Returning to Hobby got questions about locos - HO

snipped-for-privacy@gannon.edu wrote in news:1190750831.385966.8380 @w3g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

I have been accused of excess in my other hobby pursuits. I have far to many plastic models of all sorts of things, which I think are going to be turned out to ebay soon to make room. But I read on a newsgroup not long ago a fella saying he had bought his 73rd!!! loco. I think perhaps that may define excess.

I already have some older locos I'm restoring. (Tinkering is something I really like, and I hate to see something with life in it discarded.) 4 F9A (which are really to modern for my layout plan but which I'm going to freelance for the time being, I doubt I'll get all 4 running, 3 most likely they've all showed great promise even after a simple cleaning, some new parts, more complete cleanings, resoldering of wires, some external details, maybe some fun practice with light wiring, a coat of paint and decals, couplers and looking good. 2 0-4-0T the Varney and a older Lifelike that runs good but doesn't like the frogs on switches to much, was orginally going to use them as switchers but now maybe MOW and/or local deliveries. 1 Mikado, the Genesis, and a handful of small period diesels for switching. I figure one more Mike and 1 or 2 Pacifics really ought to do it until the layout is on it's way. I think I might see an articulated in the future for the big coal drags over the mountains. But yeah I think you can way over do it. You can only really run just so many trains at a time.

I'm thinking early mid 40's. Eastern seaboard, coal, freight, military trains including flats with vehicles. I already have a set of the Troop Pullmans - 3

• a kitcheb car from Walthers. Eventaully some passenger service. I see two yards, an interchange for 2 to 3 majors allowing variety in motive power and a military base (possibly dockside but I think that may be stretching it) with a yard. I found a book on the Military Railway Service and the Army was into Plymouthe, Porters, SW-1s and S-1s big time for thier own use.

The real problem will be cars. I'm looking at 50 coal hoppers, half empty, half full for loaded drags down the mountains and then off to the factories and empties for the return trip. I'm already knocking on to many cars for my practice/temporary/play layout. But I'm getting it wired so I can 2 or more locos on it at the same time.

But bottom line is you're right I do not want to overload on locos, if I can't keep them on the layout there are to many. Roundhouse, running or staged, they should all fit comfortably.

Frank

Modern can motors are much more powerful than the old motors, so a good quality Machima or Sagami would fit in the space and leave room for a boiler backhead. Torque is basically proportional to the diameter of the armature so you'd want a short, large diameter can motor. The Varney isn't rare or collectable enough to warrent leaving totally original, so you might as well upgrade it.

Greg.P.

Definitely not!

My collection, started in 1959 has around 120 locos, not counting junkers held for repairing others. I divide the 120 into 3 collections:

- Odds and ends collected for show, such as 3 rail, tinplate, 1930s/40s, my first ever loco etc.

- Locos _I like_ that don't match my layout's region and era. (these tend to get sold when I want the new xxxxx)

- Locos _needed_ for layout operation. My layout doesn't need the 80+ locos in that category, but given a main line with a huge variety of trains passing through I want to be able to run most types that ran on that stretch at the time I'm modelling.

Regards, Greg.P.

Actually, you said "No, it's a JNR D51.", which I knew, or at least that it was Japanese prototype if not the class.

Used to be, exposed motor in the cab was standard, and a detailed boiler backhead was superdetailing. So a visible motor isn't a big turnoff with me. Then if you cover the back (magnet) end of the open frame motor with anything black it pretty much disappears. Black construction paper, sheet styrene, even vinyl electrical tape does wonders. Times move on, and my IHC 2-6-0 (a modestly priced and detailed plastic steamer) has a detailed cast plastic boiler backhead. Based on this, I'd expect the rest of the IHC line to also have detailed backheads. The IHC steamers are excellent runners, a little light so they aren't fantastic pullers, and the detail is mostly cast on. I consider them a good price performance tradeoff.

David Starr

For hoppers, loads are easy enough to make, and cheaper than the purchased sort. A bit of wood (ordinary construction pine will do) sawed to a drop in fit. Once it fits, round it over with a whatever you have, swiss army knife, plane, drum sander, spokeshave. Paint it black, cover with Elmers white glue, and sprinkle with HO gauge coal.

David Starr

David Starr wrote in news:46fc5671$0$7479$ snipped-for-privacy@roadrunner.com:

Dang, that's clever. Thanks!

Frank

Greg Procter wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ihug.co.nz:

Interesting. I've got NWSL bookmarked and I'm going to print out some of thier brochure/catalog pages and sut down with what I've got and see what I can do.

Frank

Instead of wood, you can also use extruded polystyrene insulation. In the States, that would be the pink or blue stuff. It's easier to work with and when you get to a 25 car unit train you won't build up excessive weight. Don't use expanded polystyrene (the beaded white stuff), only because it's messy to work with and too soft to hold up under repeated removal/reinstalls.

I've also seen such loads with steel fender washers glued to the bottom side of the foam. Easily removed with a magnet without handling or otherwise jostling the car, and then one set of cars will suffice for both empties and loads.

HTH, Stevert

I put kitchen cling film in the wagon body, add the (wooden) block, and then pva glue coal on top. That way the glue doesn't stick to the wagon but the added coal fits perfectly while being readily removable. (I take the clingfilm out after the glue sets :-)

Let me know how you get on!

