After I dropped my boys off at school this morning, I was heading back home and came up behind these three...



Hmmm, The Indiana RR must be replacing some ties.

A LOT of ties... these guys had evidently been parked there since 6.a.m. on a state highway. The crane showed up to unload at 9.





Where should we put 'em all?



It''s quite the commotion in this little town and the ol' timers came out to watch.

I've noticed some annoying changes with eBay during the past 1-2 years.

From about 2005 to 2013, I used to buy a lot of my MRR items from the UK (I model British steam railways). I would often get good deals and pay only a few dollars for overseas shipping by air (a small parcel rate). And I never once paid for customs or duty.

Recently, however, eBay seems to be using a "Global" mailing or shipping system where the shipping price costs almost as much as the item I'm purchasing. The shipping, for example, is often around $20-30 instead of around $8.00 (a small parcel air rate).

Also, customs & duty is apparently charged in this Global tracking system as well. This appears when you click on info about shipping. In the past, I never once had to pay customs & duty but now it seems that eBay is dinging the customer with this as you check out & pay.

This extra shipping and import charges make it almost pointless trying to get an eBay deal these days.

Because of this, I've been "spooked" from using eBay recently but I do miss the good deals I used to get.

Please see the attached image FYI. Has anyone else noticed this & have any comments?

Thanks, Rob
   

I am building the station that was in Mauston Wisconsin in the 1950'sHere is a picture of it from 1912.



The only difference from the 1912 version to the 1950's version is the right side door on the end was changed to a window. The structure will be a basswood box with Rusty Stumps brick sheet added to the outside. I also will shorten the length of the building by 12 feet so it will fit the area I have for it. Here are the end and side walls cut from 1/16 thick basswood sheet.

This is my second take on the Kensington sub. The first was removed due to our house be put up for sale but due to some health issues that my wife is dealing with we took it off of the market until things settle down. So, take two will be 12' long by 8' long. Benchwork will be 16" wide so I can get all my benchwork from one sheet of plywood. Height will be around 52" high as I'm limited by the door of my electrical panel. On the right are two staging tracks. I'm not sure on what the dimensions will be yet.

The era will be 1980 on Prince Edward Island and with CN being the Railway. The 40' boxcar was the dominant freight car so I am looking at potato loading, LCL with a team track for boxcars, flats and gondolas. Power will be a single MLW RSC-14. This class of diesel was a creation of CN's motive power department. A standard 1800hp BB trucked RS18 was retrucked with A1A six axle trucks with the centre axle being an idler for the lighter branchline trackage.

Hey everyone! Sorry about the late notice, but Michigan's biggest and best train show is Sunday the 13th! We have 540+ vendor tables, operating layouts in various scales, Division 5 of the NMRA doing clinics, Steam Railroading Institute (PM 1225) is back again, and more. The show runs from 10-5 at Michigan State University in the Pavilion on Farm Lane Road. Go to lmrc.org for more information. Make sure you stop by the club tables for some awesome deals in O and HO!

Chuck

My next week will be a blue week.

IMG_5167 by faraway52, on Flickr
IMG_5166 by faraway52, on Flickr
IMG_5169 by faraway52, on Flickr

I want to thank all of the veterans that have kept people free all over the world. Many made the ultimate sacrifice so we could have the freedoms we value so much.
THANK YOU
   
My dad served on LST 830 in the Pacific. He was a Coast Guardsman. I had 2 uncles that were also sailors.
Charlie

There's been some discussion about having a new Big Blue Challenge, and talk has centred around either completing an on-going or stalled project or starting (and hopefully finishing) a brand new one.

There'd be no restrictions on what model railroad-related project you choose, and no limit on how many times you enter the Challenge: layout work, scratchbuilding, kitbuilding, structures, locomotives, rolling stock, scenery...anything to do with model railroading. There'd also be no special skills required - do the project(s) you want to do and are capable of doing. We want to help you get started or simply get you off your duff and doing something.

The usual prizes of cash, luxury cars, and exotic vacations may (or may not) be available.

You can vote for any one of the four choices and the poll will run for 15 days, so get off yer duff and vote.

Wayne

OK, so I've received lots of good car advice here in the past, so here I go with another question!

Our 2003 Subaru Legacy is on its last legs -- it now has 260,000 km on it and has several small things wrong with it and one more serious issue. ("Small" things: half of the dashboard lights, cruise contra, A/C and others...)

The serious one is that its passenger sider axle needs repairing or replacing. When turning R/H corners, it makes a clicking or knocking sound. I've had two garages (whom I trust) check it out and they've said that the front passenger side axle needs repairing or replacing. I've been quoted $300 - $350 for this. It's serious and should be done within the next week.

I'm thinking of getting this repair done and getting the car to last another few months. While it's been a great car to drive and very practical, it has been high maintenance (for example, I had to spend $3200 at the 155,000 km mark to repair its transmission and around $3,000 on steering repairs 3 years ago).

Getting this repair done is basically a $350 calculated risk. If I had this repair made, my hunch is that the car would probably keep running fine until the spring or longer.

Thoughts? Is the car at the end of its life or should I try to keep it going a bit longer?

Thanks in advance! Rob