Great Northern railway

Late afternoon train running:

B&O EM-1 2-8-8-4.  Model is by Westside and made in 1979.  I painted the model plus a TCS 1517 decoder installed along with a 'ton' of lights.   The coal cars are all Athearn.

Video:

Skykomish:

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

Leaving Hillyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r4bX8Yv8dQ

Tye

Hillyard.

I had some trouble with this engine's front drivers derailing at one spot and shorting at another spot.  The lead truck had to be modified as it was too close to the piston cylinders and causing shorts and binding.

Unfortunately, the derailed spot was under this scenic area.  I had to cut a hole in the 'snow' to access the track.  Fortunately, the conifers hide the cut.

Waverly.

Upper return loop, staging tracks.

A nicely detailed B&O caboose.

Train running.

NYC Dreyfuss Hudson 4-6-4.  This run I used the NYC passenger cars, as it 'should be'!

Videos:

Skykomish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gBs8jjoCMM

Leaving Hillyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa4DtaZZ2Qg

Morning.

Found a bad spot in the track, but just for this engine.  Previous runs with this engine was from the freight yard lead.  This run was from the passenger yard lead (far track) and the track gauge met NMRA standards but the narrow width tires on some new wheels are narrower (more scale).   That was the case with the Hudson and the drivers 'fell' between the rails.

Some re-spiking for about 2 feet fixed the problem; of course it was under the steps leading down to the basement where one has to crawl to gain access!

Tye.  The engine looks much better pulling NYC passenger cars!

The observation car's tail light stopped working after about a scale mile.  One lead wire needed to be re-soldered. I find my homemade wire contacts wrapped around the axles to work well.

Glacier

Basin tunnel exit.

Wilmar.  MMM, just noticed that 'jack the German shepherd' fell off the station platform (all fixed).

Waverly.

St. Paul.

Yep, the Dreyfuss drivers are more 'scale' than 'standard' driver tire width.  Unusual in that the traction tires are on the center set of drivers.

Pulled off the Hudson and ran the Niagara for the trip West.

Wilmar.

Whitefish.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Havre.

Tye.

Skykomish.

Passenger trains bypass the freight yard going to the passenger yard.

Tunnel view to the passenger/staging yard.

Afternoon train running. 

UP Challenger 4-6-6-4.  Engine by Tenshodo, made in 1973 Factory painted, New gear drive, can motor, LED's and TCS 1517 decoder install.  Some of the freight cars are vintage metal Athearn/Varney and wood Silver Streak/Ambroid cars.

Departing Seattle.

Skykomish

Tye

Hillyard

Havre.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Open load.

Some of the vintage freight cars made back in the 50's.

A contemporary resin freight car.  Very nice simulated wood grain.

Vintage.

Basin tunnel.

Upper return loops/staging.

Evening train running.

Put new motive power on for the West bound.   

NYC H-10B 2-8-2.  Engine by PFM made in 1981.  TCS 1517 decoder and LED's installed.

Video:

Leaving Chumstick canyon trestle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nchGEG02T9E

Glacier.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Tye.

Skykomish.  I purchased this engine because of one trait: it bristles with external 'plumbing'.

Plenty of piping on both sides of the boiler.

Passenger yard expanded by one track.

Looking at the present passenger yard, I figured I could add some homosote strips, laid vertically, onto the facia of the present yard without degrading the structural integrity.  There was, already, some space along the edge so I only needed to add two vertical strips (total 1" horizontal width) to accommodate one more track.  The exception would be the inside curve.  One more strip would be needed to compensate of equipment overhanging on curves.

At 10 am, I went to Menards and purchased a sheet of homosote; they are the only 'big box' lumber store that carries that brand.

I cut the sheet in half, long ways for ease of handling.  I then ripped 2" wide strips using the table saw.

To be able to bend the strips around the inside edge of the curved passenger yard, I had to cut curfs into the homosote about every 1/2".  The miter saw has a 'stop' on it for depth of cut and I cut about 2/3 the way through it.  It makes the strips fragile so care was needed to transport them to the basement.

I'm glad I have a detached shop for my woodworking tools!

Without 6 hands, I used my wood working clamps as a guide and, also, to hold the strips in 'relative' close proximity of the passenger yards edge until I could glue and screw the strips to the existing table.  The clamps worked well as the strips could slide in the gap starting at one end.

A tarp used to contain the glue from getting on the carpet.  Also, put paper down under the passenger table to catch dripping glue.

Two strips glued/screwed on edge plus a third on the inside curved corner.  New turnout and new yard track in place.  Still have to installed a ground throw and a toggle for 'juice'.

Inside corner got an extra strip.  Best to have curfs facing out.

Last is putting back the plexiglass along the edge.  Not bad, time is 4:30 so took about 7 hours.

The Burlington 1934 Zephyr and the UP 10,000 was behind the N&W J so now they, along with the Milwaukee Hiawatha will be on the new passenger track.  They'll still be 'behind' each other but, being short trains, they'll be easier to manage.

The Milwaukee early Hiawatha is a short 3 car train.  I, also, have a 14 car Hiawatha pulled by a 4-8-4 that has its own passenger track.

The last short passenger train, the UP 10,000 will, also, be on the new track.

You have this down pat!  Looks great!

Thanks, Mark.

================

Final stage of new passenger track  install.

All done.

New on/off toggle plus ground throw.

Plexiglass installed.  Plenty of room for the 3 train sets.

Milwaukee Hiawatha.

Burlington 1934 Zephyr and UP M-10,000

2" spacing from rail to 'like' rail.

About 2 1/4" on curves.

Train running.   

Figure I might as well test the new passenger track.

Milwaukee early Hiawatha passenger train videos:

Skirting Seattle's freight yard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA22udnYWbA

Leaving Seattle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5E3xJfn__4

Leaving Hillyard:

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

======

Burlington's 1934 Zephyr video:

Leaving Hillyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HROu-WH8Ms

======

Milwaukee Hiawatha passenger train:

Departing new passenger yard track.

Skykomish.

Tye

Hillyard

Glacier.

Basin tunnel.

Wilmar.  Jack the German shepherd is 'upright' again.

Waverly.

Upper return loop/staging.

===========

Burlington 1934 Zephyr.

This train along with the Milwaukee early Hiawatha and the UP M-10000 occupy the new passenger track.

Departing Seattle.

Tye.

Assisted a railroader on his decoder install on a PRR 0-6-0 switcher imported by Sunset models back in the 70's.

Drilled out some speaker holes.

With a slope back tender no room for the decoder so we 'dremeled' out the bottom where the coal is so the decoder can be under the coal load.  The front of the tender, already, has a hole for coal shoveling so the wires can route out there.

A very high quality gear and motor: I was impressed.

Of course we did some 'train running' after.

He ran the Burlington 1934 Zephyr.

I ran the Milwaukee early Hiawatha.

