Hello all, been awhile. I used to post a ton from way back before it was big blue trains. Life has changed quite a bit i have moved twice sold my Trans am, sold my truck and my house. Even thined out the train collection as i now live in a condo nolonger have a layout, but am planning one in office room a 4 loop Z scale setup, i already am hooked i have 75 pices of rolling stock and recently aquired a Marklin chessie freight set off of ebay. Most of my imedeate family are gone, starting to feel my age even it being premature a little at 56 i am like an 80 year old with my ostioarthritis, the reason for last move to a one floor dwelling. Weather here had been crazy first a level 3 snow emergency the first in 3 decades then a small heat wave then cold rain and wind. May get flurries today. If i can figure out how to post pics i have a test setup on floor in front room 4 loops of z gauge in 2 x 3 foot outer loop great for the long passenger cars practically no over hang on curves i have 195mm, 220mm, 245mm and 270mm curves. I run long 6 axel diesels mostly so far.
(02-22-2026, 06:51 AM)Royal blue Wrote: Hello all, been awhile. I used to post a ton from way back before it was big blue trains. Life has changed quite a bit i have moved twice sold my Trans am, sold my truck and my house. Even thined out the train collection as i now live in a condo nolonger have a layout, but am planning one in office room a 4 loop Z scale setup, i already am hooked i have 75 pices of rolling stock and recently aquired a Marklin chessie freight set off of ebay. Most of my imedeate family are gone, starting to feel my age even it being premature a little at 56 i am like an 80 year old with my ostioarthritis, the reason for last move to a one floor dwelling. Weather here had been crazy first a level 3 snow emergency the first in 3 decades then a small heat wave then cold rain and wind. May get flurries today. If i can figure out how to post pics i have a test setup on floor in front room 4 loops of z gauge in 2 x 3 foot outer loop great for the long passenger cars practically no over hang on curves i have 195mm, 220mm, 245mm and 270mm curves. I run long 6 axel diesels mostly so far.
Welcome back Royal Blue! Anyone contemplating Z-scale gets an automatic bow from me! No way I'd have the patience or the finger dexterity to make that work... Looking forward to your future posts - there should be a tutorial on the site for posting pix, but once you get them in an acceptable resolution, it becomes old hat.
Raining currently here at 36 F, but they're forecasting a further drop in temps as the day progresses which will make travel quite difficult. 1-0 after the first period. Don't think that's gonna hold up.
Welcome back to some form of the hobby. At 82 HO is getting too small, but I have too much to change scales.
Company coming so I cleared the driveway, more train work after they leave. I have been putting Kadees on a few crs I got last week thad didn't have them and there are also a few kits to put together. 5 of them are cabooses which will have to have markers so that will add some time to the projects. 4 are UP but I think I will leave them as such.
We are to get more snow tonight so i will wait and see what tomorrow will bring.
Sunday 2/22/26
Hello Blue
Winter keeps us in. SE Mi. this morning has a shaker of snow which is melting. East coast is gonna get it though. BUT along the coast it will be gone in a week. I hope they all bought months of TP to last them through the storm. Club meet last night, always well attended.
USA hockey team just won gold in OT.
S.J.
Slipped and feel while hiking the other day. Broke my lower leg.
Had to hobble 15-20 minutes to the parking lot, fortunately wasn't as far away than would have been if I fell earlier in the hike.
All of you who are out shoveling snow or whatever:
Nobody plans on falling and breaking a leg. But it really changes the situation.
Be sure to have your phone with you, and that someone knows you are out there alone working.
TMo,
Z is not that bad, some of my meds make my hands shake a little but i use Rokuhan snap track easy to connect has good geomerty rock solid performance. Anyone interested in z should keep in mind steam locos at that size are delicate and so are locos with pantographs.
There are tools for wheel alingment basicaly a ramp long for big cars and locos and shorter for 40 foot boxes ect. Uses gravity. 195mm is bare minimum curve practical 4 axle diesels do well. I would go 220mm at least for 6 axle locos.
The other thing to consider is are you going to loop run or switch, this will determin coupler type.
Rokuhan is a Japanesse brand mostly JNR prototypes i have a few of them also have a German all glass rail car by Rokuhanalso they have a sereis of F7 "shorty" locos cute but anything from prototypical i have all four road names they come unpowered powered chassis sold separetly.
