How is everyone doing?

[Alan]

Seems to happen to a lot of companies. The company I just retired from is unrecognizable from when I hired in 30 years ago. Not in a good way.

[ON28]

Seems to happen to a lot of companies. The company I just retired from is unrecognizable from when I hired in 30 years ago. Not in a good way.

Nothing ever stays the same, and the above could be said for the Class 1 railroads.

[Alan]

Nothing ever stays the same, and the above could be said for the Class 1 railroads.

Change is constant to be sure. Who it benefits and at who's expense varies greatly. It is concerning to me where the win/loss is trending. Inequality extremes are a recipe for disaster. They don't MU together well. 

[crzytrnbuf]

Greetings from Western N.Y. I live in Niagara County and by Morning we will have over a Hundred Cases I suspect,but we are healthy and doing fine spending a lot of time in the Basement cleaning out and rearranging Running all the Locomotives DC DCC and Rail Pro.

Crzytrnbuf

Everyone stay Healthy  I am on Facebook, Dennis Michael Patrick McLaughlin I also admin 5 HO Groups if any one is interested friend me.

[drisdon]

Doing OK so far having done the shelter in place for three weeks now in northern California.  My employer is still listed as an essential business, but as of today the plant is very slow/not very busy and had a volunteer layoff for the hourly.  I've been working from home, setup a desk in the garage and really love the model train distraction too.  Really though working in the garage separates me from the house enough so my wife and son can focus on school and it's like I "left for work".  I thankfully had a little forethought to stop by Hobby Lobby and stock up on airbrush thinner, Turpenoid and some other supplies to keep busy with.  I haven't done anything with RP in a few months until in the last week as my son and I have done a little switching with my 6 year old son, he easily figures out the RP controller and loves to control the locomotive, though he hasn't quite figured out how the load feature will cause the loco to take a long time to move and stop.

What have I been working on?  Scenery, for the last month on my Ann Pere Free-mo module. 
https://danrisdon.smugmug.com/Trains/Free-mo-and-Models/Free-mo-Ann-Pere-Junction-Module

This week I started working on building some flatcar and gondola loads.  Several months ago I cut some steel and aluminum material at work into HO scale width/length steel plates to build flatcar loads.  I built several and then realized other modelers may be interested in these as well and then I went a little crazy and built several steel plate loads and branched into I-beams and now pipe.  I have them for sale and my current "inventory" can be seen here:
https://danrisdon.smugmug.com/For-Sale  Pricing and direct contact are listed there too (not meaning this to be a "for sale posting")
Another batch of pipe was painted tonight, and I have some I-beam material on order from Ebay, so there will be some more loads coming soon.

I've been meaning to get back to working on several (9) locomotives which are at the stage of needing Railpro installed, LED headlights, SMD LED ditchlights and I'm hoping to do this soon as soon as a some parts arrive from PDC and then they can be completed by weathering. 

Dan Risdon
Roseville, CA

[atsfguy]

 Greetings from north central Ohio. We are well and spending time working on benchwork, wiring existing trackwork, painting benchwork and preparing to install led lights in two locomotives. We will begin laying new roadbed/track next week after the paint has cured, then more wiring etc.
 Had to cancel all my medical appointments locally and with my hearing doctors in Columbus due to the coronavirus threat there. Hometown seems to be virus-free at this time but not certain.
 Bored? How on God’s green earth can anyone be bored? I haven’t even mentioned working on my RC aircraft!
 Seriously, stay home and stay safe. It also allows you workforce aged folks a taste of retirement.
 Best wishes for all,
Cecil

[Alan]

What have I been working on?  Scenery, for the last month on my Ann Pere Free-mo module. 
https://danrisdon.smugmug.com/Trains/Free-mo-and-Models/Free-mo-Ann-Pere-Junction-Module

Epoxy and cab-o-sil... awesome combination. In my younger days I used the same to repair fiberglass and SMC hoods on semis. The shop I worked at also had shredded flax fiber as an epoxy filler. Wow wee did that ever make a strong combination. It thickened like cab-o-sil but resulted in a vastly stronger material. We used to joke, next time this truck is in an accident our epoxy/flax repaired area will survive unscathed.

[TwinStar]

Greetings from Western N.Y. I live in Niagara County and by Morning we will have over a Hundred Cases I suspect,but we are healthy and doing fine spending a lot of time in the Basement cleaning out and rearranging Running all the Locomotives DC DCC and Rail Pro.

Crzytrnbuf

Everyone stay Healthy  I am on Facebook, Dennis Michael Patrick McLaughlin I also admin 5 HO Groups if any one is interested friend me.

Welcome Dennis! I sent you a request.

[TwinStar]

Doing OK so far having done the shelter in place for three weeks now in northern California.  My employer is still listed as an essential business, but as of today the plant is very slow/not very busy and had a volunteer layoff for the hourly.  I've been working from home, setup a desk in the garage and really love the model train distraction too.  Really though working in the garage separates me from the house enough so my wife and son can focus on school and it's like I "left for work".  I thankfully had a little forethought to stop by Hobby Lobby and stock up on airbrush thinner, Turpenoid and some other supplies to keep busy with.  I haven't done anything with RP in a few months until in the last week as my son and I have done a little switching with my 6 year old son, he easily figures out the RP controller and loves to control the locomotive, though he hasn't quite figured out how the load feature will cause the loco to take a long time to move and stop.

