I've been working on my railroad

[Scott Douglas]

We've had an LGB train set for 30 years or more. My wife wanted a train to go around the tree at Christmas time and well, being that I researched hard, I ended up with LGB rather than the coveted Lionel set I initially set out to buy. Ended up spending about 2x's what I had budgeted in the beginning but that's water under the bridge now.
We've expanded that set over the years.
Recently I was able to win an auction for a large mogul I've always wanted ever since they came out back in the '90's or so. Couldn't afford a new one and this one needed work as it was a Goodwill donation.
Had a box though which counts for a lot when storing them. When it arrived and I got it out of the box it was a little rougher than I expected. It didn't run, no surprise there really, and some of the wires had been cut that go to the sound system in the coal tender. The little connector for the six wires is a one time use only type affair so the hunt was on to find a replacement
I was able to take the loco all apart and put it back together so that it actually runs. Big sigh of relief that the motor is still good.
This past weekend I decided to get busy again on it and put the connector on to see if the sound system works.
Yes, it does, and you can even set off a bell when driving over a magnet set in the middle of the track.
My other project was a sound car that came with another set I got in another auction on the GW site. It looked good but didn't produce sound. I put a new battery in it and switched a couple of wires on the circuit board to see if that'd help.
Worked like a champ!
I invested in some metal wheels to pickup the track voltage rather than having to hook up the wires to the loco via the aux power connectors they have. Now we have a sound car that can go with any locomotive in the yard.
I've got some video's I took this morning and are linked below.
Here are some stills of the project cars.

2019S Mogul w/tender w/sound in it.


Box car has the sound system in it.
Links to videos:

https://youtu.be/hs5ng0j1JN8

https://youtu.be/L9REtTFzKyU

[Shaun @ Tru6]

That is soooo cool Scott! The sound is great. What was it like taking it apart?

I love these old train sets, we used to play with my dad's set (when he was a kid) in my grandmother's attic when we were kids. That attic was magic!


Embedded videos

[Jolly Amaranto]

I love it. I have been addicted to toy/model trains since I was a little tyke. Had 027 tin plate and graduated to HO and then N scale.

[911 Rod]

Very cool.
How long until you lock yourself in a room and run miles of track?

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

That is soooo cool Scott! The sound is great. What was it like taking it apart?

Thanks Shaun.
Every time I take something like this apart I immediately think to myself "OK, how did this go together at the factory?"
I can't see them making thousands of these big locomotives even on the world wide market, so there must have been some 'trick' to getting them together efficiently by only one or maybe two workers at a time. I found the electrical connection a little hairy to get back together as there are springs and contacts on the wheel sets and they are all tied into each other and the pickup shoes. Someone had taken it apart before me and obviously hadn't been able to figure out how to get it all back together and working.

Jolly - I have a hard enough time seeing the small screws involved with G scale. No way would I be able to deal with N scale. Maybe when I was a lot younger I could have but not now. I also don't know how I'd adapt a camera to N scale so I could ride the train either.

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

Very cool.
How long until you lock yourself in a room and run miles of track?

Rod, that won't be happening until my grandkids are old enough to help build the track. Man my knees are sore from being on the floor just for this short track build.

[Tobra]

You need to get pad for the down low work.

A big piece of plywood in a spare room and you can do a permanent set up.

[Jolly Amaranto]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Jolly - I have a hard enough time seeing the small screws involved with G scale. No way would I be able to deal with N scale. Maybe when I was a lot younger I could have but not now. I also don't know how I'd adapt a camera to N scale so I could ride the train either.

So far, my 70 year old eyes manage. Some friends of mine have mini video cameras mounted on flat cars that they push around their layouts. Looks great. I prefer to just take photos from afar.




But sometimes up close.

[911 Rod]

Cool photos.
Remember the autistic kid that took photos of toy cars that almost looked real?

[HobieMarty]

Very cool stuff. I have a Tyco HO scale set called Durango. I've had it since I was about 10 years old. I haven't set it up in many many moons. Hmmm, now I may have to dig it out, at least to take some pictures of it.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Scott Douglas]

I was having a hard time figuring out the timing on the wheels for the rails connecting them. Today I was about to put it all away for another day but thought I'd give it one more try. I had an epiphany of sorts and it all fell into place. Now it looks the part of a locomotive, IMO. I hooked up my big transformer too and it runs a lot better with more umph behind the power supply source.

[chapo]

good stuff. Picked up a Piko set for the back yard, need to get cracking on it

[Bill Douglas]

I'm going for the English village look 1960's



That's if I'm not busy at the farm.



Or at the pub.

[tabs]

My train stop is Willby.

[flatbutt]

We had this set when I was a boy.




Then my Dads best friend lost his job just before Christmas so Dad gave him our train set to give to his kids. Nice of Dad but man was I pissed off!

[masraum]

I've got a buddy that's hard core into this stuff. He's been buying bits and pieces for the past few years like they are going out of style. His place looks more like a model railroad store.

And everytime I see the thread title I read it like I'm singing the song ""I've Been Working on the Railroad."

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

We had this set when I was a boy.

Injustice that you have put right.

I feel the same. I was forced into selling my train set to a neighbour which highly pissed me off. And his moron kids would have wrecked it in no time.

So I bought the same make and model a few years ago and love it.

[HardDrive]

My humble layout. I've worked on it mostly during the winters over the past 6-7 years. Small, but I can run 3 trains at the same time. I intentionally kept it small so I could actually get it to a somewhat finished state with the limited time I have. I'm going to finish the ballast on the mainlines this winter, and add more detail the foreground areas. Not DCC, I love my old Athearn blue box locos.

[thingmon]

Cheap way to tour the Hudson Valley... Was in the basement of one of the dorms at RPI in Troy, NY.

https://www.facebook.com/NEBandW

Well, maybe not that cheap.

[jcwade]

Originally Posted by tabs

My train stop is Willby.

Do you mean Willoughby, from the Twilight Zone?