A Rainy Sunday and Working Locomotive Models
Sheila and I had a nice weekend and actually managed to get out of the house again.
We said goodbye to a friend on Saturday... had a few drinks and some food... but my health crashed quite quickly near the end of our socializing. I spent the following 24 hours sick as a dog begging for some relief.
For the most part, I have a fairly good handle on balancing my health with a lot of medications. When my health gets really poor, however, there is nothing that can be done but to ride it out and hope it passes quickly. Even though I say I have a fairly good handle on balancing my health, this still happens weekly but which symptoms appear seems to be quite random and experiencing this weekly is far better than daily!
So, Sunday was a down day for me. It was pouring rain outside, windy, with thunderstorms all day so I knew I would be staying indoors anyway. I decided to take advantage of being stuck indoors and worked on some of my model railroad locomotives.
I pulled out some tools, some power strips and my new magnifying headlamp. I have great difficulty with my vision even for everyday things but especially so when it comes to models with small parts. This magnifying headlamp should help immensely.
I pulled out track for my O scale Hudson steam locomotive and I also pulled out my huge Fn3 scale 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" steam locomotive. I then set up the appropriate power sources for each locomotive.
That is one of the frustrating things about model railroading... power. Different locomotives use different power sources... some with only minor differences, some with vastly different power sources. These two particular locomotives use two very different power sources.
The O scale Hudson steam locomotive needed to be programmed. Somehow the sound was all screwed up... some sounds were no longer sounding, some sounds were working the way I wanted them to work. I figured out how to program and then managed to reset the ProtoSound features. Then I continued with all the programming (which is a bit tedious and frustrating) to add some features I had never used before... ie, ProtoSound Rail Yard Sounds among some others.
ProtoSound's Rail Yard Sounds are pretty cool. These are all the sounds you would hear as a train is dropping off a few cars in a rail yard or siding, including some human whistles and yelling to let the engineer know they are ready to go. There are also uncoupling sounds, idling sounds, the sound of a brake air hose being pulled apart, and then the appropriate bells and whistles for leaving the yard or siding. After three short whistles, the train automatically pulls out on its own. It is a pretty nice feature and now I know how to trigger this feature.
Next up was my train show bargain purchase ($40, if I remember correctly)... My big Fn3 narrow gauge steam locomotive with tender, gondola and caboose. I'll probably never have the space to run trains of this size (this is LARGE scale) but it would be nice if I can say that this model can run if I want to run her!
I'd like to convert this ten wheeler steam locomotive to battery power to be controlled with a remote transmitter. That way there is no worry about the cleanliness of track nor about clean electrical pick-ups. First, however, I need to make sure this locomotive is capable of running smoothly.
I disassembled the under carriage and everything appears to be fine and tight. That is good. I managed to get the motor to run smoothly in forward but reverse is a little jerky. Common sense is telling me this is due to the driver linkage binding up... or maybe a gear is binding up. If I take it apart fully... clean all parts... lube all parts... put it back together... and again lube the appropriate moving parts... then it should be just fine. The little bit of jerkiness in reverse seems to be a binding issue rather than a power issue.
The headlight was working fine but I had no sound when I originally tested this locomotive back when I purchased it at a train show this past September. I might put a new sound card into it anyway but, regardless of new sound card or old sound card, I was hoping all the wiring was working. I pulled out my electronics tester and went to work. Within a few minutes, I had some chuffing sound. That was more good news and success!
As I said, this is a pretty basic and cheap sound card so all it does is chuff. If I replace this card with a newer one, I will get significantly higher quality sound and a large selection of steam sounds which I could control. Since this will be a model on a shelf, for the most part... I really don't need that but it would be nice to be able to say it is a really nice "working" model.
Yesterday, I ordered some rail, tie plates, and spikes so I can hand-lay my own Fn3 scale track. I already cut all the ties out of cedar. My plan is to have two eight foot sections of track on an eight foot long diorama where I can display these Fn3 trains after I hand paint them.
