Right you are Andrew.

Well, I thought everything was fine until my buddy came over yesterday and we had a running/testing sesion. I found out that I have three problems.

1. The curve right at the back corner near Cataract is banked the wrong way... stuff fals off the track to the outside.

2. The curve coming from Orangeville to Alton is too tight in one spot, I have to pull it up and rework the curve.

3. I have about 20 of the cheap Atlas snap switch turnouts and on every one, the loco stalls. Seems they may not be DCC friendly. I think I have to pull them up and replace them with either the better Atlas Custom Line or Pecos.

Never a dull moment in the wild world of model railroading.

Will...That's a great spot for your bottling works...!!! That baby sure turned out nicely...
If you're talking about the "El Cheapo" snap switches, with the plastic throw bar and insulated frog, they are DCC friendly....What you need to do (short of discarding them.... ) is to power the frog via a SPST switch, preferably one actuated by the throw bar.

Thanks Gus, I will give that a try.

Well, I actually won three purchases on Ebay.
How I do it, I go on, find something, ask myself what would be the most I would pay for it, then set that as my Max bid.

Purchase one and two:

I got a Model Power 2-6-0 for a bargain.
I also won a Grafar 4-6-0 for a good price. (now to bash the two so I get a North American 4-6-0).



Purchase three was a bulk lot of parts.



Just need trucks and couplers for 4 Combines and 4 coaches. Only need wheels for 6 stock cars (one black pile are the archbar trucks and the other are the truss rods). Not sure what I am going to do with the extra roofs. I have 6 for the 50' Overlands and 6 for the shortie Overtons.

Les....That's a nice haul.... Your buying method is what I do also....Set the highest price I'm willing to pay for something, and call it good. If I get a notice of having won...good. If not...there'll be a next time...

Did you work on those pesky Atlas turnouts..?

Well, I did work in the train room today.
My buddy Danny came over and we got 4 turnouts replaced, and figured out that we have enough Pecos to do the entire job.

Still working on replacing the turnouts.
I did work a bit on the website this morning, updated the Structures PDF and Historic Ride PDF.
They now better reflect the new layout.

http://www.muskokacomputes.com/CVR-Home.html

Wow, where has the time gone.

The year is almost over and I still do not have all the turnouts replaced, 4 to go.
The new shop has been so busy, working there 5 1/2 days a week, when I come home on weeknights, I just crash on the sofa. Saturday afternoons are usually devoted to the "Honey Do" list, of course living in an aparment, the only thing on the list is usually "taking the wife shopping".

So the only time I get in the train room is Sunday.

Well, 4 turnouts to replace then on to redoing the "Forks of The Credit" trestle.

Seems like we're on the same boat.....New year here already..?? I was just getting going on last year's projects....

Right you are Gus, the list seems endless.

Let's see....

4 turnouts to replace.

2 locos to bash into one.

10 locos to put decoders in.

couplers and weight to check on 35 pieces of rolling stock. (and counting)

an 18cm high by 62cm long trestle to build.

about 30 structures to build. (so far)

scenery to do on a 5.3 sq metre layout.

I might be finished by December, but not sure in which year.

I hear ya'......I Don't even want to make a list....Might embarrass myself come year's end.....

Well, 2010 is only 3 days old and I can knock off the first item on the list.

So now I am left with:

1. Re-Align track at Cataract (smaller than minimum radius curve found, radius also kinked).

2. Put decoders in 9 locomotives.

3. Two locomoives to bash into one.

4. Check couplers and weight on 35 pieces of rolling stock (and counting).

5. An 18cm high by 62cm long trestle to build.

6. About 30 structures to build (so far).

7. Scenery to do on a 5.3sq metre layout.

Ok, January is 3/4 finished... What have I accomplished?

1. Re-Align track at Cataract (smaller than minimum radius curve found, radius also kinked). Completed.

2. Three decoders installed. Check.

So now I am left with:

2. Put decoders in 6 locomotives.

3. Two locomoives to bash into one.

4. Check couplers and weight on 35 pieces of rolling stock (and counting).

5. An 18cm high by 62cm long trestle to build.

6. About 34 structures to build (so far). (added 4 new strucres to the pile)

7. Scenery to do on a 5.3sq metre layout.

Well Will....Keep plugging away and you'll soon get to the bottom of that list. Just don't go too fast, as you'll have nothing left to do come year's end....

Not to worry Gus.

I seems like everytime I get an item done, there is more added to the list.

Like this month, I got 3 decoders in and almost all the track redone. But I added four new strctures to the pile.

Plus the final item "7. Scenery to do on a 5.3sq metre layout." can be split into several steps, from Terraforming, through ballasting, through super detailing like running the telegraph wire along beside the tracks.

So not to worry, the list seems to be self replicating.