@Jim M Sr  Looks great.... #5 Brooks Robinson one of my all time favorites!

@RSJB18 posted:

You'd need a fleet for the Yankees.......

Yes, I would think they need to start putting three digit numbers on the backs of their rookies and prospects!  😄

Just wrapping up my first diesel conversion to full Legacy.  A couple more LED's to install and it's testing time.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Just wrapping up my first diesel conversion to full Legacy.  A couple more LED's to install and it's testing time.

Hey John....

Was this a pre-configured kit or something you were able to cobble together using available parts from Lionel?

I'm guessing one would have to have a pretty hefty background in electronics in order to custom assemble such a kit?

@Junior posted:

Hey John....

Was this a pre-configured kit or something you were able to cobble together using available parts from Lionel?

I'm guessing one would have to have a pretty hefty background in electronics in order to custom assemble such a kit?

Junior, Thank you for asking John for some more details.  I can say this, I worked 43 years in electronics, and I’m a neophyte when compared to John!!  👍🏻👍🏻

@Junior posted:

Hey John....

Was this a pre-configured kit or something you were able to cobble together using available parts from Lionel?

I'm guessing one would have to have a pretty hefty background in electronics in order to custom assemble such a kit?

This was just a collection of parts from my parts stash.  I had to make all the wiring harness myself.  Some valuable reference material is Bruk's excellent Legacy documents that are posted in this post: Bruk's RCMC/BEMC/RSLITE Documentation.

I had previously made my RCMC tester, I was able to sort out all the boards I had and see what was good and not good.

Building a Lionel RCMC Board Test Fixture

Since I now had known good boards, I decided to do an upgrade or two with them.

@gunrunnerjohn...

You never cease to amaze!

Finally finished the interior of my Baldwin S-12...I hired an Engineer he jumped in to work!  The engine is in the background.  The figure was hand painted by a gentleman that I bought it from at the 2 rail Chicago show.

This little gadget popped up in my Youtube feed last night. I'm going to get one for sure.

https://www.efixx.co.uk/tools

Good grief!   $22.50 for a plastic clamp and a little bit of solder???   I think I'll keep my money!  I've soldered hundreds of those LED strips without one, and I saved $22.50.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Good grief!   $22.50 for a plastic clamp and a little bit of solder???   I think I'll keep my money!  I've soldered hundreds of those LED strips without one, and I saved $22.50.

True- I could actually do the same thing with a couple of small spring clamps......

I'll spend the $20 on more important stuff.

I just use a long metal bar, I lay a few strips on the bench and old them down with the metal bar, then I just go to town soldering them.

Bar: $0.0, came out of my scrap pile.

Bench: $0.0, already have one.

I just finished a NE5 caboose in the older Boston and Maine colors. It started life as a Lionel New Haven caboose. The different roads used very similar cabooses, including, I believe, the PRR. Photo documentation was difficult to come by. I wanted the older “end of steam” era paint scheme of red on red with the black roof.

Lionel did this model in the scheme I desired, but they are nearly impossible to find, plus I wanted a model with the smoke Jack further away from the cupola than the Lionel version had

I disassembled the car and instead of stripping the entire body, I was able to gently sand down the old lettering and apply a coat of dark red to the sides. The end panels were a slightly brighter red. Decaling was done using some K-4 B&M coal hopper sets, mainly to obtain a close to proper size Minuteman logo. The caboose went back together with repainted handrails.

The caboose was modeled to go with a B&M 2-6-0 I recently painted…

Tom

Opened up a Williams BL2 and changed it to series wiring. Since Williams used JST plugs, I just pulled the pins out of the plug bodies and used a small piece of wire to connect them together. Easy to convert back to parallel in the future should the need arise.

Added a P-touch label to the bottom so that my empty head doesn't have to try and remember......

Bob

This Atlas dining car offered by Berwyn’s Trains needed a few modifications to make it more closely match a FW&D diner. It was devoid of roof details, so a few items from Precision Scale were added. The decals are Microscale.
@CBQ_Bill

@Rob Leese

That is a very nice looking FW&D diner !!!

