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

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Boomer and fellows, thanks for the comments.  Boomer, I am not the quality of modeler they look for magazines.

I have been following Hurricane Harvey today (8-25-2017) and tonight.  I still have friends in Port Lavaca and Victoria, TX.  This one looks average in wind and heavy in rain.  We had Hurricane Carla hit right over Port Lavaca in l961 with winds above 175 mph.  It blew some of the roof off our house.  We went to Austin but my father stayed at the ALCOA plant (at Pt. Comfort, 6 miles over the causeway from Port Lavaca) since he was Hurricane Coordinator.  They  were all safe.  Please pray for those affected that they and their homes survive.

JD, have had the idea to automate the cheap Lionel Log Loader for over 30 years.  I would simply come up with a way to use a solenoid to trip a gate and let the logs roll.   Maybe some day, meanwhile I have that to look forward to.  In the post after next I will outline why I might speed that up.

Charlie

Charlie,A large amount of the layouts in "that other magazine" were built by professionals and not the work of the owner. The wonderful thing I see in your layout is that you don't need to spend a lot of money to have a great layout. Your thread should be required reading for anyone who is not sure they can afford the hobby. Thanks for sharing your layout!

I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for your posts. I had all but given up on model railroading, but since I followed this topic, I have been periodically getting emails of posts from this thread. I've been inspired once again, and I'm now working on getting my own layout going. Thank you for your time and inspiration.

Post 42  8/31/2017

Popular Trains Run on the Layout - Operating Car Train  (5th Post, Gondola or Coal Dumping Car)

Operating Car Train car The Gondola (or Coal Dumping car)

The gondola car servers many purposes such as receiving barrels from the Lionel 362 barrel loader in lieu of the Lionel 3556 Barrel unloading car, oil drums from the Am Flyer 379 Oil Drum Loader, dumping logs to the Lionel 464 Saw Mill (Coal Dumping Car), containers and scrape iron from the Lionel 12834 Gantry Crane and even coal from the scratch built operating coal mine in lieu of a coal hopper car.  You can see these simple cars provide a high level of operating action.

PS:   Next post will outline how I automated the Manual Lionel 6-12774 Lumber Log Loader

Gondola at rear of Operating Car Train

Am Flyer 379 Oil Drum Loader  in action, Gondola car is a must for the 379

Lionel 12834 Gantry Crane require a car like the Gondola to carry the load.

PS  A final note of gondola cars.  In late 2022 I found out about covered gondolas and made a cover for gondola cars ( page 8, post 82 of 12-22-2022).  The cover gives another use for the gantry crane, removing and installing the cover on a gondola !

The magnet of the Lionel Gantry Crane can be used to pick up or lower the with a  small steel washer and cables, with hooks on the cover. The cover can then be removed or installed on top of any 8 inch gondola rail car.

Charlie

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

PS:   Next post will outline how I automated the Manual Lionel 6-12774 Lumber Log Loader.

Looking forward to this one!  

I agree with you that there is a lot of play value in a simple gondola.  

JD

JD Thanks for the reply.  Working on installing the automated log loader, already built and working. 

Charlie

Post 43  9/4/2017  edited 3-29-2023, 5-16-2024

Automating the Manual Lionel 6-12774 Lumber Log Loader Building to allow moving logs from Mountain to Lionel 464 Lumber Mill (revised 3-29-2023).  The lumber Mill then saws the log into lumber thus combining two accessories, Log Loader, Log car and Lumber mill makes Lumber.

Lionel Log Dumping car, a 9303 or 3451 are too low to be used to discharge logs to my Lionel 464 Lumber Mill log feeding platform.  Both 027 track and Lumber Mill are at grade.  I have found a Lionel Coal Dumping car, 9304 or 16600 are high enough and can be used to dump logs to the Lionel 464 Lionel Lumber Mill loading deck.  Maybe not realistic but workable on my layout!

Later I found if extended the support arms of a Lionel 9300 log dumping car it could also receiver logs from the log dumper and dump logs to the saw mill.  I used about 5/8 inch of 1/4 inch OD aquarium bubblier vinyl clear tubing which can seen on the left center below.  The vinyl tubing also keeps the logs from jumping off the  dump arm when the logs are dumped onto the car.

