09-11-2010, 08:02 PM
Thanks for the encouragement, Wayne! 
I was getting exasperated by all the naysayers ... this afternoon there was a self-appointed know-it-all on the Model Railroader DCC Forum (now I remember why I hardly ever go there any more) who suggested that those of us rejoining the hobby after an absence of a number of years should place our older "poor-running, not-very-well detailed" antiques in boxes and place them "in a dark corner of a closet" and purchase an up-to-date DCC-equipped diesel and move on. Imagine the chutzpah of this clueless clown who probably buys everything R-T-R and has never built an actual model.
It's like the young "hot-shoes" in their Honda Civics, who don't have a clue which end of the wrench to hold, have had all on the mods done for them at the local import hop-up shop, who can't understand how it happened when I tell them their stock 1.8L engined, slick-looking paint-jobbed, huge-wheeled vehicle that's fast in a straight line has just been shown the tail lights of a bored 0.040" over, stage 3 cammed, 11:1 compression ratio-ed, balanced, tube headered, competition strutted, very quick little ground-hugging 1.3L Ford Festiva!! 
They haven't a clue how to do what I have done, and (except for the over-bore and balancing) I did it myself in my own garage!
So, thank you, your words are greatly appreciated. I will figure out how to re-motor and add the sound decoders and even a new gearbox if needed because, when it all comes down to it, this is a hobby where we do things, not just an excuse to buy new stuff that is mass-produced! (... And that from someone who spent his career designing things for mass production!)
I was getting exasperated by all the naysayers ... this afternoon there was a self-appointed know-it-all on the Model Railroader DCC Forum (now I remember why I hardly ever go there any more) who suggested that those of us rejoining the hobby after an absence of a number of years should place our older "poor-running, not-very-well detailed" antiques in boxes and place them "in a dark corner of a closet" and purchase an up-to-date DCC-equipped diesel and move on. Imagine the chutzpah of this clueless clown who probably buys everything R-T-R and has never built an actual model.
It's like the young "hot-shoes" in their Honda Civics, who don't have a clue which end of the wrench to hold, have had all on the mods done for them at the local import hop-up shop, who can't understand how it happened when I tell them their stock 1.8L engined, slick-looking paint-jobbed, huge-wheeled vehicle that's fast in a straight line has just been shown the tail lights of a bored 0.040" over, stage 3 cammed, 11:1 compression ratio-ed, balanced, tube headered, competition strutted, very quick little ground-hugging 1.3L Ford Festiva!!
They haven't a clue how to do what I have done, and (except for the over-bore and balancing) I did it myself in my own garage! So, thank you, your words are greatly appreciated. I will figure out how to re-motor and add the sound decoders and even a new gearbox if needed because, when it all comes down to it, this is a hobby where we do things, not just an excuse to buy new stuff that is mass-produced! (... And that from someone who spent his career designing things for mass production!)
biL
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln