I got a pic from my little brother this afternoon about some HO stuff if I was interested, he'd send it.
You bet!!!
He thought I might not be interested since I had gotten in N gauge and left him all my HO stuff when I moved to live with my Dad.
I've since lost all my model train stuff - everything.
So I replied immediately to send it on and he replies that Uncle Jim is also sending a box. A box of what I had no clue since me and Jim talk often. Bro didn't know either. Well Jim calls me tonight needing my address saying he's sending me a bunch of RR stuff.
Turns out Jim and step-Dad [little Bro's father] had already talked about it. He had told Jim "I'm sure Eric would want this stuff and if you'll come pack it up, I'll ship it." To which Jim replied, "don't worry, I'll take care of everything."
Those who have followed my plight of my Mother's death almost two years ago and my adventure to bury her last summer might remember their mansion has been for sale for many years. Well, apparently [step]Dad has a buyer and they need to clean the house out of everything. While visiting last summer some of us had a gathering
before I could post Jim calls me back.
So much more was told. I need to sit on this a day or so.
E
Not yet, but I just ordered a Lionel O Scale PRR set for my boys. I plan to have it under the tree , but I am sure the train set will grow. I did have a N scale set when I was young.
When we moved into the house we're in now, almost 20 years ago, I found a box in the attic of the detached garage. In it I found a Lionel HO scale engine, caboose and a couple of misc. cars, still in their single boxes. I do remember that the address on the boxes had the postal "zone" instead of a zip code. That was my only clue to their age.
I moved them indoors and they're packed away somewhere. No doubt waiting for whomever goes through my stuff. I'm sure they will be a "find" for someone. 😉
> Not yet, but I just ordered a Lionel O Scale PRR set for my boys. I plan to have it under the tree , but I am sure the train set will grow. I did have a N scale set when I was young.
Classic.
Well turns out Uncle Jim is sending everything - track, transformers and all.
I don't think he realizes what he volunteered for. He might should let step-dad pay for that shipping because it will cost quite a bit. The track alone will be about 50 pounds. All the cars will need to bubble-wrapped. The engines are the heaviest of course. I hope they are still operational because I plan on having a working layout before Christmas. (God's grace and will permitting of course)
If there is no transformer, I'll have to build one or buy one. I think I can build one with stuff I still have - if I can remember how to turn AC into DC I'll be good to go. I used to know this stuff off the top of my head but that was 40 years ago since I've been that deep in electronics. Perhaps I'll just get my buddy (who owes me a lot of money) to buy me a new one and be done with. Suits me fine!
Model rail-roading is what got me into electronics, which got me into computer circuitry, which got me into mathematics (all along), which got me into computer programming and logic. Well, watching the original Star Trek with Spock sure helped.
> The track alone will be about 50 pounds. All the cars will need to bubble-wrapped. The engines are the heaviest of course. I hope they are still operational because I plan on having a working layout before Christmas. (God's grace and will permitting of course)
>
Count your blessings. At least it's not G gauge!!!
ac to dc
I think we use to call this a rectifier bridge.
(values of components depend on voltage in and voltage out)..;-)
I'm sure you can buy something cheaper than you can build it nowadays.
> Count your blessings. At least it's not G gauge!!!
I might can find some G gauge if you want. There are some hefty hobby shops within a zipcode or so.
As to my other stuff... I'm tickled pink to think I may have it all back.
Although I would prefer the N gauge. I can build a huger layout in a lot smaller space.
Doesn't really matter since all my other train stuff is long gone.
I dabble in 12"=1' but it's quite expensive. Looking at some new track now. Fingers crossed.
ac to dc
Yeah, that's the basic circuit. If I remember correctly, it's full name is a "full wave bridge rectifier". You need a step-down transformer before the diodes lest your dc output will either blow up the trains or send them into low-earth orbit.
Actually, I really do already have the stuff to build one. Several in fact. It probably wouldn't cost me a dime to build - just time and patience.
I would love to have my old ControlMaster X powerpack back. I had one those in the mid-70s and was quite high dollar at the time. It's way more sophisticated than I could build in an afternoon. I completely forgot about the "reverse loop" feature. For that matter, I forgot all about a reverse loop in the track - much less wiring one up.
Talk about a money-pit for a hobby. Back in the day, the local hobby shop and RadioShack people all loved seeing me come in.
Somewhere around here I have a DVD/video of me running a local friend's outdoor O or S gauge layout during an open-house he was having for other model railroaders. He got me to come over to operate it while he was gabbing with people and showing them around. I may have posted about it several years ago when I was helping him build it. He has since moved away to Franklin or Highlands (I forget which) in NC but we keep in touch.
.... and I'm rambling....
Little Toot Railroad
I grew up around that thing. I have pics from the 60s of me riding that thing. I spoke with the guy who started the restoration project. Turns out his grand-parents were regular customers at my grand-parents grocery store. Granny's brother, Uncle Donald, was the care-taker of Charlie Brown park for decades. Upon our returning from Mom's service last summer, Uncle Jim offered for us to stop by. We drove right by the entrance. Maybe we should have stopped but both of us were emotional wrecks so we just kept on going.
Anyway, during the restoration efforts I offered to come help with rebuilding but I've never worked on anything near close to that large scale. 1/4 scale if I remember.
Biggest scale I worked on was my buddy's outdoor layout. You didn't snap that track together. We had a special allen-type wrench and you screwed the sections together with these little screws.
Even the LBG trains Uncle Jim used to have wasn't that difficult to work with.