The fact I can now discharge logs from a coal car to the Lionel 464 Lumber Mill makes me more interested in automating my manual Lionel 6-12774 Lumber /Log Loader.  This will allow loading logs from my wooded mountain, in a car and unloading the logs on to the feed platform of the Lionel 464 Lumber Mill and then sawing the logs into lumber with the saw mill for double action tasks utilizing two accessories.

The small Lionel 6-12774 Log Loader Building fits well adjacent to my mountain, next to my automated coal mine.  The coal mine was kitbashed from a Bachmann, Coal Station 1975, on page 2, in Post 15 here.  I think the loggers on my mountain drag, roll or haul the logs to the Log Loader from the mountain so space is not needed to transport the logs from grade to be loaded into a car like the fancier Lionel 164 and 364 Log Loaders.

Well, with the rainy weather from Hurricane Harvey I had some inside time to automate the Lionel 6-12774 log loader.

The first task was to glue the Log Loader Building kit building together and reinforce the building shell with corner braces and more plastic on the flimsy front where the logs are stored.  I will use the small wooden logs from the Lionel 464 Saw Mill instead of the cheap hollow plastic logs that came with the log loader kit.

Next I added some reinforcing beams on the legs holing the log loader building to take the wobble out.  The building will be heavier now with an automation mechanism.  I used hard balsa wood and 5 min epoxy glue.

I had a Radio Shack 12 VDC solenoid on hand from a long time ago.  I added a Radio Shack 4 amp full wave bridge rectifier to change it to 12 VAC operation.   I doubt if RS has them anymore but junk O gauge switches have two 12 VAC solenoids that one could possibly use for this purpose and eBay has similar solenoids from China.

The next issue to figure out is how to make the solenoid dump the logs.  The original tilted the bottom of the building to let the log roll out.  I lost the device that came with the kit to make the logs dump.   All that is needed is a way to knock out a prop that keep the floor and logs from rolling out.  The prop is used to flatten the tilt of the log table to hold the logs.  The prop must be knocked out to let the bottom tilt.  I decided to make a tilting prop mechanism from a small hinge.  Since I did not have one, I made a hinge out of two small pieces of pipe strap.

Picture of the homemade hinge

The hinge will be straightened out with a pull on a short piece of string and the logs will be loaded by removing the roof.

The solenoid would just pull another string, on the top half of the hinge, when activated. That will jerk out the top half of the hinge to the dump logs.

Picture showing solenoid and hinge in up position, J B Weld was used to hold the solenoid and hinge in the building;  the white cord is keep solenoid piston from coming out.

The roof was glued together and bracing added to hold the roof angle as it will be removed and reinstalled often.

Picture shows cord to reset the hinge prop to UP position

Picture:  Note braces in corners and 1/2 inch black base foundation added to bottom feet due car being too high to dump into.

I added flood lights to the corners of the log loader building to illuminate the car being loaded and the inside of the building.  Mini Christmas tree lights and sockets were used with aluminum flashing for reflectors.  I used two 7 v bulbs in series to lengthen bulb life with 12 v lighting transformer.  Adjusting the amount of bulb sticking in the building allows some light to stay in building.  The Log Loader is not anchored down to allow moving to be the proper distance from the Log Loader to the railcar to be loaded.

I added some light weight card board to the log tilting rack to keep light from going to bottom of the bottom exposed log loader building.

Video of operation is above or or go to the Youtube link below as my videos sometimes do not work on OGR Forum !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be

Converting the manual Log Loader Building to be automatic and remotely operated is an easy job, and the Log Loader Building is easy to reset and load and works every time.

This is a much cheaper and less space consuming log loader than the Lionel 164 or Lionel 364 log loaders but these two will take logs after being dumped from a log dumping car at grade and raising they via chain lift or up a ramp by belt to be dumped into another car.

Charlie

Charlie,

  Good stuff. Thank goodness for JB Weld! I really like the look of the building with the lights on each end. 

Tom 

Thanks for the response.  I like flood lights especially for operating accessories and cars in low light.  Just figured out I need to add more light around the gantry crane to see where we are dropping canisters in gondolas.

Working on the automated log loader got me looking in to the coal mine dumping system.   Recently (Sept 2017) the log loader was not dumping.  Turns out a plot of piston distance from the magnet shows the most pulling power is when the piston is 1/16 to 1/8 inch out.  The piston was much more out from the magnet so I had to modify by adding about 1/16 inch wood to the sloped part to make the trigger pull when about 1/16 inch out.  That fixed it. 