Evening train running.

Burlington O-5B 4-8-4.  Imported by Oriental Limited.  Painted with TCS 1517 decoder and LED's installed.

Videos:

Tye:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br8-VZA65v4

Departing Hillyard:  I like how the engine starts with deep chuffs and, then realizes, what only 20 cars, like coasting down hill!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA8zm3IMxwI

Seattle's roundhouse.  Turntable is by Walthers.

Marias pass.

Glacier.

Basin tunnel.

Wilmar.

Waverly.

Upper interchange/staging loop.

New Delivery; or shall I say deliveries!

Let me say, first off, that I bought 6 engines at an auction last Sunday and, I must say, I would call it a ‘crap shoot’.  The auction house was not familiar with HO trains, especially, brass engines.  I checked all their past auctions back to 2019 and, under their miscellaneous section was 3 or 4 Lionel, etc trains.  Their area of expertise is in other areas so this appears to be their first large HO listing.  The owner must have been a GN guy as the bulk of the lots were GN.  Like most auctions, one puts bids on several items and, if we win one, we were ‘lucky’ only this time it was 6.  All the engines are Tenshodo, by chance.  Back when I was young (70’s, 80’s which is also around my age!) I really enjoyed seeing what PFM was producing which was always on the back cover of Model Railroader (back when the magazine had a lot of pages!). The owner of PFM was a GN nut so he imported a lot of GN engines.  Tenshodo was my favorite: they were beautiful engines, factory painted and ran well; the Tenshodo owner, being a jeweler, made sense why they looked so good.

HO items on ebay or at an auction, normally, have several pictures of the items so one can get a ‘good idea’ of what they are buying.  Pictures for this auction were, usually, just one or two: one of the label and one of the box content. Most were wrapped in the usual clear plastic but reflections and creases in the plastic, usually, made it difficult to analyze the item.  This is why I called buying these engines a ‘crap shoot’.  The engines appeared to be in excellent condition, there were a lot of high end engines so I made the assumption (you know that word when broken into its parts) that the owner took very good care of the items.  Some lots had Items that had ‘high price differences’ were ‘lumped’ into one lot and had unusual combinations.  Also, since there were no lots for track, turnouts or power sources, the owner may have been just a ‘collector’.  

All that said; you as well as I will be seeing these engines that I bought for the first time as I open up the boxes.  Kind of like Christmas 

Arrival via FEDEX: only took 3 days.

==================

Tenshodo Y-1 electric.

Tenshodo made several runs of this engine.  Fortunately, I could tell it was one of the last runs as it is painted in ‘Empire Builder’ colors plus it has the MU connectors at the ends of the engine mounted on the roof. The auction picture of the engine looked in excellent condition so I purchased it.

Auction picture:

Arrival:

The owner replaced all the foam with reboxx which is no longer in business.  This is a 1985 run.  I have two earlier runs, first was done in olive green and the 2nd is in 'empire builders' colors but no MU connectors.

No couplers and very little run time.

The pantographs got damage in transit but easy fix (see later picture).  The front MU bar screw needs to be tighten.   

Same detail as my earlier versions except the mu bar.

The Y-1 to the right is by Key which was made in 1995.  Surprised that both ran together at the same speed.

The Tenshodo has orange pantographs (which I believe is correct) and the Key has a green running gear (which I don't think is correct).

The Key has an LED going to the light where the Tenshodo does not.

Easy fix on the pantographs.  As one can see in the picture, the brass is 'forked' shape and were 'spread out'; just had to use some needle nose pliers to squeeze them together.

==========

Tenshodo SF 4-6-4 blue goose.

Tenshodo produced this engine in about 4 different runs.  As seen in the picture, it is ‘tissue wrapped’ so I have no idea which run I have bought.  Each run is critical as improvement were made for each ‘run’.  The ‘tissue wrap’ looks like it was done at the factory so I’m assuming the engine is in excellent condition.  A lot of these engines, especially the Blue Goose, have damaged paint due to the corrosive yellow foam that was used in Tenshodo boxes.  If the plastic wrap doesn’t, completely, cover the entire engine, over time, if the engine is stored in the box, the paint is damaged resulting in a complete stripping and new paint application. The foam vapors may, also, dull and discolor the light blue paint which is not noticeable on the black engines.

Auction picture.

Arrival:

All foam replaced with Rebox.

About 4 different runs of this engine by Tenshodo.

This engine is the first run made in 1971.  Around 1974, Tenshodo starting installing sound cams and drilling holes in the tender bottom.

No coupler and this engine appears to have not been run.

The important item is that the paint is in excellent condition.  As mentioned, previously, a lot of these have damaged paint.

Not sure if that 'stainless steel' is paint or metal; probably paint but very realistic 'stainless steel'!

=======================

Tenshodo UP 4-12-2.  

Tenshodo only made one run of this engine.  It was around 1995 which was getting to the end of any Tenshodo models being imported into the USA.  The auction picture looked ‘good’ plus the foam looked ‘good’ so, again, one more chance with the purchase.

Auction picture.

Arrival.

Another engine that doesn't appear to have been run.

This engine had 3 cylinders and the third cylinder (in the center between the other two cylinders) was operated by what is called a Greasley  valve.  This engine has a functioning Greasley valve where there is an offset cam on the 2nd driver that rotates and moves the valve; cool.

The Greasley valve rocks back and forth on each side.

Not the 'normal' driver retaining plate.  This is more like O gauge where the frame is open (more like the full size) and each driver has its own retaining device.  I've seen this on contemporary high end models (ie Division Point);  here I thought DP was one of the first to do this and it appears that Tenshodo was the 'first'.

No coupler, again.  No holes in the tender bottom but see later picture.

Tenshodo started using these 'scissor' type draw bars around 1974.  Put engine and tender on track and then just push the tender into the draw bar.

Around 1974, Tenshodo also started to replace the slotted side rod pins with hex pins as on the prototype.

Center driver is blind.  Also, looks like I have the 2nd driver off the rails!

Screws securing the coal area plate; must be to insert your decoder.

Unusual in that there is an ash pan cover.  This area is always open on all other models that I've seen.

Sprung trailing truck which is unusual for HO.

Nice cab detail.  Always like when Phillip screws are used for ease of re-inserting them.

=====================

Tenshodo GN S-1 4-8-4.

Tenshodo must have made at least a 1000 of these over several runs and improvements were drastic from the early 50’s to the last run in the 80’s.  This was a real ‘crap shoot’ as the clear plastic was folded over the last two numbers on the side of the cab making it hard to diagnose which run this is, plus the shine of the plastic.   Tenshodo, sometimes, used different numbers on different runs so one can determine when the engine was made via that method.  Also, sound cams and number plates were added which will determine ‘runs’.  With only one auction picture, though, who ‘knows’.

Auction picture.

Arrival.

