Mark 8:15

And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

Marklin 3 rail HO/OO turnout...

...a junk box freebie, a pair were given to me because they were missing parts. Eager to get them working again, I'd give them an occasional stern look or two for the next 5 years.


Overcome with a mechanical epiphany two nights ago, I immediately assaulted a variety of wires and springs in my parts bins. After flaying the entrails of several paperclips closing in on a working cure, I came up with this...


Once installed, it looked like this...


Don't ask for measurements...if you want one, I'll bend it out for you and you can play from there.

"It's a boy..."

She was sixteen when she found out she was pregnant by a man 5 years older than her.

Now, barely 17, she lay in a maternity ward, as labor--a breach birth trying to come out shoulder first--went into its sixty fifth hour.

The doctor, an old family friend and a devout man, was at a loss for what to do. The strain of labor was killing the mother and the techniques and technology of the day left few options. He spent the remainder of the night in the hospital chapel, on his knees in prayer, begging God for an answer his own skills could not provide.

At 8:00 a.m. the next morning, he arose from that altar, at peace with God but resolved to having to kill the baby to save the young mother's life. He simply believed there was no other recourse as he walked down the hall and stepped into the room. By then though, the baby, a boy, had straightened out and was quickly delivered at around 8:30 a.m., one month premature and with obvious signs of a brain hemorrhage showing up in his left eye.

In critical condition for some time, he spent his first month in an incubator, a fairly new medical instrument then. The learning curve included the possibility of the baby being blinded by too much oxygen in the machine. After leaving the hospital and for the next few months, the boy was nursed back to health by a doting grandmother while her daughter-in-law recovered from the trauma of labor.

The young mother went on to have 4 more children, one boy, three girls--including the boy's Irish twin sister born 11 months after that first traumatic labor--, before the mother was called home by the Lord 2 years ago.

That boy was me, 52 years ago, on February 20, 1960...

Matthew 10:24-31

The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Oh, that we may have grace every one of us to flee to Christ! There is our only safety. Simple faith in Jesus is the basis for the character which will evidence at last that you are chosen of God. A simple belief in the merit of the Lord Jesus, wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, is the rocky foundation upon which shall be built up, by the same divine hands, the character which shall evidence that the kingdom was prepared for us from before the foundations of the world. God work in us such a character, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Great Assize," delivered August 25, 1872.

Fleischmann HO scale 4 wheel "bobber" caboose...

...or..."How to replace missing smoke jacks, using Kadee coupler casting sprues, without using words."

Alco Models HO scale Union Pacific ALCO C-855...

...well...the drive train anyway, part of a recent box load of ancient HO history...


Included were these two Lindsay "Teaspoon of Power" drives, the L-140 HO gauge 4 wheel power unit with flywheel and the L-142 single end motor. The little boogers are rated for 1.5 amps, enough to fry three of anything offered today. The L-140 has an ingenious design that allows it to extend its wheelbase .170" to fit a variety of models. The gear box simply slides along the long end where the flywheel is, then locks in place with a set screw. The flywheel can also be flipped to make for more room as needed.

Lindsay Products...

...just a sniff of the box load of model railroading history that landed in my lap this week...

IHC HO scale Fairbanks Morse C-Liner...

The best improvement one can make to low end motive power is to increase power pickup, thus sending pure, unobstructed juice to the already handicapped motors they come with. Fortunately, IHC made it easy to do...they simply were too chintzy to put an extra set of wipers and wire in. They did however, put in all the necessary details to add a set yourself...

Note the bracket holding the stock wiper...


...is present on the sides with no wipers...


...making it simply a matter of fabricating another pair, mounting them like the stock ones, and wiring them in...


...just make sure to clean the excess flux of the soldered joints...


...and that your wiring is properly oriented.



The results are fantastic, it crawls through plastic turnout frogs without stalling and has much better low speed control. Because it now has eight wheel pickup, it is also not as easily affected by dirty track.

Matthew 6:24-34

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

February 1960 Model Railroader magazine cover....

...my birth month and year...apparently remembered as one of their worst covers ever.

...sigh...

Malichi 3:8-18

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Hasbro Optimus Prime Voyager class "Dark of the Moon"...

...yes, like my son, I think Transformers are very cool, "Ironhide" being my favorite. However, my son bought that one, driving my decision to retaliate by buying his favorite. He comes in a Walmart exclusive bonus pack with "Comettor", a fellow Autobot that is very cool looking as well.

