Switcher Saturday 01-21-2023

JHZ563,

Happy Switcher Saturday! I hope you’re feeling better.

On SWSAT last week, there was a discussion about couplers and derailments with Rutland #500, a model of a GE 70-ton diesel switcher by Williams-by-Bachmann.

RSJB18 wrote:

“…. The engine has fixed pilots. On tight curves, the coupler moves so far off center that it's pulling the freight car off the rails. I have the same problem with a few of my engines. Especially my WbB Rutland 70 tonner.”

Steam Crazy wrote:

“…. I have the same problem with my Rutland 70 tonner.  Lionel cars must have slightly longer drawbars, because I’ve found they’re less likely to derail than my MTH and K-line cars.  Give Lionel a try.”

Steam Crazy also said:

“I only have the problem on my O-31 inner loop.  The lead car, regardless of make, doesn't derail on my O-42 outer loop, so you shouldn't have a problem.”

I have one of these engines and like it very much. It’s scale-sized, nicely detailed with fixed pilots, runs very well, was inexpensive, and is the only Williams product that I own. I usually run it on my 10’-by-5’ layout with Atlas O-54 curves and haven’t encountered any issues with couplers or derailments. But I decided to investigate – just to have a session with my trains.

First, I saw that the opening in the fixed pilot is narrow and can restrict the sidewise movement of the coupler (Photo 1). I have an Atlas O-36 oval on my 12’-by-8’ layout, so I placed the engine on some O-36 track and coupled it first to an MTH caboose, and then to a K-Line boxcar. Both cars coupled to the engine without any problem (Photos 2 and 3) and there still was clearance for the engine’s coupler to pivot further. But the coupler on the K-Line boxcar is short and rigidly attached to the truck, so it can only pivot with the truck, and it looks like it could pull the car off the track on an O-31 curve. On most of my boxcars, the couplers pivot independently of the truck – which is better on tight curves. Having checked that the engine and K-Line boxcar coupled properly on O-36, I placed them on the inner loop of my 12’-by-8’ layout and ran them without any problem (see remaining photos and videos).

The Rutland #500 is an excellent model but looks better on my 10’-by-5’ layout with O-54. I have a Rutland wood caboose on order from MTH but, for now, I run #500 with the unlettered red caboose seen in the videos.

MELGAR

Happy SwSat!

@jhz563- I hope you are feeling better!

@MELGAR-I have the same issue with my 70 ton WbB switcher.

Its my daughters birthday, so here is her K-Line switcher set we got for her 6 weeks before she was born.

Have a great day!

Happy Switcher Saturday and glad to see JHZ on the mend!  It was a week of subway running and maintenance on my pike. However, we did get to see our subway work train switcher servicing our rails.  

Although the NY subway never had an NW2 switcher like the one above, it does look pretty close to the GE 45T engines that were employed, the key difference being the shorter cab roof, an obvious modification to navigate those short ceiling tunnels.

You can see the 45Ts here and compare - https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki...otives,_1965-Present

[Hear spooky music and see an eyeball flying through space]

[Then, you enter a time machine, go back in time and hear a familiar resonant voice say:] Welcome to -  the Twilight Zone!

It's  1956 - Don Larson pitches a perfect game and Mickey Mantle wins the Triple Crown.

There goes The Put - passing Yankee Stadium:

As it approaches the Polo Grounds and the Sedgewick Avenue Station with a NY Central RS3 switcher on the point:

[Again, you hear that spooky music, see that eyeball flying through space, and hear that same resonant voice say:]

Welcome to - the Twilight Zone!

Rod Serling

LOL, Arnold

Happy SWSat!

@jhz563- good to hear you are on the mend.

@MELGAR- thanks for the summary and added info about the Rutland 70. Your posts are always very informative.

Nothing new this week but another thread discussing the LIRR East Side Access Project has me offering some suggestions to solve their problem.

Have a great weekend!

GO GIANTS!!!!!!

Bob

Hello, SwSat faithful!  JHZ, glad to hear you’re feeling better!  MELGAR, like your engineering analysis of the “70 tonner problem”!