Well, I definitely 'lucked out' on this engine.  It is the 1979 run.  The second to last run of 1985.   This engine has the power reverse lever, coast drive, lagging clamps, etc.  Interesting in that there is suppose to be a 'number' plate at the front of the driver retaining plate.  There are no marks indicating that it fell off.  Either Tenshodo forgot to add one or maybe this was to be sold in Japan but arrived over here.  From what I have read, only 50 were imported into the USA.

What I've read is this is a high torque rare earth magnet motor.  From the test run I did, it must be very efficient as the engine went about 3 times as fast as testing the other engines.

The offset cam in the 2nd driver moves the functional 'power reverse'.  There is a screw to adjust the 'clam shell' type clamp where the axle moves the cam slightly forward or backward without stopping the axle from moving.

Nice cab detail.  Fixed the handrail as it goes into a hole but is not soldered so the boiler can be removed from the frame.

Not much run time.

The 'scissors' draw bar.

Cool.  Coast drive.  All my engines that have coast drive have a very wide gear box.  Just like Lionel!

A little inaccurate: only the S-2 4-8-4 had the cylinder heads painted silver.

Hex pins.

The drivers seem to be more 'crisp' than on my older S-1.

Pictures are always good: just noticed the piping bent: easy fix as brass is very pliable.

Just noticed the hand rails are bend.  Another easy fix. Another thing I like about Tenshodo; they make the engines sturdy.  I've had brass engines where I've tried to straighten out some piping and it has come loose ('out' comes the resistance soldering).

Domes black; good.

========================

Tenshodo GN R-2 2-8-8-2.

There were 2 engines (one in each lot) and the engines and tenders were in different boxes.  Tenshodo went to one box in the early 70’s so these engines were from the late 60’s.  Unfortunately, the auction house put the tenders in another lot so if one didn’t win those two lots, one has engines with no tender and vise versa. I was figuring that the person who bought the lot with the tenders, bought the lot for the engine that was included and didn’t want the tenders.  I lucked out in that I contacted the purchaser and we agreed on a price on the tenders.  What’s really cool is the person lives in Piqua, Ohio (only 60 miles away) so I’ll go there to pick them up when they arrive at his house.  Again, the one auction picture doesn’t show a lot on the condition of the engines but, again, I took a chance and bought them. A lot of work will be needed on them as new gear boxes and can motors will be installed along with LED’s and a decoder.

I've run all the engines and they run fine.  These last two (R-2's) have the older gears in them but I was surprised at how quiet they were.  Not bad for a 53 year old engine.  I'll still replace the gears plus can motor.

Test video:  The black engine was quieter.  Probably, a lot of the noise is the open frame motor.

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

Auction pictures.

Arrival.

Old gears plus no sound cam so 1969 runs.

Both have low mileage on them.

First engine.

These engines have excellent detail.  They look the same as my 1974 run (see later picture).  They were factory painted black.

The detail parts are nice and crisp.  Tenshodo was 'way ahead' of other brass engine back in the 60's as a lot of the castings were, sometimes, crude on other builders.

Second engine. The brass gears have been painted black.  Again, the gears will be replaced.  Also, low mileage.

This one has been painted 'Glacier Park' colors.

The domes should be black.

I should be getting my tenders from the railroader in Piqua sometime next week.

My 1974 model. I saw no difference on detail.  I believe the only difference was sound cams and 'quiet drive'.

Picked this up at Harbor freight;  Good to reach over the layout that I didn't plan for 43 years ago.

Tenshodo GN Y-1 electric PM.

Easy fix on the loose MU connectors.  Just two screws in the cab needed tightened.

I see why the Tenshodo and Key Y-1 ran at the same speed.  Tenshodo replaced a huge honkin' open frame motor for a can motor.  They still left the two large weights in the frame.

Here's the open frame motor in the previous run.  Surprising the TCS decoder handles it with no overload.

GN H-5 4-6-2 decoder install (final phase).

It's been almost a month when I last worked on this engine; figure it was time to 'finish the job'!

The 'bulk' of the install was done; just had to complete a few more jobs.  All LED's (0402's) were already installed, new can motor, decoder and speaker in tender, etc.  Just needed engine work.

Videos:

Leaving Seattle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7IZd_2R1lY

Leaving Tye:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad0wcf78GlA

Leaving Hillyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDEDLjwVns8

Had to make some more wire connectors.

Soldered all associated LED's to one wire: ie, headlight to white, marker lights to green, running board lights to pink and hot blue wire.  Four wires are needed since all lights are functionally controlled so each or all can be turn on and off.

Wires from tender to frame done; orange and gray to motor, black and red to LED plus ground and 4 wire connector from frame to boiler.

Boiler/frame connectors.

'Spaghetti' wires all taped to the top of the boiler.

Programming track.

Decoderpro via SPROG.

Select TCS wow 101 steam.

Go to 'comprehensive' screen.

Fill in engine description.

Basic screen for engine address.

Change CV's.

Chuff rate reduced from 100 to 20.

LED's from 'bright' to 'dim'

Open throttle to insure all's kosher.

Yup.

Saved to roster.

Assembly.

The screws with no initial threads makes for easy assembly.

Engine was shorting once in awhile.  After removing leading and trailing trucks and engine still shorting, noticed the cow catcher was too scale as it was only about a 1/6" inch above the rails and any irregularities in the track, well, you know the results! The cow catcher deck was soldered to the frame but the front was not soldered so there was some 'flexing' allowed so I stuck a piece of brass wire between the deck and frame to give enough 'non shorting' room.

I bought this engine already painted and the person did a really nice job.  Did all the details: black domes with the green stripe on earlier engines, black band along belpaire fire box, brass items painted.

Scraped the paint off the builders plate so it's readable.

I had to get the Pacific done as I was using a GN O-8 2-8-2 (which was the largest mike ever made) to pull old vintage passenger cars, which wasn't appropriate.

Road test.

Skykomish.

Marias pass.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

I purchased these Labelle passenger cars from a woman on ebay.  She said her father made them.  He did a very nice job.  I want to put interior detail and lights but, like all of us, we have enough 'stuff' to keep us busy until we 'croak' .

I dull coated the engine as this is how it looked when it 'arrived'.

Reminds me of American railroads in the 60's!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...op&v=YiQ1LDDUm6I

Worked on 3 of the new engines: Nothing like acquiring new engines to get the 'juices' flowing to work on the railroad!

One is an unsolved mystery and the 2 others going well.

Decoder installs and re-gearing engines among other things!

===========

SF 4-6-4 Blue Goose by Tenshodo.

Open frame motor has to 'go'.

Interesting: with 'skirting' only the bottoms of the piston cylinders were built.

With a relatively small engine I thought I'd install the small motor on the frame: BAD DECISION.  No 'horse power'; worked OK just the engine but forget about pulling cars.  The small motor was replaced with the motor just above the frame.

