Bob,
Every now and again I see a post from you and reflect on the two years I lived in Houston and attended Rice University. Of course, I could not repress my interest in model railroading but was stuck in the Lionel mode back then. There was, however, a hobby shop in Belle Aire, if I remember correctly. One of the men working there was named Gill or something like that. Somehow I met up with Pete from Pete's Switchstand. Those two men were the positive memories. Pete never flagged in his proselytizing efforts to convert me to S scale, but I didn't bite back then. A less positive memory is of my visit to a gentleman who advertised having some 0-gauge stuff for sale. I paid him a visit and found out he was a Klansman. He also tried to recruit me to that crowd. I politely found a way to get out the door as quickly as possible. I never thought I'd meet up with a genuine KKK-er. It wsa an interesting interlude. Tom ________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Bob Werre [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 11:46 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} my extended weekend FNF .Friends, Like our Iowa boB, I've been "volunteered" to be on a layout tour in June. Houston's Division 8 is hosting the Lone Star Convention this year. The convention hotel is almost within walking distance of my studio so I don't have an excuse for not being front and center. This, as usual, has brought up three things on the layout that need correcting. I've already mentioned my uncoupling ramp change out, next in line was making some changes to a crossover, and I've forgotten the third! Most of my turnouts are thrown via twin coil type machines mounted on Rix racks. This has been a good choice for me for the most part, except when it comes to the town of Madra, which is about 9" above Underwood. The switch machines hanging down in the middle of a staging yard obviously made me fasten them in a more conventional method of screwing them to the underside of the layout. Over the years I've had trouble with one turnout, adjusting the throw and lately breaking of a wire. Making any kind of adjustments required working in this 9" area--not fun! So I elected to remove the twin coils and install two slow motion machines. I first considered the Hankscraft/ torque master/ switch master (pick your favorite name) motor. The mounting of that device also had problems due to size and the need for additional contacts. I also needed to be able to control those motors from two locations. So I then tried the Tortoise units. These guys also hang down too much, but I borrowed an idea from a O friend. He mounted his near the layout's edge and simply ran a music wire link to where it was needed. So I completed that task last night. What I'm not relating was that to do the swap and wiring from a near-by control panel required moving and repositioning a ton of stuff. A double deep bookcase was located near the panel, so running wiring wasn't going to happen without a major move. I was amazed what those cabinets hold--years worth of past magazines, a stash of old RR calendars and mis. stuff of all manner! So what would have taken me an afternoon of light work became nearly the whole weekend of moving stuff in a confined space. I'm almost to the point of tossing my old MR's to be replaced by their archival discs. This will open up a mess of space and loose about 300 lbs to boot! Now if RMC, MM, the S Gaugian, the Dispatch and the old Herald were to be offered in that manner, I could toss another 800 lbs. Next up, the finishing the painting on my gp-30's, a UP caboose and hopefully some decals from LBR will arrive shortly to return a passenger car to service. These projects are becoming critical as our temperatures will start to make painting the garage a deal breaker. Bob Werre PhotoTraxx
