Items for sale

Contact Ralph Tayler for info. Monday to Friday 8 to 4, at ralph. tayler@glstebbins.com, or by phone 519-455-1350, evenings 519-421-9097.

7016 CP SW switcher 

82 SHAY

94 SHAY 

2 LEVEL STATION scratch built.

8909 ATLAS TRAIN MASTER 

Meeting night at the Huff and Puff 9,5,2017

Great meeting. After identifying a couple of problem turnouts the discussion turned to operations. The idea that with some operators running what ever they want is not consistent in any type of formal operation. We would need to revert back to train orders of some type, so all scheduled trains would be run. Everyone would have to agree to this so that no one has to police it. As operators arrive they take the next train order, if not what they want to run, or their engine is not compatible, they wait for an appropriate train order to come up. We may want to run in pairs again. Spearheaded by Mike we talked about the simplicity of our current operations and the lack of switching most of the towns on each run. A strong reminder was voiced that using car numbers results in HOURS of searching for missing rolling stock even if car numbers are enlarged. Sequential moves with tank cars and coal hoppers, even though previously  rejected by some, became the next thing to try when Joseph suggested doing it with all rolling stock. Once you get it in your head that once a box car, for example, is picked up at say Wood Mosaic in Herons Landing, loaded with vener, by the time you get to Jutland you have no idea what is in it or any other car in your consist, at least I don't. This box car or box cars, can now be switched at McKay Fuels, (have to work out how cards with 2 types of rolling stock may work). Arriving at Lincoln this box car is switched at the freight station and so on. So with 1 box car in your train you switch 6 industries in your trip. For those who read the blog I will go into more detail in another post. Having trains start in different towns, having people switch major towns, and only switching trailing turnouts were also talked about. It became very evident that some are not reading the blog, "we have limestone hoppers and coal hoppers? " hmm, must have missed that post, trains are east or westbound only, do not turn around if you missed switching a car, sequential switching are just some of the items missed. Yes these ideas are, or should be talked about at our meetings, but many people miss them, so the blog is the best form of communication or I'm just wasting time posting ideas for discussion.

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff 8,29,2017

Most important, thanks to the Owens for the delicious lemon muffins. Train crews were busy delivering freight to the railroads customers. Below are pictures of the action. Next week is meeting night.

2 crews work Herons Landing 

Freight train leaving Lincoln 

Lincoln is always busy 

Out of Scale

Where did this come From?  On30 Shay.

Tuesday Night at the Huff and Puff 8/8/17

Sparky got the answer to our shorting problem. We needed to slow the trip speed on the command station. After doing that, Wellington was changed back to quad 1. Then we tested it by shorting out Wellington and then Elsewhere and the quad tripped as it should. Another problem solved. In fact we now have all the quads shorting out properly.
Still having derailing problems with a 6 axle diesel. If the track is not perfectly level just before a curve, especially the outside rail, it will derail coming into the curve every time. I guess we could use it to find all the uneven track on the layout.
This is where a group layout differs from a home one. With all the different operators, rolling stock and engines, if your track is not bullet proof, someone will find the flaw, eventually. But eventually the track will be bullet Proof and problem rolling stock repaired, and the Trains will roll along problem free.

Blog policy

In this age of scams and robot emails,  I will not reply or post any comments that do not have contact info like all the ones from anonymous asking for contact information.  If anyone is interested in the blog or our layout please use the comment section, including any questions or comments you may have. We are always interested in legitimate comments, it may even be used in the blog as a post.

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff 8,2,2017

Members were brought up to date on the improvements being made. These include additional feeders, adding a ground wire between the quads and their power supply  (which corrected the shorting 1 section tripping out the entire quad), extension cord to power quad 2 and it's booster  ( now turns off with the rest of the system) and replacing the track on the Quarry trestle. Then the crew went to work. Springbank feeders worked on, grade crossing to the Lincoln church reworked, and the shorting problem on the loops was investigated. Moving Wellington power to quad 2 fixed it. The turntable power will be moved to quad 1. So ended a hot August night.

Working on the loops power supply.

Wiring Springbank.