# Lets get Christmas 2020 started



## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Its here!!! Time to get Christmas started. I want to wish you all a
very merry Christmas. I am planning on running trains tonight.
Going to get some K-line wide curves out and make a small oval
on the floor. I have a few locomotives I have not run at all yet. My
new Berkshire, my 293 from flyernut, and a 335 northern I got over
6 months ago. I will pretend I got them for Christmas. My one son is 
coming over and we will watch Christmas Story and run trains. You
guys have a wonderful Holidays and becarefull.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Thanks Mopac, Merry Christmas! Definitely run some trains today and tomorrow. I will, and later today will post some Christmas Train pictures.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

LOL Christmas has been here since September...check any Walmart or Target! 
Merry Christmas to all.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Cleaning (polishing) and laying track today. One disappointment, I found out K-line and Gilbert track
are not a direct hook up. Got a few pieces together, it was a battle. The track pins on K-line are wider
than Gilberts. Shame. I had to dig and find my 8 pieces of K-Line straight track. 8 straights will be
enough for my oval. Looks like the Gilbert Track Clips will work. Got a little running around to do then
back to the track. My son called and asked me to buy his cat some food. I need some milk. Can't let
the cat go hungry on Christmas. The stores will be closed before my son gets off work. Most stores
around here are closing at 4 today.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Be careful in the stores.
I never tried to join K-Line track to Gilbert, it sounds like an unneeded pain. Gilbert track is made with a heavier gauge steel than K-Line, that may be the root cause of the pin fitment issue. I hope you get a train running soon.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Tom, need to clean 6 more curve pieces, the 8 straights are clean and ready, find a lock-on ,move my ZW and I will be able to see if I can run. And my smoke fluid. Getting excited. I do not get to run much.

I use a green scotch brite pad to clean and polish the track. Works great. And then alcohol
and a rag every once in awhile.

Almost forgot, I need some Seagrams and some seven up for 7 and 7s. Hope the Feds do not catch me drinking and running a locomotive. Choo Choo.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Egg Nog with rum in the afternoon, wine at dinner, perhaps a single malt in the evening. I think the trains will be safe from the operator.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Getting ready to run trains now. Just returned from my mom's house.

My son bought me a wonderful German Deutsche Bahn engineer's cap from Braunschweig for Christmas. I couldn't be happier.


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

A couple of turbine units on the D&J Railroad are struggling though the high mountain area to finish their run for the evening and get home for Christmas Eve.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Michael, I hope you were able to run the trains and sip a beverage of choice while wearing the DB Engineers cap.
Ken, great picture, thanks for posting it here.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I did get to run trains tonight. I tried 3 engines I had never run. Running trains is a big deal
for me, I do not have a layout. I did a floor layout. 2 of the engines were 65 years old and one
new from 1990 but never run. I was really lucky, they all ran great. I was surprised. They ran so
good I could not tell you which ran the best. First I ran my 335 Northern. As I remember I bought
it as untested. Then ran a 293 Pacific. flyernut said it ran great and he was not woofin. A great
running locomotive. Very smooth. And one heck of a smoker. I would not expect anything less
from flyernut. Good job buddy. That one was 60 some years old. Then I ran my 2 GP9s. They
ran fine. A little wobble. Might be a traction tire wobble. I did not look. My new Berkshire was
slated to run but I did not get to it. Maybe Christmas morning. All in all I was pleased. Good
time. Hope all you guys got to run some trains. The 335 was a good smoker also. The track
worked great. I could tell the northern liked the wider curves.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Merry Christmas to all !!!!!

Kenny


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Mopac I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the pin size difference since I encountered that issue way back when I first started messing with K-Line. My main line and a long siding are all K-line. The rest of my track, spurs, and yard, are all Gilbert. I pulled the the K-Line pins and replaced them with Gilbert pins when I needed to mate the two track types and Gilbert switches. Since the pin width is minimal, a light squeeze is all that is needed. I've never had a problem with electrical continuity mating K-Line and Gilbert track or switches. I coat all track pins with Permatex Dielectric grease in a 3 oz. tube for 6.99 at Auto Zone. I use this stuff on every electrical connection, trains or automotive. That is a result of working as a GM parts manager for years. Tom is correct regarding the track steel difference. 
Sounds like you got a good deal of train running time in. 

Kenny


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Merry Christmas everybody. Kenny, thanks for that info on K-line pins. I will do that.
I was surprised. I did get a lot of 10 K-Line straights yesterday on ebay.


