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Lionel Trinity 30K Ethanol Tank Car - Converted to 2-Rail

Mike DeBergMike DeBergOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

For car number two this afternoon, I picked out one of my Ethanol tank cars. Besides adding nearly 14oz of weight, I used Atlas 100-Ton trucks and Kadee 745 couplers. If you take your time the end railings pop out, just held in place with a little glue.  Also the side railings slide out, also held in place with a little glue.   After removing the Lionel trucks, I test fit the Atlas 100-Ton trucks.  I decided to grind a little off the Lionel bolster to level it out a bit and provide a more stable ride for the car.  This also allowed very little shimming on the coupler draft gear box and makes the ride height very close to the Atlas 25.5K tank cars.  Check out the last photo for the comparison with the Atlas 25.5K tank car.  I drilled and tapped 2-56 holes for the Kadee couplers.  On the B end of the car there was a conflicting hole in the end platform so I have to move the Kadee draft gear box out a bit.    May decide to make some smaller stirrup steps on the end platforms before weathering.  The stock Lionel ones are a little chunky, otherwise a very nice car.

 

 

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Last edited by Mike DeBerg
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Alan HummelAlan HummelOGR Forum Member
Originally Posted by Mike DeBerg:

For car number two this afternoon, I picked out one of my Ethanol tank cars. Besides adding nearly 14oz of weight, I used Atlas 100-Ton trucks and Kadee 745 couplers. If you take your time the end railings pop out, just held in place with a little glue.  Also the side railings slide out, also held in place with a little glue.   After removing the Lionel trucks, I test fit the Atlas 100-Ton trucks.  I decided to grind a little off the Lionel bolster to level it out a bit and provide a more stable ride for the car.  This also allowed very little shimming on the coupler draft gear box and makes the ride height very close to the Atlas 25.5K tank cars.  Check out the last photo for the comparison with the Atlas 25.5K tank car.  I drilled a tapped 2-56 holes for the Kadee couplers.  On the B end of the car there was a conflicting hole in the end platform so I have to move the Kadee draft gear box out a bit.    May decide to make some smaller stirrup steps on the end platforms before weathering.  The stock Lionel ones are a little chunky, otherwise a very nice car.

 Very nice conversions,Mike,thank you for sharing your wisdom & pic's. To make the tankers complete would be upper/lower shelf couplers. Jim Lincoln drew out those in 3D. He's talking about using the Protocraft E coupler body & locking pin in shelf couplers,but have had no updates for a couple months now. Don't know if modelers who want them like we do,would email him about the need,if that would speed the process any or not. Talked to Kadee& while they realize the great need,say that project isn't on a high priority list because of low interest. 50% of O Scale modelers don't know what shelf couplers are. Of course they're only important to 2&3rail scale modelers,so that's another wrinkle in the process. Kadee sells them in bulk in HO while Sergent Engineering makes all E,F&H coupler versions.

 

Thanks again,

Al Hummel

 

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Mike DeBergMike DeBergOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
Al, Absolutely.  In O Scale, shelf couplers would really be the bee's knees    IMO, Kadee needs to get with the program and stop basing their decision solely on the state of O Scale from 1970.  We have modern equipment from top manufacturers that require realistic couplers.  Take another look Kadee!  It would certainly be to your benefit to provide these products to the O Scale market.  I bet their 700 series outsell their 800 series already.
 
Originally Posted by Alan Hummel:
Very nice conversions,Mike,thank you for sharing your wisdom & pic's. To make the tankers complete would be upper/lower shelf couplers. Jim Lincoln drew out those in 3D. He's talking about using the Protocraft E coupler body & locking pin in shelf couplers,but have had no updates for a couple months now. Don't know if modelers who want them like we do,would email him about the need,if that would speed the process any or not. Talked to Kadee& while they realize the great need,say that project isn't on a high priority list because of low interest. 50% of O Scale modelers don't know what shelf couplers are. Of course they're only important to 2&3rail scale modelers,so that's another wrinkle in the process. Kadee sells them in bulk in HO while Sergent Engineering makes all E,F&H coupler versions.
Mike DeBergMike DeBergOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

Matt,

 

Thank you!  So the Lionel Ethanol Tank cars actually are fairly easy in that regard.  The end rail pops out and on the A end of the car is hinged on the end platform.  Very easy to remove... From there you can either remove the end cap without taking the end platform and bolster off (just two screws) or remove the end platform and bolster (just two screws) and you're inside the tank car.

 

As noted the other railings pull or slide out if you want to be sure not to bend them, etc...

