# Track Identity



## labdad (Jul 29, 2009)

Help! I recently inherited about 400 feet of train track that I cannot identify. The track is steel, and has a spread of 3.5" between the rails, and the sections are about 4 feet long. The rails are welded to the "Ties" that are channeled to fit over wooden ties, I assume. What have I got and where can I get more? Thank you.


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

Sounds like home made track, photo would help.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

May be historic "Buddy L" in which case, good luck finding more.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

I think the old Buddy L set was bigger than that.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Torby on 29 Jul 2009 03:55 PM 
I think the old Buddy L set was bigger than that. 
I don't agree.

Is this what the track looks like? This is Buddy L and comes in 4' sections.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Gauge 3 is 2.5". I think the Buddy-L stuff is wider than 3.5", but I'd have to measure it. 

3.5" is a fairly common track gauge for live steam, for 3/4' scale trains. It's most likely not commercial track. The good news is that I think Accucraft is making a 3.5" gauge quarry/plantation engine that would be _perfect_ for your new track! I forget what scale the quarry loco is, but it's a sizable chunk of metal. 

Later, 

K


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## labdad (Jul 29, 2009)

I measured the sections and the straight sections are 59" long, the ties are 9 7/8" wide. If I was smarter I would post pictures, but don't see an easy way to do that here.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Alas, I don't have anything in the photo that shows the magnitude of this delightful thing.












I met the old man who owned it. His dad brought it home when he was 3 and he and his siblings played with it all their childhoods. I received an email that he had passed away.


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## labdad (Jul 29, 2009)

Nice. My track "ties" are just a "U" channel, no other bends at the bottom.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

I think we're stumped.


I think there's a Classic Trains forum at http://www.trains.com/trc/. Somebody there may recognize it.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Lab,

Alas, the only way I've found to post pixes here is to enlist the help of a kid.









BTW, welcome to the forums. I'd like to hear what you finally discover. I really enjoy posts by people who work with the old, un-identified stuff.

BUT. The photo posting here is utterly beyond me. > *I < *admit up front that I don't know computerese. And that the monitors have bent over backwards to help, esp. Steve and Dwight. (Plug for your next raise, guys.)









Nobody is paying Shad to coddle dumbasses. I'm paying him and playing keepup. I understand a good deal about a number of things, but my 14 yr-old granddaughter can ace my posting problems in a blink of an eye. So, sue me. I'm old, dated and out of touch. I got here the hard way, one day at a time.

BUT. If you're willing to take my money, how 'bout being a little willing to simplify posting pixes?

Here's my heat's throbbing desire, re posting pixes:

1. A button (icon) that says, 'Press to Post Pixes'. I mouse button.

2. Screen opens: "Do you want to post a pic? Y/N'









3. I mouse 'Y'. Screen opens: "Is your picture on Desktop?" Y/N.









4. I mouse 'N'. A screen pops up: "Go to picture you wish to post."







(We don't care where the **** it is in your computer. Just find it and mouse it.)









5. I open the file where (I think it is, find it, and mouse it.) The screen says, "This is the picture that will be posted. Are you sure? Y/N. If 'no', *JUST *select a different picture. *IF NECESSARY, GO TO A DIFFERENT FILE OR FOLDER. *NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN TO YOUR POST, YOUR COMPUTER, OR YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY CHECK. (We hope.)







RELAX!!! *IF CONFUSED OR UPSET, PRESS ICON BELOW MARKED 'CHICKEN OUT'. IT WILL TAKE YOU BACK TO 'START'. NO HARM WILL COME TO YOUR COMPUTER!







*(Agian, we hope. This stuff is complicated, you understand. *We will deduct from your montly bill all lost pictures. *About lost posts, you're on your own--no one cares what you think, anyway.)

6. I mouse 'Y', on the pic I have finally found and the screen comes up: "*ARE YOU REALLY SURE? THIS IS HOW IT WILL LOOK ON MLS". DO NOT WORRY ABOUT CROPPING OR OTHER DIMENSIONS, OUR UNEXCELLED SOFTWARE WILL CORRECT ALL MALFUNCTIONS TO MAKE IT FIT.







Mouse 'y/n'. *(And if won't our moderators will bitch you out.)

7. I mouse 'Y'.

8. *ARE YOU SURE THIS IS THE ONE? IF NOT, JUST PRESS THE 'CHICKEN OUT' ICON AND GO BACK AND GIVE IT ANOTHER TRY!! *

*9. *I mouse 'Y'.

9A. *Do you want to upload another? *Y/N.

At the end, 

10. A screen pops up: *YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY UPLOADED A PIC(s) OF YOUR CHOICE TO MLS!!!







(OTHERWISE, YOU WOULDN'T SEE THIS ICON:







*


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Les

As a 1st Class member, the process is just that simple.
[*] Open the Editor (i.e. Add New Topic, Add Reply, etc.).
[*] Click the Insert Image button








[*] When the Insert Image dialog displays.
[*] If the image you want to include in your reply is already in your 1st Class web space.
[*] Locate the file name in the left panel (see step #1, following image).
[*] Double-click the file name.










[*] After the dialog refreshes.










[*] After double-clicking the file name (see step #1, above image).
[*] The image you selected will be displayed in the right panel (see step #2, above image)
[*] The address/location of image is displayed in the URL: field (see step #3, above image).
[*] Click the Insert button (see step #4, above image), image is inserted into reply.