CB&Q Bill

Workbench updates.  I showed this photo of a K-Line gondola with the accessory high ends and floor after I painted them and added them.

Well upon closer inspection with the floor installed the high ends rode a little higher than they should have.

The underside of the floor shows why.  These little "feet" had to go. 

A few quick strokes with a razor saw and we have a better fit.

The foam cradle had to be altered

Joe, that’s a really neat looking car!

@coach joe posted:

Back again with NYC streamliners.  This time the Lionel traditional ones.  While waiting for appropriate weather to paint the replacement roof for the above vista dome I pulled out some of my older 16xxx series streamliners and somrthings missing.

Yes sir, the white stripes above and below the windows. Ah I have some white pinstripe tape! Nope too wide.  Oh wait that white artist drafting tape!   Nope too wide!  I've got to figure this out because I don't think I'm steady enough to paint them.  I've got two more in another box.  So finish 3 projects, come up with 5 more.  This is great!

So I couldn't come up with any appropriately sized pinstriping tape so I had to paint the stripes. I found a chisel tip paint marker and like Bob suggested I masked off the rest of the car.  But Like I said had I tried to spray the stripes after masking those stripes would have bled into places they didn't belong.

I was happy with how the stripes came out and pulled out the 7012 vista dome that I replaced the roof with a coach roof to compare how they looked.  Well the stripes passed visual inspection, HOWEVER, the following photos show coupler height issues that will almost certainly lead to uncoupling cars on anything but perfectly laid track.  I guess nothing ever leaves my workbench.

The 6-16xxx series passenger cars are LTI early 1990s production.  The 6-35100,Manhattan vista dome #7012 is Lionel LLC late 2000s production.  I guess one should expect these discrepancies in cars manufactured almost 20 years apart but the height difference between the 16021 and 16041 are from the same production run.  Does anyone have any suggesting on how to rectify this situation, or at least prevent uncoupling?

CBQ Bill,

Nice work on the FW&D diner.

RAY

@coach joe posted:

Workbench updates.  I showed this photo of a K-Line gondola with the accessory high ends and floor after I painted them and added them.

Well upon closer inspection with the floor installed the high ends rode a little higher than they should have.

The underside of the floor shows why.  These little "feet" had to go.

A few quick strokes with a razor saw and we have a better fit.

The foam cradle had to be altered

Coach, ….I need that gondola in my life!……beautiful work coach!

Pat

@coach joe- nice work on both projects. I had thought of you the other day. I was digging through my tool chest and ran across an old paint marker. Glad it worked out. The stripes look good.
Not sure how to address the couplers except to put a small rubber band around them.

Bob

Making closed coupler door pilots for my Lionel E7s. 3rd Rail item used as a master.

Pete

Pat, thanks a lot.  The gondola story goes like this, years ago I bought the K-Line accessory high ends and floor thinking it would have to fit one of the many gondolas from different manufacturers that I had.  This past winter while trying to get organized enough that I could fit some sort of layout in the allotted spare bedroom I finally broke the pieces out of the blister pack and low and behold not a single gondola would fit.  Into the for sale box the pieces went.  Keeping an eye out for a correct K-Line gondola, with out load, coil covers, high sides wasn't very successful until finally I found this one on Trainz.com.  I didn't really need another piece of rolling stock but the model was right, the road was right and ost importantly the price was right.

Bob I remember  an old post that mentioned rubber bands to prevent uncoupling but I'm not sure how to install them.

Norton, looks like you're making dentures.

Not quite finished with trim on locomotive, but I couldn’t wait to see how she looks. Wabash GP9 custom painted to NATTY BOH

Nice job JIm.

@Jim M Sr posted:

Not quite finished with trim on locomotive, but I couldn’t wait to see how she looks. Wabash GP9 custom painted to NATTY BOH

Oh Yah  Jim .  This is one darn fine fantastic fun beer train sir.   Nice finish.

@Ray of sunshine

Please note that the above FW&D Silver heavyweight Diner is owned &!has been modified by @Rob Leese.