Charlie

Hello

I have updated Page 2, post 15 on the Coal Mine automation post to increase the power of the solenoid that opens the coal gate.

I have also added a picture of the homemade hinge on Page 5, post 43 (last post above) on Automating the Manual Lionel 6-12774 Lumber Log Loader.

Charlie

Your "indexing" your edits is very considerate. Thank you for that.

  Why not a light on the bottom of the gantry's crane platform or one on each corner? And didn't Marx have a crane car with a flood spot for the boom? (migbt be AF..?) . I'm taking my cue from night shots of an intermodel beam crane that had ligbts on the underside of the cabin and at each end.

  Being to scale is not much of a concern for me, and my local RS is gone, so I picked up some of these l.e.d. mini reading lamps at The Dollar Store™. Two styles, both 3v, the one on the right has a better current tolorance though. 

I'll post a shot soon, got an issue, dogs elbow is bloody...gotta go.

Ok, an ingrown hair or skin tag, but she is fine till the vets.(140lbs)(extra attachment below) But my new carpet is toast.

..the lights. The one on the left is wired to run off the transfomer 5v with a tiny bridge rectifier, resistor, and capacitor to stop pulsing and flicker. The one on the right is still on button cell battery power. Also they are 4.5v not 3v; (I was sidetracked) The one on the right has better current handling.

A little large, but if not next to figures and vehicles, do the trick for me at a buck each. Base comes off, arms have screws or pins that can be pulled and the arm tilts can be adjusted.

  If you search for a good vending/game supplier you will have a grand selection of solinoids to pick from. I'd make a suggestion but haven't been up to date on who is who in many years now. (If you ever get bored or need it, I bet you'd be a natural at vending/game repair. The variety keeps it "fresh" too)

Grainger had a lot of solenoids too.(seldom cheap, but good quality. one solinoid I used most often was actually cheapest there)

Fyi, that solinoid might be on its way out. Changes in performance aren't a good sign; real hard to say though, might be the rod has magnetized some. Time will tell.

(Updates have affected the ability to compose again. Most errors youyoull see for the next few days/weeks are googles errors, not ours fyi. Im not fixing anymore)

Post 44a   9/9/2017   Revised 5-27-2024

Common Trains Run on the Layout - Passenger Trains -

One of the first buildings installed on the layout was a Plasticville Passenger Union Station.  I usually have at least one passenger train on the layout.

Early on when I started with a few Marx and Lionel engines a set of Marx’s Santa Fe 3152 and 3197 tin passengers cars (10” long) found me for a reasonable $10 for three cars.  Lionel 2400 series cars were going for $25-35 per car back in the 1970s. 

I added lights and a power pickup (made from Brass shim stock) to the observation car and added a Lionel coupler to a coach car to allow both Marx and Lionel coal tenders to pull the set.

.

I put together a set of Lionel 027, 2400 passenger cars (11” long) from finding bodies and buying roofs, domes and window with silhouettes.   

I make the base frames from sheet metal and added wheels and couplings making the electric pick - ups.  I cut the couplings off the short trucks and bolted the coupling to the body as I did not have the extended passenger couplings.  I have made two Lionel series 2400 sets.

A 4 car set of Lionel 027 Santa Fe 16000 (same size as 2400) cars (#16060) were also picked up.

Later I found a three car set of Lionel O27 Baby Madison 9500 series “The Milwaukee Road” passenger cars (12” long)(in front).  A second observation car was found too.  General 9541 Railway Express Agency Cars on rear train in picture.

I had a people set of US Presidents and made a ”IKE” lighted drum head sign and installed President Eisenhower and VP Nixon figures campaigning on the observation cars platform at the end.

I also run the Lionel General 1862 or 8005 with two Lionel 9541 Santa Fe Railway Agency Express Passenger cars (11" long).  One came with lighted interior and the other was from a cheaper Lionel 8005 General set without lights.  I added lights and homemade light pickups.  I have yet to get some General Passenger cars.

Here are two smaller train depots or stations on my layout.  The first is a Plasticville station behind Main Street buildings, in an industrial area with red stripped Lionel Santa Fe 16000s.

A small Plasticville Depot across the tracks from Main Street with Lionel Santa Fe 16000s.