 

 

AGHRMattAGHRMattOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERMEMORIAL SUPPORTER

Converted & weighted 10 Weaver Tank cars over the course of this thread (4 Allied Chemical, 4 Sinclair Oil, 2 Dow Chemical). Once you get the hang of getting them apart, putting the weights in isn't that hard. Have a couple of Lionel Dow Chemical cars I picked up at York a couple of years ago that are next in line. Turns out that switching them over is kinda therapeutic.

RooRooOGR Forum Member
AGHRMatt posted:

Converted & weighted 10 Weaver Tank cars over the course of this thread (4 Allied Chemical, 4 Sinclair Oil, 2 Dow Chemical). Once you get the hang of getting them apart, putting the weights in isn't that hard. Have a couple of Lionel Dow Chemical cars I picked up at York a couple of years ago that are next in line. Turns out that switching them over is kinda therapeutic.

Always liked those Weaver tankers.

Way to go Matt ! Roo.

Engineer-JoeEngineer-JoeOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
Trinkle-Trains posted:

I really like the work you've done on these here Mike...I will follow suite and do the same.  Have you done a car with the railsounds unit in it? Do you envision any challenges? I've got one and need to 2 rail that as well.

The rotating disc magnet on the axle triggers the sounds. You must put that onto the new axle if using NWSL replacement wheelsets. I had to drill it out slightly larger to fit the thicker axle. The first one I did, I split the magnet into pieces. I didn't realize just how fragile that magnet is.

 I wish the wires were inside the car and not so visible. They have to go to the trucks for power pick-up and the magnet reader. If I do it again, I might do something else to make them less visible. I think some easy flex wire would help.

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Last edited by Engineer-Joe
Mike DeBergMike DeBergOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
Trinkle-Trains posted:

I really like the work you've done on these here Mike...I will follow suite and do the same.  Have you done a car with the railsounds unit in it? Do you envision any challenges? I've got one and need to 2 rail that as well.

Rick, I don't have any of the vision line versions which are the ones I think have the sound, but would definitely follow Joe's thoughts.   

Something, also that comes to mind for me are the actual sounds produced, outside of the lionel tanker related sounds, I would prefer a Soundtraxx Tsunami Soundcar decoder for more realistic sounds.  The operation behaviors are similar if you're running straight DCC.  

Just my .02 cents  

Engineer-JoeEngineer-JoeOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

I don't usually put in a plug for Lionel , but....

the sounds of this tank car are pretty cool .

They sense the speed of the train, if it's on a curve, and seem to cycle thru some random clanks and groans. Pretty advanced to me. There's just enough silence so they don't get on your nerves.

 I'm not sure if the Tsunami sound car does all the same?? I did see a video a few years back of it and it also sounded pretty cool to me.

Mike DeBergMike DeBergOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

Joe, I watched eric's review video and agree it's pretty cool.  Yes, the soundcar does a lot of the same braking behaviors but doesn't have the specific tank car sounds that lionel does.  That being said, I'm not as interested in those as the more realistic braking sounds, I don't need to hear a guy say fill'er up! 

I do agree that Lionel's work in the Vision line products is outstanding!    

 

 

bigboy25bigboy25OGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

Hey all, this evening I was playing around with these cars and the double shelf couplers that Jimmy from Glacier Park had made. After getting everything installed, I noticed how tight the couplers were in on the boxes and cars. With a quick test I confirmed that they won’t do 36” radius due to the grab irons hitting and will just barely do 40.5”. The issue seems to be that the couplers are not long enough and that they are not squared off at the rear of the slot. I’m thinking a file would help somewhat, but I am also looking for other ideas.

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  • Photo #1: 36” radius
  • Photo #2: 40.5” radius
  • Photo #3: Double shelf coupler squished into kadee box
Last edited by bigboy25
bigboy25bigboy25OGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

@EastCoastIron, thanks for stating the obvious. Not very helpful.
@mwb, I didn’t end up having to extend the coupler shank, but I will keep that idea in the back of my mind going forward.
@Steinzeit & @CentralFan1976 thanks for the suggestion. This turned out to be the solution along with using the resin printed coupler boxes that were an option to order with the coupler.

Info about the couplers can be found here.

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  • Photo #1: Size comparison between a Kadee 740 and the double shelf coupler
  • Photo #2: Coupler flops in std kadee coupler box
  • Photo #3: Resin printed coupler box with inverted spring placement.
  • Photo #4: Success! The cars won’t hit now on 36” radius curves.
  • Photo #5: I was concerned the coupler box would look awkward being narrower than the pad, but it looks fine.
  • Photo #6: There coupler is a bit low, but this is usable.
Last edited by bigboy25

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