Rob has been doing many wonderful modifications of various passenger cars for his Texas Zephyr

CB&Q Bill

Just finished cleaning and rewiring yet another prewar 253 electric loco. While I was at it, I threw in a new set of motor brushes, and cleaned the commutator ring. Of the four 253s I own, this one was definitely in the best shape when it arrived - Body (including roof overhangs) and frame are both perfectly straight, couplers intact, paint on the frame is near perfect, and the only parts that were missing were the headlight housings. The paint was a bit dirty, and the brass tarnished, but both conditions were easily fixed. Only one of the disk wheel flanges is slightly damaged, but I'm going to replace all four with a spoked set (ordered from Hennings Trains). Some would be upset by that, but I just think they look better. All in all, I think she was well worth the $45 I paid for her on ebay! I had thought about doing a complete restoration, as I had on my other three, but I think I might leave her as is. All she needs is a couple light bulbs, and she's ready for service!

You guys posting pics of beer, all while I'm here in my office (working on a prewar 253 electric). As a QC inspector for a regional airline, no beer for me until tomorrow night, when I'm NOT at work! The FAA has a real bug up their butt about us drinking at work! LOL! Have a good weekend everybody!

@Norton  what are you using for the mold and what material are you using for the part.  I have thought about adding "doors" to mine. I am not a big fan of the coupler sticking out so far.

Seems like the prototypes used them on certain engines and then stopped. I was surprised to read the couplers could be rotated out of the way to close the doors.  That sounds like an engineering and maintenance nightmare.

@ScoutingDad posted:

@Norton  what are you using for the mold and what material are you using for the part.  I have thought about adding "doors" to mine. I am not a big fan of the coupler sticking out so far.

Seems like the prototypes used them on certain engines and then stopped. I was surprised to read the couplers could be rotated out of the way to close the doors.  That sounds like an engineering and maintenance nightmare.

For the mold material I am using Smooth On Mold Star 15 Slow. It has a much better shelf life that the Ooo Moo 30 I started using. For the casting I an using Alumilite “Amazing Casting Resin” (Their name). Its a Urethane resin versus a epoxy resin. I have used Smooth On Smooth Cast 300 but that is starting to turn. Both would work here.

If you get into casting its best to have a number of projects lined up as most products have a shelf life and some less than a year.

Still working out the bugs. I am finding the Alumilight cures a bit too fast (10 minutes) and some of the air bubbles are getting trapped. Stay tuned.

I have tried adding doors to the existing pilots but the compound curve makes it difficult to machine. Also I have found E6 pilots with closed doors (Lionel) and E8 pilots (P&D) but E7s seem to have a different curve and the other two wouldn’t fit. Lucky 3Rd Rail included them with their E7s.

Pete

Maybe this has been posted or it should be in another thread, but I want to build or get a better workbench for my trains.  Can some of you guys show pictures of what your bench looks like and what are some of the key items you have on your workbench? 

Thanks in advance

@roll_the_dice posted:

Maybe this has been posted or it should be in another thread, but I want to build or get a better workbench for my trains.  Can some of you guys show pictures of what your bench looks like and what are some of the key items you have on your workbench?

Thanks in advance

No harm in asking.

Check out this recent thread for some ideas.

Thanks Dallas,  several different colors of acrylic and some planks were layered with more than one. The acrylic covered the plastic well without filling in the wood grain.   I like the way it turned out.

I picked up a Premier Southern Pacific Alco PA with no electronics but with both motors intact. Cosmetically mint and just needs a PS3 kit. I wanted another powered A to go with my PS3 version for an ABBA set.

Oddly enough, even those 13 years separate them, the red and orange paint on the PS3 version (6006) and the PS2 version (6008) dead nuts match.

An absolute disaster:

The previous owners(s) did this car no favors. It was misrepresented at auction as C-8.  Nah…  It looks like it needs a blob of C4 to put it to rest.

Hi Rob:

Sorry to learn that this car did not meet expectations.

Who was the original manufacturer ?

What specific alterations are beyond fixing ?

CB&Q Bill

Actually, these were on the workbench last week.  I finally painted the truck side frames on the SD40-2s and U25Bs gray.  Also did the U25B tanks.

