Building and Evolution of a Railroading Focused 50’s Era, 027 Lionel Train Layout

Charlie, 

 Nice assortment of cars you have there. I have the Target Launcher car too and have found some success with little Nerf-like balls. I wonder if ping pong balls would work? Maybe, slightly too heavy. 

 Good to know you are keeping your neighborhood safe from enemy attacks! 

 Keep warm. We've had lots of very cold days up here in the Northeast. 

  Tom 

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Post 3   5-20-2016

The Beginning - Childhood Layout

I had childhood Marx 027 layout that had an oval and figure 8 utilizing four Marx 1590 switches on a ping pong 9’ x 5’ board on the floor.  The train was a Marx 999 freight set.  We had a Lionel 1033 transformer.  It was on the living room floor for two weeks after being installed on Christmas Eve with a Christmas tree in the plaster of paris mountain.

I had two friends that lived on my block in south St. Louis, one had a Lionel train with cattle car loader and milk car.  The other had American Flyer.  Both had layouts on the floor with a single loop and a bypass or siding with a couple of switches and down for two weeks at Christmas also.  I had the Marx with oval and figure 8 with four Marx switches and we all liked to run that 999 do lots of switching.

When my brother and I were 8 and 10 or so, the train gear was removed and the layout dismantled.  We had moved to new house my Dad and his friend built for us in Afton, a suburb of St. Louis.  My brother and I got into building plastic models, then stick and paper air planes, model boats and later 049 powered U control planes.  We went into Fox 35 U control planes in high school and I got into radio control (tubes & 67 v batteries !) boats.

Charlie

Pictures of Marx 999 set

 

Marx 999 engine (set is original but engine is retired due to worn out motor gear, this is a replacement)

 

 

 

Marx Uncoupling section

Looks identical to the one I had.  I later added some cars (reefer, cattle car, flat with a load, and two more box cars) and gave it a family friend's son when daddy lost his business just before Christmas.

I'm now "recreating" the layout I wanted back then and could never afford.

Thanks for showing us what some of us grew up with.

   The correct IRBM rocket will fly quiet a ways Charlie. They make replacements too. A bit pricey maybe, but kind of worth it. They explode the boxcars better, and get pretty consistent distance at 5ft each for my post war and LLC versions both. Though with only at "one round", your aim needs to be right the first time  

   The rockets are one piece you can make a great looking homemade version of that will fly without the critics

...... But it likely won't go over real well in general  

.......Or even go over a General  

  You can always transfer the homemade ones to a red or black flat car paired with a red or blue derrick; other examples of LSA set cars

I alwys liked the IRBM better than the small missle lauchers. 

Post 52  3/17/2018

Homemade Lionel 6413 Mercury Capsule Transporting Car

I recently completed Lionel 6413 Mercury Capsule transporting car which was mentioned in a recent topic on Homemade Lionel Cars also.

After looking for a reasonable or inexpensive Lionel 6413 Mercury Capsule transporting car or raised-center flat car body (they are rather hard to find and I have never seen one at a train show) I decided to make one.

I have the other two center raised-center flat cars.  The first car is the Lionel ACMX 6519 Allis-Chalmers condenser car and it needed a raised-center flatcar deck to handle the tall height of the condenser (made 1958-61).  Then Lionel made the Lionel TLCX 6544 Missile Firing car using the raised-center flat car body from the 6519 (1960-64).  Later, the Lionel TLCX 6413 Mercury Capsule car (made 1962-63) was made from the Lionel Allis-Chalmers Condenser raised-center car body and the Mercury Capsule from the Lionel 3413 Mercury Capsule Launching car Missile.

Here are a couple of the Lionel 6413 Mercury Capsule transporting cars I want to home make.  The slightly aqua green blue car in the front is rarer and brings more money.  Notice the track can be seen in the openings between the two metal straps holding up the Mercury Capsules.

I made the car for zero money.   I found a Lionel 6800 flat car with a broken corner (the plastic  was harder than normal after being stored in the hot attic) and no trucks and wheels.  The second car used was a small Lionel un-numbered flat car complete with trucks in my junk box.  I used plastic from a discarded daily desk calendar base and a plastic paper easel.  I had the glue, blue paint and letter decals and rub-on numbers.  I did get to spend many hours of fun time building the car.

For the body of the Mercury Capsule car, I used the Lionel 6800 flat car upside down to make the raised centered car and cut out the middle of the brown flat car leaving the trucks.

I band sawed off the ends of the small Lionel flat car with trucks to add to the cars height.  I patched the broken corner of the 6800 car and added plastic to extend the skirts of the trucks.

I decked the top ends of the car with decking left over from the short flat car.  Two small lugs were glued on to the edge to act as hooks for the elastic cord that would hold down the Mercury capsules.  I added in some seams to the side of the raised center car and added skirts to the trucks and extended the raised hump as seen in black plastic in picture below.

I made the rest of the top decking from plastic with holes for the Mercury capsules.  I made the deck a little wider than the car so personal can walk on the deck alongside the capsules.  The Lionel 6413 is wider in the middle than at the ends.

The Lionel 6413 holds the capsules via two metal brackets across the near bottom of the car with opening from the top to the tracks, presenting a unfinished look.  The Lionel Mercury capsules have cylinder on the bottom to simulate the mercury capsule retro rockets and the capsule is the same one used on the Lionel Mercury capsule rocket with the Lionel  3413 Mercury Capsule Launch Car and Rocket.  The real Mercury capsule would never be transported with the retro rockets attached.  My capsules set on the bottom of the car and the bottom is enclosed, the kind of job one would expect from NASA and the US Government.  The real Mercury capsules are 6 ft in diameter and 6 ft tall and would easily fit in a gondola or box car with wide doors so the Lionel Mercury Capsule cars is a fun item and allowed the use of existing molds to make and sell another interesting car.

My Mercury capsules are made from two toy optical viewers that lets the grand kids see diamonds moving around when viewed and rotated.  I took out the clear plastic end to make the cones lighter.  I added some heavy paper strips to make the cones look more like they had heat shields on the sides and show the door and window.  The astronaut sits with his back to the bottom heat shield and views through the window.

