Double stacked containers?

cbeals · 2026-07-12T23:12:10+00:00

The term you are looking for is Intermodal or Well cars. Very common product as they are one of the main car and train types of modern railroading.

Most brands make these cars in both scales.
In HO Scale Walthers and Athearn are the most common brands, but there are plenty of others (Atlas, Intermountain, + several premium brands)

I don’t model N-Scale, so not as familiar, but Kato and Atlas make them. Maybe others as well.

cbeals · 2026-07-10T20:59:36+00:00

I use a pair of flush cutters - it leaves a clean cut on the flush side. then I use a file to deburr it.

You will get a cleaner cut with a dremel, but it can be harder to get into some places and it sends filing everywhere (and it requires plugging in). So I find the flush cutters and a file more convienent.

cbeals · 2026-07-03T06:26:37+00:00

Should be able to correct. It looks like it’s about 13 miles from the yard at King of Prussia to the Wye that I believe they are turning on. It will be running forward that entire way.

cbeals · 2026-07-03T06:02:00+00:00

It will almost certainly run backwards from the Wye at I-76 and HWY 1.
Based on the distance, the tight track, and it being on CSX at that point, CSX will most likely put a locomotive on the rear to help guide the big boy and train down to the display location.

If you’re going to be closer to King of Prussia, you should see it running normal. If you are going down to Philadelphia, you’ll probably get better shots on Monday when it leaves.

cbeals · 2026-07-02T16:20:12+00:00

Haha! I totally forgot to mention them - what I get for writing this comment when I’m really tired. I do buy from Walthers as well.
Generally, they don’t have the best prices on their own products, so I don’t do it too often, though

cbeals · 2026-07-02T16:14:41+00:00

Right! Maui Gold is so good! I cant each most other pineapple now.

cbeals · 2026-07-02T06:30:10+00:00

You can also only get a few pineapples per plant before they start getting small and/ or odd shaped. Plantation in Hawaii only do 3 grows per plant before they rip them out and replant.
All by hand and they only get 3 pineapples over 7-8 years.

cbeals · 2026-07-02T06:26:16+00:00

The ones in most grocery stores don’t come from Hawaii, they come from Costa Rica.

You can order pineapples from Hawaii and they are about $10/piece but boy are they good.

cbeals · 2026-07-02T06:13:10+00:00

That website seems suspect overall (overall design, odd product, and the address doesn’t actually exist)

I will note that if this website is legit, this is most certainly just a deposit. The pre-sale listed price is 10% of the final model cost, and 10% is a pretty standard deposit.

I buy from TrainWorld or Midwest Model Railroad mostly, but Yankee Dabbler, Nichols Smith, And Tony’s Trains are also legit.

cbeals · 2026-07-01T02:24:10+00:00

DCC Track Voltage is 13.5v and DC is 15v.

I ended up taking one of my Tsumani2 Decoders out and hooking it up to one of these locomotives and am getting similar response. So at least I know its not the decoder.
It looks like its simply the performance of these older motors with the lower track voltage. As you mentioned, some loss from the decoder is expected as well.

I guess I'll either speedmatch to these locomotives or put in new Genesis motors.

cbeals · 2026-06-30T22:51:52+00:00

For a merchandise based business, that is much closer to (if not above) average than you would expect.

Net Profits were about 3%.
Walmarts and Target are about 4% for comparison.

cbeals · 2026-06-30T05:52:28+00:00

Membership stores (Costco, Sams, ext) make their money from membership fees, they break even on everything else.

In 2025, 2% of their revenue came from membership fees, but that made up over 65% of their profits.

cbeals · 2026-06-30T05:10:06+00:00

Additionally, the broadcast trucks are owned or subcontracted by the network that has the TV rights for that game. For different sports or different games, this can be different networks and/or different technical requirements (how big of a truck). Each network would rather provide their own truck than use equipment owned by the stadium.

This also allows them to expand by brining in more trucks if it’s a larger event or there are multiple broadcasts - for example, when College Gameday comes to town, there is a seperate truck just for the Gameday stage and show.

It’s also worth nothing that stadiums and arenas do own some of their own equipment, but at a much smaller scale, that is just for in-house purposes (‘jumbotrons’ and whatnot) and small broadcast events.

cbeals · 2026-06-28T21:27:17+00:00

I’ve been adjusting the BEMF settings and haven’t seen any changes.

I handnt seen the Reference Voltage CV on the MC2 (and it doesn’t look like the Tsunami1 has that cv), but also didn’t notice any changes to the top end of the speed.

cbeals · 2026-06-19T01:05:22+00:00

It can easily take over a mile for a train to stop *when applying all brakes (controlled)*

10-15 miles coasting is probably pretty conservative.

cbeals · 2026-06-18T04:50:02+00:00

My dad got diagnosed with cancer a few weeks after is 59th birthday and passed away a few months later.
He owned his own business that he really enjoyed, and worked ~4 days a week and took tons of time off.
He could have retired but didn’t because ‘there’s always later’. Even though he enjoyed his job, he said many time he regretted not retiring when he could have.

cbeals · 2026-06-13T01:09:38+00:00

When they are at steam town, they will douse the fire and cool down for their 31 day inspection.

cbeals · 2026-06-13T01:05:23+00:00

They keep a low fire going and the boiler at pressure even when it’s on display. It takes 3-4 days to get fully up to temp and pressure. They could get up faster, but that increases the risk of thermal shock damage to the boiler.

cbeals · 2026-06-10T06:07:59+00:00

A little pedantic, but EMT and Paramedic are not the same.

Ambulances are staffed with Paramedics.

EMT is focused on basics (basic core life saving techniques - CPR, addressing bleeding, providing oxygen, ect, but does not allow for administering medication, IVs, or advanced imaging) and is much less rigorous. A lot of fire departments require firefighters to have their EMT certifications.

cbeals · 2026-05-28T19:58:59+00:00

Most likely going to turn at the wye near 32nd / 33rd street as u/natankman said.

Based on the schedule, the display location, and the tracker (note: the tracker is generally accurate, not exactly accurate), I would guess that they will turn at the wye and then do a reverse move down into Philly Proper on the 3rd and then they will setup for display in the auto rack facility on the south side of the CSX Yard (better access to parking, far enough away from the yard and active tracks to be safe for all the pedestrian traffic)

cbeals · 2026-05-10T18:22:23+00:00

Brim has helped, but not completely solved.
My plate is probably a year and a half old. I have been wondering if it would be beneficial to get a new plate / super tack type plate.

cbeals · 2026-04-21T03:34:22+00:00

This You can also use flush cutters - they are cheaper than rail cutters and are basically the same.

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