I really need to catch up on home renovations so I have a place to display all of this stuff!
We said goodbye to a friend on Saturday... had a few drinks and some food... but my health crashed quite quickly near the end of our socializing. I spent the following 24 hours sick as a dog begging for some relief.
For the most part, I have a fairly good handle on balancing my health with a lot of medications. When my health gets really poor, however, there is nothing that can be done but to ride it out and hope it passes quickly. Even though I say I have a fairly good handle on balancing my health, this still happens weekly but which symptoms appear seems to be quite random and experiencing this weekly is far better than daily!
So, Sunday was a down day for me. It was pouring rain outside, windy, with thunderstorms all day so I knew I would be staying indoors anyway. I decided to take advantage of being stuck indoors and worked on some of my model railroad locomotives.
I pulled out some tools, some power strips and my new magnifying headlamp. I have great difficulty with my vision even for everyday things but especially so when it comes to models with small parts. This magnifying headlamp should help immensely.
I pulled out track for my O scale Hudson steam locomotive and I also pulled out my huge Fn3 scale 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler" steam locomotive. I then set up the appropriate power sources for each locomotive.
That is one of the frustrating things about model railroading... power. Different locomotives use different power sources... some with only minor differences, some with vastly different power sources. These two particular locomotives use two very different power sources.
 |
| My MTH O scale Hudson locomotive (for those who don't know, O scale is the size of Lionel trains)... it is a beautiful (and heavy) piece of modeling machinery! The sound out of this locomotive is quite impressive. |
ProtoSound's Rail Yard Sounds are pretty cool. These are all the sounds you would hear as a train is dropping off a few cars in a rail yard or siding, including some human whistles and yelling to let the engineer know they are ready to go. There are also uncoupling sounds, idling sounds, the sound of a brake air hose being pulled apart, and then the appropriate bells and whistles for leaving the yard or siding. After three short whistles, the train automatically pulls out on its own. It is a pretty nice feature and now I know how to trigger this feature.
Next up was my train show bargain purchase ($40, if I remember correctly)... My big Fn3 narrow gauge steam locomotive with tender, gondola and caboose. I'll probably never have the space to run trains of this size (this is LARGE scale) but it would be nice if I can say that this model can run if I want to run her!
 |
| My poorly painted (really, cheap-looking molded color-injected plastic) Fn3 scale ten wheeler (Fn3 scale is more than double the size of Lionel trains). I'm looking forward to repainting her and adding some much needed detail parts. She is now running fairly well though. |
I disassembled the under carriage and everything appears to be fine and tight. That is good. I managed to get the motor to run smoothly in forward but reverse is a little jerky. Common sense is telling me this is due to the driver linkage binding up... or maybe a gear is binding up. If I take it apart fully... clean all parts... lube all parts... put it back together... and again lube the appropriate moving parts... then it should be just fine. The little bit of jerkiness in reverse seems to be a binding issue rather than a power issue.
The headlight was working fine but I had no sound when I originally tested this locomotive back when I purchased it at a train show this past September. I might put a new sound card into it anyway but, regardless of new sound card or old sound card, I was hoping all the wiring was working. I pulled out my electronics tester and went to work. Within a few minutes, I had some chuffing sound. That was more good news and success!
As I said, this is a pretty basic and cheap sound card so all it does is chuff. If I replace this card with a newer one, I will get significantly higher quality sound and a large selection of steam sounds which I could control. Since this will be a model on a shelf, for the most part... I really don't need that but it would be nice to be able to say it is a really nice "working" model.
Yesterday, I ordered some rail, tie plates, and spikes so I can hand-lay my own Fn3 scale track. I already cut all the ties out of cedar. My plan is to have two eight foot sections of track on an eight foot long diorama where I can display these Fn3 trains after I hand paint them.
I really need to catch up on home renovations so I have a place to display all of this stuff!
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