I painted the car with Model Masters 35183 F  S Bright Blue paint which I had and is fairly close to the Lionel 6413 color.  I then added “NASA” decals as I did not have room or letters for “Mercury Project Cape Canaveral” that Lionel used.  I also added press on numbers of 6413, not as neat as I wanted and all I had room for.  Clear glossy spray was used to seal on the lettering.

I think the Mercury Capsule car came out very well and it can serve as another car and load to use my Gantry Crane for, sort of an action car after all.  I glued steel washers to the top of the Capsules so the Magnet of the Gantry Crane could pick them up.

I find fixing up a common car into something more special or useful a satisfying part of the model train hobby.  I have several more to share but do not have the pictures of the building process like the 6413.  Most of them are painting and lettering projects.

Charlie

Post 53  4/28/2018

New Diesel Engines, Track Upgrade with Track Nippers and Track Cutting Jig

New Diesel Engines

Been working some on the layout but just not posting much lately.

I have obtained a Williams F7 ABA Santa Fe diesel set at a warehouse sale and a Marx IC&G 0-4-0 diesel lately.

Here are a couple of pictures

The F7 powered 4032 has an issue with the E unit and would only run in reverse.  Not wanting to spend in excess of $40 for a new E unit I reversed the leads to the two DC can motors and the powered A unit runs forward with neutrals.  This is OK with me as I normally do not do much switching and reversing with an engine that will mostly just run around the layout pulling consists.  And now I can use it as a single A unit, an A and B unit, a AA unit and a ABA unit.

This Williams is now a good runner.  This Williams F7 seams to be a minimal engine set with numbers only appearing on the lighted marker board and not on body.  It is on the smallish size for F7 or F3 engines compared to Lionel units but is bigger than my Marx F3 diesels.  This is good for me and my 027 toy layout and the Williams F7 does not have trouble with 027 curves and does not have much over hang.  All three units are very heavy and the powered A unit pulls very well with that weight and two powered trucks with traction tires.

The 4034 B unit has very loud engine and engineer talking sound with no cut off switch or volume control.  I added a small slide switch to the bottom to at least have a choice of loud railroad sounds or no sound.

The little unnumbered Marx 0-4-0 switcher runs very well with the motor being from the Marx 666 motor with two gears.  It came with a Marx coupling on the rear and I added a Lionel dummy coupling on the front to allow use with both Marx and Lionel cars.  Lots of fun projects to improve layout operation and fun !

Track Upgrade

I had track issues with the Williams F7 wheels and or pickups resulting in derailments usually around the Marx 1590 switches.  I spent lots of time isolating the problem areas and found the Williams engines were very touchy to small differences in rail heights at the 027 track joints especially before the Marx switches.  I found out filing off the edge of the less than 1/32 inch high spot at track joints before switches eliminated most of the derailments.

I also added small pieces of thin aluminum flashing to fill in the gaps I had in several of the track joints between track sections.  This helped the Williams locos and should reduce wear on wheels and pickup rollers.  I have done this for years to large 1/8 inch gaps and just went around the whole track and filled many more smaller gap joints.  You can also see one of the popsicle wooden wedges I use to bank some of my 027 curves.

Track Nippers and Track Cutting Jig

Yes it is aluminum flashing sheeting but you will need only a small scrape.  I had some left over from gutter work.  If not in hurry, I would watch the trash, where roofing jobs are underway, a used thin cake pan, check out small hardware stores for fee scrap, etc.  If it is painted, just scrap or sand off all the paint on both sides.  This goes for if it is anodized also, to get better conduction.  You can use tin from a tin can too.  Tin can will probably wear less but will be harder to bend.  It just needs to about the thickness of the metal used for your rail.  If you get fancy get a small piece of brass shim stock from a machine shop.  I have a few pieces but find it to hard to find and too valuable to use for this purpose.

Probably the best hint is get a pair of nipper pliers shown below.  Mine are from a cheap Chinese pliers set (Harbor Freight now days) and are small, about 4" long.  I use these to tightly wrap the piece of shim or flashing stock around the pin in the gap.  I usually cut a strip of flashing about 3/8" wide and a few inches long.  Then I use a small tin snips to cut a piece about the width of the gap and it will be 3/8" long.  I cut it too wide and then keep trimming it down until it fits in the gap.  I then wrap it around the pin in the gap with my fingers and squeeze it tight with the nipper pliers.  If 3/8 " is to long I just let it hang down.  It should take only a minute or two do each gap.

This will not work with the gap from the tooth picks I use mostly used for insulated center rail gaps.  (I know Lionel makes plastic pins for this use but I did not have them years ago.) Note the picture above has a Lionel plastic pin in the center rail.  I have lots of insulated center rails as my whole layout is blocked into 5 or so foot sections.

I cut a gap sized of plastic insulation from some solid electrical wire to fill the gap.  I split the little do nut of insulation with a X acto knife and slip it on.

I also took care of a long term issue with high spots where my three bridges lay on the layout.  I failed to recess the bottom of the metal bridges into the layout surface and the bridges are a least 1/16 inch higher that the other track.  I could not easily remove the bridges and repair without lots of work removing track and switches.  I used a bent flat nose pliers to flatten the metal ties on the 027 track on the bridges to lower the track and screwed the track down of the bridges.  This made a good improvement.

Some of the bent metal rail ties can be seen on the red girder bridge on the left.  That is a Williams BL2 that I have had for a while and it runs better with improved track too.  The Williams BL2 is dressed up better than the Williams F7 and has some numbers on the body.

Charlie

Ahem Choo Choo Charlie... those Santa Fe "Covered Wagons" are F7 and NOT e7's.

E7's have 6 wheeled trucks and Rectangular windows on the side car body...

your F7 Santa fe's have 4 wheeled trucks and round windows on the side car body. And I don't hink Santa Fe had E7's to begin with... Just EMD E8's.

prrhorseshoecurve

Thanks for correcting me.  I will edit Post 53 to be correct.