Passenger cars that are 12” long or shorter look the best, with minimum overhang, on my sharp 027 curves.

Finally a video of three passenger cars running. added 5-27-2024

Charlie

Post 44b   Common Trains Run on the Layout - Giraffe Cars and Train - The most Popular Cars on the layout  (revised 1-26-2024)

The Lionel 3376 Giraffe Car is by far the most popular car run on the layout.  People of all ages love them especially when I run all 5 cars in row and operate them where the can duck through a tunnel, mountain  and another tunnel.  When I saw one operate at a train show I had to have some and accumulated 5 to date, many made from used car bodies and purchased giraffes mechanisms.         Giraffe cars and giraffe trains are way more fun if they duck for a bridge, tunnel or other obstruction in place of the Lionel Tell tail that comes with the car.  Bridges or tunnels give the giraffe a real reason to duck and un-duck his head and neck !  Later I will show how to make triggers to duck the giraffe for more realist operation and longer ducks.

A trigger is shown below by the trigger lever at the bottom of the giraffe car below

Ducked and Not Ducked Giraffe cars

Maximize Videos for Best View

Slower train and a lazy Giraffe

Picture below:  I made the triggers, along the rails, from some junk slats from old wooden shutters.  I had to slide the black metal section further out on the yellow plastic trigger, to allow more space between the rail and the trigger so the valve gear of my Lionel 2025 and 2035 engines miss the trigger.   You can see the wear on the trigger from the 2035 valve gear and the slots on the screws used to hold the rail down for adjustments.  The total length is that of the bridge, maybe 24 inches.

I am big into giraffe cars.  A string of 5 looks good ducking in sequence and the kids love them.  I have triggers at two bridges, a past through building and a two tunnels in my mountain, all for counter clockwise operation, my favorite.

Charlie

Post 45   9/21/2017

Common Trains Run on the Layout – The Christmas Train

My Christmas train usually consists of a Lionel 627, 44 ton red diesel, Lionel 36743 Operating Santa Claus Bobbing Head Box car, two flat cars with Santa’s reindeer including Rudolph and one flat car with two reindeer and Santa’s sled and the fat man himself, a “CANDY” labeled gondola with Christmas Candy Canes, and a Lionel 26527 Christmas Work Caboose with Christmas gifts.

I added a Santa, sled and 8 reindeer plus Rudolph, the red nosed reindeer, to my Christmas train.  I made the reindeer cars from three junker Scout sized flat cars and figures and reindeer from a Hallmark Cards Santa, Sled and Reindeer set.  I painted the flat cars white as reindeer like snow and will show up better with a light color.

One car carried the Santa sled and two reindeer, a second car carried four reindeer and third car carried two reindeer and Rudolph, the red nosed reindeer, with a flashing red nose.  The reindeer's feet were simply glued to the flat cars with 5 min epoxy glue.

The original Hallmark Cards Santa sled was too big so a smaller one was made from balsa wood and sized for Hallmark Cards Santa.

A blinking red light was installed in Rudolf’s nose and a power pick up was added to the car.

The Christmas Train is usually stationed on the hidden track behind the background and comes out by surprise for the kids after watching the trains run for a few minutes.  They all love the Christmas Train, Santa and the reindeer and of course the Christmas candy canes in the gondola!

Charlie

Charlie, Nice work once again. I would imagine you stop the train to allow candy unloading by the youngsters? 

My wife has a small, inexpensive necklace that is battery powered that looks something like this... http://www.partycity.com/produ...ce+17in+x+1+3-4in.do 

...If you want to string it on your reindeer or on the engine...just trying to add to your already festive mood. 

Tom 

Tom

Thanks for the reply.  The Christmas season and Christmas Train are two of my favorite times and train.  We get lots of train action during the Christmas season.

Charlie

That's about the only time I run my Penn Cen. log car, Burl. & BN gondolas. The bright green is just too much without the red, and very Christmas-y with any, lol.

A sleigh team would be neat on its own behind a pusher with that red nose out front...Hhmmm...might need weights, but..hhmmm

Post 46

Common Trains Run on the Layout - General 4-4-0 Engines and Train

A General 4-4-0 train is also operated.  Often a Lionel horse car or Outlaw shooter car, a Lionel 3370 Outlaw and Sheriff car, a homemade gold bullion car and an 1800’s period baggage/mail /passenger cars are pulled.

