I know I'm showing my age, but where have all the catalogs gone? This time of year we could hardly wait to run down to J&J Trains to see the latest display for Christmas and pick up all the free catalogs that were available. Lionel, Gilbert, and even a few HO Scale ones from manufacturers. (Sorry, N Scalers, but you haven't been invented yet.)

Calling down to the cave. . . "Honey, are you still down there. . . " - - LOL!

I am in the process of converting the last of my rolling stock (30 or so) to steel wheels. I have a number of older kits which are really neat, what with metal side frames, metal bolsters and plastic wheels all supported by tiny, pain-in-the-ass metal springs that took me forever to install. The problem, as I started on a really nice boxcar, is that I noticed the all metal trucks. Plus and minus voltage meets in the middle and my Digitrak Zephyer just screams at me when that happens.

For those in the Harrisburg area, tomorrow is the opening weekend for the Keystone Model Railroad Club's traveling display at Ft. Hunter. Come and enjoy the fun of trains for kids of all ages. The schedule and that for the club open house is here:

http://www.pamodelrailroads.com/kmrhs/

Here's a short video on a problem for shelf railroads like mine: http://youtu.be/lNQ2zzI09Yw

Here is the info you need for the Harrisburg area Christmas open houses: http://www.pamodelrailroads.com/kmrhs/ 

Msg me if you need directions.

Dave C.

Here are some shots of my upgrading and recording of my rolling stock with some comments. First, weighing the cars, I then check for coupler height and to see if they roll freely. I don't mean roll; I mean roll freely.

I have spent the morning going over every freight and passenger car on my railroad (30 or so and continuing) to replace any broken or missing parts, make sure they weigh the correct amount, the coupler height is correct and write the car road name and number on a master list. I have also re-acquainted myself with several important maxims about model railroading:

Does anyone have a body shell or parts from a Proto 2000 GP-18? I need a top fan (high sided type) and the end rails/stanchions to repair one that has a sound decoder in it. Apparently Walthers isn't supporting parts for these Life-Like units. Contact me if you have one, especially the fan. Thanks.