I have two Rokuhan steamers one is JNR the other a B&O 060 switcher.
Back to couplers Rokuhan has n scale arnold style couplers but can be replaced by knucle couplers, micro trains, AZL and a couple other brands like father nature and full throttle have knuckle type there are 3 knuckle types all compatible but kadee looking type is only one that can remote uncouple i think. And of course Marklin has its "european" style couplers.
My first test run on a temporary loop i pulled about 9 cars for 5 hours 45 min no derails, hesitation, speed flucuations, motor distress and almost no overhang on curves.
I was impressed.
I do have an odd ball its a kit of a box cab diesel basicaly its a small cast metal body that fits a Rokuhan powered chassis.
Most of my roster is AZL and Micro Trains.
American Z Line (AZL) is based in Dublin Ohio not too far from where i moved to Grove City both subburbs of Columbus. I got an invite to visit facility they have a Z display and musem. Also they have a Z club 4 members at moment one in his nineties?.
(02-22-2026, 07:58 AM)TMo Wrote: Welcome back Royal Blue! Anyone contemplating Z-scale gets an automatic bow from me! No way I'd have the patience or the finger dexterity to make that work... Looking forward to your future posts - there should be a tutorial on the site for posting pix, but once you get them in an acceptable resolution, it becomes old hat.
Raining currently here at 36 F, but they're forecasting a further drop in temps as the day progresses which will make travel quite difficult. 1-0 after the first period. Don't think that's gonna hold up.
(02-22-2026, 04:49 PM)Royal blue Wrote: TMo,
Z is not that bad, some of my meds make my hands shake a little but i use Rokuhan snap track easy to connect has good geomerty rock solid performance. Anyone interested in z should keep in mind steam locos at that size are delicate and so are locos with pantographs.
There are tools for wheel alingment basicaly a ramp long for big cars and locos and shorter for 40 foot boxes ect. Uses gravity. 195mm is bare minimum curve practical 4 axle diesels do well. I would go 220mm at least for 6 axle locos.
The other thing to consider is are you going to loop run or switch, this will determin coupler type.
Rokuhan is a Japanesse brand mostly JNR prototypes i have a few of them also have a German all glass rail car by Rokuhanalso they have a sereis of F7 "shorty" locos cute but anything from prototypical i have all four road names they come unpowered powered chassis sold separetly.
I have two Rokuhan steamers one is JNR the other a B&O 060 switcher.
Back to couplers Rokuhan has n scale arnold style couplers but can be replaced by knucle couplers, micro trains, AZL and a couple other brands like father nature and full throttle have knuckle type there are 3 knuckle types all compatible but kadee looking type is only one that can remote uncouple i think. And of course Marklin has its "european" style couplers.
My first test run on a temporary loop i pulled about 9 cars for 5 hours 45 min no derails, hesitation, speed flucuations, motor distress and almost no overhang on curves.
I was impressed.
I do have an odd ball its a kit of a box cab diesel basicaly its a small cast metal body that fits a Rokuhan powered chassis.
Most of my roster is AZL and Micro Trains.
American Z Line (AZL) is based in Dublin Ohio not too far from where i moved to Grove City both subburbs of Columbus. I got an invite to visit facility they have a Z display and musem. Also they have a Z club 4 members at moment one in his nineties?.
(02-22-2026, 07:58 AM)TMo Wrote: Welcome back Royal Blue! Anyone contemplating Z-scale gets an automatic bow from me! No way I'd have the patience or the finger dexterity to make that work... Looking forward to your future posts - there should be a tutorial on the site for posting pix, but once you get them in an acceptable resolution, it becomes old hat.
Raining currently here at 36 F, but they're forecasting a further drop in temps as the day progresses which will make travel quite difficult. 1-0 after the first period. Don't think that's gonna hold up.
(02-22-2026, 04:49 PM)Royal blue Wrote: TMo,
Z is not that bad, some of my meds make my hands shake a little but i use Rokuhan snap track easy to connect has good geomerty rock solid performance. Anyone interested in z should keep in mind steam locos at that size are delicate and so are locos with pantographs.