Charlie

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Post 53  New engines and Track Upgrade

...I also added small pieces of thin aluminum flashing to fill in the gaps I had in several of the track joints between track sections.  This helped the Williams locos and should reduce wear on wheels and pickup rollers.  I have done this for years to large 1/8 inch gaps and just went around the whole track and filled many more smaller gap joints.

 

Charlie

 

 

 

Hi Charlie,

 Good luck with your new additions to your roster. 

 Very interested in your technique on filling in gaps on your track. Can you add a little more on what type of aluminum you are using, where did you get it (I'm assuming it is some sort of sheet aluminum readily found at a hardware store used for flashing, etc., but could be wrong) , how you affix it to the track, any sanding/filing needed, etc.? While I currently don't have any derailments on my oval on the workbench, I do have some gaps and am interested more for any potential/future layout. No problems with conducting current I assume? Thanks. 

Tom 

Tom

Here is an addition to Post 53a

Post 53b  4/29/2018

Track Nippers and Track Cutting Jig

Yes it is aluminum flashing sheeting but you will need only a small scrape.  I had some left over from gutter work.  If not in hurry, I would watch the trash, where roofing jobs are underway, a used thin cake pan, check out small hardware stores for free scrap, etc.  If it is painted, just scrap or sand off all the paint on both sides.  This goes for if it is anodized also, to get better conduction.  You can use tin from a tin can too.  Tin can will probably wear less but will be harder to bend.  It just needs to about the thickness of the metal used for your rail.  If you get fancy get a small piece of brass shim stock from a machine shop.  I have a few pieces but find it to hard to find and too valuable to use for this purpose.

Probably the best hint is to get a pair of nipper pliers shown below.  Mine are from a cheap Chinese pliers set (Harbor Freight now days) and are small, about 4" long.  I use these to tightly wrap the piece of shim or flashing stock around the pin in the gap.  I usually cut a strip of flashing about 3/8" wide and a few inches long.  Then I use a small tin snips to cut a piece about the width of the gap and it will be 3/8" long.  I cut it too wide and then keep trimming it down until it fits in the gap.  I then wrap it around the pin in the gap with my fingers and squeeze it tight with the nipper pliers.  If 3/8 " is too long I just let it hang down.  It should take only a minute or two do each gap.

This will not work with the gap from the tooth picks I use mostly used for insulated center rail gaps.  (I know Lionel makes plastic pins for this use but I did not have them years ago.) Note the picture above has a Lionel plastic pin in the center rail.  I have lots of insulated center rails as my whole layout is blocked into 5 or so foot sections.

I cut a gap sized of plastic insulation from some solid electrical wire to fill the gap.  I split the little do nut of insulation with a X-acto knife and slip it on.

Track Cutting Jig

Early on I made a Track Cutting Jig to help cut short sections of straight 027 track with a fine toothed hack saw.  This jig keeps the ends of the cut track from moving around after cutting and help make the cut even for all three rails.

It is made from a scrap of 3/4"  wood 2" x 2 1/4 " with a same size 3/8" plywood glued on the bottom.  Three slots were sawed, with a band saw, 1/4" deep and 1/8" wide at the spacing of the three rails of 027 track.  A 1/16" wide slot was cut at 90 degrees to the track slots to accommodate a hack saw blade.

A piece of 1/2" plywood was made to act as a Track Hold Down.  Shown at the top of picture.  Groove was cut to go over the track tie if necessary

Picture of clamp holding Track Cutting Jig, track to be cut with fine toothed hack saw and Track Hold Down.  The Track Cutting Jig is held in vise.  The vise is a 4in X 10in Colombian woodworking vise I have had for 40 so years.

I use a fine tooth hack saw blade and find the Track Cutting Jig makes cutting shorter pieces of track and easy neat job.

Charlie

Charlie,

So, the aluminum piece you are installing is held in just by the crimping with the pliers and no glue or other means? Looks very professional. 

Tom 

Post 54  6/1/2018

Cab Forward Engine

In 2002, at a train show at the Astro Hall, Houston, I purchased a Lionel 2025, 2-6-4 steam locomotive that came with a homemade enclosed cab and white wall painted wheels.  I left both intact.  The Lionel 2025 and 2035 are my favorite heavy pulling engines to run on my layout.

My Closed Cab Lionel 2025 with white walls

Recently I was reviewing a March 1999 Classic Toy Trains magazine and read a product review of a 3^rd Rail Brass O gauge Southern Pacific Cab-forward 4-8-8-2 steam locomotive.  I was not familiar with cab-forward engines.  The article pointed out cab-forward steam locomotives were made to solve a life and death problem Southern Pacific had due to asphyxiation of crew when operating in long tunnels and snows sheds in the Sierra Mountains in the early 1900s.  Baldwin developed the cab-forward style locomotive and over 195 engines were made from 1920 and used into the 1950s.

Real Cab-Forward steam locomotive

Since I already, more or less, had a enclosed cabin steam locomotive, the Lionel 2025 mentioned above, all I would have to do to make a Cab Forward locomotive is find a oil tender (an oil tender must be used as there is no way to get coal from a coal tender to the fire box with the cab in the front of the train).  Next was to make a hookup connector from the front of my 2025 steamer to the front of the oil tender at the tender slot coupling.  I know a Lionel 2025 2-6-4 is not a 4-8-8-2 which would have no chance of running on my O27 track !

I found a metal case from a junk DVD player as a source of sheet metal for the connector.  This metal sheet is thicker than tin can, strong enough for the connector and can be cut easily with a pair of tin snips.

Sketch of connector of hookup connector

Bottom view of hookup connector

Top view of hookup connector with tabs going on top of front wheel axle

View of hookup connector in action, it turns well and navigates my O27 Marx 1590 switches

Lionel 2025 as Cap-Forward engine pulling oil tender

Close up of an oil tender I found I already had

Hookup Connector is strong enough to pull other cars after the oil tender

The hookup connector was quick and easy to make and works well.  It is a little weird to see a steam locomotive tooling around the layout backwards !  Someday I may add a headlight and markers lights to the front of Cab Forward loco.  (see headlight on first picture of real Cab Forward Loco)

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

  So, what you invented is the first Pennsy cab forward! 

