Another Standard gauge Project

Here is a list of whats in the photos above.

1  165 magnetic crane

1 laser cut bridge ( painted yellow, bought at York )

1 coffee can homemade water tower

1   3' glass top homemade station

1  437 switch tower

1  124 city station

1  436 power station

2  155 freight stations 

2  120 tunnels 

2  280 girder bridges

1  300 hellgate bridge

4   92 floodlight towers

2   438 signal towers

10   101 single span bridges

1  marx freight shed

1  marx switch tower 

2  494 towers ,  one being a sand tower and the other a forest lookout tower.

1  cookie tin diner

1   3' tin roof station 

1  lighted water tower . 

A small update on my Standard Gauge Glass Top Station . After its debut on my 2018 Christmas  floor layout I boxed it up although I still had some finish wiring to do on it .  Well I cleaned it and got all my wires soldered and wire shrink wrapped . Is it done now you may ask , no . I think I need to add two more benches to the backsides of the ones already there , then it might be done . Today I will look in my shop for any scrap angle iron  to use for the benches . 

02-14-2020 While in my shop yesterday I came across an old project that I kind of forgot about .  Here are two different standard gauge grade crossings I had made a few years back , one for straight track and one for a  O42 curve track.  I do have  5 or 6 straight pairs not painted or stained in a box that I may find myself selling .  I know I've said this before and I will probably say it again , the best thing about standard gauge for me  is ,I get to build stuff .

Here is a project that needs some attention . 15 single arm and 3 double arm Ives lamp posts that are in need of repair .  There are a few that have been rewired and work , few being the key word . I will be purchasing some 24 gauge wire this week in prep for my job of rewiring these lamp posts . I also need to re solder two arms back onto the posts , re solder  two lampshades  and paint a few that are in no way to my liking .  I also have 4 more lamp posts that have broken arms where the lamp hangs  .  Not sure what the future has in store for them . 

Not quite done , but excited that I've gotten this far on yet another Standard Gauge Project .  I have had this idea in my mind for a few years after I made my Standard Gauge Lighted Poultry Dispatch Car.  An operating standard gauge milk car .   The tinkering and prototypes were endless events .  So here is a start to the photos I took along the way .  I started off with a MTH 514 refrigerator car I got off ebay . 

Next was to remove the spring loaded doors and fir them onto the new car. surprisingly enough they are almost an exact match . The 3 rectangle holes are the new holes for the doors to some what snap into .

This was the first mechanical unloader I used .  I took it from one of my cars and rewired it so it worked like new .

Here is my first prototype of the operating track that needed to be made . The white base is PVC board cut to shape and thickness . The track is a standard size straight section , one of a few  I had bought from USA Track .  This proved to be not a good idea , I ditched the base for another design , still using the track . 

These pieces of plexiglass were designed to sandwich the axles  and be bolted to the cross bar on the trucks . They were also designed to use the old style of electric slider shoes , but I ditched that idea as well . 

Here you can see the new base and the two pieces of stock steel I used for my electric . At this point I was still experimenting with basically everything . 

At this point I cut 4 kerf cuts in the steel and slightly bent them at each end so what ever I used as an electrical pick up would roll or slide up onto them .  So there would not be a big bump I counter sank the screw heads into the steel . The 4 screws holding the steel to the new PVC board are nutted and J B welded on the underside .

The first unloader needed to be raised up alittle so I cut more of the PVC board to fit inside the car .  Also needed was to drill out for the the truck pin , the coupler box , the electric holes for the connecting wires and the counter sink holes for holding everything in place .  I must have cut half a dozen of these bases .  Also you are seeing two different roofs .  I took one of my spare roofs and cut the curved lips off , I tried to cut only one but the roof sat crooked on the car , so I took both off to make taking the roof off easy .  I placed  6  small earth magnets  on the car and they hold the roof on pretty secure ! That was my solution to remove the roof so I could reload easily .

You can see the size of the strong earth magnets on the car . I added two more to what you can see .  The roof was painted with a rattle can I had sitting around .  You can also see in the one photo how the flat steel electric "rails" are sloped at each end .  At this point I still did not know how I was going to get the electric up into the car ! Lots of experimenting and prototypes for sure . 

