Neidrauer Adventures

Failure to Lift

2012-05-26T08:58:00.000-05:00

Last night bill and I began loading up the trailer to take the Mikado out to the track for it's first fire up. We moved the Crab and it's trainset over to another track in the trailer so the Mike could be in the center. Using the lift, we brought the tender out of the basement. Both Bill and I rode up with the tender. The new lally column supports at the base kept the chains nice and tight

Spring Mid-South Live Steam Meet

2012-05-15T22:06:00.001-05:00

St. Louis Live Steamers in action down at the Mid-South Live Steamers track in Columbia, TN. Zach checks the gages of his Mikado Bill, Zach and Tim prepare for departure Corey and Henry double-heading Tim and Jack double-heading with Zach, Meeting Joel on the return. Joel confers with stationmaster Snake. Corey and Susan enjoying the day.

Race weekend results

2012-04-28T20:47:00.001-05:00

Race weekend results: Had fun with the 5K run Friday night, finished at 31 mins 49 second. Personal milestone: finished the Christie Clinic Illinois Half Marathon in 2hrs, 4 mins. My first half marathon ever! Very happy!

Photo blog updates delayed...

2012-04-20T17:16:00.003-05:00

If you have a limited lifetime warentee on a hard disk drive, how long is the lifetime? I can asnwer that: 10 years. At least, that's how long the HDD on my shop computer lasted before having a non-recoverable error. Since this was the computer with the master copy of the website on it, updates to the photo section of the main site will be delayed until I get a new drive and reinstall the OS.

Spring Happenings

2012-04-08T08:25:00.000-05:00

Running the Cottleville St. Pat's day 7K race. Mom and Dad were in town from St. Patrick's day and I had a really nice visit with them. Look who visited Ted Drews custard stand! Major accomplishment: Utility tub installation Roxy got to visit for the whole week Dad and I get a 1953 Briggs & Stratton engine running again. It will be the powerplant for a little diesel locomotive.

More Elevator Details

2012-03-14T11:15:00.000-05:00

I'm down to a really short list of items to completly finish the freight elevator. Last month I fabricated a cover for the electronic controls, adding the Emergency-Stop button. The sheet metal plan as cut out. The finished cover! I also made up the chain guard for the motor. My Mig welder worked great tack-welding the box tabs together - no burn-through holes! Chain

Shop Work

2011-12-26T20:38:00.000-06:00

RBG's from Dad's shop. A one shot and a double-barrel two-shot.

The Village Coal Tower

2011-12-21T20:35:00.002-06:00

Pittsford, NY - How's this for creative? Turn a coaling tower into a restaurant? "The Village Coal Tower" http://www.villagecoaltower.com/ From their website: "The Canal Tower’s location is rich in history going as far back as October 1825 when the Erie Canal first opened. Boats were pulled by mules along the 362 waterway from Albany to Buffalo. Schoen (Shane) Place was originally a

Mikado year end wrap-up

2011-12-14T09:46:00.004-06:00

Bill and I ended the shop year working on plumbing. I had the day off so we worked a full day and got a lot done. Bill finished a holding fixture to make 1/8" model pipe fittings--we needed two elbows for the lubricator lines. I wrestled some 3/8 copper tubing out of shape to connect the axle pump to the check valve. I used the coat-hanger method to make a template, then tried to make the

One Last Fun Run

2011-12-04T19:24:00.001-06:00

Saturday turned out to be an incredibly nice day, sunny and warm (62). Tim had called me earlier in the week saying we should run out at the track, our friend Alan W. from TN was going to visit and that he was going to bring the 1" Atlantic out for one last run. At the time it was 37 degrees out and sounded cold, but hey-I can dress warmly. "Bring the Crab out!" Tim said. "I'll think about it

First full use of Elevator a Success

2011-11-25T18:43:00.001-06:00

After finishing the lifting brackets earlier in the week, I managed to finish fabricating the jumper track from the garage to the stairwell. Although today was a warm 64 degree day, a cold front is coming through and highs in the fourties are predicted for the remainder. It is only a matter of time before a good hard freeze comes through overnight and I still have a locomotive outside. With

St. Pete's Beach

2011-11-06T19:26:00.000-06:00

2011-10-29T11:11:00.002-05:00

At the finish line. photo by E.White Finished my first 10K race today: 6.1 miles in 51:25 minutes, a personal best! My running partner, Laura (also her first 10K) finished with me and took 2nd place in her age group! It was a cold start - 38 degrees- but warmed up in the sun by the finish. Feeling pretty good about finishing the race.

Elevator back online

2011-10-23T11:00:00.000-05:00

A trip back to the basement armed with the multimeter quickly found the source of the elevator control problem: loose wire! The common +12v from the VFD controller was not even in the terminal strip, but laying loose against the clamping screw. A quick fetch of the screwdriver and we are back online. Yea!

