Contrast

How many of you run tinplate with other modern gauges or scales?

I mix modern and tinplate. Sometimes I just want to get a modern vibe on!

@Rob English posted:

I mix modern and tinplate. Sometimes I just want to get a modern vibe on!

Yeah...each approach has its own allure, so mixing it up sometimes is fun and relaxing.

At this stage of my modeling "career", I'm finding the simplicity (and colors) of Standard Gauge to be a terrific break from the detail oriented approach to the 2R/3R Scale stuff I have been focusing on.

Maybe that's the difference: I feel like I "work on" O scale and I "play with" Standard Gauge...🙂

Mark in Oregon

@Tinplate Art posted:

...This loco has smoke but since the advent of the pandemic, I no longer use any smoke fluid.

I don't understand that connection. What did the pandemic have to do with using smoke fluid?

@Rich Melvin posted:

I don't understand that connection. What did the pandemic have to do with using smoke fluid?

Perhaps his locomotive got COVID!

...or maybe he had it and now his lungs are compromised...

Mark in Oregon

@Strummer posted:

...or maybe he had it and now his lungs are compromised...

Mark in Oregon

Or maybe it just woke people up to the fragility and ease of compromise of their respiratory systems and they are no longer willing to jeopardize their health.

I really love the look of old tinplate cars, but I really don't care for the looks of tinplate engines.

So, I pull all of my tinplate cars with small to medium conventional locomotives.

The little Williams 44 ton Scale switcher looks really cool pulling a train of short Marx tinplate cars. An 0-4-0 steam switcher or A5  would look great as well, but I haven't bought one yet.

Mannyrock

I see the little K-Line A5's around all the time, I even have a pair of them with TMCC myself.  There's a bunch of them on eBay right now, ranging from $99 through $265.  Some are the conventional only with a whistle, others are TMCC/RS with full command and sound.

Thanks for the info John.

You may remember that last December, as my only Christmas present, I bought a NIB conventional K-Line A5, for around $250.00, specifically to pull my tinplate cars.  I was really disgusted to find that the forward/neutral/reverse function did not work.  It only worked sporadically or not at all.  So, I sent it back.

Since these locos have not been made for a long time, I have thought that maybe there was a bad run of these (with bad boards), and that the sudden appearance of so many of these NIB last fall may have been this bad bunch. 

So, this coming December, I'm going to look for a used VG+ from Trainworld or other reputable source, so at least I know it has been fully tested.

Thanks,

Mannyrock

There was no run of bad boards, you were just unlucky.  I've seen a bunch of these, mostly TMCC models, and they have all run fine.  They didn't have cruise, which is why I normally see them, I add cruise.

In response to Rich: At 79, my lungs are clear, and I have not had Covid, but to be on the safe side I avoid inhaling the lipids expelled when smoke fluid is heated especially in a small room like my trainroom. My lungs are checked six times weekly at my dialysis center and are always clear. Lack of engine smoke is a small price to pay for continued pulmonary health!

...and I wish you continued good health. 👍 🙂

Mark in Oregon

THANK YOU, kind sir! :-)