I added a spring to the first unloader to help pull back the electric plunger .  This unloader worked but not as well as I would have liked .  So back to tinkering and pulling my hair out !

These two photos show where I ran my two pieces of PVC board through my table saw to make room for 4 magnets . These 4 magnets , 2 in each corner hold the track PVC to the unloading platform PVC . They are held in place with more J B weld .  I did this because I am not sure where I would want to place this accessory on a layout . Maybe have the car unload at the freight station instead . Plus it made it easy to work on . 

Here is where I gave up on the first unloader and I took apart another   newer automatic milk car  to retrieve its unloader .  This one needed a lot more measuring  and more holes  .  I'm in way too far to give up now LOL. 

Finally installed and tested . Here I added a spring to help pull the man back inside . This spring also helps with pulling the one piece that pushes the milk can to the man . 

Here you see pretty much the finished track and platform look like .   The two electrical posts have two spade connectors screwed down for testing only . once done and on a layout they will be wired to an operating control button .  The flip side shows you the two connections to the flat stock steel rails . 

Well here is my final solution to getting the electric up into the car . I bought an electric pickup for an O gauge engine and cut it in half .  I drilled a hole in each one and mounted them to the plexi glass truck plates I made .  The little nuts and bolts that hold them in place also are used to hold a wire that is routed up and into the car body.    IT WORKS !!   

Now its not over yet . Just because it works on my work bench doesn't mean it will work on a layout . My fingers are crossed that it does !!  I will have to take it over to my shop and squeeze it in  next week .  

  So now I have 3 farm related 500 series  Standard Gauge Cars , the 513 stock car, a 513 illuminated poultry dispatch car and now an automatic milk car .  Stay tuned for more adventures .

Great projects! That’s so fun!

George

George S posted:

Great projects! That’s so fun!

George

Thanks George ,  building and kitbashing projects for standard gauge has been a lot of fun for me .  I have a few more ideas  for a few more cars ,  maybe an automated ice car  or  a merchandise car  .  What I would like to do next is make a small diesel  switcher . I have  3 steamers right now , a MTH 384 and 2 Lionel 390s  so a small switcher would be nice .  I made a mock up of it out of wood .

Here's an interesting thing , at least to me . I did not know or realize that the 101 had this type of paint job . I have noticed the two different greens for the arches  but never took notice of the bases . While I repaint a box load of these bridges I got at an auction , I am going to keep a select few with this paint intact .  Kind of wish all my bridges were painted this way , I think it's kind of cool. 

JohnnieWalker posted:

Next was to remove the spring loaded doors and fir them onto the new car. surprisingly enough they are almost an exact match . The 3 rectangle holes are the new holes for the doors to some what snap into .

Where did those spring loaded doors come from?

Bob Nelson

@navy.seal posted:

Where did those spring loaded doors come from?

Bob Nelson

Hi Bob 

So sorry  for the delay in getting back to you . I totally missed the alert that you posted a question for me .   The answer to your question is from an early  Lionel automatic milk car . There are two versions of  the Lionel milk car doors , and these were a perfect match for what I was doing .  Lucky for me , I had one early milk car and two later model milk cars that I could use for pieces and parts.   The later doors if I remember  correctly, have an unusual spring configuration and mounting system .  It was a lot easier to mount the early doors and use the unloader from the later version .  I don't remember the #s of the milk cars and I just sold the body  shells on Ebay two days ago .  I hope this helps you .   Cheers 

Love the milk car - have you got a way to load the cans through the roof, or must it be removed?

I like your little switcher too - ought to get someone to make you a 3D printable model.

Jim

@Jim Waterman posted:

Love the milk car - have you got a way to load the cans through the roof, or must it be removed?

I like your little switcher too - ought to get someone to make you a 3D printable model.

Jim

Hi Jim 

I had to make the roof removable . Its held in place with tiny earth magnets  and is quite secure . If you go back and look at some of the photos I posted about it  , you will see  that the unloader mechanism is way short in height to easily load the cans .  I still need to test run it behind my 390 on my shop layout . 