  Maybe you should also string some extra insulated black wiring to sort of copy the extra piping needed on the original.

  For a potential headlight...I helped someone else to tell them sometimes plastic pens have a chrome-like center piece/ring that just about fits being an O Gauge headlight frame, if it helps you to scrounge. 

Tom 

In your first set of pix I wish you had posted a close-up of the control panel with the track diagram (couldn't tell if your hidden siding was single-ended or double-ended - essentially a hidden passing-siding). I figured it out with the later set of pix. Nice layout !

Bill

Thanks for the response and comments.  I am glad you figured it out.

My Post 1 has a picture of the control panel which is the track plan.  I know the control panel does not show that the top bypass track is hidden very well.  This one below is from Post 8 is a little better.  I will darken the red, yellow and green color of the track pin stripping to show up better.

If one looks real close at the top track tape it has a dim red, yellow and green Sharpy markings of the pin stripping to indicate the color of the the track occupation signal to show where the isolated track sections are that can be killed to hold a train.   Also the top right shows this track coming out of the back of the mountain tunnel green painted mountain outline, to the hidden track.  I might need to find a way to add a dotted line on the control panel showing where the back ground is that hides the hidden track.  Space on the diagram between the second and third by pass track is very small.

Red signal light ON to show track occupied to the right 1/3 of track.  Signal is located on the corner of the roundhouse in easy view of engineers.

Three sections of the hidden track, located at each end and in the middle of hidden track, have isolated outside rails to trigger a track occupation signal to indicate if a train is present on the track since the track cannot be seen.  The signal power is controlled by the roundhouse light switch.  The signal is mounted on the left end of the industrial building, in full view of the engineer.  12 volt mini Radio Shack bulbs of red, yellow and green are used for the signal.  Each bulb represents a section of hidden track that is occupied, and all three “on” mean the track has a long train hidden.  The lights also indicate the progress of a train moving along the hidden track.

Charlie

Charlie - thanks for the update. There's a lot to like about your layout. The hidden staging tracks are much simpler than one going down an incline & under the layout's main level, like others have done. I like the "K.I.S.S." principle whenever it can be applied :-)  Also like the creativity of the "duckout" thru an engine servicing building rather than the ubiquitous "tunnel." The "track occupied" signal lights on the building is a great idea as well. You did a nice job on your track plan's switch panel, too.

Hi Charlie,

  I had a question about your Marx switches since I'm not familiar with them. One the first page of this topic, you mentioned about inserting a nail/pin in the center rail section. I was wondering, when the switch moves doesn't that pin prevent the opening/closing of the switch or does the rail bend around the nail/pin to accommodate the pin being there? That's what it looks like is going on here, but maybe a video would show it better? 

Tom 

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Post 11   7-8-2016

Back to the Good Ole USA

The main train board with turntable was built in 1977 and 1978 in Kingston, Jamaica.  It was down on the living room floor for Christmas 1978.  The only structures were a Bachmann Coaling Station kit stuck together and a small Marx water tower.  But fun was had running the Marx 999 set and the four plastic body Lionel 2-4-2 engines and playing with the turntable.

We moved back to the states, to Little Rock Arkansas, to a house with a two car garage and a small room of to the side.  I used it as a work shop.  After moving in, buying cars and getting settled in, it was time to get to building and collecting structures for the train board.

 

Roundhouse Construction

The first consideration in building a $10 roundhouse is to decide how many stalls the RH will have. 

I think the minimum that looks good is three.  Many more can be added than three but I find that you cannot see and enjoy your engines as much when they are in the RH as all that one sees is the engine fronts.  I decided to make my RH a four stall one and I am very pleased with it.  It has a good shape verses a three stalls and fits my area very well.

I like the stepped roof style RH and I like lots of windows so as they are typical of the era as electric lights were not all that common in the early times and windows provided daylight.  I have windows on both sides, all along the back wall and on the stepped roof wall facing the front.  I did not leave room or have room for a shop or tool room that many RH have.

My roundhouse is made from my typical 1/8 inch thick, one side smooth Masonite tempered sheeting.  A sheet costs about $13 for 4ft x 8ft sheet and you will only need one half of a sheet or less.  I cut this with saber saw, or jig saw.  I used my old Craftsman 18 inch jig saw with 1/3 hp motor, now out of storage, to cut out the windows after drilling a hole to allow get the blade in the window area.  You can use a sabre saw for this if that is all you have.  The smooth side is put on the outside of the sides and back wall.  Some 1/8” Masonite strips were used to reinforce the bottom and door frame. 

Front of Round House

The outside walls will be covered with modeling brick paper, glued on with Elmer’s white glue after the building is assembled with Elmer’s glue.

The roof is made from Masonite too but the rough side is up to be the exposed roof surface, to simulate  gravel on a wood and tar paper roof.  I have a step in the roof with windows in the bricked section between the two roofs so the roof is made in two parts. 

 

Four Tracks and four Stalls in Round House

 

You can see how I determined the size of the RH by fitting it in over 4 sections of track.  I made sure not to include my one section where I can drive on the TT and directly to this one section with a long consist of engine, coal tender, wrecking crane car and wrecking caboose.

The picture below shows how I had to cut out part of the rear of the RH to go over a switch machine housing.  It also shows I had make sure the RH did not get too close to the tracks.  It is a tight and custom fit.

 

Rear of Round House - wall over switch machine, Electrical connector (from 9 volt batteries) for RH lights right of switch

I assembled the RH with Elmer’s glue and added plywood angles to strength the wall to roof joints.  I painted the inside walls brown and the inside roof light gray to better illuminate the inside.  The outside of the roof was painted light gray, with a dusting of black paint to be dark dirt.  Then I installed the brick paper doing a good job around the windows.

The windows are made from clear plastic sheeting from boxes lids from toys or other heavier clear plastic.  The windows had panes made from black 1/16 inch auto pin striping on the inside.  The windows were glued on the inside with "Pliobond" rubber cement or contact cement.

Inside RH showing Roof and wall braces, windows and some lights

 

Picture showing double thick front wall and thicker bottom brace.  I painted the center of the tracks in the RH black to simulate a pit below the tracks to let workers work on the under side of the steam locomotives (shown in picture below).