Much better.

A short piece of rod to keep the tubing from flexing.

The reason the tender was so heavy: removed.  Had to drill holes in the bottom frame for the speaker plus holes for routing the decoder wires to the engine.

Installed a back head from PSC.

Was an easy fit.

I could resistance solder the bottom part but not the top so I just used JB weld.  The back head kept turning black next to the resistance soldering so solder would not adhere.

Decoder wires and speaker installed in tender.  Too many parts on the front of the tender to make a hole for the wires so I  had to drill two holes on the bottom and route 2 wires through each hole.

Need to keep tight to clear truck movement.

Usual setup on the Programming track.

The headlight was incandescent and hard to access so I left it 'as is'.  An LED was installed in the cab.  A 2 wire connector to the boiler lights.

I didn't want to 'butcher up' the front of the tender with a hole for the decoder wires.

Too difficult to access the headlight to install a LED.  With the paint being light and dark blue, I thought it best not to try to install marker lights or running board lights as it would be too easy to damage the paint and since I didn't paint it, it would be difficult to match any paint chipping that might occur.

This is the DISASTER PART: I burned up 3 decoders.  Initially, I thought the circuit breakers 'shorting' was due to the engine or tender shorting.  Turns out I was overloading the decoders.  Not sure why, obviously, since I fried 3 decoders.  I just did the CP royal Hudson that had the same, identical set up with incandescent light and only a 4 wire connector from tender to engine.  I even used the CP tender (how I fried the 3rd decoder) but at least I narrowed it down to the engine.  Passed all the tests on the programming track and I tested the engine in parts to see if the decoder was getting hot.  Only option I saw was I rebuilt a new wire harness for the engine side.  Have to wait, now, for some decoders to arrive.  Ordered 4 more plus sent in the 3 fried ones: fortunately, TCS replaces them, no questions asked (that's good for when stupid mistakes are made)!  I removed the motor and gear to insure no binding.  Ran the motor under DC and she runs great.  This one has me stumped!  I emailed the TCS tech to call me if he has some 'ideas'.

One inoperative engine until some decoders arrive.

==========

On a better 'note' the re-gearing and decoder install went well for the GN R-2's, so far!

I see why the all black engine sounded quieter.  Someone installed a can motor along with plastic universal joints.  Since this engine is running well, no re-gear/motor will be performed.

The nomenclature lacked 'crispness' so those are being replaced.

Before:

Ditto for the steam dome.

After.  Still need to apply new decals but the 'hard part' is done.

Some of my 40 year old Solvaset and...

Some Q-tips and a toothpick 'did the job' of removing the old nomenclature.   Some paint comes off but doesn't get to the 'brass' base.

No decoder but can get all the wiring harness and speaker ready.

Need two wires to reach the pilot mounted headlight via the boiler.  Only exception of when I don't used colored wire since the wires protrude from the bottom of the boiler to the pilot.  A 2 wire connection for easy PM.

Drilled out all the marker lights, running board lights and headlight and glued in some of the 0402 LED's:  A 'time consuming' job.

===============

2nd GN R-2 2-8-8-2.

Decoder wire harness and speaker set up, also, for the 2nd engine.

The 'Glacier Park' engine.  Decals are nice on this model so no need to remove them.

How the original Tenshodo motor gear was set up. Functional 40 years ago but not adequate for DCC.

I have original Tenshodo 'quiet drive' systems.  These were installed on Tenshodo engines after around 1974.  Notice that the nylon gears have brass centers to they won't 'split' and hexagon brass shape so no chance of nylon gear slipping on the brass center.

Before.

Slot pins will be replaced with hex pins.  Tenshodo used a set screw to hold the offset crank to the driver pin which makes it easier to remove than when they are soldered (which is the 'usual' procedure by most importers).

Driver retaining plate removed so the old gear can be replaced on the 2nd driver.

No quartering jig needed.  I just put an 'X' across the axle and driver for reference when re-assembled.

NWSL wheel pulling does the 'trick'.  Usually, I remove the 'hot' side driver.

Old and the new; Old is around 32 teeth and the new is 48 teeth.  Makes for a much slower speed: most steam engines operated 15-45 MPH.

Tenshodo is one of the few that 'indents' the axle for the driver.  Also, they knurl where the gear is located.

New gear being installed.

Complete.

Insure raised part of driver face is in slot to insure perpendicular fit.

Never assume!

Hex pins and crank put on just forward of driver axle (in most cases).

Insuring no binds. Can motor and momentum won't cure binds.

Tested 'good'.

Usually best to have everything 'in line' but this 'slight bend' posed no running issues.

Front engine done.

Some 'scissors' draw bars installed that Tenshodo started to install around 1974.

2nd GN R-2:

My 'storage' while engine is being upgraded.  Bought new boxes to replace the old 2 boxes.

1st GN R-2.

Drilled out for all the LED's and some have been installed.  Install some LED's, glue, wait, install, glue, wait......

GN R-2 2-8-8-2 engine assembled, new delivery and some 'train running'.

============

GN R-2 2-8-8-2.  All 0402 LED's installed and wired: Headlight, marker lights, running board lights and fire box glow.

Wires taped to roof of boiler. Each 'group' of LED's gets its own resistor.

Running mechanism bench tested.

Yard tested.

Replaced some flat screwdriver type screws with some Phillips screws as...

the screwdriver holds Phillip head screws much better to reach into small areas; in this case the front of the back engine needs to be secured to the boiler.

Ready for a 'road test'

Video BEFORE re-gearing and re-motoring:

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

AFTER re-gearing and re-motoring:  TCS sound turned on near the end of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_M83iuyD5M

===============

New delivery:

The last car for the N&W J passenger train.  The baggage car completes the MTH J and 10 MTH passenger cars.  As previously mentioned, MTH does a real nice job on their passenger cars and the engines are nice, also, being all cast metal.

Also, 4 train mags and 2 airplane mags.

======================

Some 'train running'.

Had two trains in the upper return/staging loop.

Burlington O-5B 4-8-4 by Oriental Limited.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Nice cab detail

Havre.

Skykomish.

===================

GN H-5 4-6-2 Pacific passenger train.  Engine by PFM (United) and passenger cars by Labelle.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Skykomish.

GN R-2 2-8-8-2 re-gear, decoder wire install and assembly.

Initially, I wasn't going to re-gear this engine but, to make it perfectly quiet, I decided to upgrade it.  Besides, if I didn't do it now, I'll never do it!

Original gears but previous owner added a sagami motor (which will be used).

Re-geared.  As previously mentioned, this is Tenshodo's slant drive quiet gear set.  Procedure same as on the other R-2.

I put a metal tube over the front drive shaft from the gear to the universal to insure no 'wobble' as the tubing I use is very strong but flexible.

Bench test ran well: DC.

Some brake shoes were missing so some OEM Tenshodo brake shoes were added.  Hex pins, also, added.