As for my little diesel switcher , I hope to get started on it this year .  I always thought that one of the Big manufacturers should have made a small diesel switcher . A little bigger than the McCoy "George".   Right now I'm figuring out the power source for it . I bought a LGB motor and wheels set up for it . I have the bridge rectifier it my parts bin  and my wheel puller ready .   I will post photos when this project gets moving . 

And thank you for the compliment  !!  Cheers !

Some projects end up taking longer to do than others , and this one is still not done .  But it is getting closer to being checked off the To Do list .  Here are my 10   101 bridges I have been working on over the summer and into the fall . Instead of adding all the corner posts , today I cut 18 blocks of wood to be screwed between each bridge section .  I need to prime then sand then add two coats of semi gloss finish to them . I also need to drill holes in the tops of them for the wooden finials .

Johhny --  This looks great, I am looking forward to seeing it running!   - Andy

An update to the bridge project .  All the blocks have been cut , drilled , sanded and primed .  I’m not sure what color I should paint them , go have an original post color matched or go through my boxes of quarts of paint that are sitting around ?

It’s never ending ! And I don’t want it to end !!  I have the bridge project on one burner , my standard gauge diesel switcher project on a back burner , my Ives street lights on another back burner plus a few projects up in the attic . But there is yet another project on a front burner and it’s my version of a milk car .  I’m using 3” plastic pipe cut to 9” , 22.5 degree angled ends and PVC board cut to 1/4” thick for the ends .  I have a prototype started and my fingers crossed it turns out like the image in my head .😄In the end I’m hoping to have a nice farm train .   The bottom cradle supports need to be resized so they won’t over hang the 511 flat car sides .

Here’s an update on my milk car project(s) .  I’m making a few at the same time since all I have is an image in my head as to what I want . I’m happy to report that they are turning out how I expected . Fingers crossed they continue to be what I have envisioned.  I need to go up in the attic to see if I have any 511 flatcars to use !!

Update on my standard gauge milk tank car .  I found one 511 flat car with stanchions in my box of cars up in the attic for my test car . I’m still figuring out how to mount the tank to the car . Anyway , there are 3 coats of primer sprayed on the tank and 4 holes drilled for the grab rails .  I made a simple jig to bend the stainless steel rod that I’m using for the grab rail , then drilled 1/16 holes for them to fit into . I’ve been on the laptop searching for dairy emblems to use and have earmarked a few .  So far it’s turning the way I want . 👍

Here's a dairy emblem you should consider.

Bob Nelson

@navy.seal posted:

Here's a dairy emblem you should consider.

Bob Nelson

I will consider it , thanks for the suggestion.   It will be a tough decision because of the huge selection to choose from.

I now have a small dilemma .  The size of the tank used for the milk tank car . As you can see it looks quite large for a 500 series car .  Now I can drop it down so it rests completely on the flatcar , which might be a solution or It may look better sitting on a 200 series flat car .  With that being said , I will make yet another prototype using a smaller diameter pipe .  I will continue to finish the few I’ve started and possibly sell them .  
On another note,  my bridge project is all but done . There are 4 brass wood screws in most of the wooden posts to hold it all together . I say most because I made it sectional , each section being  two bridge spans .  This bridge is just over 11 feet long !!  Perfect for my floor layout .

That bridge came out great! Really like the milk car too.

Jim

@JohnnieWalker posted:

I will consider it , thanks for the suggestion.   It will be a tough decision because of the huge selection to choose from.

If you narrow it down to two choices, put one on each side.  Nobody can look at both sides at the same time.

So I thought my bridge project was all but done , I stand corrected.   While the bridges were on the floor all connected a thought popped into my head, wonder what this bridge would look like raised up ?  While cleaning up my shop I came across a few 4x4 butt ends and at that moment I thought these would be a good height .  They are 8” long x 3 1/2” tall x 2 1/2” wide .  I’ve started to cover the sides with quarry screenings ( a bucket of it that’s been in my shop for a few years ) .  Stay tuned for more progress photos and other projects ( Milk car project )