Some S scale questions

@hlfritz posted:

Hello all, I have somewhat been down this rabbit hole before but recently visited an S scaler layout (San Diego S scalers) and once again (as I am sure most of you would agree) find the size to be great, if not perfect.

However, I will say while I am not a rivet counter (no offense intended!) I do like scale and adhering to it.  So that brings my first question:  Are the Gilbert AF and current Lionel AF rolling stock actually S scale?  Or are they "traditional" like Traditional O?

It depends.  Most Gilbert locomotives and rolling stock is scale proportioned, just with 1950's level of detailing.  The exceptions are the Frontiersman 4-4-0 , the gawd-awfull F9's and to a certain extent the Baldwin switchers (the cab is too large to accommodate the motor.)

As to Lionel production, again it depends.  The SD70's, ES44's and cylindrical hoppers are scale, as are the 4-6-2's, 2-8-2's, 2-8-8-2's and 4-6-6-4's.  The remainder is pretty much based on old Gilbert designs.  HOWEVER...Lionel has also used some O27 products equipped with Flyer trucks like the current auto-racks.  Most of these types of things are oversized to some extent and it becomes "eye of the beholder" to the individual.

Also, are there any smaller steam locos available in S?  I have searched for a few hours and can turn up nothing really - maybe some from out of business small shops.  By smaller I would lean towards Moguls, 10-wheelers and maybe Consolidations or such; maybe even Mikes.  Most everything I see are larger, later steam locos.  Let's make the question towards both standard and narrow gauge, I would be open to either.

Odds are Lionel will re-release the USRA light Mikado in the future, but nothing is certain.  Most small steam came from brass importers like Omicon or River Raisin.  This includes 0-6-0's, 2-6-0's 4-6-0's and 2-8-0's.  Omnicon is long gone and River Raisin has announced it's closing at years end.

There was a company called Rex (another long gone company) that made an 0-4-0 Docksider, 2-4-4T Suburban 0-6-0 and 2-6-0 kits. These can occasionally be found on the secondary market.

S-Helper Service made a 2-8-0, but unfortunately like other companies has ended their business.  SHS is currently owned by ScaleTrains, but at present Scale Trains is still sorting things out and the are no release dates for any production.

PBL is the source for narrow gauge S.

What about "foreign" models such as from Australia and New Zealand (Sn42?).  There is a cool railway called the Zig-Zag railway in Australia that might be kinda neat to model.

Railmaster Exports in New Zealand is the source.

How about early Boxcabs?  Somehow they are fascinating to me.

The only boxcabs I've seen are bodies available on Shapeways.

I am not averse to kits that use donor mechanisms and some kit bashing, if that helps.

It seems that S is once again in decline, most everything referred to on sscale.org seems quite out of date.

NASG.org is a better source.  The webmaster does his best to keep things up to date.

I will freely admit that S has always been a tough scale to get in to.  There is no where near the variety or availability of HO or 3-Rail O.

I've been in S since 1985 and in my view at present, S has more of a past than a future.  It's a tough assessment, but I'm not going to gloss things over and say everything is perfect.

American Models and Lionel/Flyer are currently the only two "major manufactures" in S, most everything else are what used to be called cottage industries; small one or two man operations.  S Scale America is currently undergoing reorganization and how things ramp up there remains to be seen.

I'm sure I've missed some things, others are welcome to chime in.

Rusty

andThx for any info, please be ready for more questions. 

S-Helper 2-8-0 See Rusty's comments.

Lionel recently released the light Pacific in Legacy. It uses the same shell as the light Mikado. Lionel may rerun the light Mikado as Legacy but TMCC versions can be found online. All Lionel S gauge engines are scale, the FlyerChief engines are less detailed (but still better than Gilbert), Legacy engines are nicely detailed. The AM engines are all scale and can be converted to TMCC or have DCC added if desired. All Lionel S gauge Legacy engines made since 2012 will run on DCC, FlyerChief engines will not.

Some pictures of the Legacy light Pacific.

Two more pictures. A TMCC PRR light Mikado is on the turntable. The three engines nose on are an Erie Legacy Berkshire, a Legacy PRR Y3 and a Legacy NPR Berkshire. These are larger engines but not real large.