I also pull my homemade lighted Gold Bullion car for the sheriff to guard, shown here as the silver car.

For a long time I ignored the Civil War and missile/space trains and cars.  I thought they tended to be plasticity, flimsy and troublesome to operate.  In the last three years I warmed up to them and some reasonable priced items were found.

The first General 4-4-0 was a General Lionel 1862 engine and coal tender with a chip out of roof and a Lionel 9541 Santa Fe Railway Agency Express Passenger car.  The roof was repaired and painted.

The second General 4-4-0 obtained was a cheap Lionel General 4-4-0, 8005 dc powered set with coal tender and Lionel 9541 Santa Fe Railway Agency Express Passenger car.  I added a full wave rectifier and changed the Lionel 8005 to ac operation although in one direction.  A dpdt slide selector switch, with power to the center poles and X wiring between the two out side poles, was added for manual reversal.  The engine was dressed up with gold stripping, a lighted head light and painting all red engine black for the boiler and stack.

A fuzzy picture of Lionel 8005 before painting and dressing up!

The Lionel 8005 was painted, along with the red and silver front wheels and painted domes.  The body and stack were painted Black.  Gold stripping from a greeting card was added to dress up.  Much more beautiful !

Now that I have two Lionel General 4-4-0 locos I can simulate The Great Locomotive Chase of the Civil War between the General and the Texas.  The Disney movie “The Great Locomotive Chase” is a good train movie to watch and the kids will enjoy it too.

Charlie

  Such good taste! I recall you working on the black one. Did you use the hand rails to run power to the light like the originals? 

   The Wells Fargo 3370 is nearly always behind one of my Generals too. I recall opening the gift wrap on it vividly. I asked for one for years. 

I have an old RR Association (which?) comic book of the chase & this booklet from L&N. I can try to get better shots of each page if you'd like.

(bad focus, I'll try again soon)

It's very hard to do, but is possible to derail, roll, and have a handrail short on an adjacent tracks. I've seen two PW with melted stanchions and cab from the shorted handrails heat.

And thnks to your Fort Knox "kitbash" I have an idea! I hope to share soon

EDIT:  the group of men was the surviving raiders in the 20s

Adriatic, Whaat? I never had a 4-4-0...so, you are saying power to the headlight went through the handrail? If true, very interesting. I had never heard that before. 

Tom 

  Yep, on post war era Generals, power hits the smoke restor and light via handrails.  The smoke piston is horizontal, and it's cylinder is the narrowest portion of the boiler, up front. So i.e., there is no room for wires inside; and underneath then forward then up, would have needed fine wire, too fine for smoke, and even fine, would also still be exposed and in sight. 

They are not the easiest locos to work on. The can motor units are easier to deal with, and adding weight to either helps a lot. They are not great pullers when light and magnetration was great addition when there.

By mpc at least that was changed for the pulmore, but I don't know when. I'm just thinking now that mine arent connected in the cab anymore either.(and they are not) I think now hot goes up via bushed connection to the copper strip shown under the headlight; a reworking of the same parts really.

They still look live via this lights live metal bracket and its power delivery strips; but the cab's connection plate on the cab wall, isn't there to hit when the handrail comes in. 

The L&N booklet about the railroad chase was included in the boxed 1862 sets and is the hardest item to find to make your boxed set complete.

Don

Post 47  10/9/2017

Common Trains Run on the Layout - Wrecking Trains

A wrecking crane car and wrecking caboose are always occupying the track around the turntable that allows a switcher engine to pull it from the spur track, across the TT and go into action when a train wreck occurs.  This is a quick response train.

I like the Lionel 8516, O-4-O switcher, it is good runner.  It is usually in one of the Round House stalls ready to go.

This wrecking caboose had a working search light and pickup added.

I also use the Lionel 8310, O-4-O switcher, older to me.

And the even older to me, Marx 400, O-4-O switcher.

A Lionel 8111 NW-2 switcher is also available to pull the Wrecking Train.

Charlie

  Always such good taste Charlie.  My DT&I work train shares a designated room with a Virginian, but has its own track except for one wall. The caboose and cribbing are pulling Halloween duty. It has a can motor frame at the moment so another unit can pull more cars. The DT&I  original chassis now sports an early F-units motor with really great magnetraction, the can motor U.S.C.G. engine needed it more   

  I just couldnt find a Burro crane I liked for a good price; I hadn't found a six axle Bucyrus crane yet either; and wasn't to interested with being correct...or waiting.  But later, I did find a mini cranes DT&I number in a photo. I broke out the sharpie again and adopted  the number.