Freight Elevator liftoff

2011-10-20T21:55:00.000-05:00

After shortening the length of the lifting stand and moving the forward legs back 3.5" to clear the drive chain, the lifting stand made it's first trip to the top of the elevator successfully! But in series of good news / bad news came out: Good: the stand went all the way to the top clearing all obstructions Bad: One of the chain guards got loose and got wound into a sprocket, jamming the

Maui - Closing Thoughts

2011-10-03T10:14:00.003-05:00

8-Aug-2011 Monday Home again. A very tiring overnight flight from Honolulu to Dallas, TX. I got very little sleep sitting up in the middle seat of the middle row with two Skittles/Starburst powered kids kicking my back and talking with their mom all night. {It took me a week to recover from the exhaustion and sinus infection from the flight.} 444 pictures taken by my camera Apple Bananas

Maui - Day 9 - Time to go Home

2011-10-03T10:02:00.001-05:00

7-August-3011 Sunday Last day in paradise. :( Up at 7 (Slept in), some coffee & breakfast snacks then out to the beach! Liz, Emma & I head down to Ulua beach again with boogie boards in tow. Finding a spot on the beach, it’s into the water-but first-pictures! After that, into the surf. The boogies boards are fun when a big wave comes in, although each of us was tumbled by a big wave. I’m

Maui - Day 8 - The road to Hana

2011-10-03T09:53:00.004-05:00

6-August-2011 Saturday Kona coffee in the morning, sitting on the patio looking out over the sea. We had the local Hawaiian Kona coffee, vanilla macadamia nut blend. Visited by a pair of Red Crested Cardinals (Tanninger Family, Randy informs me, looking up the info on his iPad), Myna birds (smart starlings) and cooing from Zebra Doves (morning doves with stripes)(their cooing is in the

Maui - Day 7 - Sailing and Snorkeling

2011-09-30T11:17:00.001-05:00

5-Aug-2011 Friday This morning Randy, CeCe, Mark and I took a sailboat to Molokini Crater for snorkeling. There was 21 people on the catamaran, not crowded at all. It was a windy day…the windiest day in a month…25-30 mph winds. Coming back the boat under sail accelerated to 18 knots real quickly. And the mainsail was reefed down! Molokini Crater is a submerged cinder cone, a semi-circle

Maui - Day 6 - Journal Intermission

2011-09-29T08:56:00.000-05:00

--Journal Intermission Time— The condo is awesome. One quirk is the offshore breeze blows the restaurant smells across the condo-Indian cuisine—so the smell of curry in the tropics. The condo is furnished with original artwork from the area. One really nice picture was outside the kitchen, a scene of some mountains, a stream and waterfalls. We all looked at it throughout the week as we walked

Maui - Day 6 - Lu'au

2011-09-29T08:55:00.000-05:00

On to the Lū’au! Everyone in their Hawaiian clothing. We were at “The Old Lāhaina Lū’au “ a traditional Hula and Feast. Everyone got fresh leis and Mai Tai drinks as we entered. It was a stunning location on the beach, open air seating in a semi-circle, raised grass stage in the center. Silliness The unu - underground cooking pit Unu being uncovered Here's Dinner!

Maui - Day 6 - Maui Brewery Co. & Railfanning

2011-09-28T10:25:00.000-05:00

After shopping and dancing, we located where the Lū’au was – we were very early. Mark knew there was a Maui Brewing Company brewery nearby, so we headed to that. We thought it might be in the mall across from the Lū’au, but no. A quick check with the GPS and we on our way to the back of a strip mall in a semi-industrial building complex, where it was located. No tours (looked like a

Maui - Day 6 - Morning Snorkel & Hula Dancing

2011-09-28T10:14:00.001-05:00

4-Aug-2011 Thursday Underwater photos by Liz Up and at’em today! Up at 6:30am, out to Ulua Beach again for a morning snorkel. The reef was deeper on the right-hand side that we went to this morning. The water along the shore was choppy, I was hesitant to swim out because of the current, but going out further, things were smoother. The reef was deeper on this side, as we swam it was like we

Big Creek & Southern Fall 2011 memories

2011-09-28T09:35:00.003-05:00

Bill and I spent the weekend running trains at the Big Creek & Southern RR, Along with Tim & Zach M., Corey A., John T., and Dave H. Here's a few pics and video from the three days of running, morning 'til midnight on this great layout. My little 0-4-0 'Crab' engine and trainset ran great all weekend, we burned some 40 lbs. (a lot!) of coal.

Maui - Day 5 - 'Iao Needle pics

2011-09-27T10:21:00.004-05:00

The park at 'Iao Needle with recreated village setting Sugarcane Bananas Hala Coconut Taro <> Papya The jungle terrain in the park "Can we go now?!?" Moonrise over the ocean