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There have been a couple of threads here this winter on rail vehicles such as Rail buses and maintenance cars that were never made for Standard Gauge; and also Arno's great thread on the various creative ways that craftsman have found to power home-built Standard Gauge equipment using mostly Postwar O Gauge power sources.

 

I posted a video of a rail bus I made with a truck cab.  But I wanted to try again, following the more common prototype of a bus-type vehicle which combined baggage capacity with coach seating and a rear observation deck.  I used all Ives parts, and powered it with a Lionel postwar Pullmoor-type motor.

 

I started with an Ives 184 club car, but chopped the back and spliced on the observation deck and back partition from a 186 observation car.  The result combines driver's compartment, baggage, coach, and observation in one car.  For the engine compartment in front, I used the snout of an O Gauge Ives 3253 locomotive.

 

The opening shots of the video show the Lionel motor: first in its native environment in what I believe is an F3 chassis which contains 2 such motors; then installed in the Ives car.  The knurled brass nuts were drilled out to become press-fit collars on the O Gauge axles, splicing on short axle extensions to widen the unit to Standard Gauge.  The motor is ideal:  it is much heavier and stronger than the gang car motor I used previously, and it drives both axles of the powered truck - for plenty of torque and traction.  

 

The Ives 179 Rail Bus... never was, but could have been!  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

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Originally Posted by Ives1122:

nice job.

 

how about a cowcatcher on the front?

Thank you!  Will do.  I knew it was missing something... maybe that will help with the "hedgehog" look!  I will look for one the right size.

 

Roy, the extent of rebuilding the motor that would be necessary to replace the existing axles with longer ones seemed daunting - if indeed it would even be possible.  Inspired by Arno's earlier thread on SG motor conversions, I chose instead to add extensions on the axles, as I described above:

"The knurled brass nuts were drilled out to become press-fit collars on the O Gauge axles, splicing on short axle extensions to widen the unit to Standard Gauge." 

 

 

david

 

 

Originally Posted by hojack:
Originally Posted by Ives1122:

nice job.

 

how about a cowcatcher on the front?

Thank you!  Will do.  I knew it was missing something... maybe that will help with the "hedgehog" look!  I will look for one the right size.

 

david

 

 

In the interest of keeping it "Ives", perhaps you could look at getting one from a junk cast iron wide gauge electric loco frame.  Or modify one of the repro diecast trickel castings for the later 3242 or 1134.

Or even one of the snow plow pilots from 1926-27.

Anyway, it would be really neat if you can find an Ives piece that works.

Here's some pictures with the cowcatcher installed.  I found an old one off a derelict #33 loco.  It's not Ives, but then neither is the motor in this thing.  It really fit on perfectly and fastened securely with just one machine screw, so I didn't have to do any modifying or re-painting.

 

Popi, there is a place for a coupler and I thought about it briefly, but decided against it:  it didn't seem so appropriate behind the observation deck, and also prototypically these rail buses didn't typically have trailer cars.  I'm sure it would pull one, that motor has plenty of umph.  

 

When I was making the decals, I numbered it 179.  No particular reason other than it was a number Ives never used, and it was in the vicinity of the 170 series and 184 series cars that it is made out of.  Maybe it should have had a 32xx number as a powered unit, but anywhat, there it is.  I've been running it, it is a very solid and dependable runner.

 

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement!

 

david

 

 

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Very clever rail-bus ......there actually was a standard gauge, rail-bus   made way back when,  by Grammes  of Allentown, PA...home of Mack, makers of rail-buses  1:1scale.  Grammes was a huge company with it's fingers in many fields .

Google Grammes , Allentown Pa for a history of the company ...and here is link to a bunch of stuff they made

https://www.google.com/search?...QCYKHRndCIYQ_AUICSgE

where are the trains you ask ....oh they did make them .... or at least a few of them ..more research is needed to fill in the blanks ... but in the early 70's a pile of parts were found in the Allentown area .... and over the 40 years + -   a few factory assembled Grammes have surfaced . A gentlemen bought the parts and was able to assemble them into running engines and coaches .     

The design is pure fantasy based on assorted  rail -buses rolling out of Mack  in the teens and early twenties. ( same time period for Grammes production) .   So if you are a company who specializes in shiny metal objects   ..you make a shiny train ... may want to put on your sun glasses.

For some reason very very  few were completed .... even with the parts found and later assembled ..there are still very few. Little engine runs like a top ....looking for a coach to go behind it .

Lionel 1912 to show size comparison

Cheers CareyIMG_9462IMG_9458IMG_9463IMG_9464

 

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