 I excpected to need a 6 wheel truck, but this actally does great with or without the aluminum boom supported by the next car, though it guides the booms swing well when supported ; not tippy. I bashed in a second coupler and it can lead for a heavy train wthout worry.

Reaching up isn't happening well today, best I can do. 

Post 48   10/19/2017          revised 9-19-2023

Common Trains Run on the Layout – Maintenance Train and Homemade Track Cleaning Car

A track maintenance train is run when problems occur with the layout track, switches and signals.

The first car is a box car used for as a sleeping car with cots until a Bunk car is purchased or made.

The next car is a Lionel 6142 gondola with tie ballast and a back hoe.  The gravel load was made from a piece of Styrofoam with fine roofing granules glued on with Elmer's white glue.   Then next is a red and yellow Lionel 6812 Track Maintenance car.

A Lionel EMD GM 19825 motor generator and air compressor car is next in line.  My used car did not come with side doors but I like seeing the generator I added.  You have to take my word for it that the car has an air compressor !

Following next is a Marx NYC 5590 Crane car and Lionel DL&W 6419 work caboose with search light.  Often a flat car with rails or ties will be in the train also.

A Real Layout Maintenance Car - A Homemade Centerline style Track Cleaning Car  (revised 9-19-2023)

UPDATE:  Since this was authored NO OX ID track treatment has been applied to the layout track and Track Cleaning has been eliminated and the need for a track a cleaning car eliminated.  See page 5, post 48 on How I  applied NO OX ID to my 027 track and eliminate track cleaning and improve train operation especially at slow speeds.  Tracks have not needed to be cleaned since 12-2021.

Here are some of details of my Homemade Centerline Track Cleaning Car, a $3 to $4 version of the brass Centerline, O gauge track cleaning car and it works super.

Another Track Maintenance Car - Lionel 5511 Tie-jector Motorized Operating

A Tie-Jector Lionel 5511 car can be dispatched if ties must be replaced.  This is a great running motorized car that really throws out the ties.  Only gripe is forward only operation.  Small stakes must be placed along the track to trigger the injection of the ties.

The  picture below shows a slot behind the engineer.  Later issues of the Tie-jector had this slot added as heat from the motor was melting the car housing section under the ties.  I cut a slot in mine and added some aluminum foil, held up with clear silicone caulking, above the motor to shield the housing from heat.

Charlie

Post 49   11/24/2017

Finds at TCA Train show in Ponchatoula, LA in November 2017

Been busy with Holidays and grand kids running trains.  Also have been installing a larger LED TV in the train room.  Here are a few pictures of the latest finds at the November 2017 TCA train show in Pontchatoula, LA

Third General and this one smokes.  It is a Lionel 8004 (1980-82) Rock Island and Peoria, Marron with a good motor and 3 way E unit.

For some reason I always liked the yellow feather box car and finally found one.  It has the operating door with the little blue man looking out.

Charlie

Hi Charlie,

  Somehow, I missed your previous post. I have one of those Tie-jectors, too. Very nice piece. 

  Regarding your air compressor car, You said, "You have to take my word for it that the car has an air compressor." Yes, I think we can let you slide on that! 

  On your new post, nice haul you have there. I especially like your Western Pacific boxcar and your green dump car. I never noticed it came in green. Pretty nice looking. Do they both work or do you need to fix anything? 

Tom 

  Ooooo shiny object! 

It only holds a few drops, easy to drown it and have to wait for it to smoke too

  Mine both also think Protosmoke is too thick and so might not smoke for days after a refill with it. 

I not knocking them, though;  love them.

Tom

The General needed a chipped roof corner glued back on.  At least this time I got the part.  My General 1862 0-4-4 had a missing corner of the roof too and I had to make one.

The Yellow Feather car operating plunger and shaft was missing.  I had another operating door car and switched the Yellow Feather shell to it.  I can make a plunger and shaft for the other operating door car but it is orange and I have another one.

I like to get train gear with defects for a lower price that I can fix!  I am an operator and collect to have trains to run and do not pay top dollar for trains in like new condition.

