Are You Into Model Train Layouts? This Is Really Cool!

[W9GT]

http://www.factorydirecttrains.com/8881-ryliesradiorepairanimatedbillboardhoo.aspx

I wonder if you can change the name lettering on this easily?  Everyone needs one of these for the train layout or the hamshack.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[W3SLK]

Wow! Now that's some kind of neat! Yeah it would be cool to finesse the lettering, especially on that 866(?) sign. The true sign, (pun intended) of old age is that you actually saw some of these in your lifetime  I always wanted to do a layout of the Northumberland yards where my grandfather worked as a brakeman for the Pensy along with the interlinking lines that crossed the main, such as the Horn, DH&E, and the Reading. Guess I'll get that right after I beat Tiger Woods at the Masters next year

[W9GT]

Wow! Now that's some kind of neat! Yeah it would be cool to finesse the lettering, especially on that 866(?) sign. The true sign, (pun intended) of old age is that you actually saw some of these in your lifetime  I always wanted to do a layout of the Northumberland yards where my grandfather worked as a brakeman for the Pensy along with the interlinking lines that crossed the main, such as the Horn, DH&E, and the Reading. Guess I'll get that right after I beat Tiger Woods at the Masters next year

Yes, that sounds great!  My Grandpa and my Dad worked for the Erie RR.  My Grandpa was a dispatcher-telegrapher in the Erie Youngstown OH yard office.  Guess, perhaps, I inherited some of my CW skills from him.  I'm a member of the Fort Wayne RR Historical Society.  They restored and operate Nickel Plate 765.  A beautiful Berkshire 2-8-4 steam locomotive.  I always have enjoyed being around trains....real and model.         http://www.765.org/

73,  Jack, W9GT

[Ed-VA3ES]

Trains, huh?  I've been a railfan/modeller since 1967.     When I went to work for the CPR's  radio mantenance department, that was a dream job.  Worked in  a radio shop, right in the middle of CPR St-Luc Yards!  Diesels all around me!    Worked on everything - radios, telephone systems, dispatcher's consols,  you name it, we did it.   Shop was literally right around the corner from my house.  Walked to work.   Sigh...  Worked in everything from RS3's, RS10/11's,  to SD40's.  Alco jobs,  GMD, MLW, you name it.  Took slides in my spare time.  Really cut my teeth in radio in that job.   What a blast that was!

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Cool signs! Model RR as well as the 'real deal' seems to be one of the more common threads in the amateur community. NB1K here in VT worked on one of those Chinese steam engines they brought over here in the late 90s, built from US drawings sold to the Chinese when we no longer had a need. Looked like it came right out of the 1920s/30s even though the data plates had 1984 dates.

WA2PJP has an extensive collection of Lionel 'O' gauge stuff, some pretty interesting old pieces I'd never even heard of. My stuff is mainly HO and N gauge, although I still have my older brother's Marx train set stashed somewhere.

Back in the early 90s I worked for KC1MC as a tech. He ran a software business (Certified Software) and branched out into small electronics projects under the name SPÜREN Systems. He designed the first digital throttle for model trains, although he never got it to market due to a small bug (it would run choppy at low speed). It was funny to see this HO steam engine lashed up the a Tektronics scope with a square wave or saw-tooth pattern on the screen as wheels spun erratically. He later gave me the first prototype (which I had built), about the size of a large postage stamp. Resistors take a lot less space when you stand them on end.

Someday a layout is bound to happen...