 

I made RH stacks, with covers to keep rain out.  The stacks are to remove smoke for the steam engines.  Balsa wood was used to make the stacks.  I like the square style stacks better than round ones.  Rain covers for the stacks were made.   I also installed a ladder or two to get on the roof.  Ladders were made from N gauge railroad tie plastic strips with the rails removed and every other tie cut out with a pair of diagonal wire pliers and trimmed with a Xacto knife.

Ladder, stacks and Roof, and also emergency generator from Lionel searchlight car

  Close up photo of a Stack with cover and dust on top!

 

Lights were installed in the ceiling of the RH in two rows and are operated by a slide switch on the control panel.   I am big on night train operation with the room lights dark or dimmed and lots of controlled lights in all building, flood lights, street lights, yard lights, cars and engines, etc. 

See how the lights let the engines show up in the RH in a semi dark room

  Photo showing the balsa wood TT operator shack on TT bridge and view into RH.

Photo from outside into lighted up RH

 

Another neat photo of lighted RH in semi darkness, just to encourage you to build a TT and RH

I chose not to make doors for the front of the RH as I wanted to see the fronts of the locos inside and I would have had the doors open most of the time and they would just get in the view and way.

I love my round house and it is my favorite building on the layout and the most fun and satisfaction to build.

Charlie

This installment is of GREAT interest to me. My son and I have a similar roundhouse planned to use with an Atlas O turntable. Keep this great information coming. Your layout looks GREAT!

Randy,  Thanks for the gracious comments and I hope your round house building is as much fun to you all as I had.

I purchased a Marx Airport beacon at a recent train show for a few dollars.  It had a dished top beacon bulb and the rotating red and green lens beacon part.  I started to look for a place to put it on the layout.

I have an Lionel Airport beacon located on the main board near the round house.  I just installed it where it looked good and was out of the way years ago.

Well after a little searching I found out the beacon should be located near the airport as they were used by planes flying at night to help the pilot locate the airport at night.  So I decided to locate the new airport beacon near my small Plasticville airport.  I also decided the Marx airport beacon tower did not look as nice as an old Lionel airport beacon tower I had in the spare part box so I used the Lionel tower with the bulb and beacon lens from the Marx.

Notice the new to me Lionel 1862 4-4-0 General and tender with the homemade wooden cow catcher and cab I got at the fall TCA train show in Ponchatoula, LA.

Charlie

Here one I got from P51. Lee says the arrows we once saw on roofs of barns, businesses, etc. were visual guides for pilots before more elaborate navigation became common.

MNCW posted:

Hi Charlie,

  I had a question about your Marx switches since I'm not familiar with them. One the first page of this topic, you mentioned about inserting a nail/pin in the center rail section. I was wondering, when the switch moves doesn't that pin prevent the opening/closing of the switch or does the rail bend around the nail/pin to accommodate the pin being there? That's what it looks like is going on here, but maybe a video would show it better? 

Tom 

   Hopefully Charlie isn't working on answer yet...No the pins are to make up for the fact the curved point rail doesn't align nice when it becomes a center rail, and the straight point rail doesn't align nice as a curved center rail. A skinny or offset roller could fall off. 

 They act more like stops in thier position. Sinking them in the tube further open a gap ( a slight gap ensures full point closing on the lead points(not shown)

  I.e. those two pictures show the full point travel left to right. They dont move far because each rail changes orientation of common&variable as it moves. Your expecting them to travel further than they do becuse of other point types you are used to.

  Each point rail is isolated and changes rail orientation when a pilot rail attachment rivet arrives on either contact pad for a com or var. connection. 

  There is not frog or gap & guidrail. These are the smoothest conducting switches Ive ever used.  Creep over them with any loco, no issue. (Pingman just donated a pair to me. "McLovin' them" )

I also added one more pin deeply sunk into the short straight exit rail to close the gap that is needed for point swing clearance. The gap is wide and wheels were catching the straight rail. About 3/32" of exposed Marx pin tapered/rounded just slightly, not as much as a Lionel pin, stopped the wheels from picking at the blunt tube edge and climbing. I used Lionel pins on the usual center rails because the bullet head's taper allowed me to extend them further than the blunter Marx. (But since wraping pins precedes this, the smoother marx pin might provide less wear because of the Lionel notch on both ends. Even backwards the Marx single seating notch is thinner and shallower.  But in my case, the notch is actually below the point rail tops so may be overkill. It would take that "certain engine" and no pin to ever know if I truely needed it.)

Post 55   3/15/2019

Homemade Vanderbilt Tender

Post 56  3/18/2019

Small Engines Used on the Layout

A little eye candy for a slow forum day and a stormy day here.

There are several small engines operated on the layout.

Two are Dockside or tank switchers, 0-4-0 types.

The one below is MTH 840 Jersey Central dockside tank switcher.  This is a well made, heavy metal body and great running little engine, has couplings on front and back, by far my best small engine.

The second is a Lionel 8905 dc dockside tank switcher.  It is light weight, plastic and dc which I converted to ac by use of bridge rectifier.  Only runs in forward as I did not install a reversing switch while adding the rectifier.  I like that little smoke stack.

The  third one is a Lionel 520, boxcar electric locomotive from 1956-57.  It is well build and runs very well although it is rather boxy and plain looking.  It is missing the pantograph for the catenary wire on the roof.

It is fun to have a few small switchers to run and play with.

Charlie

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Post 56   Small Engines Used on the Layout

A little eye candy for a slow forum day and a stormy day here.

There are several small engines operated on the layout.

Two are Dockside switchers, 0-4-0 types.

The one below is MTH 840 Jersey Central dockside switcher.  This is a well made, heavy metal body and great running little engine, by far my best small engine.

 

Charlie

Hey Charlie, 

I have one of the MTH switchers, too. I could be wrong and I don't have it right in front of me right now, but isn't the boiler shell plastic? Either way, I like it, also. 

Tom 

MNCW posted:

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Post 56   Small Engines Used on the Layout

A little eye candy for a slow forum day and a stormy day here.