Forgot in my initial post: For small steam, Southwind Models made SP/UP 2-8-0's and SP 4-4-2's:

2-8-0:

4-4-2:

And getting back to mid-sized steam, American Models had released two Pacific's: a streamlined Pennsy K4 and a USRA Heavy Pacific:

AM also offered a streamlined New York Central Hudson, but I don't own one, so I don't have a picture.

American Models had announced a re-release of the USRA Pacific, but it had been uncharacteristically (for AM) delayed and has been removed from their website.

Which also brings up the thorny issue of wheels and control...

None of the Lionel/Flyer steam locomotives have scale flanged wheels, nor is any conversion available.  S-Helper offered their 2-8-0 with either HiRail or Scale wheels as did American Models on their Pacific's, Hudson and Northern.  Southwind offered their 2-8-0 with either HiRail or Scale wheels.

The issue with control is: Lionel depending on the locomotive; Conventional AC, Legacy, TMCC, FlyerChief(on some locomotives) DCC (on Legacy locomotives built after 2012.) American Models: Conventional AC or DC.  S-Helper Service; AC, DC, DCC as specified when ordered.  Plus, MTH threw their DCS system into the ring during the short time they owned the former S-Helper Service tooling.   Any brass locomotive will be DC or DCC.

Rusty

Addressing the OP's desire for "small" steam engines, the Gilbert No. 21004 PRR B6b 0-6-0 and No. 342/3 0-8-0 are essentially decent models that could be repurposed and detailed to fit into a modern S gauge scale hi-rail layout. I am mentioning these because the OP stated that he was not against modifying and kit bashing.

As for the future of S gauge and to digress a bit, those who are on the Gilbert and Lionel Flyer side of the hobby have arguably never seen better times. There is a lot of very affordable Gilbert and Lionel on the market these days. Doug Peck of Portlines Hobbies is busy bagging and sending out parts and is backed up with repair work, so folks are obviously fixing and running Flyer. As can be seen in AmFlyer's posts above, Lionel is offering some very nice Legacy/DCC compatible steam. It is the 'scale crowd' who are grumpy about the current situation.

A word of caution about the SHS 2-8-0: It is a lovely model that is not well-engineered. It is fragile and if one has to take a sample apart and reassemble it to affect a repair, one is likely to breathe cuss words (which I know from personal experience). If you elect to acquire one, go into that purchase with your eyes open.

Aside from the product availability issue, S is a great size based upon 2-rail track with a true scale gauge. 3-rail track never, ever looks right or photographs with any degree of realism.

Have fun.

Bob

To follow up on the above posts, the current issue of The S Scale Resource Magazine online has a great article and pictures of the AM streamlined Hudson. There is a Gilbert 0-8-0 detailing and TMCC/Railsounds conversion on Carl Tuveson's website, tuveson.com. It is under the left hand column heading "TMCC For S". Scroll down to the 0-8-0 subheading.

Wow, thank you all for the overwhelming responses.  I did not expect so many.  And some nice pics!  I guess I have a lot of food for thought.  I will note I tend to be on the cheap side of things if at all possible, the CFO really does not understand this hobby stuff. 

Can the older AF stuff be brought up to somewhat decent standard of appearance (It looks like Bob intimated that they can be and parts are available)?  Kadee couplers?  or is that problematic?

Also, what does Legacy mean as related to Lionel?  I have seen the stuff on Lionel site - to me it is all very expensive.

I have cobbled together my own wireless/deadrail DCC system by putting a few pieces together, and prefer to stick to that (if anyone is interested I can post a writeup).  I am guessing the easiest to convert to battery power is DCC and DC.  Is AC able to be converted to battery power, or are the motors actually AC?

EDIT: it seems Legacy is somewhat of a layout control system?  It really looks like Lionels version of DCC?  If so, I would rather not spend the money on the control bits in the locos, unless they could be removed and other enterprising individuals might buy them to add non-Lionel stuff to their layouts.  Make sense?

I do have some experience with G scale, and have collected some HO items as I thought I was going that way until I saw the S.D. S scalers stuff.

Legacy is an engine control system that comes preinstalled in the highest line Lionel O and S gauge engines. There is a separate Layout Control System (LCS) that integrates with the legacy base or can run standalone. It is run from an iPad. LCS operates any item on the layout and can provide very basic engine controls. I have both on my layout. DCC and Legacy are similar, DCC offers more sounds and more customization.

Most Gilbert engines can be purchased inexpensively. While a standard Gilbert engine can be run with the right DCC decoder installed it is far better to replace the ancient open frame 3 pole universal motors with can motors and a half speed worm gear if using DCC.

All modern S gauge engines have DC motors. Unfortunately some of the early Legacy engines will not run on DC track power because of circuit board designs Most will run with DC, all work with AC.

Helmut, I sent you an email to your screen email address.

For discussions about Battery Powered Remote Control (BPRC) of trains, search this site for that subject.  There are quite a few threads that discuss this topic in general and several that actually explain how it is done, including possible vendors of the required equipment.

Chuck

Chuck,

Thx.  I am relatively well versed in BPRC, although there is always more to learn!

@hlfritz posted:

Hello all, I have somewhat been down this rabbit hole before but recently visited an S scaler layout (San Diego S scalers) and once again (as I am sure most of you would agree) find the size to be great, if not perfect.

However, I will say while I am not a rivet counter (no offense intended!) I do like scale and adhering to it.  So that brings my first question:  Are the Gilbert AF and current Lionel AF rolling stock actually S scale?  Or are they "traditional" like Traditional O?

Also, are there any smaller steam locos available in S?  I have searched for a few hours and can turn up nothing really - maybe some from out of business small shops.  By smaller I would lean towards Moguls, 10-wheelers and maybe Consolidations or such; maybe even Mikes.  Most everything I see are larger, later steam locos.  Let's make the question towards both standard and narrow gauge, I would be open to either.

What about "foreign" models such as from Australia and New Zealand (Sn42?).  There is a cool railway called the Zig-Zag railway in Australia that might be kinda neat to model.

How about early Boxcabs?  Somehow they are fascinating to me.

I am not averse to kits that use donor mechanisms and some kit bashing, if that helps.

It seems that S is once again in decline, most everything referred to on sscale.org seems quite out of date.

Thx for any info, please be ready for more questions. 

If you are talking true S scale. it is a wonderful  Scale to work in! all the details and presence of O scale and with being able to build your RR empire in a   smaller space , or as large as you can imagine.    What level , Modeler are you?  Beginner ,  intermediate , or skilled?   Do you prefer Toy track, with oversized rail and or plastic roadbed, or hand laid rail on wood ties ( It is possible to do both scale and  A.F. on the same  track with a minimum of code 126 rail and closed frog turnouts.      As far equipment u(nles you are trying to reproduce the UP , SF or any of the eastern Rail roads, in their entirety,  there,  is enough out there on the secondary market!  And yes there are smaller scale steam engines (Rex for one , as well as in Brass ) .     For powering up your system , in S scale any thing from Dc, DCC , and RCBP (Dead rail)  , can be done, including digital sound.   If you are interested in chatting , e-mail me , and I will send you my cell #

PS  For doing a early  Box motor I would use an S helper service SW1  to power it and  kit bash a body from there!

To answer one of your original questions; postwar American Flyer was pretty much scale proportioned. There was no "traditional" selectively compressed series like Lionel had in their O-27 line. Gilbert company used that, along with the two rail T-topped track to compare to Lionel every chance they could.

But then... the Frontiersman 4-4-0 loco and cars that came out in 1959 were way oversized. The F9 diesel locos from 61-62 that some folks called Fat Alberts and the Casey Jones steam engines from the same era were not sized properly.

Most of the stuff made before 1959 was close to scale proportions.

In later years Lionel tried putting out O-27 cars on S gauge trucks, but they were not popular with AF collectors.

@dave, thank you.  I might do that!

I probably do not want the old AF toy track, but something that looks a bit more plausible.  I probably would do hi-rail track to keep all my options open.

Regarding older Gilbert stuff, I just need to be able to have it run on DC and putting in a new motor seems to be the path there.  While I might really want to have everything scale and detailed, the reality is that desire vs. cost as well as having two young girls that would want to "play" as well.

@Roy, also thx.  Sounds like I can get my close-enough-to-scale-proportions as long as I avoid certain items.  But it does not look like there is a lot of Gilbert small steam, but at least there are options!

All, please be patient with me this week; swamped at work so quite busy there.  I also have some more research to do as it related to putting together an idea for a layout to help me have something to search for.  I really appreciate all of the answers/info/time!

@hlfritz posted:

Regarding older Gilbert stuff, I just need to be able to have it run on DC and putting in a new motor seems to be the path there.  While I might really want to have everything scale and detailed, the reality is that desire vs. cost as well as having two young girls that would want to "play" as well.

@Roy, also thx.  Sounds like I can get my close-enough-to-scale-proportions as long as I avoid certain items.  But it does not look like there is a lot of Gilbert small steam, but at least there are options!

All postwar Gilbert engines will run on DC with no modifications.

The motors are called universal motors for a reason. The field windings are in series with the armature windings. Reversing the motor is accomplished by changing the relationship of the armature magnetic field and the field magnetic field.

It's just like the postwar Lionel and Marx in that regard. They are all universal-type motors.

@hlfritz posted:

@dave, thank you.  I might do that!

I probably do not want the old AF toy track, but something that looks a bit more plausible.  I probably would do hi-rail track to keep all my options open.

Regarding older Gilbert stuff, I just need to be able to have it run on DC and putting in a new motor seems to be the path there.  While I might really want to have everything scale and detailed, the reality is that desire vs. cost as well as having two young girls that would want to "play" as well.

@Roy, also thx.  Sounds like I can get my close-enough-to-scale-proportions as long as I avoid certain items.  But it does not look like there is a lot of Gilbert small steam, but at least there are options!

All, please be patient with me this week; swamped at work so quite busy there.  I also have some more research to do as it related to putting together an idea for a layout to help me have something to search for.  I really appreciate all of the answers/info/time!

I put together this S gauge track choice for those that want more than tin plate track.

@Oman posted:

I put together this S gauge track choice for those that want more than tin plate track.

I can't open it...😟...but will simply add (again) that I've been happy using Gargraves track... 🙂

Mark in Oregon

Thx Keith - I noted that Mark's Gargraves is not in your sheet.  Now I do NOT want to start anything here!  Any reason to not list Gargraves?  Or maybe you listed what you have experience with.  I have looked at Gargraves for other projects (mostly O when I was condisering it) and it did not seem too awful bad.

The first decision before choosing a track system is scale or high rail. If scale is chosen there are several vendors such as Tomalco and Custom Trax that make complete systems in Code 100. Code 100 and smaller rail will not permit operation of any Gilbert or Lionel S gauge engines or rolling stock. The most complete listing of S gauge high rail track systems with pictures is at portlines.com under the heading of Track Options Info. The current issue in high rail S is the lack of availability of some of these track systems. The closest to scale is the .138 rail used by SHS/MTH, Fox Valley and Lionel (S gauge FasTrack.) I chose MTH .138 flex track because it looks as close to scale as is possible for high rail track. It is the smallest rail that permits operation of all S gauge engines and rolling stock.

There are multiple options for track, each has advantages and disadvantages.

Tom,

I think to keep my options open I will probably do hi-rail track (providing I do not go narrow gauge).  Some of it looks pretty good.  How do you like your MTH stuff?  Is it hollow (and loud) like fastrak? It does indeed look pretty good, but as we know MTH is...gone.  I wonder how much stock is left around?

Thos jigs look pretty nice though.

I am totally satisfied with the MTH track. All the .138 rail is solid Nickle Silver, it is very quiet. It also is available as sectional track on detailed plastic roadbed. It is very quiet, nothing like the O gauge track.

Rusty, who posted above, is using the SHS/MTH sectional track for his new layout. The MTH track can still be found in reasonable quantity for a layout. Scale Trains has announced it will put the former MTH track back into production.

Pictures of the flex track and sectional track.

Two pictures I found in my photo albums. On the left, GarGraves flex with .220 hollow rail (same height as Gilbert) and MTH flex with .138 solid rail on the right.

@Dave Koehler posted:

  As far equipment u(nles you are trying to reproduce the UP , SF or any of the eastern Rail roads, in their entirety,  there,  is enough out there on the secondary market!

S Scale is a sub-segment of S gauge which is a smaller market than O 2-rail which is a sub-segment of O gauge - which is in no way shape or form as popular as HO or N.  In S gauge, nearly everything is secondary market.  New manufacturing is limited to American Models and Lionel Flyer-  and AM is the only one producing for S scale.  At least hi-rail gets you both manufactures.   SHS was MTH but is now Scale Trains - we've seen some mock up boxcars from tooling but no announcements yet.  We'll see how interest Scale Trains is when they start pushing product.

Cost-wise, unless you go with vintage hi-rail, you won't save any money going into S.  Modern flyer is as expensive as O gauge. Secondary market S brass is as expensive as secondary market O - but O often comes with modern electronics.  In S, it'll be conventional.  Most secondary market SHS freight stock costs as much or more than Scale O on the secondary market.   Over the last year, I've averaged $45-50 per SHS boxcar.  That's what AM costs new - you can do a little better - like $40 on AM on secondary.  It pains me everytime I buy a car - so much smaller than O - heck, I was paying the same for 1:32 just a few years ago.    One thing that is cheaper is scale passenger cars... a set of 4 in S would buy you 1 or 2 in O.  So there's that.

As mentioned in the quote above, S is a terrible choice for a steam modeler if you want to prototype a specific road - unless that road is SP, UP, NYC, or Penn. That's pretty much been the focus of S manufacturers.  You can do small scale steam locomotives if you stick to those roads.  The gallery section on the NASG website can be very helpful. This link will take you to locomotives by road name:  https://www.nasg.org/Gallery/r...p#Union_Pacific_(UP)   Most of those small locomotives will be brass and that will add up fast.

My personal interest is 1940s ATSF steam.  S scale probably isn't the best choice for me - but here I am collecting cars and motive power because HO is too small and O motive power has priced me out.  In my case, AM does have 4-8-4s with a nice santa fe cab and their USRA heavy pacific is a good boiler base for ATSF - so I'm planning to open a chop shop down the line to make the locomotives I want from AM's existing equipment.  Generally I can pick up secondary market AM 4-8-4s / 4-6-2s for $300.    Good luck finding a PS1 MTH 2900 class for $300 these days - let alone a PS3. 

FYI S Scale predates American Flyers

@Jacobpaul81 posted:

S Scale is a sub-segment of S gauge which is a smaller market than O 2-rail which is a sub-segment of O gauge - which is in no way shape or form as popular as HO or N.  In S gauge, nearly everything is secondary market.  New manufacturing is limited to American Models and Lionel Flyer-  and AM is the only one producing for S scale.  At least hi-rail gets you both manufactures.   SHS was MTH but is now Scale Trains - we've seen some mock up boxcars from tooling but no announcements yet.  We'll see how interest Scale Trains is when they start pushing product.

Cost-wise, unless you go with vintage hi-rail, you won't save any money going into S.  Modern flyer is as expensive as O gauge. Secondary market S brass is as expensive as secondary market O - but O often comes with modern electronics.  In S, it'll be conventional.  Most secondary market SHS freight stock costs as much or more than Scale O on the secondary market.   Over the last year, I've averaged $45-50 per SHS boxcar.  That's what AM costs new - you can do a little better - like $40 on AM on secondary.  It pains me everytime I buy a car - so much smaller than O - heck, I was paying the same for 1:32 just a few years ago.    One thing that is cheaper is scale passenger cars... a set of 4 in S would buy you 1 or 2 in O.  So there's that.

As mentioned in the quote above, S is a terrible choice for a steam modeler if you want to prototype a specific road - unless that road is SP, UP, NYC, or Penn. That's pretty much been the focus of S manufacturers.  You can do small scale steam locomotives if you stick to those roads.  The gallery section on the NASG website can be very helpful. This link will take you to locomotives by road name:  https://www.nasg.org/Gallery/r...p#Union_Pacific_(UP)   Most of those small locomotives will be brass and that will add up fast.

My personal interest is 1940s ATSF steam.  S scale probably isn't the best choice for me - but here I am collecting cars and motive power because HO is too small and O motive power has priced me out.  In my case, AM does have 4-8-4s with a nice santa fe cab and their USRA heavy pacific is a good boiler base for ATSF - so I'm planning to open a chop shop down the line to make the locomotives I want from AM's existing equipment.  Generally I can pick up secondary market AM 4-8-4s / 4-6-2s for $300.    Good luck finding a PS1 MTH 2900 class for $300 these days - let alone a PS3.

FYI  You Do know S Scale Predates  American Flyer by over two decades?  That ,like in O Scale 2 rail  (predating  Lionels 3 rail toy trains) , has been in model railroading  terms , a minority scale.  Not a subcategory!  Like all the scales  it goes up and down in popularity.   As far as High Rail vs. scale, the concept started from the introduction of the toy trains, the end goal to has been to make the most realistic  model train, layout, scenery etc., with out making the commitment of fallowing scale practices. In other words a compromise!     Sorry you   feal you are paying too much for box cars, but prices have gone up, across all the scales, and you can always make your own or go into HO

@Dave Koehler posted:

FYI S Scale predates American Flyers

FYI  You Do know S Scale Predates  American Flyer by over two decades?  That ,like in O Scale 2 rail  (predating  Lionels 3 rail toy trains) , has been in model railroading  terms , a minority scale.  Not a subcategory!  Like all the scales  it goes up and down in popularity.   As far as High Rail vs. scale, the concept started from the introduction of the toy trains, the end goal to has been to make the most realistic  model train, layout, scenery etc., with out making the commitment of fallowing scale practices. In other words a compromise!     Sorry you   feal you are paying too much for box cars, but prices have gone up, across all the scales, and you can always make your own or go into HO

There's always one.     

I am not aware of American Models doing new product. Since Ron's passing they seem to be selling out of their substantial inventory. Looking at their revamped site, many of the engines and rolling stock are either sold out or down to "only one remaining." I hope to be proved wrong about this in the upcoming months. A key source of new scale engines, River Raisin, announced the business will be closed.

On the bright side, Scale Trains has entered the S gauge market with the purchase of all the MTH S gauge tooling and the purchase of Fox Valley Models, not including the FVM track and turnouts. Scale Trains has stated they will be making rolling stock including the cabooses MTH cancelled. They are also putting the MTH track system back into production.

American Models has updated their website. This is done in stages; and until they add the inventory data, the software will report "only one remaining" for every item that has been entered but not updated. Once inventory data are added to the software, customers will see an accurate account of what is available.

I would be delighted to see American Models and S Scale America cooperate on some projects as S Helper Service did in the past. If the S Scale America SD45 molds could be matched with American Models running gear, s scale would have a terrific and popular new locomotive with the two manufacturers minimizing investment risks. Ron Sebastian had already invested in some tooling for the SD45 but apparently felt the sales volume would not justify the risk. A tricky part is building a reliable 6-axle model, and American Models has already done that with the E8 and SD60/M locomotives. EMD build 1,260 SD45s for a wide variety of road names popular with modelers, so the SD45 is no BL2.

@AmFlyer posted:

I am not aware of American Models doing new product. Since Ron's passing they seem to be selling out of their substantial inventory. Looking at their revamped site, many of the engines and rolling stock are either sold out or down to "only one remaining." I hope to be proved wrong about this in the upcoming months. A key source of new scale engines, River Raisin, announced the business will be closed.

On the bright side, Scale Trains has entered the S gauge market with the purchase of all the MTH S gauge tooling and the purchase of Fox Valley Models, not including the FVM track and turnouts. Scale Trains has stated they will be making rolling stock including the cabooses MTH cancelled. They are also putting the MTH track system back into production.

Joe Calamia - from a Facebook forum post:

We have started running our new website.
1. We did not go out of business
2. We have more than just “one“ item of each; we have just not started the inventory of products we have
3. Thank you ahead of time for not calling with a panic attack.

They have also posted they are having some supply chain issues - but have also stated they are placing orders for things.  So no - they are not cleaning out their inventory.

Thanks. Pretty much everyone has supply chain issues. It would be nice if AM would do another run of of their streamlined Hudson. If they are considering new products, 80' Budd cars and more variety of 80' heavyweights would be great. A rerun of the 80' lightweights would also be nice.

@AmFlyer posted:

Thanks. Pretty much everyone has supply chain issues. It would be nice if AM would do another run of of their streamlined Hudson. If they are considering new products, 80' Budd cars and more variety of 80' heavyweights would be great. A rerun of the 80' lightweights would also be nice.

We've all got our wants and desires - right?

AM has a Santa Fe cab mold and lots of Santa specific add on parts thanks to the 2900.  I'd love it if they'd mold up a shorter boiler and do a 3461-3465 Hudson to mate with some 80' heavyweights.  But I'm sentimental about 3463. 

More good thoughts, opinions and commentary.  All welcome to me.  Does anyone have a pic of a spruced up Gilbert AF steam loco?  I would like to see what is possible with the detail parts available.

Regarding control schemes I have my own that I like, a BPRC system I cobbled together with bits and pieces from different sources and built my own LiPo batteries.  I actually prefer plain old DC as there is no waste from other control schemes that come with a loco.  I am considering other RC control schemes, or at least am considering LocoFi, but they have yet (after me bugging for 2+ years ) to release steam firmware for their latest locofi board.

BTW - I work in IT (Cloud Services) and I agree that everyone is feeling supply chain issues.  We had a server cluster ordered for a customer that was 3 mos late, which was 4 months after ordering it (it was promised to be delivered one month after ordering).  Horrible for business.

Thx again to all!

Here is a screen grab of a customized Gilbert 0-8-0.

Helmut, if you decide to implement deadrail on your layout many of us would be interested in the components /software used and how it works out. Deadrail has been implemented in other scales but not so much in S gauge.

@AmFlyer posted:

THAT is a seriously good looking switching hog!!

Well done!

Andre

agreed.  Tom is there a writeup anywhere on what was done there?

@hlfritz posted:

More good thoughts, opinions and commentary.  All welcome to me.  Does anyone have a pic of a spruced up Gilbert AF steam loco?  I would like to see what is possible with the detail parts available.

Regarding control schemes I have my own that I like, a BPRC system I cobbled together with bits and pieces from different sources and built my own LiPo batteries.  I actually prefer plain old DC as there is no waste from other control schemes that come with a loco.  I am considering other RC control schemes, or at least am considering LocoFi, but they have yet (after me bugging for 2+ years ) to release steam firmware for their latest locofi board.

BTW - I work in IT (Cloud Services) and I agree that everyone is feeling supply chain issues.  We had a server cluster ordered for a customer that was 3 mos late, which was 4 months after ordering it (it was promised to be delivered one month after ordering).  Horrible for business.

Thx again to all!

I'm planning to install Railpro in all my locos - the HO boards will work with S.  I'm still planning on track power - but Railpro can use lipos if battery power is your thing.    https://ringengineering.com/index.html

I was thoroughly impressed when I saw this 0-8-0. There is a complete description and a video at tuveson.com under the heading "TMCC for S." Carl did all the driveline and electronics upgrades, the owner did the body and detailing mods. It went well beyond just adding a few detail parts.

@hlfritz posted:

Can the older AF stuff be brought up to somewhat decent standard of appearance (It looks like Bob intimated that they can be and parts are available)?  Kadee couplers?  or is that problematic?

Kadee's are not a problem to install on AF... that's what I do.  I think the only problem you might run into would be body mounted couplers on smaller radii track.  I use the Kadee #5 family on couplers and body mount them.  The track in the pictures is SHS flex... MTH and Fox Valley Flex track is the same as SHS.

I am now in the process on converting AF trucks to use SHS Hi-rail metal wheels for increased roll-ability.

Tom Stoltz

in Maine

@Jacobpaul81  I have looked at railpro in the past and found them too expensive, but I will take another look before i buy any new stuff.  thx!

@Tom Stoltz  all nice.  good to know that kadee can be used.  thank you!