Workshop Wednesday

Learned to drive semi's in a 1965 (I think) International Emeryville. It had a 220 Cummins w/backdrop manifold (sounded GREAT), and a RT10 Road Ranger 10 speed. Drove many types/models after that... but that one's special. Biggest bear to drive was a Pete 352 cabover with a 318 Detroit coupled to a Spicer 4x4 twin stick. It would roll n' stroll once up to speed!

Andre

 

That's great stuff Andre. Funny I just saw a Emeryville that could use a little TLC about a week ago.

 

So many over-the-road stories I could share during that short time I was a young over-the-road driver. I didn't drive over-the-road all that long, comparatively speaking, but it seemed then that I lived a lifetime doing it.

Alas, trucking is like railroading: The best years to be a part of it are well behind it. "Back then"... you ran onto another trucker, you had something in common and you learned you had a friend you hadn't met yet. All the local-owned and/or regional truck stops (also a thing of the past) were also filled with friends you hadn't met yet. We helped one another. At night we ran in packs together, on and on. Yes, there was a camaraderie among truckers then. Today's trucking is divided by ethnic cliques/etc and there's quite a bit of confrontational situations now. Not the same industry at all.

Sorry for the thread drift. I'll move along.

 

Since we're showin' pics... here's a pic of my Freightshaker I owned up until a few years ago...



It had a Cat with a 13 speed in it. And here it is loaded down helping a friend move his track hoe (his truck was down at the time). Talk about bellering when I got out to the hiway and laid into the throttle with that load!





Here's a pic of the interior. It was nice...



Okay... I'll try to shut up now!!

Andre

 

Very nice Andre!

 

Hi Tom: Engine was 400 HP 3406. Bob-tailing around to the truck shows/etc, it didn't sound very "Cat-ish". But put a load behind it and it was 100% Cat with its Cat bellow and Cat smoke!

Thanks Craig? (Did I get your name right?)

Me ol' Shaker:

I enjoyed owning it... wife hated it. I didn't understand her attitude toward it (I had been waxing nostalgic about my early-mid 1970's driving times) and she finally said "YOU may have good memories about your driving years... but I don't have any at all."

Kind of put the reality back into place that once married, she bore the brunt of my driving. She spent quite a bit of time by herself/etc.

I had in mind to earn a minimum retirement via railroading (10 years = minimum RR retirement), then finish out my working career putting my Shaker to work regionally. Already had a lead on hauling rock using a flatbed. Good pay, home nights. When I ran the idea past the Railroad Retirement Board, the rep suggested I really didn't need to do that. He said seeing as I was not going to have a full retirement (30 years), I needed to go out railroading so the RRB handled my retirement and NOT Social Security. I took his advice and stayed with railroading to the end of my career (ends in 6 weeks). Upon hearing the figures from the RRB I'm to retire with, I am SO glad I called the RRB and heeded the advice they gave. We are going to be situated pretty good, and that with only a bit over 12 full-time years in railroading. (None of my 20 years of part time/contract RR-ing counted toward retirement.)

 

This week is still the wrecker here. Got more of the little time consuming parts built.They don't look like much but really burn some hours.
Exhaust:



The handles for all the doors that open:



Among the photetched pieces is the slamlocks for the toolboxes. These are four separate pieces and a real pain to assemble:

 

Got the decoder in the tender on my Bowser connie:

Was going to solder on connectors, but managed to break all of them :

Also put a decoder in the Vandy Tender:

I need to buy more connectors .

I bought some old Train miniature cars a while back, and the seller gave me a couple of boxcar shells. I modified some Tichy underframes a while ago, but the Andrews trucks I tried kept falling apart, so I tried the Tichy archbar truck kit, and put on some brake details:

I really like these archbars, with a couple of caveats:

1. The journal box covers are separate parts. They're tiny, and a couple escaped. I spent quite a bit of time on my hands and knees looking for them with a powerful flashlight. I found them, but I even emailed Tichy to ask if I could get more (yes, you can).
2. The brake shoes snap in from the bottom, and kept popping out. I tacked them in with some Aileen's Tacky Glue, so I should be able to get them off easily if I need to.

I finally got my Stewart F3 up and running again. I needed some bathtub caulk to mount the speaker enclosure and my tube was dried out, but I picked some more up at Menard's on Saturday. I got everything remounted:


And here's how she sounds:

 

A number of "Wednesdays" have been spent on finishing my final seven structures for downtown Camellia Park, Alabama. I have four down and three to go. This one is a very old (mid-1970s) Magnuson warehouse building, one t0 stretch my skills for sure.

It is now ready to leave the workbench and find its place in Camellia Park. I'll also post some photos in the Camellia Park thread.

Enjoy.

Ken McElreath

 

Ok, here goes:

Built an old Train miniature freight car:

Tried to raise the pilot on this connie:

This Big Boy was grinding and finally would only run a few feet. Changed out front driver assembly with one from old junked Rivarossi:

Whoever had it before me painted the tires and rods white. I'm trying to remove it. Not sure what kind of paint it is, though.
Filed flash and sanded Bowser K4s kit. This was an old kit, found on eBay. The boiler is really heavy--I suspected lead, so I checked the Bowser site. It is indeed lead, so I made sure to wash my hands thoroughly:

I have Atlas track and turnouts, and the frogs seem really high, and give some of these steamers fits. I tried filing them down, and tapped the hole for a 1-72 screw for power routing:

Finally, I worked on my wife's Macbook Air. Somehow water got on the keyboard, and the keyboard stopped working. I spent about $60 on parts, and spent several hours taking it apart and trying various fixes the last few months. The last thing to try was the glidepad, so when it came Saturday, I disassembled the computer, removed the old glidepad, installed the new, hooked up ribbon connectors, and reassembled. It worked!

So I give to my wife, and what does she say? "That wasn't that hard."

 

Lol!...

 

Ha. I feel your pain Greg. I won’t post the 4 terabytes of pictures I’d have of things she has destroyed in case she ever reads this over my shoulder. Lol
My Wednesday was just packing for Springfield. Models again next week.