DC test good in the yard.

All LED wires routed through boiler and 4 pin connector made.

Headlight on pilot wires routed through boiler.

Harness from tender to boiler attached to frame.

All's 'good'.

New 'numbers'; had to use a different engine number since I already have another R-2 as 2044.

Assembled and ran well in the yard.

Now I have 4 R-2's.  These engines were one the largest articulateds made at around a million pounds and around 162,000 lb tractive force.   

Next.  Install decoders in my new electric plus my Key electric so I can MU them.  Electrics make no noticeable sound so just using a 1485 with 'keep alive'  to power them.  Plan to install headlights, marker lights and ground lights.

GN Y-1 electric 1-C-C-1.

LED and decoder install.

A TCS KAM4 decoder installed along with headlights, marker lights and step lights. I went with no sound as electrics make very little sounds although, now, I wish I would have added sound as no horn, brake squeal, momentum, etc. The engine does create a 'hum' which sounds like an electric.  Just remembered one other item: there is no room for the decoder with sound so I would have had to grind away some of the lead weight.

Road test video:

Leaving Hillyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgp9ti_L1CA

Initial disassembly.  Plenty of lead weight and a can motor; good.  Initially, I thought this was going to be a quick install, HA; forgot about all those LED's and a 6 pin connector needed between the frame and body.

Fortunately, the bus bars are removable plus the front deck is part of the cab floor which is, also, removable for access to install the LED's.  Prepping all the 0402 LED's by painting the lead wires black for those places where the wires will show; ie, headlight and marker lights.

Headlights were moved to the pilots when the bus bars were installed.  Hole drilled out for LED.

Marker lights drilled and painted black.  Have to insure the inside of the marker lights are also painted as the wires on the LED's can short out on the brass frame.

Had to drill holes in the face of the electric to route the LED wires.

The scalecoat GN empire builder orange was an exact match for touch up around the wire access holes.  What's the chance of that on a 38 year old engine!  Had to go through 3 bottles before I could find a 'good' bottle: the other two bottles were 'dried up': never opened but, also, about 38 years old!

Drilled holes in the frame for the 'step' lights (hole at the indentation next to the weight).

LED glued in place for the 'step' lights.

There was no room to, even, put this small (with keep alive) decoder on the frame so only one spot and it just fit so the gear towers just 'cleared it'.  If I would have used a sound decoder, I would have had to put the decoder in the front cab and the 'keep alive' in the back cab.

LED's installed, ready to connect the decoder to the LED's and motor.

Had to make a 6 pin connector for 'stuff' on the frame, ie, hot/ground, motor, step lights.  I checked the clearance of the weights to the top of the cab and had an 1/8" and thought this arrangement of wires would work...HA; wrong as we work our way to other pictures.

Easy cab access for the marker lights. Had to remove the bus bars so I could drill out the wire access holes.  While drilling the marker lights, 2 layers of masking tape was put on the front of the cab to insure I didn't scratch the paint after 'breaking through' the marker lights with a drill.

Used lots of heat shrink tubing to have some 'orderly' arrangement of wires!

Hole drilled in cab bulkhead to route wires.

It only took my about 8 years to figure out how to strip insulation off of the LED wires!  The LED wires must be about a 40 gauge and the 'standard' wire stripper doesn't even recognize it so I use an X-acto blade and scrape the insulation off against a piece of wood; only I've been keeping the wire stationary and moving the blade and it, usually, doesn't work very well.  For some reason, this time, I kept the blade stationary and pulled the wire and 'wa-la'!

After taping all the wires to the roof, that took care of the 1/8" I had for spare room only the frame was, also, using the same space.  I had to move the wires on the frame around the motor to get the frame and top to 'fit'.

The 6 pin connector for ease of PM.

Programming track: decoderpro via SPROG.

Description.

Address load.

Throttle to insure all's kosher.  As always, had to reverse the motor wires!

Had to put a piece of heat shrink on the pin that holds one pantograph down.  Don't need that thing 'popping up' inside a tunnel!

Walking to the layout to run it and forgot it needs couplers.  Another 38 year old engine that's been in the box for 38 years.

With my steam engines, I put green marker lights on the engine and red on the tender.  With this electric, operating both ways is 'forward'.  With this setup I installed the marker lights with the headlight on one end (white wire) and the marker lights with the headlight on the yellow wire.  Thus, only one end is lighted when operating in that direction.  Function F1 turns on the step lights.  Most steam engines just had white marker lights but I always install green for the 'visual' affect.

Step lights.

Reverse headlight and marker lights will come on when direction is changed.

Road test:

Tye.  Raised a pantograph to the catenary wire for a more realistic picture.  Actually, GN operating the back catenary in case it snagged the wires; then the front could be raised to move the train but raised the front one for more 'visual' affect!  Back in the 80's, all this catenary was functional.  Now with DCC, it just looks 'pretty'.

Marias pass.

Chumstick canyon trestle.

Picked up my GN R-2 tenders and visited Al's Marklin's trains.

When I got home the USPS delivered a package: 4 TCS decoders, 4 speakers and some drill bits from home depot.  The drill bits are #60 that are used to drill out LED holes, ie, marker  lights, headlights, etc.

The two tenders that the auction house separated from the engines are 'back together, again'.

HD sells these small bits online only.  Can't beat 12 bucks for 12 bits.

Tender with 3rd R-2 engine.

Tender with 4th R-2 engine.  May have to repaint the tender as that decal, like the cab numbers, is a little 'lame'.

Here's Al's train stuff.

These are Marklin kits that were produced in the 70's.  Very cool.  I had 'no idea' Marklin made anything like this.

An 'electric'.

One steam boat with working paddles.

These, I believe, he said were around the turn of the century.

One Eiffel tower; when done will be about 6' tall.

I have never seen anything like these.  I got a Gilbert erector set when I was around 9.

He said these are super rare.

Some 1940's Marklin or Penn line.

Marklin track.

Marklin makes some 'American' type equipment.

Very nicely done PA's by Marklin.

Marklin's coupler system.

Several problems resolved, hopefully!

First off was the SF Blue Goose 4-6-4 that's been 'trying my patience'!

It appears I've, finally, resolved this engine's appetite for 'eating' decoders.  There were two problems which complicated my diagnostics.

I put another decoder in and uploaded the new engine address but when I tested the engine on the programming track, I noticed some sparks appearing around the side rods next to the driver tires.

I've been getting shorts with this engine on curves and I believe it was do to the side rods touching the insulated side driver tires.  I used some washers to move the side rods away from the drivers.  This is the back side rod.

The front side rod had the same problem.  Again, some washers added.

Initially, although it's not logical, I thought that would fix the 'fried' decoders. (not logical since I have separate circuit breakers going to all districts which should prevent any 'fried' decoders).  As a test, I put the decoder outside the tender so I could check if it was starting to get hot.  All seemed fine but there was still 'alligators in the swamp and biting me you know where'!