There are several small engines operated on the layout.

Two are Dockside switchers, 0-4-0 types.

The one below is MTH 840 Jersey Central dockside switcher.  This is a well made, heavy metal body and great running little engine, by far my best small engine.

 

Charlie

Hey Charlie, 

I have one of the MTH switchers, too. I could be wrong and I don't have it right in front of me right now, but isn't the boiler shell plastic? Either way, I like it, also. 

Tom 

MTH has not made any plastic boilers on its O gauge steamers. The Docksider is metal. All you have to do is check MTH’s product listings if you are ever in doubt about the composition of a locomotive.

https://mthtrains.com/30-1290-0

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Post 56   Small Engines Used on the Layout

A little eye candy for a slow forum day and a stormy day here.

There are several small engines operated on the layout.

Two are Dockside switchers, 0-4-0 types.

The one below is MTH 840 Jersey Central dockside switcher.  This is a well made, heavy metal body and great running little engine, by far my best small engine.

 

The second is a Lionel 8905 dc dockside switcher.  It is light weight, plastic and dc which I converted to ac by use of bridge rectifier.  Only runs in forward as did not install a reversing switch while adding the rectifier.  I like that little smoke stack.

 

The  third one is a Lionel 520, boxcar electric locomotive from 1956-57.  It is well build and runs very well although it is rather boxy and plane looking.

It is fun to have a few small switchers to run and play with.

Charlie

Very nice, Charlie. Those small switchers are fun to operate. 

Great post on the Vanderbilt tender. It really turned out terrific. 

That’s a nice example of the 520 box cab, but it needs a pantograph  that would help its ‘boring’ look.

Your 520 looks too nice to modify, but if I had one in rough shape, I’d be tempted to add directional headlights as well as a cab light inside. 

Thanks for sharing.

Here is a later 2016 video of the layout in operation.

I do not know why my videos show the trains running much faster than they were running.

Charlie

Post 57a   9/4/2019

Homemade Longer 6 Wheel Vanderbilt Tender

I got around to making a second longer 6 wheel trucks Vanderbilt Tender, marked up with decals as a Rock Island.  It is identical to the shorter Vanderbilt Tender except it is 1 inch longer and has six wheel trucks.

I cut up an old coal tender with the band saw.

Added 1 inch to the side bottom rails from the plastic from the not needed part of the CT and added pieces of tin to strengthen with J B Weld.

A bottom was made from a piece of sheet metal roofing bending the folds in a wood working 4 x 10 inch Columbia vise.

The water tank section was made from part of a 2 inch dia. mailing tube and decking and reinforcing was make from Popsicle sticks.  Dark red sealing was from 60 year old model airplane dope.

The crack between the coal pile and water tank was filled in with balsa wood.  A pair of six wheel Williams trucks, one with a coupling, were purchased years ago at a train show just for a large Vanderbilt coal tender.  The tank domed back is from a hair spay can bottom, ground off with a grinder.  See the back up light and hand grab ready for the ladder to come.

A back up light and ladder (made from N gauge track with every other tie cut out) and hand hold were added to give more detail.  The first shorter Vanderbilt CT also got new ladder and hand hold.  The CT was painted with Krylon semi gloss black spray can paint.

Decals were applied and sealed with clear spray paint.  The 50 year old decals had to be sprayed with clear before applying as they disintegrated in the  water.

The new longer 6 wheel Vanderbilt tender is only one inch longer than the first one and the same length of the longer Lionel 6 wheel CTs sold with longer engines.  The big boy CT sure makes the shorter one look stubbier.  The longer CT and the longer Lionel 2065 will not quit fit on my turntable so they get to stay on the layout cruising and pulling.

The new Vanderbilt coal tenders will get lots of action now as the are the "new, big thing" now on the layout.  It is time for them to shine.

Charlie

Charlie, this is my first time on this thread and I see its been going for several years.

I love your layout and this topic.

The layout looks great and must be a lot of fun to run. Your audience should be entertained when they see it.

I also like your economical approach to building your layout. When people see your layout and hear that it can be made without costing an arm and a leg, it gives many others hope that they can do it, and spreads the popularity of our hobby. Arnold

Arnold   Thank you for the kind comments.  Its hard to believe you have not visited this thread as you are always active and everywhere on OGR forum.

Post 57b

Medium Steam Engines Used on the Layout

I have reported on the small regular engines like the 2-4-2 type like the Lionel 247, 248, Marx 999, 333 and 666 at ( https://ogrforum.com/...a-027-layout?page=2, post 12).   Also included are 0-4-0 switchers.  Some had plastic bodies and some had metal.  I started operating these the first several years of the layout.  I needed at least four good steam engines as the original layout stared in 1977 had a homemade working turntable and had two loops wired for two trains per loop operation requiring at least four engines.

Next I added medium size engines to pull more cars or heavier cars.  These were the 2-6-4 engines like metal Lionel 2016, 2018 and 2026 and I needed at least four engines mentioned as above.  I ran these, starting around 1989, mostly for several years.  I have a Lionel 1666, 2-6-2, type II predecessor to the 2016.

I then moved up the heavier 2-6-2 Lionel 2025 and especially the 2-6-4 Lionel 2035 with Magna-Traction starting in 1998.  At least four steam engines are needed as above.   These last two are still my overall favorites and usually at least two are on the layout, pulling especially trains with several heavy operating cars.

Lionel 2026  2-6-4

Lionel 2018, 2-6-4

Lionel 2026  2-6-4

These have been my bread and butter engines for most of the first 35 years of the layout.
Marx 999, 666  2-4-2
Lionel 242   2-4-2 plastic
Lionel 2018, 2026  2-6-2

Lionel 2035  2-6-4  Magna-tracion

Charlie

Charlie, 

 You should be very happy with how both tenders came out. Both came out well and quite professional looking. Good to know you are getting your money's worth from the 60 year old model airplane dope. 

Tom 

Post 58  9/24/2019  Revised 11-20-2023

Large Steam Engines Used on the Layout and Fix to Lionel 2046 & 2025 Cast Rear Truck Derailments Causing Shorts

There are several sizes of steam engines I run on my O27 layout.

