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I think I passed the test today! I'm a reefer!

blange3

blange3

As many of you know, my return to reefing was instigated by consolidating tanks to make way for a model railroad. Then I fell in love with the consolidated tank and the rest is history.

Well I'm in the process of taking down a large Christmas village display that has a train track. I collect Dept. 56 Dickens Village for those who know about those things. Before I took the track down I wanted to oil and run my collection of S gauge American Flyer engines. Most of these pieces are pushing 60 years old and I wanted service them while I still had a track.

Well the news is I just spent 2 hours smoking up the house running 6 different engines, and although it was a lot of fun, I do not have the urge to give up reefing for trains! :eek:

Maybe someday when the kids move out I can do both! ;D
 
blange3

blange3

Believe me Barry, the thought crossed my mind. But the vision of a 5 lb iron engine jumping the track as it approache the corner of a tank was a bit scary.

Also, right now my hands have oil, grease and smoke fluid in every pore. Not a good day to trim the Halimeda in the LPS tank! :eek:
 
J

jerseydiablo

My daughter would take all your trains off your hands Bill, she loved them! Not sure she's got enough saved up to pay for them all yet though :eek:


Hey just in case you ever wanted to own your own model train store, there's a guy on 35 in Eatontown who's looking to sell his store (The Train Cellar) ;)
 
B

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
That had to be tough Bill! I still miss my trains, but unless we build an addition, there is no way I could fit a train set in here.
 
K

kathainbowen

Keep the train at low speed and you'll have no derails! I worked at the Hobby Shop of NJ and helped install the suspended G-gauge layout hanging over the store floor. Fun job! In the two years I worked there before heading to college, we never had a derailment, so long as the speeds were kept in check. We just used lexan stabilized with steel pieces as a clear track bed so you can see the train running overhead. Make a lexan box in a tunnel like fashion around the section of track heading over the tank, and you won't have to worry about rail gunk getting in the tank (*or the stray loco!) If you're really savvy, you could make hinges so the inside can be easily cleaned, or just run a rail-cleaning loco over the tracks once in a while.
 
blange3

blange3

Stop tempting me ol' yarn for hair!

I love to run 'em slower, but I also like to run stock American Flyer and to get them smoking good you have to crank them up for a bit until things get cookin'.

When you convert the older trains to new can motors and electronic directional units, you can run them at prototype speeds; slower and a lot more realistic. But I digress, I'm staying a reefer!
 
blange3

blange3

jerseydiablo said:
My daughter would take all your trains off your hands Bill, she loved them! Not sure she's got enough saved up to pay for them all yet though :eek:


Hey just in case you ever wanted to own your own model train store, there's a guy on 35 in Eatontown who's looking to sell his store (The Train Cellar) ;)
Click to expand...

I did consider my own train store, and train store! Fins & Freighters! But saltwater, metal trains, oil & grease, and reef systems didn't seem to be a low maintenance environment.

I always think about stopping in the Train Cellar when I go to Trop, but it never looks open.

I've also thought of just how much I have packed away in trains. Definitely enought for a 200+ reef system with all the high end trimmings! But I've had some of this stuff since I was 2 and a lot of it would be hard to replace for what I paid for it.

The kids will move out someday!!!!!
 
blange3

blange3

ReefDrumz said:
That had to be tough Bill! I still miss my trains, but unless we build an addition, there is no way I could fit a train set in here.
Click to expand...

You'' squeeze thiem somewhere when the little one goes " Daddy how come we never have trains at Christmas??"

Don't you have HO? We can find a place for them somewhere!
 
B

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
No, I sold all of my HO stuff when I moved out of my old house. I had a nice room setup with a rail yard a working roundhouse (well, working most of the time...lol), electronic switches and one of those little gandy dancers...a nice little lake with water flowing around it (I'm surprised i didn't throw a goldfish in!)

I'll tell ya this...those gandy dancers made for some horrific train wrecks!!
 
S

steve68

I still have all my trains in a box i used to love that hobby too & i just cant sell them, maybe someday i'll set them back up again & do the same thing Bill Smoke my house out! i love that smell CHU CHU !!!!!
 
NEWSALT

NEWSALT

I was into HO trains too. I had a layout setup in a a spare bedroom until it became my daughter's bedroom. Both reefing and trains are expensive hobbies. I opted for reefing and sold all my HO stuff to a local Model Railroading club.
 
K

kathainbowen

NEWSALT said:
I was into HO trains too. I had a layout setup in a a spare bedroom until it became my daughter's bedroom. Both reefing and trains are expensive hobbies. I opted for reefing and sold all my HO stuff to a local Model Railroading club.
Click to expand...

I think there's something about reefing that's easier than the hobbby of model railroading, since it takes some serious commitment to expand your tankl. To expand a layout, it can take anywhere from a few to fifty dollars to add a new loop on, or more depending on your set up. I would find the temptation to take over a house with HO railroads to be FAR too great.
 
M

momof6kids

NJRC Member
My grandfather had a basement that had a room that was at least 20 x 15 and the entire room was setup for trains. The hours we used to spend in there. Wow, what memories. After he died my aunt and uncle boxed it all up and sold it for $100. My brothers and I were so upset. Can you imagine??
 
K

kathainbowen

momof6kids said:
My grandfather had a basement that had a room that was at least 20 x 15 and the entire room was setup for trains. The hours we used to spend in there. Wow, what memories. After he died my aunt and uncle boxed it all up and sold it for $100. My brothers and I were so upset. Can you imagine??
Click to expand...

Could be worse.

My grandpa burned all my uncle's comic collection when he was young, including comics that features first appearances of Batman, Spiderman, Captain American, and Superman. Pop said they were evil (or something like that) and burned them all.

My geek heart dies a little bit inside when I think about that.
 
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