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## AmFlyerFan (Jan 27, 2019)

A Very MERRY CHRISTMAS to all here!
I've been set up and running for a couple of days in an upstairs bedroom. With Grandma here I can't afford to have her get stuck on the tracks around the X-mas tree. Ho-Ho-Ho!


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

I use the dielectric grease on the track pins as well. I also use it on the rail edges prior to attaching a 690 or 707 track clip.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Welcome back AmFlyerFan. I have not seen you around lately. Glad you have been doing some running lately. Thanks for the info Kenny and Tom. I am getting close to putting my FlyerChief Berkshire on the tracks. Smoke switch will be off untill I get my bottle of "coal fired steamer" Mega Steam smoke fluid. Not using the remote just yet, nor the APP. I do want to use the App some day soon. It looks interesting. It seems to be the only way to adjust the volume on individual sounds. Most of you know my opinion of Lionel S scale locomotives. I am hoping this steamer will change that opnion. I will post my initial opinion of this beautiful locomotive later today. Have a great day guys.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I did check the traction tires on the GP9. One of the traction tires is twisted. I will assume
that is the reason the GP9 has a wobble. My GP9 is not a precision machine but not too
bad running characteristics.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Think of your new Berkshire as the modern day equivalent of the 335/336 Gilbert engine. The new Berk does everything better than the 336. FlyerChief is the equivalent of LionChief Plus 2.0.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Surprised the Lionel AF GP-9's had twisted traction tires. During all the train running I did, three of my Lionel Legacy diesels threw a traction tire. Fortunately they are easy to replace and I have extras on hand. One of them is visible in a picture I posted yesterday, it is sitting on the pavement right in front of the control tower in the passenger yard.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I have run my new Berkshire for about an hour now. It is running much better now than it did
at first. They need some break in time. She was stiff at first. Much smoother now. This is to be
expected with a brand new engine. No matter what I say in the following I do not regret buying
this locomotive. I do not know how much break in this locomotive needs. But it is getting better.
All my new HO engines needed a break in period. For break in I run in forward for 10 minutes.
and then reverse 10 minutes. Over and over. That seems to work the best. All wheels stayed
on the track well. I would say the biggest let down is the sound. I expected better. If you keep 
the speed to a crawl the chuffs are fine, good even. I would say if you stay at 20 or less scale
mph the sound is good. Much faster and the chuffs sound like a machine gun. Not good. My
manual was up stairs and I was down stairs and I downloaded the Lionel LionChief app. You 
have controls that can only be used on the app. I never got my phone and 765 hooked up. 
The headlight blinked and tender chirped but no connection. I have since reread the manual
and I should have hit the chain link symbol. I will try it again. One thing I like is it has white
walls on the wheels. This engine does not rate with a Lionel O scale steam engine, but it is fine.
I like it but will not buy another one.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

You will be surprised to see how much better it runs and sounds with smoke pouring out the stack! To make a comparison with O gauge engines it takes the Legacy version. Even then the O gauge full scale engines are better.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

mopac said:


> Merry Christmas everybody. Kenny, thanks for that info on K-line pins. I will do that.
> I was surprised. I did get a lot of 10 K-Line straights yesterday on ebay.


Good score on getting K-Line straights. I like the shiny rail head. Gilbert track never will be that shiny. I have 3 totes full of Gilbert track so I could have gone either way. I've still got plenty of K-Line track for when I want to expand. When you could buy K-Line/Lionel track new, I bought everything I saw. Since hobby shops within an 80 miles radius of me were geared to HO and O gauge, they were all only too happy to get rid of it. Those shops had the track clearanced priced. I looked at a couple of old invoices and the most I paid was $1.85 per piece, straight or curve. BTW, all of those hobby shops are gone now. A total of 8. 4 were in Peoria, Il alone. Around here the train people I know are either HO or Lionel so I am alone as a Flyer owner. No big deal.

Kenny


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Kenny, I lived in Peoria for about a year before I moved to Texas. That would have been in the early 70s. I lived off of Knoxville Rd. By Mt. Hawley airport.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I had a first this morning. That one of my locomotives repaired itself. I brought my GP9 with the
twisted traction tire up stairs to see if I could untwist it. I removed the side rails to get to the traction
tires. The tire was laying flat around the wheel. I am sure it was twisted. Reinstall the side rails. I
did not run it much Christmas Eve because of the wobble. I decided to do my hour long break in.
It went well. No wobble. I probably need to order some new traction tires. These are close to 30
years old. They are getting hard. Very happy with the GP9 set (one powered and one dummy).
They run very smooth now. Very steady. I think that is due to a large can motor. It is maybe 4 times
larger than the can motors in my PAs. It is only one truck drive but right now running well. No wobble.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

I need that feature, self repair!


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

mopac said:


> Kenny, I lived in Peoria for about a year before I moved to Texas. That would have been in the early 70s. I lived off of Knoxville Rd. By Mt. Hawley airport.


I know that area well. Now you wouldn't recognize the area, especially along and near Knoxville Rd. Big car dealerships, 3 large medical centers, and, what else, a large outdoors type shopping mall. Mt. Hawley added one hanger and a runway. Since that airport is basically a private plane airport, I don't understand the need for the extra runway, which was what the public's strong objection was too. Maybe those medical centers got DR.'s that have airplanes.

Kenny


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Kenny thanks for the info on the area I lived for a year. Sounds like some changes. No wonder I am tired all the time now. I always worked many hours a week. Probably 70 hours a week at the dealership for almost 30 years and that year in Peoria I worked at 2 gas stations on Knoxville Rd, 40 hours at each station a week. Back then, thats about all that was on Knoxville Rd. And I took some classes at Illinois Central. I get tired just thinking about all the hours of work I have done. Too much work is not good for a person. Most of the sales managers, at car dealerships, I knew never made it to 60 years old. I am 70 now and on
borrowed time.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Mopac, car dealership life isn't easy, especially in sales and management as you know. I knew and still know a couple of retired Sales managers and General Managers who put in the hours you did. The sales people weren't far behind. As a Parts Manager my week was usually 50 hours, not to the level of what you did. To the public, car selling looks like an easy job. Any management job in a dealership isn't a 40 hour job either whether it be General, Sales, Parts, F&I, or Service. Then if the dealership is a big one, you got truck managers, and used car managers. As you know it ain't easy.
After I retired after 30+ years, it took me awhile to realize what a stressful job I had and didn't realize it. My health in general got much better. My diabetic numbers went way down. Stress will jack up those numbers but since I didn't realize I was under a lot of stress, I thought it must be my eating or that is just the way it is.
I know ICC well too because we had monthly GM meetings there.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Stress is bad. I had 2 heart attacks. None since being retired. 10 years.
I was in the hospital a week for each of them. I knew I had to get out of
the car business. Ford was never satisfied, the owner was never satisfied,
It was always more more. No matter how good sales was.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I really put my new Berkshire through the paces tonight to make sure everything works correctly.
It is a cool locomotive. I used the remote that came with it and then I used the Lionel app on my
phone. Bluetooth. It all works great. I think I like the phone control best. With the phone you can 
adjust the momentum. I adjusted momentum on all my HO DCC locomotives. Lionel really nailed
the whistle. It sounds great. Now I can't wait till the new smoke fluid arrives. I do like the Berk.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Mopac sorry to hear about those work stress related heart attacks during your working years. 
I know all about the owner never being satisfied. Always wanting more. I used to hate the 1st of the month projection meetings and coming up with what I thought I would do for the month as if every department manager had a crystal ball. Then there were the Monday morning progress reports, grilled on why your numbers were lagging. Better get to work and get them up. Then at the end of the month if you didn't make the numbers, why not? In the service department, if there wasn't enough service business, thus parts sales, not to mention warranty business and customer pay, why not? Like we had control over who came in and how many. It was always, "what did you miss?" Stupid question. On top of the projection estimate, the owner gave you his projection numbers. The deal was, if I made my figures I was supposed to get a $1000 bonus. On the other hand if I did meet my projection that I had submitted, it was always, "well you didn't meet my projection so no bonus". Talk about a rigged game. I worked for 3 different dealers in my 34 years and all 3 owners were exactly the same way and the same "bonus plan". In all those years I got that $1000 bonus 7 times. I'm sure what I just said you can relate to. 

Sounds like you got that Berk dialed in nicely. I'm not too familiar with the phone app having never been up close and personnel with any blue tooth controls. Sounds interesting. So the same app controls your HO as well? Sounds like you are in hog heaven with the Berk running so well. I spent most of today trying to figure out what kind of communication malfunction I had with my TMCC system. Finally got it fixed. Stupid over sight. After all the wasted time, I was out of the mood to run trains. Came up and watched football. 

Kenny


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Why did dealership owners run their business that way? Rhetorical question, it was because they could and the hyper driven and competitive types that owned dealerships had those tendencies with no checks and balances in the system. Large businesses with public ownership were not run like that. There was a demand for revenue and margin growth, but there were resources and plans to achieve it. Performance targets were set based on data. Those who consistently missed targets were coached. Only after that were there HR actions taken. When I hear these stories I am amazed that you people survived and succeeded for decades.
The FlyerChief iPhone app works pretty well but I have not used it recently.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Tom I liked dealing in car parts. It was the dealer principal that made the job hard. It is a cut throat business from dealer to dealer. Push, push, push. Why didn't you push hard enough. Next month better be better. I don't know how I survived either looking back. Or mopac for that matter. I mean heart attacks?? 

Kenny


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Kenny, I can not run my HO with the phone. Just with my my DCC system. I think Bachmann
made some HO with Bluetooth. That would run from phone. I like the Lionel app. There is only
one problem I am having. Turning off the app. This morning I shut my phone all the way off to
escape the app. This should be an easy thing to do. And it probably is. I have checked the manual
and it is not in there. I will get it. I ran the Berk for an hour this morning. Doing the break in procedure.
It does run very very smooth and steady. I almost put some smoke fluid in it. I will wait.

Kenny, I too had that 1000.00 dangled every month all those years. Attaining it very seldom.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

I just close the app. It is either a double click of the home button or a partial swipe up depending on the model. If I do a full shutdown of the iPhone all the apps that were open remain open when I restart the phone.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Continuous intense stress is very bad for the body and can destroy a persons health. There is no data that supports better business results are achieved by putting managers in the hospital. In todays employment environment an employee could sue and win if a verbal promise of a bonus was made and not paid after the conditions were met. Unfortunately it would cost more than $1,000 to win. A smart attorney could probably show a repeated pattern across many managers and turn it into a six figure case. A. C. Gilbert never ran his company that way.
In our company all bonus opportunities are granted in writing including the metrics and targets to get a payout. The payouts are granted in writing along with the calculation of the amount against the goal. If an "adjustment" is made it must have a factual basis. All are 100% independently audited for compliance. We have a program that allows spot bonuses for exceptional performance of someone not in the formal bonus program. These bonuses are tightly controlled with multiple approvals and 100% independent audit. Not because promises are made and not kept but rather some people will try to use the money to "bribe" someone into doing an inappropriate or unethical action.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Tom, they never changed the goal line when it was achieved. If it was achieved they just extend the goal line out further later. They really did not want to pay it. The bonus was a joke to most managers and I never paid much attention to it. So it did not do what it was intended to do.

Our mail service is in sad shape. I got an old AF car in mail today. Seller shipped it Dec 13 and it was sent "2 day Priority". And I get it on Dec 28. Not even close. I will try to post pic in a bit.


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## AFGP9 (Apr 8, 2015)

Tom like mopac said, those $1000.00 "bonuses" were a joke. If I came close 3 months in a row, the goal posts were moved even though everybody got a year projection sheet in January. It was called an income adjustment. What? Sounds too much like shell game talk. I never really paid much attention to where I was during any month. In fact the first time I did get a bonus check I was surprised since I hadn't seen one. Dealers think that carrot dangling is incentive. Just the opposite. Dealer owners are the most greedy people I know. All for them, little for you. Just get to work and produce. 

Mopac, funny you mention that color issue. Every time I have tried to photograph any of my IC reefer cars, I have the same issue. I think it is that shade of orange. I've tried all sorts of lighting angles, different phone cameras, a Nikon camera and still the problem. I can fool with the picture in Photo Gallery and make things better. Still it is an issue.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

My iPhone 11 Pro renders some colors differently than my Nikon. When there is a difference the Nikon is closer to correct. Here are two pictures I took the other night of my Christmas lights. The one with the green looking LED lights is the iPhone and the one where the warm white LED’s look closer to white is with the Nikon. Both taken at the same time of day, about 30 minutes after sunset. To save the trouble of counting there are 50 C9 bulbs on each of the two bushes and a total of 1,000 WW LED’s on the other shrubbery. For scale, the tall shrubs are 6’ hiigh.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

My Mega Steam smoke fluid hit my post office at 7:39 tonight so should be here tomorrow.
My whiskey barrels were mailed Dec 11 and still have not made it. Been at the big post office
in St Louis for a few days.


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