I have reported on the small regular engines like the 2-4-2 type like the Lionel 247, 248, Marx 999, 333 and 666.   Also included are 0-4-0 switchers.  Some had plastic bodies and some had metal.  I started operating these the first several years of the layout.

Next I added medium size engines to pull more cars or heavier cars.  These were the 2-6-4 engines like metal Lionel 2016, 2018 and 2026.  I ran these often for several years.  I then moved up the heavier Lionel 2025 and especially the Lionel 2035 with Magna-Traction.   These last two are still my favorites and usually at least two are on the layout, pulling especially trains with several heavy operating cars.

Recently I added and run small unique engines like Lionel 520 boxcar electric, and dock switches like Lionel 8905 and MTH 840.

I also have four larger engines that I run on the layout.  They are about as big as I can run on O27 track and they do well on it and my 27 Marx metal frog O27 switches and all miss the switch machine boxes.

The first one I purchased was a 6-8-6 Lionel 671, S-2 turbine.  The Lionel 671 is the same as the Lionel 2020 which was sold with O27 track.  My 671 is from the first year 1946, the one with the light bulb smoke generator, if you can call it a smoker.  It is lower geared than later years.  I doubt it will smoke and I do not have the tablets but I do not run smoke on any of my smokers so that is not a big deal with me.

The next one is a 4-6-4 Lionel 2065, a skinny Small Hudson with a Santa Fe boiler front and was designated good for O27.  It has Magna-Traction, neat illuminated marker lights and was built in 1954-56.  I have some long Lionel streamlined coal tenders and also have made a long Vanderbilt coal tender that look better with this long engine as well as the Lionel 2046 shown later.

/

I found another 4-6-4, a Lionel 2046, type II, 1953, Small Hudson with Magna-Traction.  It was also rated as good for O27 track.  I also bought a Lionel 6 wheel truck long streamline coal tender at the same time.

The latest larger steam locomotive is a 2-8-4 Lionel Berkshire 756, that was part of a Nickel Plate Road train set with sound coal tender, several cars and a smoking 406 caboose complete with a small 80 watt transformer, O31 track and two Lionel track switches.  When I run it with the sound coal tender on it scares our 1 year old puppy dog!

Three large steamer locomotives - The two in front, the 2046 and 2065 are shown with a homemade Vanderbilt, 6 wheel tender and a Lionel streamlined 6 wheel tender, both are long tenders.

Small Hudson's - The skinnier Lionel 2065 on left and the Lionel 2046 on the right.  How about those lighted marker lights on the 2065 loco?

Small Hudson's with long 6 wheel truck coal tenders

Problem and Fix with Rear Cast Trucks Shorting Out on Derailments of Lionel 2046, 1666 and and some 2025

It was determined that the cast metal rear trucks on Lionel 2046, 2025 and 1666 short out on derailing tripping transformer circuit breaker.  I my case the derailment occurred when I put the 2046 engine on the tracks and the rear truck wheels were not all on the rail.  These three engines rear truck has a metal bar behind the last set of wheels that most Lionel engines do not have.

Evidence of short outs is shown below on metal bar edge of Lionel 2046 rear truck.   The marks on the metal bar are from shorting out and sparking when one of wheels is off the outer rail allowing the bar to contact the center rail.

Position of Rear Truck Shorting out on Derailment when one wheel is off the outer  rail.        ( Photo shows the Tape Applied)

Evidence of short outs is shown below on metal bar edge of Lionel 2025 rear truck

The Fix to the Rear Trucks Shorting on Derailments Below

Edges of metal bar on the Cast Rear Trucks were painted with 3 coats of Clear Top Coat Finger Nail Polish and the a Piece of Electrical Tape was applied shown in Black below.

I think I will start running my larger engines more often.  They pull very well and look great with longer trains.

Charlie

Choo Choo Charlie,

This is a beautiful layout. Thank you for sharing. If takes us all back to the fifties and sixties. Very well done. 

TNCENTRR

Thanks for the kind comments.  The layout is still providing fun, still improving and running after 40 years.  I never thought it would last that long.  My brother and I tired of out childhood layout after three or four years of holiday operation.

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

What can you tell us about your backdrop?  I think the buildings are a perfect style for a toy train layout.  I really like how the buildings in the distance are begining to fade, a realistic effect even with a cartoonish style.  At what point did you add this feature?  Did you paint it?  How is it fixed to the table?  Thanks!

This is a really great thread!  I loved the Vanderbilt tenders and the roundhouse.  I also use the Marx switches with my O27 and like them for occasionally running the 6" Marx cars (they don't behave with Lionel switches).

Keep up the good work

Post 59     2/3/2020

New Engine - Lionel 561, 0-8-0 Switcher

It is a new year, 2020,  and the high scoring LSU football Tigers are the new National Champs in NCAA football for 2019 season.  None of us saw this 15-0 season coming and all the awards many players received including the Heisman for QB Joe Burrow.  Who would have thought that getting a NO Saints Asst. coach to put in a 5 receivers passing attack and a graduate transfer QB (he said before the season they would score 40 or 50 are maybe 60 points some games) would be this good, with some saying it was the GOAT team (Greatest Of All Time).  Trains have been on the back burners the last two months.

I recently picked up a Lionel 561, 0-8-0 engine and coal tender on eBay.  It came with a detached head light and a loose step from the coal tender, broken in shipping, and I was fairly compensated by the seller and both parts were JB Welded back on.  The whistle does not work in the Coal Tender but it may be the diodes in my LW transformers.   I was looking for a Lionel 0-6-0 switcher but found this at a bargain.    I have had a couple 0-4-0 switchers for several years.

The 561, 0-8-0 has been derailing on a 5 or so of my 29 Marx 1590 switches.  The derailments seem to occur when going into the curve on the switch.  I believe the issue of derailing on real trains lead to putting a pair or more wheels in front of the driving wheels or make this a 2-8-0 engine.  I have fixed most of them by bending the frog flange to be closer to the rail.  My 2-8-4 Lionel Berkshire 756 runs through the Marx 1590s switches without issues.