[/list] [*] If the image you want to include in your reply needs to be uploaded from your computer to your 1st Class web space.
 [*] Click the Upload button (see step #1, following image).










[*] This will cause a Choose File dialog on your computer to display (See the following image).










[*] After the dialog displays navigate to the location on your computer where the file is located.










[*] Double-click the image file name (see step #1, above image).










[*] After the upload process is completed, you'll see the uploaded file name listed in the left panel (see step #1, above image).
[*] You'll see the uploaded image displayed in the right panel (see step #2, above image).
[*] You'll see the image file address/location displayed in the URL: field (see step #3, above image).
[*] Click the Insert button, and the image is placed in the reply.

[/list] [*] If for whatever reason you wish to stop the process just click the Cancel button or the Close button in the dialog (see step #1, following image).









[/list] 
And if per chance you're interested in a PDF version of the above.

*Insert Image Process*
*File Type: PDF / File Size: 607KB*
*Left-click to Open - Right-click to Download*


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Alas, the only way I've found to post pixes here is to enlist the help of a kid.











And that's my advantage


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Also you may need to resize the photo per requirements. Later RJD


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

If the file and dimensions are too muck they both will get resized as part of the upload process, look at the information next to the upload button in the dialog.







Even though the 1024 x 768 is outside the width dimension, you can always use the width setting in the dialog to display it at the 800 pixel width.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By Torby on 31 Jul 2009 05:59 AM 
Alas, the only way I've found to post pixes here is to enlist the help of a kid.











And that's my advantage


















Heh, you've got a point: I'm always looking at those screens that pop up and thinking, "OMG lookit all that crap! What'll happen if I accidentally mouse something and it eats my computer?? Just 'slurp' and the dreaded "Windows Error--Terminating Program"." And when I mouse it again, I get: "Please install a copy of MS 2000, XP, etc. They are downloadable for $2,999. Thank you. Also, FORMAT HARD DRIVE before beginning."


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By SteveC on 31 Jul 2009 07:07 AM 
If the file and dimensions are too muck they both will get resized as part of the upload process, look at the information next to the upload button in the dialog.







Even though the 1024 x 768 is outside the width dimension, you can always use the width setting in the dialog to display it at the 800 pixel width.



This is an improvement over the old system, right? BTW, thanks muchly for the tutorial. I tried to download but all I got was a shortcut icon on my desktop. It seems to work fine, though.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Posted By aceinspp on 31 Jul 2009 06:13 AM 
Also you may need to resize the photo per requirements. Later RJD 




The last time I tried, under the 'old system' (?) there was a clik-box beside a line that said something like, 'picture width @ 640'. I don't remember the numbers exactly, but it was there.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Les

If you're using Internet Explorer.
[*] Right-click the PDF link.
[*] When the context menu displays, click the 'Save Target As...' option.
[*] After the Save As dialog displays.
[*] Navigate to where you want to save the file.
[*] Then click the Save button.
[/list] Another way to accomplish it.
[*]Left-click the link and open the PDF document. [*]After the PDF is opened. [*]Click the Save Button on the Adobe Reader's tool-bar. [*]Navigate to where you want to save the file and click the save button. [/list] 

And by the way the manner in which you insert an image into a reply hasn't changed since we switched to the new software back in Jan. 2008.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Steve,

When I right-click, a drop-down strip gives me many options along the lines of 'accelerators', 'Gmail', etc, but nowhere is there the 'Save Target As' option. Now, I have IE 8, which might be relevant. 

Thank you for your continuing efforts.


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## rreiffer (Jan 14, 2009)

Hello,

I just went through this! I used http://www.tinypics.com/ to save my pictures the biggest thing is it allows you to put HTML (the web lanuguage) Code right into the forum. Now this forum is very nice in that it allows you several "views". Look at the bottom of the message window and you will see:


 

This is where you can change your view to see the underlying "code" that makes up what you and I see in the forum page. This is very handy because you can paste more of this special "code" right into it. So, after I press the HTML button like this:


 
Now you will see the screen and it will look somthing like below: 

 

Now you need to go to http://www.tinypics.com/ and set up an account (it's free and easy). I would suggest you open it in a new window or tab so you can easily cut and paste between the two screens.
Once you do that you will see the following screen:

 
http://tinypic.com/ 
Simply select the file to upload (it will present a screen like this):


 

Select the file you want and press OPEN. There is a handy option called RESIZE (right hand side of the screen) that allows you to upload pictures in "message Board" format. I would suggest you pick that option for all pictures. Press UPLOAD to bring start the process. Once it is uploaded you will see a screen like below:

 
Put your cursor on the line that say MTHM for Websites like this:



 

It will turn BLACK like you see here. Then simply hold the CTRL and C key down once. You then select the message editor screen and press CTRL and V key once and it will paste the code into the screen. You can also perform these operations by going to the Edit/Copy menu above and then the Edit/Paste menu from above as well. Your code will look something like this:


 

To view it correctly just press the "normal" button at the bottom. By going back and forth you can see your "code" and what it will look like on the screen. When finished with everything hit submit and you are on your way. I hope this helps.

Rich


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Les

Then use the second method listed, left-click the PDF link let the document open and use the PDF reader to save a copy locally.


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