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Randy

Randy Vestal, Train Buddy #2 for several years, boarded the final train on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 at 7:15AM.  He had a sudden onset of cancer and was overwhelmed quicker than was expected.  Many of you had engines where he installed decoders and sometimes sound as he occupied the repair desk.  He was much more meticulous than I and he taught me and helped me to be more organized.  Randy had his father’s house refurbished after he and Jenny moved back to Raleigh.  Over the garage he had a large room in which he wanted a model railroad.  He asked me if I could help him design it.  I did and he wanted it to be patterned after the local area railroads which I had already done for my shop.  His space was about twice mine and so we created his railroad.  Not many got to see it because he was a very private person.  Randy will be missed by me.  His legacy will live on though at the Train Buddy shop through the many engines that have received his touch and care.  All aboard Randy!  I’ll see you when I get there and we can catch up, maybe build another railroad together.  We will have plenty of space then.

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NEW STATUS!! Virus CLOSED!

Stay-At-Home

So. The Governor of NC has issued a stay-at-home order beginning 3/30/2020 and ending 4/30/2020.

While the Train Buddy store qualifies loosely as “essential” under the restrictions we will comply with a CLOSED status. This means that we will ship or you can pick up at the shop but not inside the showroom. We will have curb-side delivery upon request or, if you wish, we will ship to you. The shipping cost will be whatever the post office charges. We will not charge any handling fees.

Coming Soon

To utilize our time away we will be expending a great deal of energy restocking and refurbishing our store. We are adding approximately 140 square feet of display space to our front showroom. This is an increase of about 50% to our scenery, track and electronics area with accents on our new product line from Berrett Hill, NCE and others that have taken a back seat because of lack of space.

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N scale Sperry rail inspection vehicle

We were commissioned (read this as “challenged”) to create this one of a kind micro miracle. Enjoy.

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HO 4-6-0 Brass DCC w/Sound Install

The Train Buddy installs a DCC Sound decoder from Train Control Systems with Keep Alive and a Soundtraxx “sugar cube” speaker. There should be 5,maybe 6, parts to the whole install.

I have made some changes to my Internet service and can now upload faster but sorry it has been two months, trial and error, to get this to work. I expect, now that I have been more successful, to upload on the weekends and have it available on Mondays or Tuesdays each week.

This install discusses topics of planning installs, wiring harnesses, soldering tips, LED installs, brass steam engine issues and solutions, making number boards and just a bunch of downright practical mechanical and electrical sense.

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Clinics and Camaraderie


Fridays has often been a time for the “locals” to get together and talk about model railroading (and sometimes some other “stuff”) On this particular Friday we went outside where Train Buddy Grif led the discussion on Making Trees with Scenic Express SuperTree(TM) product. Usually in stock at the Train Buddy – 653-214 for the value pack, 653-220 for the HO/O starter kit and 653-215 for the super value case.