What have I been working on?  Scenery, for the last month on my Ann Pere Free-mo module. 
https://danrisdon.smugmug.com/Trains/Free-mo-and-Models/Free-mo-Ann-Pere-Junction-Module

This week I started working on building some flatcar and gondola loads.  Several months ago I cut some steel and aluminum material at work into HO scale width/length steel plates to build flatcar loads.  I built several and then realized other modelers may be interested in these as well and then I went a little crazy and built several steel plate loads and branched into I-beams and now pipe.  I have them for sale and my current "inventory" can be seen here:
https://danrisdon.smugmug.com/For-Sale  Pricing and direct contact are listed there too (not meaning this to be a "for sale posting")
Another batch of pipe was painted tonight, and I have some I-beam material on order from Ebay, so there will be some more loads coming soon.

I've been meaning to get back to working on several (9) locomotives which are at the stage of needing Railpro installed, LED headlights, SMD LED ditchlights and I'm hoping to do this soon as soon as a some parts arrive from PDC and then they can be completed by weathering. 

Dan Risdon
Roseville, CA

Looking good Dan!

[TwinStar]

Greetings from north central Ohio. We are well and spending time working on benchwork, wiring existing trackwork, painting benchwork and preparing to install led lights in two locomotives. We will begin laying new roadbed/track next week after the paint has cured, then more wiring etc.
 Had to cancel all my medical appointments locally and with my hearing doctors in Columbus due to the coronavirus threat there. Hometown seems to be virus-free at this time but not certain.
 Bored? How on God’s green earth can anyone be bored? I haven’t even mentioned working on my RC aircraft!
 Seriously, stay home and stay safe. It also allows you workforce aged folks a taste of retirement.
 Best wishes for all,
Cecil

Cecil:

Are you near downtown? We stay on the south side, or at least we used to, on our layovers in CMH. Some trains and City BBQ may be in order if you're close.

Jacob

[atsfguy]

Jacob,
 I live north of Columbus, Ohio, in a small city called Mansfield, about 70 from the Columbus airport.
I have gone to Columbus every two or three weeks since my Cochlear implant was done on 22 Nov 2019. Mansfield is just off I-71 about half way to Cleveland. Easy access on and off. Very convenient.
 My layout is small and still under construction. Give me another year and it will be operational and you will be welcome to come by, if your layover allows.
 It will be a small switching layout with no continuous running, strictly out and back. It will be more or less flat with some grade changes in places and only about ninety feet long. I am undecided about a turntable but will need a way to turn any steam engines that could pop up.
 As I get closer to operational I will PM you with directions. Being retired, I am home most of the time, except in the summer when I fly my RC airplanes.
  Every one is welcome to drop by, send me a PM and I will give you a phone number.

[TwinStar]

Jacob,
 I live north of Columbus, Ohio, in a small city called Mansfield, about 70 from the Columbus airport.
I have gone to Columbus every two or three weeks since my Cochlear implant was done on 22 Nov 2019. Mansfield is just off I-71 about half way to Cleveland. Easy access on and off. Very convenient.
 My layout is small and still under construction. Give me another year and it will be operational and you will be welcome to come by, if your layover allows.
 It will be a small switching layout with no continuous running, strictly out and back. It will be more or less flat with some grade changes in places and only about ninety feet long. I am undecided about a turntable but will need a way to turn any steam engines that could pop up.
 As I get closer to operational I will PM you with directions. Being retired, I am home most of the time, except in the summer when I fly my RC airplanes.
  Every one is welcome to drop by, send me a PM and I will give you a phone number.

Cecil:

Sounds great! Assuming my airline survives this pandemic I'll look forward to it.

I have a similar issue with my Dallas Union Terminal module set. Several trains terminated at DUT and needed to be turned. There was a turn table at the coach yard which was 2-3 miles south and no very convenient. The terminal built a wye over the Trinity river for the sole purpose of turning power (even later diesel A-B sets) and cars that were directional.

Every RC sim I've tried I always crash the thing. It's difficult to fly from the ground. I applaud those that can!

Jacob

[atsfguy]

 My last civilian job was with a manufacturer thirty miles southwest of Little Rock, AR, and I flew at the field along I-40. We would periodically get a C-130 Pilot from LRAFB who brought his shiny new P-51 Mustang and asked if we would teach him to fly RC. What he actually meant was to watch him crash, he just didn’t know it.
 One of our Instructor Pilots would pull out the club trainer plane and tell him he was welcome to fly with an instructor and they invariably blurted out “I fly the big ones, I don’t need an instructor!” We would then tell him the several of the members were full size pilots, many retired USAF and USN pilots. He would relent and agree to the buddy box system and away they went. The instructor made the take off, turned out of traffic, leveled the wings and said “She’s yours” and they plane immediately nose dived. The instructor would take over and the pilot wannabe would invariably say that it was harder to learn to fly RC than the big ones. One receives different signals concerning the aircraft attitude.

[TwinStar]

The instructor would take over and the pilot wannabe would invariably say that it was harder to learn to fly RC than the big ones. One receives different signals concerning the aircraft attitude.

I don't disagree with that at all. My kids can fly the wings off the sim at Hobby Town. I do as you stated above; Kamikaze straight into the dirt.

[drisdon]

I've been working on loads for two weeks and ready for a break. Yesterday I did a load of I-beams and today completed a load of steel tubes.  Tonight cleared off the styrene materials, wood 2x4 and 4x4s and pulled out a couple locos to complete electronic installs.

Epoxy with, cabosil, and cat hair or chopped fiberglass do indeed make very strong joints.  Composites are one of the few completely repairable materials to use, if it cracks you just add a little wet layup. All fixed.  End up with a strong structure, strength of plywood and weight of styrofoam.

Dan Risdon