I bent the curved rail end to the left shown below.  The part bent is on the bottom of picture and touches the straight outside rail on the bottom.

The 0-8-0,  561 comes with a dummy front coupling.  I had a Lionel truck with an operating coupler that had a cracked frame.  I cut the operating coupling off the frame and installed it in place of the dummy coupling.  It was an easy job.  I like my switchers to have operating couplers in rear and front.  The  561 is a good switcher and runs very slow with a DC motor and good electronic reversing e-unit.

Its Coal Tender is boxy, and has a raised part of the coal tender.

The picture above is shot of Lionel 561, 0-8-0 and tender with a sneak preview of the new homemade Life Savers tank car coming soon.

Charlie

Nice looking layout! 

JD2035RR posted:

Hi Charlie,

What can you tell us about your backdrop?  I think the buildings are a perfect style for a toy train layout.  I really like how the buildings in the distance are begining to fade, a realistic effect even with a cartoonish style.  At what point did you add this feature?  Did you paint it?  How is it fixed to the table?  Thanks!

JD  Thanks for the question.  I have not seen your question until today.  The details on the background are on page 2 of this topic, post 18, dated 8-12-2016 titled Backdrop for Layout on Floor.  I am no artist but knew the details in the distance are hazy or fuzzy compared to closer details plus it makes it easier to paint with only sharp details in the closer buildings.

I have added a few more pictures and details today to that post.

Charlie

POST 60   2/9/2020

Homemade Lionel Style Life Savers Double Dome Tank Car

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

POST 60   Homemade Lionel 9278 Life Savers Dome Tank Car

After looking for a reasonable or inexpensive Lionel 9278 Life Savers Tank Car (they are rather hard to find and I have never seen one at a train show) I decided to make one.   They are whimsical and very colorful and always caught my attention.  I do not know what Mars- Wrigley Co., the present maker of Life Savers five flavors hard candy, would transport in a Tank Car.

 

Lionel Lifesaver Single Dome Tank Car you can purchase

I had three double dome tank car bodies and frames, unmarked and looks exactly like the Lionel two dome tank cars.  I know Lionel used a single dome tank car for their Life Savers car, so I figured a double dome car would work.  If they transported the makings for the five flavors, perhaps they needed  five dome tank cars!

I chose a tank car body that had a sizable chip missing on one side walkway.  I decided to remove the two side walkways as this would make adding the multiple colored strips, by paint or colored tape,  much easier.  I ground the walkways off with a Dremel grinding bit, small file and knife and puttied it smooth.  The center hand rail bracket was also removed as this spot is where the “Life Savers” name label would go.

 

The ends of the car and domes were spray painted with aluminum paint. 

 

The colored stripes can be masked off and painted or colored vinyl tape can be used.  I thought the colored vinyl tape would be easier to do but either way will be a chore.  The colors of the stripes should represent five Life Savers flavors which are currently Cherry, Raspberry, Watermelon, Orange and Pineapple.  I purchased a couple of rolls of Life Savers, 5 flavors finally finding them at a Cracker Barrel restaurant  and planned on using the package label for my car Life Savers logo label.  I had problems figuring out which flavors represent which colors on the package so I chose the colors as red, green, yellow, orange and cherry or grape.  I had colored tape from a package of six colors, which included red, green, yellow and white.  I had some acrylic orange paint and made a purple or maroon color from red and a little blue paint and painted strips of white tape to make orange and purple stripes.

I decided strips of 5/16 inch width would look good and give four sets or so of five colors.  I saw the Lionel 9278 Life Saver single dome tank car started with the same order of colored strips from each end and then had to repeat a color or two to make them meet in the middle.  The single dome car has a substantial railing and ladders at the middle of the car.  My double dome tank car will have an open visible middle and walk way and ladders at the dome, nearer the end of the car.  I decided to start the color sequence at one end and repeat it order to the other end.  I was two colors short of finishing the last two colors on the last sequence.  I arranged the colors sequence to use more of the pre-colored tape and less of the two painted colors.  Cutting the tape around the domes was tedious and the tape was old and had to be glued on in some cases.  I found E 6000 clear glue would melt the vinyl tape and I had to use some old auto vinyl trim glue I had to glue it on.

 

The picture below shows the painted and other colored vinyl tape on the right and the car partially striped.  I removed these strips to allow removal of the hand rail anchor as it was in the way of the "Life Savers" logo label to be attached  and decided to start the striping from the end.

 

The Life Savers wrapper from the Life Savers tubular package was removed and sprayed with clear spray paint on both sides twice to keep glue from affecting them.  The logo labels were cut out and glued on with auto vinyl trim glue.

I decided to make one short walkway at each dome and install them on opposite sides and use one ladder for each to allow access from both sides of the car.  I made them out of Popsicle sticks and glued them on with J B Weld.  I made a walk way between the two domes so that an operator can climb one ladder and reach both domes.  I added plastic window screen on the top of the Popsicle walk ways to simulate grading. 

 

I made two ladders out of N scale plastic track ties and cut out every other tie to give one foot distant between each rung.  The ladders and walk ways were painted aluminum.

I added a pair of Lionel trucks to the car frame and screwed the tank car shell to the car frame.  I then glued the ladders on between the short walk ways and the car frame with a little auto vinyl trim glue as they will have to be removed if the car tank body has to be removed from the frame in the future.

 

 

This picture shows my homemade large Vanderbilt coal tender, Lionel 6413 Mercury Capsule transporting car, flat car with two small General engines, Aquarium Car and the Lionel Life Savers Tank Car

 

My new homemade Life Savers Double Dome Tank Car is my most favorite car.  I always say that about my latest homemade car or latest train meet find.  I do know this Life Savers tank car is the car that really stands out on any train consist it is in.

 

Charlie

Very nice work. You really should post this on a separate thread so everybody can see the nice work you did on it. I was able to picked this one up at the train show in West Springfield a few weeks ago for $10.   It's in pretty good shape.  Had a little rust that I had to clean off on two of the wheels.  Personally, I think they could have got a little more for it.  I would say yours looks every bit as good as the original!