Another long gap between blog updates, but here goes…

Progress on the railroad has been slow. In January, I added more benchwork. I am now around 80% of the walls.

 

      

I was moving forward with a goal of laying track on the main level. In order for me to begin, I needed a reference point based on the Taylor peninsula. To create the reference point, I had to build out a portion of the peninsula benchwork and get the sub roadbed installed. All was moving very well. I has cut the steel for a number of components and was welding the sections of benchwork.

These pictures are of the frame for the peninsula. We had to lift this up and over the posts. The center posts are to support upper staging. This lift turned out to be much easier than expected. Next will be to apply all the cross members. Which of course requires that I have a functional welder.

While in the process of welding more benchwork components to get the main level of the Taylor peninsula going and my welder failed. It turns out that the power plug for the MIG gun failed. Actually, it just broke. 

Okay, no problem, just order another MIG gun. I found one online for a good price and sent the order in. My replacement gun arrived in 4 days. Great, I'm now ready to rock. The weekend came around and I unboxed the new gun. Hmmm…it looked a bit different than my existing gun. Okay, no problem, let me install it. Whoops, the power plugs do not match up. Well, that's going to be a problem. I checked the box and the part number of the physical gun was different. The inventory sticker was correct, so the company had mislabeled the MIG gun upon receiving it and putting it into inventory. I called them, sent pictures and they agreed it was the wrong gun and would send me a replacement. Then it turns out that the replacement gun was on backorder. And backorder. And backorder. Finally after 8 weeks of waiting, they opted to send me an upgraded gun to replace mine because the original which was still on backorder with the manufacturer. In the mean time, before the replacement offer, I had checked with other dealers. It turns out that everyone is out of stock. Oh well, the replacement finally arrived. I was actually considering buying a second welder so I could keep my 110v welder upstairs. But, I never pulled the trigger on that one.

Then of course, there are all the distractions that come along with trying to get this rolling.

Distraction 1 - Getting a new job. For those who don't know, my 23+ year career at Intel ended in March of 2018. My position was eliminated. While I was able to 'retire' from Intel, I was still compelled to work a few more years. In June of 2018, I began a job at US Foods (food distribution) leading a data governance team. However, I quickly determined that was not going to be a long term move for me. There are many reasons, but suffice it to say it was time for a change and aligned with adage that 'people leave bad managers'. 

I accepted a  role at Republic Services  (recycling and waste management). and started at the beginning of April, 2019. I have been saying that I moved from asking "Do you want fries with that." to riding on the back of the truck picking up trash cars. Actually, I'm still in IT and lead a data management team. 

My resignation from US Foods gave me a couple of weeks off and I had hopes of working on the railroad. But, due to welder issues, I did other projects.


Distraction 2 - In March, our modular club: Arizona Modular Railroaders set up for the Great Train Expo show in Phoenix. it was a great show and we have improved our modules. ...a lot more improvement is needed, but we are making progress. The modular club provides the opportunity to run equipment that will not run on either railroad. On of my favorites is my early 1970s Amtrak 'Circus Train'. It is always well received. 

Distraction 3 - Getting my Dad's 1927 T Bucket Roadster running and drivable. This has been a long time coming. It hasn't run in over 40 years. I won't go into all the details, but it is now running and drivable. I still have a lot of restoration to do, but that will be done in parallel with the layout construction and other projects. 

Here is a video of the first time driving in 40 years. It's on Facebook, so if you aren't a Facebook user, you may not be able to view it. I think...
https://www.facebook.com/Rick.in.AZ/videos/10156992735168006/

One challenge I had was to get the radiator repaired as it had some seam leaks. It is a modified version of the 1927 original. That means brass/copper construction and all the joints are soldered. It was quite a task to find a radiator guy who had the skills. Most of them have retired and it's becoming a lost art. Fortunately, I was able to find a local guy after a search. The repairs were made and now I'm back in business! 

Distraction 4 - Other projects. You name it, I've had it. Home, yard, jukebox, and multiple trips to So Cal.

The Christmas Cards are not included. This is before I picked up the jukebox in So Cal. My best friend Scott who helped me get the Roadster running has had this since the late 70s. It is a 1960 Wurlitzer. It needs some mechanical work and is now added to my list of projects.

I did go to Priddy, TX last week to participate in live steam ops. I've been going every spring for 10 years. Typically, these folks like to run rather than operate. A number of years ago (before I was involved) a point to point railroad on a ranch was built by Roy Pickard. The would host two events a year, one of which was ops based. HO guys from Houston were invited to come participate in ops and the 'Spring Fling' was born. It is a blast. And you DO NOT put your hand down to align couplers when coupling. For me, it's a bit different as safety is now something to be considered. How you process and handle rolling stock is a bit different. You have to be mindful that equipment will roll and you need to chock wheels. The railroad employs two dispatchers.

I typically sign up for Yard Master for one of the two yards during the event. I have dispatched there railroad. And, am usually a conductor on a wayfreight. Being a conductor



This year, I was fighting cold, so I lost my voice during the event the day I was Yard Master. That put me as a brakeman on the last day. It was great to just follow directions from the conductor and not have to think too much. Again, due to my control issues there is no way I could do that all the time!

And for those who know Peter...he's here to help:

Finally, for those who may be interested…

We have sold nearly 800 Cab Savers. Way beyond my expectation. Now the only question is when will we max out. I even have a hobby shop selling them. Ironically, we never planned to sell them as such, so no retail packaging was ever created.

Lastly, I haven't figured out a way to optimize the formatting for this blog. I'm using the tool provided by Blogger to format the posts, but I think it leaves a bit to be desired. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. As now have a functional welder again, I'll post another progress report very soon!