Greg Procter wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ihug.co.nz:

I just now snagged a Mantua Pacific from eBay. I bid $35 on a current $34 bid with 10 min 49 secs to go and didn't think I'd get it. I almost never bid that way either I'm a sniper by temperment (to many bidding wars early on in my ebay career).

Anyway, Yardbird has additional piping, cab interiors and several different pilots plus other details. I already have some decals for C&O and PRR steamers. This is rapidly getting out of hand.

BTW, my idea on the hoppers is to make up the consists and leave them empty or full and manage them "off-stage" in a staging yard by swapping engines and then routing back out onto the line. I figure an articulated to go up and down the mountain and a Mike to haul them off on "level" terrain.

And I'll need a few more for the steam loco service area.

This is as bad a disease as static models (ask me how I know!) but at least these move.

Frank

LOL.

Don't forget that the articulated and the Mike have to run both ways. (otherwise the prototype railway would end up with all it's articulates at one end of the line and all it's mikes at the other.

Regards, Greg.P.

I d >> >>Kato: 10

Yes, they do.

*They also make a number of steam locos in N scale, including a USRA heavy 2-8-2.*

Cheers,

Mark."

Emphasis added by me.

Try foam plastic instead of the wood. Wood may make the hoppers too heavy. Make sure all the hoppers, loaded or empty, weigh the same. Should be about 4 oz per NMRA recommendation on car weight, but consistent weight is more important than any given formula.

HTH

Try this for a coal load....... o cut a block of wood to just fit inside of your hopper. o Shape the top of it to look like a coal load... either one or two humps, you get the idea. o Take heavy duty aluminum foil and repeatedly crumple it then flatten it. Do this four or five times. Pretty soon, it eill take on the texture of a load of coal. o shape the wrinkled foil around the wood block. o cut away the excess foil. o spray with an inexpensive black paint from a spray can. I use flat black then add a little glossy black as coal is sometimes shiney.

You can crank out a ton of these kinds of loads with only a small investment in foil & paint. And, there is virutally no additional weight involved. The hardest part of the project is creating your wooden pattern but once that is done, you can use it forever.

I plan to use this in my blog some day soon; you guys just got a sneak preview. I'd appreciate your visiting from time to time by going to

click on Virtual Village then check me out at "Along the Right of Way..."

Thanks!

dlm

I'm not looking for a fight either; I merely wanted to know if it was 1:87 or 1:80, and, at least with my O/S and browser settings and being unable to read Japanese anyway, I can't see any sign whether it is HOj or HO.

Not to mention that dome looks like a goiter.

DS:

The OP could also use black paint, kept well away from the motor bearings, and add an engineer to the cab - cut off whatever parts of the figure don't fit around the motor. A heaping coal or wood load in the tender and perhaps some cab curtains, and coupling the tender as closely as curves will allow, would also help. It really isn't too easy to see into the cab of most

1:1 steamers unless one is standing on the tender deck.

Cab-mounted motors were a fairly standard AHM feature; most old die- cast kit locos used the firebox. AHM motors were wider than Pittman and similar open-frame motors - as can motors also tend to be, for that matter. On a small loco you often have no better choice than the cab, since it allows the motor to be bigger in diameter and provide more torque than a smaller one stuffed in the boiler. I remember an MR article "New Life For An Old American" in which Lonnie Shay fitted a FED

4-4-0 with a nice gearhead motor that unfortunately stuck completely /out/ of the cab back, but was hidden by cab curtains and a heaping tender wood load. I bet it ran well, though.

OP: Sounds like a good deal. Mantua engines were really well- engineered (even when they were badly cheaped-out during the Tyco years) and I've had good luck getting used ones to run well. There are several variations of drive on the end-cab Pacific: early, with an integral gearbox, a later cheaped-out PM-1 drive, neo-Mantua MG-81 open frame with old-style integral gearbox ("Power Drive"), and the Power Drive with a can motor instead of the MG-81. All will work, and the early style, and the two "Power Drive" versions are quite respectable. However, the PM-1 motor, while it will work, is fast and underpowered. You might consider replacing it with a "Helix Humper". People say good things about these, and I may try one some day to replace some of the PM-1s on my little Mantuas. You may want to E-mail them to see which kit to use, depending what drive system your loco has.

Here are some links that you may find handy if you want to enter the field of model locomotive reworking:

Alliance Loco, home of the Helix Humper.

Model Railroad Technical Information by Bud (This site is quirky but very very informative)

HO Scale Literature Pages (exploded views etc.)

Yardbird Classic Trains

Jameco Electronics

(Sells automotive can motors like those used in Helix Humper. Very useful, but I'd stick with the HH, Yardbird kits, or similar pre-engineered stuff until I got some practice in. Not that I did, but I think I should have.)

Cordially yours: Gerard P. President, a box of track and a 3-legged table.

Model Power (sells Mantua parts and reissues some of the line)

Bowser Mfg (metal kits, parts, Cal-Scale details, Cary conversion kits, like a zinc-alloy candy store)

OP:

Forgot one more. Go to atlasrr.com and download "Right Track Software", a free planning tool based on Atlas track. It's not to be compared to the more flexible CAD programs or 'pencil and wrapping paper', but it's a good way of playing with "track sections" and figuring out layout designs.

Cordially yours: Gerard P. President, a box of track and a 3-legged table.