Since 'all' seemed to be working well, I put the weighted boiler on the frame and all ran well again.

Then, I decided to connect the incandescent headlight and LED cab light and, I thought' it was working well.  After about a run of 75', I thought I'd check the decoder and the casing was melted away although the decoder still worked.

I had the headlight and cab light operating off the hot/ground (red/black) wires of the decoder and, evidently the decoder can't handle this extra amperage.  I use the Blue/white/etc wires for all lights but, since I couldn't access the incandescent headlight, I wanted to used fewer wires between the engine and tender so I 'piggy backed' the lights onto the red/black wires.

As an alternative, I decided to run the usual Blue/White wires from the decoder to the engine via another 2 wire connector.  This would separate the lights from the can motor thus using two different parts of the decoder.

Well, that didn't work either.  The top decoder is where the blue/white circuitry is and the bottom decoder is for the can motor.  I've got one other engine, the CP royal Hudson, with an incandescent and no problems.  Evidently, the Blue Goose incandescent must be a 'high amperage use'.

My last option was no headlight (not an option) or bypass the decoder.  The wire for the lights that went to the decoder now goes to the tender's ground wire.  The headlight is constantly on (as is the cab) but 'better than nothing'.

Well, 2 more decoders to send to TCS.  Good thing I'm a 'really good' customer!

Interesting.  When I uploaded the address on the programming track, Decoderpro gave me a 'short circuit' error.  Evidently, decoderpro doesn't like bypassing the decoder by having 'external' lights.  I just disconnected the 2 wire connector and the upload worked fine.  After, I just plugged in the lights again and it's transparent to the command station and decoder and all works well. FINALLY!

Videos:

Leaving Seattle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_hvFuc3FkI

Leaving Hillyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4z2M96V-DY

Chumstick canyon trestle.  I'm worried about the headlight taking 15 volts so I put that resistor back in the black wire in the tender going to ground.

Havre.

The engine had trouble pulling 21 cars so some 'bullfrog snot' was applied to the insulated side drivers.

I had more 'trials and tribulations' with the GN R-2 2-8-8-2 and N&W Y-3 2-8-8-2 but that's for another post!

Electric motor analysis.   

Lately, I've been having trouble burning out my decoders and was analyzing everything but the motor and, it appears, the problem is some new motors that I started to use, draws too much amperage. I made the bad assumption that all can motors are 'low amp users'.

I don't claim this to be a highly controlled, exact analysis but some observations I made while testing different motors 'without load' and 'with load'.  The load I applied was using finger pressure with two popcicle sticks (obviously pressure could vary and why this is 'observations' and not exact facts).   I used a DC power source directly connected to the motors and at full throttle, so around 15 volts.

Sagami motor.

no load only .08 amps.

Load: .41 amp

Kato motors.

no load: .08 amps

load: .36 amps.

Cannon.

no load: .06 amps.

load:  .28 amps

A motor I obtained from China.  The RPM's could get to around 15,000 versus the previous motors are around 10,000.  I bought them because of their high RPM's.

No load: .48 amps

load: from .99 to 1.29 amps.  The motor sounded like it was going about twice as fast as the previously tested motors.  Reducing the voltage got the RPM's to a more reasonable level and amp usage, also, went down but, obviously, this motor is exceeded the decoder's amp capacity.

I went to Decoderpro to see if motor range can be reduced or modified and found 3 tables.

Motor screen.   Doesn't look like any reduction of speed can be done on this screen.

Basic Speed screen.  This screen has 'possibilities' but seems strange that the starting, midpoint and max are all zero! Will have to do some research.

Speed table screen.   Looks like one could level out the last half of the table to reduce max speed.

I replaced the China motor with the Kato motor and did a bench test plus ran the engine with 21 freight cars 450' on the mainline and the decoder didn't overheat.   The TCS decoders manual says Function rating 100ma,  continuous rating is 1.3 amps with peak at 2.0 (which means only for a split second).  Obviously my use of the motor from China is exceeding the decoder's limits.   

Kato motors can still bought as I 'googled' the 'Kato HO motor' with venders having them in stock.  I found a motor that someone recommends in China and just purchased a couple for analysis.

Sam after all the work you have been doing with the decoders and motors I am sorry to hear that one moto has been causing you problems. I am so amazed how you are able to figure this out, I would have no idea of where to start and probably send an engine out to have someone look at it!

I am glad you were able to figure things out and hope everything is under control again! Take care and keep up the wonderful work on your amazing layout!

Yo Mike,

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile!

=============

STUFF.

Finally, some positive work done today!

The 3rd GN R-2 2-8-8-2 had bad decals on the engine and tender.  The small nomenclature on the engine was easy to remove and replace with new decals.  The tender, however, the decal could not be removed so it had to be stripped.

It's finally warm enough to do some work out in the shop (mid 60's).  A few weeks ago I ripped some homosote on the table saw for the passenger yard expansion and, first, I had to clean up the mess.  Got a lot with the shop vac but, with two 9' garage doors open, the air compressor worked on getting to all the 'nooks and crannies'.

Failed attempt to remove the GN logo on the tender.

Glad I keep all those empty glass jars.  Only able to put half the tender in the jar but the lacquer thinner removed the old paint, almost immediately; that and a toothbrush.

All ready to be painted.

Can't get any easier for a paint job. One tender and all black.  Also did a caboose roof for a fellow modeler.

Brass goes in the toaster over for 2 hours at 200 degrees.

Took out all the bad motors and installed the Kato motors.  Some silicon caulk does the 'trick'; just have to let it set for several hours.  Did a test on the DCC to insure engine works well plus correct direction (got 2 out of 3 hot/ground to motor correctly).

I'm hoping a new motor will fix this sluggish N&W Y-2 2-8-8-2.

GN R-2 2-8-8-2: new 3rd engine.

GN R-2 2-8-8-2 4th engine.  The painted tender belongs with this engine.

Tested the SF Blue Goose 450' on the mainline and no overheating so new motors seems to be the 'fix'.  I checked the decoder 2 or 3 times to insure it wasn't overheating.

Nice work Sam, I bet you can pretty much figure out any problem that may come up!

Thanks for the kind comments, Mike.

=================

Two engines disassembled for painting.  Waiting for decoders to arrive so might as well paint some engines; plus it is 66 degrees outside and the detached shop will be warm with all the doors open.

RF&P 4-8-4.

This engine was made in 1976 by Fujiyama.  They rank with Tenshodo for quality back in the 70's.

The engine will be getting a gray boiler.

Lots of nice detail on this model.  Don't see grease lines going to the journals very often.

Air and passenger line 'hook ups'.

Took me a few seconds to get the leading truck apart to remove the wheels as it has 5 screws securing all the parts.

