugitive from a Georgia Chaingang."  In the beginning the protagonist leaves a train yard - full of 50' boxcars without full ladders or roof walks, 100ton covered hoppers, beer can tank cars, etc.   Fortunately, no locomotives were visible.  The rest of the movie was set in the period 1919-1940. 
Gene

Here's another one for you. Early in Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger watches a freight pass, in 1963 Wyoming, with no caboose. ...

Quote from: Woody Elmore on November 22, 2008, 10:16:32 AM
I stand, err sit, corrected and am mortified. I think I'll go over to Pixlie and down my woes in a big root beer float.

Aw, heck, and you didn't invite me to join you? I love root beer floats! 

Just don't go burning any railroad ties on your way back to Hooterville. It makes the Cannonball put out too much black smoke. 

Actually, I believe it's "chowdah." 

Quote from: Woody Elmore on November 21, 2008, 10:22:43 AM
Paul Henning was the producer of "Green Acres." He then spun off "Petticoat Junction" from "Green Acres." One of the girls in the water tank was his daughter.

There were no spinoffs from the "Beverly Hillbillies" (thank goodness.)

Sorry to contradict you, Woody, but it went the other way 'round. "The Beverly Hillbillies" was Henning's first hit, and it was a huge hit when it debuted in the early 1960s.

Henning had wanted his friend, the actress Bea Benedaret (sp?) to play Granny in "Hillbillies," but it was decided she wasn't "scrawny" enough! Essentially he created "Petticoat Junction" for her. After "Petticoat" also became a hit, the network went to Henning and more or less told him to create another series, and the network would buy it without even seeing a pilot episode. That series was "Green Acres."

I got this information from a DVD set of the complete first season of "Petticoat" that I bought about six months ago. Each episode has an introduction by Linda Kaye Henning, Paul Henning's daughter, who played Betty Jo, the youngest of the three Bradley sisters and the only one of the three to stick with the series for its entire run.

Although the show was still doing well in the ratings, it was cancelled when the network changed its programing philosophy to try to draw in a younger, "hipper" audience.

Quote from: SteamGene on November 14, 2008, 09:14:40 PM
While old HO train sets normally have little or no value, there can be surprises.  A few years ago a lady came here asking about a set she had to sell. All the experts (including me) told her "not much."  IIRC, her set sold on e-Bay for over $200. 
May the air pumps be with you!
Gene

Notable exceptions are some of the specialty sets Mantua issued as Tyco sets in the 1960s. The Civil War "Blue" and "Gray" trains regularly sell for whopping sums on eBay, especially when they are complete and in the original boxes.  "Petticoat Junction" sets regularly sell well--even the Hooterville Cannonball locomotive sold individually usually goes for a pretty good price.

Another set that usually sells well is the "Iron Horse" set (from the short-lived Dale Robertson TV Western), especially if it has its "gunfighter car," the "1860 platform car" with an insert of a large crate with two gunfighter figures.

Just for my own amusement I'm putting together a collection of Mantua and Tyco catalogs from the 1960s and then from the 1990s, shortly before the end of production. The catalogs are fun to look at, and they're also useful for helping to date a locomotive or car.

Terry, I love your use of lights on the layout. 

Quote from: RAM on October 23, 2008, 07:23:25 PM
Didn't you love that black oil smoke from Petticoat Junction's wood burner.

Sure enough!