There are tools for wheel alingment basicaly a ramp long for big cars and locos and shorter for 40 foot boxes ect. Uses gravity. 195mm is bare minimum curve practical 4 axle diesels do well. I would go 220mm at least for 6 axle locos.
The other thing to consider is are you going to loop run or switch, this will determin coupler type.
Rokuhan is a Japanesse brand mostly JNR prototypes i have a few of them also have a German all glass rail car by Rokuhanalso they have a sereis of F7 "shorty" locos cute but anything from prototypical i have all four road names they come unpowered powered chassis sold separetly.
I have two Rokuhan steamers one is JNR the other a B&O 060 switcher.
Back to couplers Rokuhan has n scale arnold style couplers but can be replaced by knucle couplers, micro trains, AZL and a couple other brands like father nature and full throttle have knuckle type there are 3 knuckle types all compatible but kadee looking type is only one that can remote uncouple i think. And of course Marklin has its "european" style couplers.
My first test run on a temporary loop i pulled about 9 cars for 5 hours 45 min no derails, hesitation, speed flucuations, motor distress and almost no overhang on curves.
I was impressed.
I do have an odd ball its a kit of a box cab diesel basicaly its a small cast metal body that fits a Rokuhan powered chassis.
Most of my roster is AZL and Micro Trains.
American Z Line (AZL) is based in Dublin Ohio not too far from where i moved to Grove City both subburbs of Columbus. I got an invite to visit facility they have a Z display and musem. Also they have a Z club 4 members at moment one in his nineties?.
Our very good friends at the National Weather Service are withholding degrees this morning. Currently it's -2 with a speculated high around 20. I think the NWS is holding on to the degrees to make sure they have enough to provide us with the 50 degree weather they have promised for Friday.
Quiet weekend here. Friday and Saturday I watched some of my nieces perform in a dance competition in Albuquerque. Gotta love live streaming. There were some brief performances yesterday afternoon also. That's when I discovered my sound bar may have gone belly up. I unplugged it and was able to watch the live stream again. I need to do more testing today because I like to watch some movies I've downloaded on the big tv.
Not much planned for today until this evening. Band concert for two of the great-grandsons. This was delayed from Friday due to a near blizzard on Thursday. The storm caused the basketball game to be moved to Friday which bumped the concert to this evening.
Welcome back Royal Blue.
All stay safe.
Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains
Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
Wow! I hike all the time, usually with my phone and my dog. The dog's blown out a knee on the trail, but so far... all good for me. Sorry to hear about the break, Hillyard.
Just got back from a hike in the snow. Cadbury and I were the first hikers of the day, but it was a beautiful morning in the woods. Commander decided to abide by the post commander's recommendation, and we stayed home today. Bathrooms cleaned, put some felt pads on our kitchen chairs.
Finishing a primer coat of my GP35 shell that I'm turning into one of the two units on the CN roster. I'm going to do some airbrush cleaning and then maybe get some real paint colors on her sometime this afternoon. Still waiting on that bell that I'm adding.
I guess Z-scale would be fine unless I found myself modifying a piece of rolling stock or a locomotive or designing scenery. The eyeballs are challenged enough as it is...
I was right yesterday and the 1-0 US lead didn't hold up. Great hockey game - I don't know if 3-on-3 is a good format for overtime, but I suppose it's a lot better than a silly shootout.
The weekend was semi productive. We were able to get the outside Christmas lights in. I had trouble with a couple of extension cords that were still frozen into the ground but eventually I was able to get them free. We got the Valentine’s Day decoration down and put away. We also put up the St Patrick’s Day decorations. Ran errands to the pharmacy and grocery store and did some storm prep. Sunday we watched the snow come down. My son shoveled twice, once after dinner and the second at midnight. My daughter did the final shoveling this morning. We received 10 to 11 inches, a lot less than the 16 to 22 inches they predicted. I am not permitted to do any shoveling until I get clearance from the surgeon after the hernia surgery.
I worked from home today since the contractor was shut down. I got caught up on paperwork and some prep work for some things coming down the road.
I assembled 14 Accurail rolling stock kits. I worked on reorganizing my rolling stock storage since the bins I ordered arrived. I did not get to run any trains. Using the layout to help organize things.