Had an extra part (just behind the last brake rigging) to remove in order to disassemble the frame from the boiler.

Open frame motor to be replaced.  Note old, black tubing is broken on the motor shaft.

This caught me be surprise.  First time I've had a tender where the bottom doesn't come off, nor the top.

The coal load was removed and a felt tip was used to mark where the brass sheeting is to be cut.

Used a Dremel cutoff disk and there was another layer of brass sheeting that had to be, also, cut.  This was part of the cylindrical cylinder at the back of the tender. Not pretty but functional and able to access the interior of the tender.

Had to use the extension on the end of the Dremel to drill a hole in the back head to route the cab light wires.

While drilling out one of the marker lights for LED's, the marker light snapped off the boiler front. Had to drill a new hole and use the resistance solder for a new support wire in the hole.

The marker light could, then, be soldered onto the new 'mount'.  Some nippers used to cut off the excess wire.

Dremel cut off disk used to make a rectangular hole for the decoder wires.   

Able to cut from the inside of the tender.

Not sure where the speaker will be so drilled some holes on the bottom of the tender....

as well as the new 'cover plate' that goes in the coal area.

Drilled and tapped for four #72 screws to secure the 'cover plate' to the tender.  A removable coal load will be made for access to the interior of the tender.

Tender light drilled out for an LED.

Some vinegar and dish washing soap to clean up all the parts.

Air compressor to blow most of the water off the parts and then into the toaster oven (not including wheels) for 15 minutes to remove any remaining moisture.

All parts that conduct electricity is masked off.  Tires and axle ends.

Bolster contacts and axle holes in trucks.

First coat of scalecoat #10 paint.

Cook for 2 hours at 200 degrees.

After 2 hours, I almost forgot to add a deck plate.

Second coat of paint.

That was quick.  Got my Kato 31-500 electric motors.

While the RF&P 4-8-4 was 'cooking', I disassembled the DM&IR S-7 0-10-2.  Engine was made in 1967 by United.  A huge switcher so had to have it!  This engine will, also, be getting a gray boiler.

One more open frame motor to be replaced.

Tender frame got holes for the speaker.  Marker lights and headlight drilled out for LED's.  Tender headlight and marker lights also drilled out for LED's plus a rectangular hole made in the front of the tender below the deck for the decoder wires.

A #60 drill bit 'does the trick'.

A PSC back head was added to the engine.

Another easy fit.

Just resistance soldered the back head to the existing boiler structure.  Hole drilled in the back head before soldering it for the cab light wires .

Two running board light holes just under the running boards (big surprise)!

Remembered to add the deck plate before painting!  Once the RF&P is done 'cooking', this engine is 'next'.  Should get at least one coat on her by tonight.

DM&IR 0-10-2:

First 'coat' on.

Very nice work!  These models have sat for so many years, it’s nice someone will paint and refit them to run with the modern built engines

Thanks, Mark.

==============

One more engine.

Atlantic Coast Line R-1 4-8-4. Model was made in 1977 by Overland models. 

Decided to paint this engine since it, also, has a gray boiler.

DC tested to insure a good 'runner'.

'Tower' type gear assembly.  Motor is large enough!  Looks like a Sagami.

Added another deck plate.  Already had a back head.

Disassembled, taped and ready to be painted.

First coat.  Usual 2 hours at 200 degrees.

Wheels 'air' dry.  No screws to disassemble the tender trucks so painted as a 'unit'.

Since the whole boiler is gray including cab, etc, I was tempted to just paint the boiler gray but decide to add black first;  Black always gives a nice base coat and will insure one 'tone' of gray appears on all surfaces.

Something I never used when I was young and stupid (now I'm old and stupid!) including latex gloves.  Even in a 24'X28' detached shop with doors open, the mask filters lots of air.

ACL R-1 4-8-4.

Noticed no cold water pump on the left side of the engine so soldered one to the two 'pipes' hanging at that position.

Added the 2nd coat of black paint.

Masking and gray paint 'added' to the DMIR S-7 0-10-2, RF&P 4-8-4 and ACL R-1 4-8-4.

It takes about 1.5 hours to mask off a boiler for the second color.

Lots of small pieces of tape are used, especially around the sand dome where some 1/16" or less width tape is used.  The usual: masking tape cut with a metal straight edge on glass.

DM&IR 0-10-2.

Always 'fun' masking off the cab front from the boiler!

Masking complete.

All three engines masked.

Scalecoat NYC light gray used.  Versus two coats of black, only one coat of each new color is added.

All tape removed before baking.  Sometimes some 'light' overspray occurs: easy to remove with some water and a toothpick before the paint is baked.   All piping is hand painted as brush marks are invisible on such small surfaces.

RF&P 4-8-4.

ACL R-1 4-8-4.  First engine I've ever painted where domes, etc are not black.  It did make it easier to mask!

Ready for the toaster oven.

Sam, The tedious work of masking pays off!  They look great!

They do look good. Great work.

Do your eyes get tired when you're working on all that tiny stuff? I know mine do.

Thanks guys.  It's fun turning a brass engine into something that looks 'full size'.  Nope, my eyes don't get tired, I'm as strong as an ox and as smart as one!  Just spend 16 hours working on 3 engines (that includes a lunch break!).  6:30 AM until 10:30 PM: a good way to spend the day

==================================

Smoke boxes, touch up and decals.

The DM&IR 0-10-2 and the ACL R-1 4-8-4 has the boiler jacket covering the smoke box so only the front of the smoke boxes have to be painted for those engines.  The RF&P 4-8-4 had to be masked off for painting.

The only parts that were spray painted graphite and oil.

Done.  Actually, I mix smoke box grey with graphite and oil to 'tone it down'.

Paint pen to do all the white walls and every driver and wheel required it.  Two applications, so far, and, probably a 3rd will be needed.

0-10-2 tender decals.

I always look 'length wise' to insure the decal is on 'straight'.

I was worried that I couldn't paint the 0-10-2 gray as I wasn't sure they had it painted like their big 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone.  I 'googled' the 0-10-2 and found a 'black and white' where one can easily see the difference in domes versus boiler color, plus...

I found a model that was painted      Looks like only 601 was painted with a gray boiler.

I can decal the tenders as no more painting, save the satin finish but the boilers needed lots of hand painting of the piping, etc.  The fire boxes were hand painted along with the piping.  It took about 3 trips to the toaster over for an hour as, can only touch up so much before one might touch a 'wet spot'.

Mostly done, may need a 'touch up, here or there'.

I find sliding the paint brush works well for me versus painting at a perpendicular angle to the piping: less likely to miss and hit the boiler.  Some water and toothpick cleans up any mistakes.   Good things like this they never taught us in school!

Brass parts, well, brass, handles red and gauges white.

RF&P 4-8-4.