Thanks for the replies to all.

Charlie

I just browsed through the entire thread.  I love your layout and ingenuity.  Some of the videos will not play and one that has a link to Youtube was missing when the link came up.  Do you have a Youtube channel ?

Dan

Thank you for the kind comments.  I have problems getting the forum site to play my videos but it does great with pictures.  That is why I usually also link to YouTube for videos ( I thought I had gone back and added YouTube links to my failed forum video posts).

I have a YouTube account and usually one can see other YouTube posts if they get on one of the videos.

I have not added videos to YouTube in several years and have plans to make some newer higher definition videos this winter.

Note:  I have found out my Firefox browser will not play HD videos and have started using Chrome for HD videos on OGR forum.  2021

The following is a link to one my more popular videos of a few years ago that may lead to a couple more of my limited videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQJRxSNqvLk

Charlie

Thanks Charlie.  I've just subscribed to your channel.

Post 50   12/28/2020

Layout on Christmas 2017

Here are some Train Layout pictures for Christmas December 2017

Some photos of Santa Train

Winter Scenes for the Manger, we do not get much snow in south Louisiana.

New Addition to Train Room- a 55 inch LED TV.    It can be seen in back ground on wall to the right.  Engine on bridge is Lionel 2023 AA Union Pacific Alco diesel

The new to me 55 inch LED does a much better job with my old X-10 camera car than the old 32 inch TV.  Better live video was enjoyed more by all visitors and family.

Happy New Year to all

Charlie

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Enjoy the new TV!

Charlie, 

  Thanks for all your posts this year. Looking forward to what you have up your sleeve for the coming year. 

  Hope you had a Merry Christmas. 

Tom 

Here is a photo of the X-10 TV camera car and the Lionel 16670 Camera car with the revolving TV camera. 

The below is a picture of 55 inch LED TV showing the picture from the X-10 camera car.  It is much better than the old 32 inch tube TV.   The actual picture on the TV is not blue like the photo below.

With below freezing weather here in Dixie for the next week,  I bet the Camera car will get lots of action. 

Charlie

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Post 43

Automating the Manual Lionel 6-12774 Lumber Log Loader

Lionel Log Dumping car, a 9303 or 3451 are too low to be used to discharge logs to my Lionel 464 Saw Mill log feeding platform.  Both 027 track and Saw Mill are at grade.  I have found a Lionel Coal Dumping car, 9304 or 16600 are high enough and can be used to dump logs to the 464 Lionel Saw Mill loading deck.  Maybe not realistic but workable on my layout!

The fact I can now discharge logs from a coal car to the 464 Lionel Saw Mill makes me more interested in automating my manual Lionel 6-12774 Lumber /Log Loader.  This will allow loading logs in a car and unloading the logs on to the feed platform of the 464 Lionel Saw Mill and then sawing the logs into lumber with the saw mill for double action tasks. 

The small Lionel 6-12774 Log Loader fits well adjacent to my mountain next to my automated coal mine.  The coal mine was kitbashed from a Bachmann Coal Station 1975, on page 2, in Post 15 here.  I think the loggers on my mountain drag or haul the logs to the Log Loader so space is not needed to transport the logs from grade to be loaded into a car like the fancier Lionel 164 and 364 Log Loaders.

 Well, with the rainy weather from Hurricane Harvey I had some inside time to automate the Lionel 6-12774 log loader. 

The task was to glue the log loader kit building together and reinforce the building shell with corner braces and more plastic on the flimsy front where the logs are stored.  I will use the small wooden logs from the Lionel 464 Saw Mill instead of the cheap hollow plastic logs that came with the log loader kit.

 

 Next I added some beams on the ends of the frame that holds up the log loader building to take the wobble out.  The building will be heavier now with an automation mechanism.  I used hard balsa wood and 5 min epoxy glue.

 

I had a Radio Shack 12 VDC solenoid on hand from a long time ago.  I added a Radio Shack 4 amp full wave bridge rectifier to change it to 12 VAC operation.   I doubt if RS has them anymore but junk O gauge switches have two 12 VAC solenoids that one could possibly use for this purpose and eBay has similar solenoids from China.