The engineering that goes into these things fascinates me, it takes well over a half hour to convert Optimus back to truck mode and over 20 minutes to put him back to robot mode.




I'm in full support of any goodly common ground that a father and son can share.

Alexander Scale Models HO scale Industrial Brownhoist...

...a.k.a. "Little Hook".

Year in and year out, I saw this in a little ad in the pages of Model Railroader magazine and always wanted to assemble one myself...


...November 1960 ad...

What better way to celebrate another mile marker in my mortality, my first pair of bifocals, than with an intricate, board-by-board kit like this...


...sigh...

Malachi 1:6-11

A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.

Mantua HO scale 0-4-0 "Shifter"...

...a gift from an online friend. They came with the simple drive rods of most toy trains but, for a couple dollars, one could buy the optional full valve gear kit...




Before...


...after.
Sadly, when they were first offered, the slide gear was made with zinc castings that were prone to becoming brittle with age from crystallization or "Zinc-mites", the bane of all model train collectors and enthusiasts. This set was no different, obtained in the usual box lot of goodies I'm always looking for...


However...I found that the later plastic ones were a fairly easy retrofit. The peened rivet that held the original to the slide rod keeps a good grip when carefully pinched into the plastic one and the hole is already predrilled...

A full set of valve gear makes for a much more complete looking steamer, and would please the original giver of the model who, like me, is a tinkerer of the first order and an old school modeler as well...



Yes...this old girl now sports one plastic, and one cast slide rod but, since you can only see one side at a time, I figured no one would notice that the other is of a different material. I do have a plastic south paw rod should this one decide to go south on me in the future.

Mantua HO scale 4-6-4 Heavy Pacific, circa 1980...

...a nice runner--when you can get juice to the motor--they are plagued with contact issues that come from a combination of zinc castings, steel axles and brass wheels working against each other by their various corrosion and rust abilities. The older ones have a separate bell and hanger that protrudes over the smoke-box and headlight. They are now offered under the Mantua Classics name by Model Power.

One way to improve pickup is to remove as many contact points as possible, bringing the electricity to the motor is as directly as one's abilities and materials on hand are able to muster. I made these pickups with some strip brass, 2 round terminals that fit around the bolster and some wire...








Knowing modelers will immediately see the impending screw-up--since fixed--...unknowing modelers get to find out on their own...

The fix works great, completely bypassing the zinc floor of the tender and the trucks, though the original source points of power remain. Adding 3 ounces of lead helps it stay in contact and track better.

Zephaniah 3:8-17

Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD.

The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

Athearn HO scale 4-6-2 Heavy Pacific, introductory ad 1959...

Back in the 50s and 60s, the running joke in the industry went something like this:

Salesman- "Look boss, our model of the Onion Specific 460 Grobnick we announced earlier this year has proven very popular with modelers over the last six months."

CEO- "That's great...I guess we'll have to actually design and manufacture one now..."

In Athearn's case, they did in fact make them but, their mechanism proved so unreliable, that they went though a complete redesign that took almost two years to complete, delaying this model until 1961...


Word is that several of these early Hi-F drives did escape the factory, though no one has ever seen one. In the world of HO, it would truly be worthy of the words "rare" and "highly prized".

Gem Models, 1964...

In their quest for legitimacy in the eyes of other adults, model railroaders turned to Mel Torme to show the world that...well...by golly, we don't play with toys, we're a real hobby. It happened with Micheal Gross (Bert in 'Tremors') in the 80s and again with Rod Stewart in the last couple of years.


Sound ridiculous? No more than those who name the Name of Christ pointing to Tim Tebow or Chuck Norris as brethren, as though star power legitimizes the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a place for real people with a real message...not some haven for folks too dim to believe in evolution or moral abstracts.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.--(1Corinthians 1:18-25)

HO scale picket fencing...

One way to improve one's model work is to stop looking at an item as the end all/be all for your layout. With careful cutting and joining, a picket fence can fit your model's specific needs, rather than building your model to fit the stock item...


...stock piece positioned for measuring...


...necessary lengths are cut, fitted and glued, mounting pins drilled and installed and gate positioned where I want it...not where the manufacturer put it...


...final result, a fence any neighbor would be proud to chat over the day's events. Use a small amount of cement and give it plenty of time to set...

...and, yes, I straightened the two corners after the pic was taken--the only time stuff like that shows up...sigh...... ;-P