Some real nice decals came with the engine, provided by PFM.  The one decal is two part where one lays over the other.  Never done one of these 'before'.  Was a little worried that the decals, being that old, may crumble as some old Champ decals do, once in awhile.

A very 'striking' tender.

Sure wouldn't want to paint those on!  I, always, cut the corners of decals to remove 90 degree corners as, sometimes, they 'fold on themselves' and it's a bear to get that corner out.  This was a full width decal so had to use a razor blade to cut around the raised area to get it to lay flat.

More hand painting.

When I masked the 'feed water heater' for the gray boiler, I thought, don't remove the tape since you have to paint the smoke box...but I forgot!

This engine has a green box upfront and it's the 'automatic train control' and the decal set has nomenclature for it.  Amazing, they had ATC back in the 40's and, today, they're 'getting around to it'!

ACL R-1 4-8-4.  Not too much hand painting as all piping above the running boards is gray.  I had to paint all piping below the running boards, including fire box, their appropriate colors.

Only thing I painted above the running boards was the parts that are suppose to be brass.

I can start decaling the boilers.

The ACL tender still needs gray paint (top half), but I have to wait until I assemble the engine and tender as the white line at the bottom of the cab is the same height as the white line on the tender separating the black from the gray.

After all this, then LED's and decoders.

WOW, Wow, wow.. First, Wow. Secondly, DM&IR (be still my heart), Thirdly a Yellowstone!!!

Oh boy. Grandpa worked in the Procter Round house. Thanks for the photos, we know it takes effort to put them up and show progress. Wish I had your skilz. Very nice, thank you thank you.

Miggy,

Thanks for the kind comments.

Here's my two yellowstones.

Tenshodo model imported in 1983.  Factory painted.

Westside model imported in1980.  Custom painted with LED's and TCS 1517 decoder installed.

@samparfitt posted:

Miggy,

Thanks for the kind comments.

Here's my two yellowstones.

Tenshodo model imported in 1983.  Factory painted.

Westside model imported in1980.  Custom painted with LED's and TCS 1517 decoder installed.

Beauty Eh!

Decaling complete and protective coat added.

As Tom Silva says: the money is in the details. Painting is easy, it's all the other stuff that's required!

Clear coat added to protect the paint and seal in the decals.

Did one engine at a time, mainly because that's all that fits on the toaster oven tray!

DM&IR 0-10-2.

Satin clear is my usual choice.

Unusual in that the number is under the railroad name.  Decal sheet all 601 so easy to apply without having to cut up a bunch of numbers.  Paint pen used on the running board edges.  'Cooked' in the toaster oven to seal the top coat.

Being made in 1967, the marker lights don't have the detail that later models have but again, you really don't see that when 'running' the train plus the LED's will light them.  Pictures are the only time when people notice most details.

RF&P 4-8-4 was next.

I forgot to take a picture of the sand dome that got gold lines around it.  That was a little 'tricky' getting it positioned correctly.

Glad the decal sheet has complete 'easy to use' striping.

Two separate 'sub decals' with the arrow pointing forward.

The cab number is on a raised platform.  The engines are named after people.

LED wires go into those holes.

A conduit was against the back of the tender so I had to cut the decal in half to get proper adhesion.

MMM, That engine number on a raised plate will need some Solvaset to remove those air bubbles around the edges that I missed!

I almost missed the gold circles and what they were for; I happened to see a full size engine with them on the drivers.

And then there were 4 extra 'gold circles' and, again, noticed that the lead truck also has them.  The gold circles were a little larger than the the model's raised center so the edges kind of bent around it when the Solvaset was applied.

ACL R-1 4-8-4.  Not a whole lot of decals on the boiler.

The running board white line was with the paint pen.  The white line on the side of the cab was with decals.

The tender will be painted a gray top half after the engine and tender wheels are assembled to get the proper line height.

New deliver.  4 more TCS 1517 decoders.  With the 6 coming from TCS, I've got enough to get all my new and painted engines 'on the road'.

Looks great!!!

Thanks, Mark.

========

Still on the details!

Today was 'daughter day' so didn't get a lot done on trains but worked yesterday morning (afternoon was NMRA MCR DIV 7 meeting that took about 3 hours) and tonight.

Tape removed from all electrical contact points, ie: wheels, bolsters, axles,; assembled wheels to their respective trucks, frames; installed 0402 LED's to headlights (engine, tender), marker lights, running board lights, cab lights; built new lead weights.

DM&IR 0-10-2:

Each phase of drivers is checked for any binds.

Again, with valve gear.

Replaced old gear drive with NOS Tenshodo quiet drive gear set.

'X' so driver can be re-attached without 'quartering'.

NWSL wheel puller.

United, also, indents the axle to get correct gauge.

Old and new gear sets.  Besides quieter, gear ratio goes from about 32 to 48:1 which gets those steam engines running nice and slow (like the full size ones!).

Doesn't take much time.  I just use oil in the gears, versus grease, as there is not a whole lot of force being exerted on these parts.

I decided to replace the gear after the drivers were installed on the frame but easy to do by removing the main driving pin so only the one driver could be removed from the frame.

New can motor and all runs well (versus good!).

I use to make a brass engine mounting.  Easier just to use window caulk; provides good vibration and noise resistance and easy to just cut and apply new if any PM is needed.

A little oil in the journals before assembly.

LED install.  All LED's tested before installing them.  Wires that will be visible are painted black before installation.

Test done after install.  Canopy glue used for 'lenses' which is still wet in the picture.

Some carpenters glue is put on the inside holes to secure and insulated them from the brass structure.

I purchase 1/16" X12" wide by 'how ever long you want it' lead from a place in California.

After deciding width, the lead is rolled using a vise and auto sheet metal hammer.  Length is from about 5" to 7" depending on boiler diameter.

Original weight.

New weight almost doubles.

LED's installed in running boards and cab.

RF&P 4-8-4:

New can motor works well.

Running board and cab lights installed.  Always fun routing the LED's from inside the boiler!

Headlight and marker lights with canopy glue.

Tender light.

Was no existing weight but new weight will provide good traction.

Lead weight and front smoke box installed.  Still need to organize the wires.

ACL R-1 4-8-4.

Headlight and marker lights installed and tested.

Running board lights and cab light.

Broke down and cleaned up the work table. Can now find things although I can't find my favorite 'straight edge' screw driver; looked everywhere; bummer.

The ACL uses wires instead of springs on the drivers.

Seems to work well as it allows the drivers to interact with each other.

Left the 'high tower' gears and original can motor in the engine.

Some dividers used to get accurate holes for the screws and recess for the frame to boiler screw.  Running board and cab lights installed.

The original 'wimpy' lead weight.

The new one.  If I would have replaced that tower gear with a low profile, could have gotten another inch 'or so' more lead.

0402 LED's.

It's 'in the details'.  All this stuff takes time.

Great winter 'drone' video of the Northwest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT-cUyqKWv4