@CBQ_Bill posted:

Hi Rob:

Sorry to learn that this car did not meet expectations.

Who was the original manufacturer ?

What specific alterations are beyond fixing ?

CB&Q Bill

This is a Golden Gate Depot observation car. Since I have already done makeovers on Lionel and K-Line obs, I have always wanted to try my hand at a GGD just to see how they lend themselves to changes.  If you made a list of pro vs. con on the three named manufacturers it would come out near a triple dead heat. But having done all three I prefer Lionel over the other two.  Lionel outside detail blows the other two makers away.
This car had embossed letterboards so they had to go. The lighting needs to be replaced. The diapragm end was an absolute joke so I modified it with Lionel parts. (I have already spoken my peace on GGD diaphragm ends in previous posts).  When this car is finished I will have 3 options for an obs for the only one TEXAS ZEPHYR I have assembled…this is why I can’t stand in judgement of anyone elses seemingly large collections.
***Aside note just between you and I…I have contacted Microscale in regard to a special run of O gauge E5 decals (which they discontinued).  Microscale said they would do a special run with a minimum order of 250 sets.  (gad).  We need to encourage K4 to do these.  They are true champs of their profession and they create obscure decal sets which highly impresses me. I want to completely strip and repaint my four Sunset Models E5’s in a proper chrome finish, so I have a dire need for decals of which I do not wish to make myself.***

3rd Rail M1b tuneup:

• broken side rods fixed
• led lighting upgrade
• smoke unit upgrade
• 3D printed speaker box to enhance sound
• Quick disconnect (JST) between loco top and bottom
• Added Norm’s solder braid enhancement to the 3rd Rail pickup rollers
• KAder coupler & 3d printed shim

@Lou1985 posted:

Oddly enough, even those 13 years separate them, the red and orange paint on the PS3 version (6006) and the PS2 version (6008) dead nuts match.

Interestingly, the earlier version (rear - 6008) seems to have more nose detail than the later version - an opening door and some grab irons to the side of it.

I've had these ready to decal for quite a while but couldn't find my any of my decal tools. I finally found them this last weekend and starting to get caught up on a number of projects I have started. These two still have a ways to go but not to bad for an hours worth of work.

These were on the workbench briefly last night. I programmed both into my Cab 1L and lubed the gears.

This one is a Lionel PWC remake of the original 624 so the pullmore motor was serviced as well.

Bob

Bob, I’m glad to see you are taking good care of #23. 😊

@Mark Boyce posted:

Bob, I’m glad to see you are taking good care of #23. 😊

Thanks Mark. It found a good home for sure. I have to open it up and swap the 9v battery for a BCR. I think I still have one on the shelf.

@D500 posted:

Interestingly, the earlier version (rear - 6008) seems to have more nose detail than the later version - an opening door and some grab irons to the side of it.

I noticed that as well. Kinda odd the newer version lacks both of those features.

@RSJB18 posted:

These were on the workbench briefly last night. I programmed both into my Cab 1L and lubed the gears.

This one is a Lionel PWC remake of the original 624 so the pullmore motor was serviced as well.

Bob

.Good stuff Bob.........and how many engines are you currently maintaining ?

I'm getting back to the workbench for maintainence fun also.    My very first MTH PS2 from the VFM  ........

Acetone and Q-tips for wheels and pickup rollers cleaning---------'       ACF-50  for corrosion resistance and micro size coupler oiling. ---------EZ  LUBE  ( 99981  ) for pickup rollers and wheel axles to SUPPOSEDLY act to increase conductivity as well as act as a light lubricant.

WARNING........photo DOES NOT depict typical organizational skills of the operator.

@MattD87 posted:

wish I thought of this! Smoke unit replacement went fine. Motor is still noisy but at least I have smoke. Even took it apart again to add some oil to the motor to reduce the noise which worked for a bit but a day later back to noisy. I'm waving the white flag, at least it works, and the noise is nowhere near as bad as before and it is a motor. Almost stripped one of those little screws on the smoke unit board too. Good thing I always order more!

Had the same result with the oil going away Matt.   Mostly started having some noise after a couple days.  I'm going to have to see if anyone used some sort of light grease on the motor that might stay longer.

