11-18-2025, 06:32 PM
Two work days in a row which has meant setting the alarm clock. Things like that you don't miss after being told to go home for 43 days.
Personnel appraisal time again - I'm 2/3 done rating 18 employees. I'd put less time in on it, but it affects a potential bonus/salary increase for each one, and they are an exceptional group and I consider myself very lucky.
The LED string lights I put out last week.... Worked well for 5 days and then.... only 3 of the 6 strings were lit. Went out to reconnoiter after dinner in a cold rain and found the issue fairly quickly. Some varmint took a liking to the wire and cut through all three wires cleanly on one string - thereby rendering the downstream voltage nought. Fortunately, the full string was at ground level, so I was able to extract that string and take it down to the workshop. After figuring out the wiring scheme and with a little trial and error I resurrected the string, soldered the wires and shrunk some tubing over each solder joint and replaced the string. Hoping that thing with sharp teeth doesn't come back before the holidays are over, but knowing my luck....
I took a flyer on a couple of locos (sold together) on evil bay a few weeks ago, one was an Athearn blue box powered GP35 (B&O in Chessie System colors) that I was considering reuse of the chassis for a shell I have, but the other (I should have read the description better) ended up being a dummified and poorly weathered Bachmann F9A (also in Chessie System colors (C&O)). Did a bit of research on F9's and learned a lot - one important item being that none of the CS railroads ever rostered an F9. The motor was still in it (a small rear drive unit that probably wouldn't have pulled much), and it still worked, but wouldn't turn the rear axles. Pulled the trucks apart and found a considerable lack of gears in there. I had considered making it a Burlington Northern unit (they got most of theirs from the Northern Pacific) or potentially turning it into a FP9A (all of those were bought by Canadian lines and I've been thinking long a hard about some CN foreign power), but after my preliminary evaluation, the work and expense wasn't really justified. Decided to put humpty dumpty back together and clean it up. Pulled a lot of the decals/printing off in the process. Tried replacing the horn hook couplers with Kadees (odd shaft size that I didn't have a mate for), so put the horn hooks back on. With little hope, I put the cleaned unit back up on evil bay as a lighted dummy (with a full evaluation of what I'd found (or not found internally) and a full disclosure of the paint pulled off) for $12 plus shipping and it sold in less than 2 days. Never would have thunk it - maybe its just that time of year when people are getting ready for Christmas displays.
Looks like some colder, wetter weather heading toward the weekend which will give me some more time to consider the rest of the ACME supermarket build.
Personnel appraisal time again - I'm 2/3 done rating 18 employees. I'd put less time in on it, but it affects a potential bonus/salary increase for each one, and they are an exceptional group and I consider myself very lucky.
The LED string lights I put out last week.... Worked well for 5 days and then.... only 3 of the 6 strings were lit. Went out to reconnoiter after dinner in a cold rain and found the issue fairly quickly. Some varmint took a liking to the wire and cut through all three wires cleanly on one string - thereby rendering the downstream voltage nought. Fortunately, the full string was at ground level, so I was able to extract that string and take it down to the workshop. After figuring out the wiring scheme and with a little trial and error I resurrected the string, soldered the wires and shrunk some tubing over each solder joint and replaced the string. Hoping that thing with sharp teeth doesn't come back before the holidays are over, but knowing my luck....
I took a flyer on a couple of locos (sold together) on evil bay a few weeks ago, one was an Athearn blue box powered GP35 (B&O in Chessie System colors) that I was considering reuse of the chassis for a shell I have, but the other (I should have read the description better) ended up being a dummified and poorly weathered Bachmann F9A (also in Chessie System colors (C&O)). Did a bit of research on F9's and learned a lot - one important item being that none of the CS railroads ever rostered an F9. The motor was still in it (a small rear drive unit that probably wouldn't have pulled much), and it still worked, but wouldn't turn the rear axles. Pulled the trucks apart and found a considerable lack of gears in there. I had considered making it a Burlington Northern unit (they got most of theirs from the Northern Pacific) or potentially turning it into a FP9A (all of those were bought by Canadian lines and I've been thinking long a hard about some CN foreign power), but after my preliminary evaluation, the work and expense wasn't really justified. Decided to put humpty dumpty back together and clean it up. Pulled a lot of the decals/printing off in the process. Tried replacing the horn hook couplers with Kadees (odd shaft size that I didn't have a mate for), so put the horn hooks back on. With little hope, I put the cleaned unit back up on evil bay as a lighted dummy (with a full evaluation of what I'd found (or not found internally) and a full disclosure of the paint pulled off) for $12 plus shipping and it sold in less than 2 days. Never would have thunk it - maybe its just that time of year when people are getting ready for Christmas displays.
Looks like some colder, wetter weather heading toward the weekend which will give me some more time to consider the rest of the ACME supermarket build.
Check out my "Rainbows in the Gorge" website: http://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rainbows