 The next issue to figure out is how to make the solenoid dump the logs.  The original tilted the bottom of the building to let the log roll out.  I lost the device that came with the kit to make the logs dump.   All that is needed is a way to knock out a prop.  The prop is used to flatten the tilt of the log table to hold the logs.  The prop must be knocked out to let the bottom tilt.  I decided to make a tilting prop mechanism from a small hinge.  Since I did not have one, I made a hinge out of two small pieces of pipe strap.

Picture of the homemade hinge

 

The hinge will be straightened out with a pull on a short piece of string and the logs will be loaded by removing the roof.

 The solenoid would just pull another string, on the top half of the hinge, when activated, to jerk out the top half of the hinge to dump logs.

 

Picture showing solenoid and hinge in up position, J B Weld was used to hold the solenoid and hinge in the building;  white cord is keep solenoid piston from coming out

 

 

The roof was glued together and bracing added to hold the roof angle as it will be removed and reinstalled often.

 

 

Picture shows cord to reset the hinge prop to UP position

 

 

Picture:  Note braces in corners and 1/2 inch black base foundation added to bottom feet due car being too high to dump into.

 

 

  I added flood lights to the corners of the log loader to illuminate the car being loaded and the inside of the building.  Mini Christmas tree lights and sockets were used with aluminum flashing for reflectors.  I used two 7 v bulbs in series to lengthen bulb life with 12 v lighting transformer.  Adjusting the amount of bulb sticking in the building allows some light to stay in building. 

 

 

I added some light weight card board to the log tilting rack to keep light from going to bottom of the bottom exposed log loader building.

 

 

Movie

Or go to the Youtube link below as my videos never work on OGR Forum !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be

 

Converting the manual Log Loader to automatic is an easy job, and the Log Loader is easy to reset and load and works every time. 

Charlie

Charlie, I found this post but YouTube link didn’t work

Post 51   1/17/2018   (revised 12-30-2023)

Common Trains Run on the Layout – Space and Missile Trains and Cars

Well it has been 16 degrees at night and below freezing all day here in south Louisiana so it is time to hit the OGR forum and make a post.  We had a 1/2 inch of snow or sleet and with these kind of temps here all the interstates and bridges freeze up with no equipment to salt or sand.  The whole south is home bound.

In the early 2000s I got interested in the late 1950s issued missile cars and trains after turning my nose up to them for years.  Most are fun but sometimes frustrating cars to operate.  But they sure look good and colorful.

My favorite is the Lionel reissued 19824 Target car that really works and will suspend a balloon target above the car and follow the car around the layout.  The Target Launcher car would suspend the balloon and the suspended balloon would follow the car, being pulled by a loco slowly around the layout using Bernoulli's Principle.  How about that!  This works best on a loop of track but should not have tunnels, bridges or signal bridges that would interfere with the balloon hovering above the car.

Thus, the challenge of the pairing the Target Launcher balloon car and the Lionel 6650 IRBM Rocket Launching Car (mentioned here later on)  would be to have the moving Target Launcher balloon car, with suspended balloon, drive by on another track to let the missile car and operator try to hit the moving target balloon.  Much more fun.

I love that it runs off of track power and not heavy, leaky D batteries like the original Lionel car.  My problem is my layout track now has no loop that does not have an overhead bridge structures or goes through a tunnel.

I have several cars that shoot missiles or rockets.  The missiles do not fire very well with the spring powered propulsion and the missiles and rockets are poor fliers.  Some of my missiles are homemade and that may be the biggest problem.

One is the Lionel 3665 Minuteman Missile Launcher Car.  Mine is missing one of the top doors.

Another is the Lionel 6650 IRBM Rocket Launching Car.

I have a Lionel 3519 Satellite Launcher Remote Control car.

I also have a Lionel 6544 Missile Firing Car.

I picked up a Lionel 3349 Turbo Missile Launching Car.

The Lionel 6470 Explosive box car and a Lionel 6448 Target Car are the same.  They are very sensitive and use a spring mouse trap mechanism.  They are hard to assembly and often destroy themselves while going around the layout.  They also often will not explode when it by a missile.  But when they do explode, they are worth the trouble.

I have the Lionel 44 US Army Mobile Missile launching engine that works well and will pull several missile cars.  It gives a train with the Lionel 6544 Missile Firing Car extra fire power to try to hit an exploding boxcar.  The picture shows the #44 coming out from hiding from enemy missiles in a tunnel .

Charlie