Last Saturday’s discussion about 70 tonners motivated your Yardmaster to prepare a post about his own Rutland engine.  No. 500 is hauling a train of a famous Vermont product, milk.  She was seen just North of Bellows Falls, VT, where Rutland interchanges with the B&M.  B&M will deliver the cars to the Hood processing plant in Boston.

I also have a Rutland caboose on order.  In the meantime, I couple a NYC wood caboose to the train.  Rutland was once owned by NYC and used NYC style cabooses, so my NYC caboose seems appropriate.

My post will be late next Saturday because I’ll be at the Springfield show.  Hope to meet some of my fellow SwSat addicts at 1:00 by the Ross Switch stand!

John

Sorry about your accident.  Glad to hear about your recovery progress.

Share a new addition to the new layout.  While my layout focus is Virginia, this one actually fits in.  A lesser known PRR line ran down the Eastern Shore of Virginia and connected with Norfolk area by a PRR ferry and barge.  This beauty is destined to sort freight coming off the barge.

First swinging bell on the layout.

@RSJB18 posted:

Happy SWSat!

@jhz563- good to hear you are on the mend.

@MELGAR- thanks for the summary and added info about the Rutland 70. Your posts are always very informative.

Have a great weekend!

GO GIANTS!!!!!!

Bob

Bob,

I like your LIRR engines. I almost bought LIRR #482 from Trainworld a few weeks ago. MTH RS-1s are very nice models. Enjoy it.

MELGAR

Mel - who makes this very sharp looking NH boxcar? Really like the black roofwalk.

@MELGAR posted:

Bob,

I like your LIRR engines. I almost bought LIRR #482 from Trainworld a few weeks ago. MTH RS-1s are very nice models. Enjoy it.

MELGAR

Trainworld announced the pre-order just as Mike announced that he was closing MTH down. I couldn't pass up one of the last full production runs. And my hometown road to boot!

Thanks Mel.

Jhz563, I also wish you a speedy recovery and greatly appreciate your willingness to get us started most Saturday mornings. Arnold

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Mel - who makes this very sharp looking NH boxcar? Really like the black roofwalk.

Mark,

It is an old K-Line car, K761-1791 New Haven Express Service Boxcar.

MELGAR

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Jhz563, I also wish you a speedy recovery and greatly appreciate your willingness to get us started most Saturday mornings. Arnold

Thanks Arnold.   Super lucky.  Bruised ribs suck big time.   Right wrist still splinted. Nothing broke,  but possible torn tendon. Mri for that on Monday.   Due to a fun accident years ago leaving a plate and screws in my leg, I get the joy of going head first into the mri machine.

Good morning, SWSDAT crew.

JHZ563, I'm glad to hear that your injuries weren't severe.  Hope you have a speedy recovery.

This morning I caught the crew of Penn Central SW8 8623 (Lionel) discussing their plans with the operator at Kill Tower:

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tom

@MELGAR posted:

Mark,

It is an old K-Line car, K761-1791 New Haven Express Service Boxcar.

MELGAR

Something else to buy🤪🤪🤪 It never ends! Hope I can find one.

JHZ Hope your ribs feel better and heal soon God Speed! Pennsy work train on duty

jhz, sorry to hear about misfortune.  Car crashes always suck but suck even more when injuries occur, no matter how minor they may be.  Don't take any deep breaths for a while and hopefully the MRI shows only a sprain.  Thanks for starting us up even though you have very good reason to pass today.

Tom Densel I love the low viewing angle of your photos.

JHZ…..hope you are better soon and good luck with the MRI…

Thomas continues to help the D&H bringing an elephant to the circus…..

New Haven SW1200 with calf.

jhz - so glad to hear you are on the mend and your injuries do not seem too bad.  MRI is no big deal if you can handle the confinement.  The McErlean household has been dealing with the same sort of thing.  Wife, a cancer patient undergoing chemo, managed to trip on the carpet and break her ankle on 7 Dec (as an old Navy employee, a seriously bad day for certain).  So Christmas was one big plastic boot, a knee scooter, and a cane...What a deal!.

Great pictures everyone.  Today I have a steam switcher from the waning days of Lionel.  This one is almost a shadow of the prior post war 0-4-0 switchers.  Offered from 1963-66 , the Lionel 1061 is all plastic, has a plastic sealed motor, no light, no reverse, and no smoke.  She came with a hollow slope back plastic tender (no whistle).  Now to the good part.  Despite the bad reputation of the plastic sealed motor, this 1061 happily handles my layout and runs fine and even can pull a few lightweight cars. (Note - the operating department will not comment on a switcher that can't reverse )  In 2019 she cost me $5 so I can't really complain.

Well Happy SwSat everyone

Don

I was in Boyertown, PA yesterday and saw this 1964 Plymouth ML-8 diesel. It's owned by the Colebrookdale Railroad and used as their yard switcher.

Charlie

Here it is back in April 2021.

@jhz563 posted:

Good morning everyone.

It's time once again for our favorite weekly thread,  Switcher Saturday!  Your dispatcher is on the mend after crashing his automobile right before Friday.

As the high season of the toy train world winds down into winter layout work, we see Lionel 4 wheel diesel hauling some trees for storage.

For those unfamiliar with our favorite weekly thread,  here we celebrate all the smaller locomotives that do the big work of railroading.  From yard goats to road switchers,  from modern hybrid experimental locomotives to ancient steamers and every diesel and juice jack in between, if the railroad uses it to kick cars around,  we celebrate them here. Switcher Saturday is always open to all scales and gauges.

Have a great weekend everyone 😀!

Ugh. Hope accident was not too serious! Take care and mend fast.

JHZ563,  As I mentioned in the other topic I am glad sore ribs is all you have from that accident.  Sure looked bad.  I have been in one serious accident, and I received a couple broken ribs caused by the seat belt.  I'm not complaining; if it wasn't for that seat belt I'd probably be dead.  Does take a while for the ribs to heal so take care of yourself.

Here are some more images of my new MTH A5.  Really starting to like this engine, especially now that it runs great with a BCR2.  It's small size, smaller than K-Line's/Lionel's version, gives it that real switcher look.

A heavy manifest powered by a pair of B&O F3's (MPC) enters the crowded yard while a reassigned SP switcher labors in the background.

Some new shots of the On30 UTACOLZONA R.R.

Getting ready to load the water tank car to take up to the mines.

Thanks for looking.  Dennis

Utacolzona Railroad in On30 (built 2020 - 2022) Last Update 1/21/23

I wanted to reshoot this after the near track was ballasted, but the granddaughter is over.

Heres speed step1 on these new Lionel switchers for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Lionel did a great job gearing it down.

Got to the basement with my daughter today.

Here we see a WBB GP9 pulling a kitchen sink special, (9.5 volts with a big train and still fast,) and the mighty red 256 with 5 cars in tow. 

Here’s my switcher entry for this week: just received 1965 Lionel boxed set #11520 featuring the 634 Santa Fe NW2. Nice shape - full Ex and a decent box. Even literature included. An EBay bargain.  I haven’t tried it out yet but seller said engine runs good.

@jhz563, it’s great to see you back in action and hopefully feeling much better, and again, you had great help, @MELGAR, his pictures, a little history, his amazing layouts and videos are always inspiring, and @RickOO, beautiful steamer, cool video, and I love that style 0-6-0 steamer and tender, Happy Railroading Everyone

Thank you Larry! Looks like you have the switching bases covered. From the b6,to the genset , and everything in between.👍

Good evening fellow switcher lovers!  Lots of fabulous posts today as always  JHZ563 thanks for being in the engineers seat and getting us rolling today!  I'm glad you are on the mend and happy that your injuries are not worse. I'm sure you will be sore for awhile but that too will pass.   Here is some end cab switcher action on the Free State Junction Railway.

Patapsco and Back Rivers Baldwin VO1000 takes the grade at Patsburg Ave.

B&O SW9 on the service track.

B&O SW9 at the point of a local freight.

I’m a MTH guy, love my local railroads, but my Grandson has begun to venture away from both local roads and MTH. Thankful for his continued interest into his teens!

@RickO posted:

I wanted to reshoot this after the near track was ballasted, but the granddaughter is over.

Heres speed step1 on these new Lionel switchers for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Lionel did a great job gearing it down.

Great videos of a great loco! In addition to gearing, I imagine back EMF control with RPM sensing is also utilized in the DC drive circuitry for the motor to keep torque high at very low RPM. My new ARR veranda turbine "crawls" like this and appears to have the aforementioned motor control when I've looked "under the hood." I also like the swinging bell; is it actuated magnetically when the bell function is selected? I wonder if their new $2600 Big Boy will feature a swinging bell, too. My MTH "Last Edition" Premier Big Boy doesn't have it, but it cost "only" $1800. I guess these extra details are what make Lionel's Legacy and Vision Line locos so much more expensive than similar Premier models from MTH.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

[Hear spooky music and see an eyeball flying through space]

[Then, you enter a time machine, go back in time and hear a familiar resonant voice say:] Welcome to -  the Twilight Zone!

It's  1956 - Don Larson pitches a perfect game and Mickey Mantle wins the Triple Crown.

There goes The Put - passing Yankee Stadium:

As it approaches the Polo Grounds and the Sedgewick Avenue Station with a NY Central RS3 switcher on the point:

[Again, you hear that spooky music, see that eyeball flying through space, and hear that same resonant voice say:]

Welcome to - the Twilight Zone!

Rod Serling

LOL, Arnold

Ok, I'm getting out my Manhattan Transfer "Extensions" vinyl and cueuing up "Twilight Zone" And nothing sounds like analog from needle to speakers!

@mike.caruso posted:

Nice "shaker" Super Bees and '55 T-birds! Who made the T-birds? I like the Coke theme and reverse chrome wheels.

@Bill Swatos posted:

Great videos of a great loco!  I also like the swinging bell; is it actuated magnetically when the bell function is selected? I wonder if their new $2600 Big Boy will feature a swinging bell, too.

Thanks for the kind words Bill! That is exactly how the bell works.

There are two reasons the swinging bell likely won't make it onto the VL Bigboy.

1. The real Bigboy does not have one, it uses an air clapper and the bell remains stationary.

2. The bell actuator is mounted inside the shell, underneath the bell. Which is not an option on the Bigboy           where the bell is suspended in front of the smokebox.

Having said that. On these new 0-6-0's . One has the option to disable the swinging feature to better match the prototype in the case of Strausburg #30, which is an 0-6-0 with an air clapper bell.

Here's how I solved the "fixed pilot problem" MELGAR discusses above on my WBB 70-tonner:

Taking a basic idea from another person's post on another thread (I can't seem to find it to give full credit), I ground the curved coupler guide pin groove farther out in both directions with a Dremel such that the coupler swings all the way to either side of the pilot opening, as the photos show. I had to remove a tiny detail part on the pilot face that appears to be an air hose connection to get full swing to that side of the opening. After the grinding operation, I painted the area with stove paint that I "cured" on with a heat gun at low heat. I also did away with the improperly-designed* centering torsion spring and replaced it with a "split" washer against a couple of SS shim washers on the coupler mounting post that act as a "clutch" to create just enough friction in the coupler swing action (with the mounting screw screwed in firmly against the top of the post) to hold the coupler in the centered position after uncoupling on a straight uncoupling track section. The coupler pivot action is free enough, however, that it allows the coupler to move with the mating coupler of any rolling stock on my layout, including Williams passenger cars with long coupler shanks, around 036 curves (the tightest I have) without even the slightest "lift" of the lead truck.

Going forward, I'm looking at properly-designed centering spring options which is why I went to all the trouble of preserving the guide pin on the coupler shank and spring retaining pins on the locomotive frame. Any torsion spring suggestions are welcomed.

* The factory torsion spring doesn't work to properly to center the coupler because it twists TIGHTER around the mounting post as the coupler swings thus causing the "arms" to bend permanently outward.