Robin, thank you and goodbye
I hang out at several train-related sites online. The Gauge is one of my favorites, partly because I learn so much there. One of its great teachers, who was known both by his handle, Matthyro, and his...
View ArticleMy $8 secondhand Lionel
I hear stories all the time about the Lionel train that someone found at a garage sale for $10. Or sometimes it's a Marx. The one that bothered me the most was the story about a 65-year-old American...
View ArticleCleaning and storing Lionel track
How to clean and store Lionel track is another common question when the subject of trains comes up. Now that you’re getting the track out for Christmas duty, there are some things you need to do to get...
View ArticleThe many troubles with e-books
A brief essay by free software pioneer Richard Stallman on the problems with e-books made the front page of Slashdot today. It’s everything I’ve come to expect from Stallman. I found myself vigorously...
View ArticleI got my new SSD today and can’t play with it
My Kingston SSDNow V+100 arrived today. I didn’t really get to play with it, but I have some early impressions. It’s heavy. Many SSDs have plastic or stamped steel enclosures. The Kingston’s enclosure...
View ArticleConfessions and rememberances of an Amigaholic
My name is Dave. I am an Amigaholic. I thought I was recovered. But I don’t think you ever recover. Not really. You see, this week I was trolling Craigslist for garage sales. I look for trains, toys...
View ArticleThe legacy lamp
About 35, or maybe even 40 years ago, my dad went through a phase. Or perhaps I should say a craze–he made lamps out of anything that didn’t move. And I’m sure if anyone had pointed that out to him, he...
View ArticleReducing allergies and saving money doing it
I saw a slideshow on CNN this week about ways to reduce allergies at home. One of the options they suggested was using a filter with an MERV rating between 8 and 12. This works, and doesn’t have to be...
View ArticleLED bulbs and breakability
A longtime friend posted something on Facebook about CFL bulbs–namely, that in addition to containing mercury, that they also emit ultraviolet light. I thought everyone knew that fluorescent lights...
View ArticleIf you have wooden trains, you need Suretrack
I finally bought my boys a box of Suretrack, after thinking about it for a mere two years. Wait. Make that a long two years. A long two years of the most destructive forces known to humanity (two young...
View ArticleThe high-dollar cardboard box
There was one other interesting quote in the Post-Dispatch’s Top 10 collectibles for value this week: 10. Boxes (yes, simple boxes!) For a starter, wooden boxes of all types with and without locking...
View ArticleMy greatest estate find
If you’ve been reading this blog for a few years, you know I kind of like trains. But my favorite way to buy them isn’t to buy them at a train store. I like to buy them from estates. One week, I...
View ArticleSetting up Retropie on the Raspberry Pi
I bought a Raspberry Pi over the weekend intending to turn it into a retro gaming system. I’d rather not have a mess of systems and cartridges out for my kids to tear up and to constantly have to...
View ArticleScratchbuilding, Marx-style: Finishing the roof
This is a continuation of something I wrote well over a year ago detailing how I build Marx-style boxcars out of simple materials. Train season is starting up again soon, so it’s about time I finished...
View ArticleThe case of the fake 1935 Babe Ruth
Quick: Why is it easier to find a 1935 Goudey Babe Ruth on Ebay than the 1935 Goudey card featuring four of his former Yankee teammates, the less-than-immortal Red Rolfe, Johnny Allen, Jimmie DeShong,...
View ArticleAvoiding counterfeit baseball cards
Several times now, I’ve seen people like me, who used to collect baseball cards, went on hiatus, then came back, ask how to avoid counterfeit cards, or at least detect them before it’s too late....
View ArticleExtra ties for Marx, Lionel, and/or American Flyer train track
If there’s one question I see over and over again, it’s what to use to fill in the gaps between the three ties that American Flyer, Lionel, and Marx put under their track. I don’t recall anyone else...
View ArticleScratchbuilding, Marx-style
I saw a modern-production Lionel box car in a hobby shop one weekend. I wanted it, but I really wanted it in Marx 3/16 style, so it would look right with my Marx #54 KCS diesels pulling it. But I face...
View ArticleIn the city, a $6 antenna is all you need
There are a lot of good plans for DIY antennas on the web that you can make for less than $10 worth of parts, which is good considering the flood of $50 antennas on the market that are little more than...
View ArticleHow to mail a baseball card
One would think people would realize sticking a baseball card in an envelope in between two pieces of cardboard cut from a Federal Express overnight envelope and wrapping a sheet of typing paper around...
View Article
