Happy New Year everybody. I've been lurking, but still under the weather, an extended thing we can't figure out. Thank heaven you're better, Jim.? You had me and a lot of others worried, though I know you're not at 100% yet. Sensitivity to prescribed medication is an iffy science as I can attest. I guess that's why they call it a "practice". Good that you are pro-active in your treatment. I am now off a lot of "over-reactive" drugs now, and starting to get my head back. My body is run down from too much "countin' Flowers on the wall", but that too is slowly coming back, tho it does not take much to tire me out.

A lot of good stuff has been going on here at Yardbirds for the last few months and new members. Walt, I love the odd pictures you are sharing: the last set reminds me of the little vintage Texaco station we have here in Cowan, complete with a model-T and now a newly restored '40 Ford sedan on rotating display inside. The place draws a lot of car people just for a photo-shoot. Chevrolet came and shot the advertising spread for the 2010 ZR-1 'Vette here, calenders, too. Railroad right next door. Us hill-country boys have known for a long time that white ligtnin is good for more than two things. Considered to be a waste to put it in gasoline of all things, though.

I want to comment on DCC decoders. I only have one engine with an old style motor running DCC: it is an early Athearn F7with a sound decoder. It runs just fine on the decoder, and was no trouble to hook up, isolating the motor is easy, and should be the case with any open frame motor you can gain access to the brushes and their connections. The problem may end up being current draw and the limits built into all decoders. Some are more than others. Other engines I have converted had already been equipped with can motors. For non-sound I use TCS decoders because of their very reasonable cost and their "goof-proof" guarantee. Never had a problem. I love Tsunami for sound, and buy these very sparingly because they are so expensive. My first conversion to Tsunami did not go well, the decoder is dead and no warranty that I've been able to exercise...$100 down the drain. My limted experience with DCC now is at the Museum, and have found two truisms: "Avoid shorts and avoid opens". This means for optimim performance of ANY DCC engine the track must be clean, the wheels must be clean, the switch points (or under-table relays) must make good contact, rail joints must be tight, and proper guaging of all wheels in the train must be per NMRA standards, as must be the clearances in switch points and frogs. I have found that steam engines that use the tender for one polarity must have axle or wheel wipers to pick up current reliably. If the engine has lead and trailing trucks, then metal wheels correctly set in to provide a larger "footprint" to the rail on the engine side helps. I have had good results though, with tender pick up through the axle ends, truck frame and bolster by keeping these parts lubricated.

I went to a train show in Nashville last month and sold about $600 worth, so had some hobby money. It wore me out! Mostly what I sold was Southern Ry and L&N RTR, Nashville is hot for that. The money is going partly into paying for my Wife's Christmas gifts and some die-cast and old stuff for me. A lot of parts and junk for projects. "Lord, don't take me now, I'm much too busy to go yet!". The train show yielded up a half dozen built and partly built craftsman kits, three of which were the outside-braced NC&StL cabooses by Ambroid/Northeastern. The big buy was a real caboose marker light and parts for some "bench queens" like the PRR B6. Ebay brought me an O scale bay window caboose by Walthers probably made in the '40s, a nearly-built model of an NC&StL Steel bay window job I never knew had been offered. Its going to make a really nice model. Also several Mantua Chassis for incorporation under some old Penn-Line PRR boilers. I have parts to mostly assemble a detailed PRR B-6 using an American Flyer HO boiler and an MDC chassis. A Mantua Pacific chassis will go under an AF NYC Hudson boiler I have. I want these to run, so need chassis' I trust. It is hard to beat the old Mantua chassis with a little tweaking, and the prices can be really right.

I hope I can keep it together for the spring and also get some work done outside at the Museum. I can hardly invite people to come and help with projects if I can't predict what state my health will be in from one week to the next. Maybe this year I'll be blessed with better health, my wish for all you out there who are sometimes (or even always, but silently) afflicted.

Tom Knowles

On 1/2/2013 8:49 AM, Long95209 wrote: