Let’s Do the Mood Shift Again!
Bonus points if you name that movie.
Well, I’m back. I guess I’ll keep on blogging. I caught and arrested a spammer this morning and I turned him over to the paramilitary militia that enforces the law in my area now that the police have been defunded.
Damn. Democracy, ain’t it grand?
Now where was I?
Oh yeah. OLD TOY TRAINS.
So the old, old power supplies are a FIRE HAZARD. Not tryin’ to scare anybody but SHEESH. Old is old. So here comes Mr. Power Supply from my old computer and I got THIS GADGET on Amazon so that I could use the power supply to power the old toy train setup, erm, I mean LAYOUT.
The great thing about it is that it was an adjustable power post so that I can have a throttle (of sorts).
Then came another THING FROM AMAZON that consists of some tiny bottles of Secret Sauce from Deoxit…
… that can be used to “condition” electric contacts. My first decision was to do a tear-down and reassemble of my old Minitrix U-28C, which is a classic among teensy toy trains, and the result was very groovy.
Electrical contact conditioner is like hair conditioner. No, it doesn’t allow you to grow extra-long hair on your borzoi (out of the gutter, sir! OUT!). It resembles hair conditioner because I didn’t think it would do anything until I tried it, then was impressed.
However, I did not buy the “spray-on kind” because that stuff is 70% mineral spirits (white spirits in the Former British Empire R.I.P.) and I don’t spray mineral spirits.
So I had to clean stuff with some ancient de-natured alcohol that I had stashed away.
Yow, this stuff is stinky to me because I’ve become accustomed to not using VOC’s in my work. Anyway, the important take-away here is WHY ARE YOUNG PEOPLE NOT PRONOUNCING THE LETTER “T??” Wha’ happen to saying “bottom” instead of “bah-um?” Is this a new anti-virus way of speaking? Fewer hard “t’s” mean less spitting?
So… model trains are filthy beasts. They require constant cleaning and then you put the Deoxit on the contacts and you get this super-smooth running loco and you impress absolutely nobody because you’re too lazy to make a video.
You’re a bad person.
I got some cool wires, too.
Say hello to pinchy (keep this away from your borzoi, boy!)
You can pick stuff up with it and ELECTRIFY that stuff you pick up!
BZZZZZAPPP!
I’m glad to see you’re still with us in the blogging world Dan. I enjoy reading your posts. The model RR ones of late have coincided with my own return to the hobby.
Douglas
(SE Ohio)
Sorry to hear you are in one of ‘those’ places Dan. There seems to be a media blackout regarding the US over here…very strange. I only find out stuff from other friends in the US, and through their own links. I hope you, your loved ones, and your family business is ok too.
Anyway. I was going to say, I always had to use a ‘rubber’ to clean the tracks and train pickup wheels. It was boring work, and took too long, especially when I was young. Steel tracks are like that; constantly getting dirty, fighting off rust, etc. Real PITA. I always wanted that snazzy, rust free, American ‘Connector track’ that used to come on a grey base, with connectors that slotted in. The stuff used to cost a fortune though. Probably costs 10 times the amount these days….Keep on trucking buddy, and even if you don’t feel like blogging, just please let us know from time to time that everything is ok. I am sure you have my email address in your secret information database too. Don’t be shy mate.
He knows about my secret information database! (Note to self– mitigate with extreme prejudice!)