@Junior posted:

The parts list might make you think it's pretty complex to build, but as you can see the assembly is pretty straight forward.

Here it is in operation. It's a bit noisy but no worse than the 3927 car.

The car does a pretty good job cleaning the track. And no more dreaded sparks!

Hope you like!

Like this a lot Junior.   Well done.                                     Is there a certain product you use on the buffing pad ?

@Dallas Joseph posted:

.Good stuff Bob.........and how many engines are you currently maintaining ?

I'm getting back to the workbench for maintainence fun also.    My very first MTH PS2 from the VFM  ........

Acetone and Q-tips for wheels and pickup rollers cleaning---------'       ACF-50  for corrosion resistance and micro size coupler oiling. ---------EZ  LUBE  ( 99981  ) for pickup rollers and wheel axles to SUPPOSEDLY act to increase conductivity as well as act as a light lubricant.

WARNING........photo DOES NOT depict typical organizational skills of the operator.

Well, let's see.....I went from 0 to 80 engines in a very short period of time soooo, they all need maintenance at some point. 🤣🤣

All part of the adventure of model railroading....👍👍

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Well, let's see.....I went from 0 to 80 engines in a very short period of time soooo, they all need maintenance at some point. 🤣🤣

All part of the adventure of model railroading....👍👍

Bob

.......from 0 to 80 engines Bob !?!      Yikes.     I'll bet you don't sit around thinking  " geez I wish I had something to do today ".

@Dallas Joseph posted:

.......from 0 to 80 engines Bob !?!      Yikes.     I'll bet you don't sit around thinking  " geez I wish I had something to do today ".

IF ONLY.....🤣🤣

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Like this a lot Junior.   Well done.                                     Is there a certain product you use on the buffing pad ?

Hey @Dallas Joseph....

Here's what I purchased/used.....

I also used a 1,000 rpm motor.....

And the following coupler.....

BTW....I forgot to mention....since the sanding disc screws onto the shaft, you have to make sure the motor shaft turns in a clock-wise direction; to constantly tighten the shaft into the sanding disc.

Changing the direction the motor turns is simple. Just reverse the wire leads on the DC side of the buck converter board.

Otherwise the shaft will continually "unscrew" itself from the sanding disc.

Hope this helps!

@Junior posted:

Hey @Dallas Joseph....

Here's what I purchased/used.....

I also used a 1,000 rpm motor.....

And the following coupler.....

BTW....I forgot to mention....since the sanding disc screws onto the shaft, you have to make sure the motor shaft turns in a clock-wise direction; to constantly tighten the shaft into the sanding disc.

Changing the direction the motor turns is simple. Just reverse the wire leads on the DC side of the buck converter board.

Otherwise the shaft will continually "unscrew" itself from the sanding disc.

Hope this helps!

Thanks Junior.  Great amount of info on this project.  Well done sir.

Q: "WHAT’S ON THE WORKBENCH AT THE MOMENT?"

A: Piles and piles of projects and parts to sort out. I need to post a photo of my mess!

@Ricky Tanner posted:

Q: "WHAT’S ON THE WORKBENCH AT THE MOMENT?"

A: Piles and piles of projects and parts to sort out. I need to post a photo of my mess!

Ditto on that

Another prewar set restoration/rebuild, that I'm getting close to wrapping up. Stopped for a few days to go to York, but now back at it. The 154 was originally dark green, but I wanted it in dark gray, and it needed to be painted anyway, so now it's dark gray. The cars were repainted dark olive green, with maroon trim. I had originally thought dark gray roofs would look good, but I was wrong! As you can see in the last shot, they've since been repainted dark olive, to match the car bodies. I'm Just waiting on the decals to arrive, and this set will be done. Loco and cars were in really good shape (other than the old paint), so whoever has owned this set in it's 100 years has really taken good care of it. (Shot of the mechanism without loco shell shows it being wired for single direction. This was just for testing/break-in of the new motor brushes. Manual reverse has since been wired in as original).

Here it is! I present my workbench in all it's messy glory! Let's share our workbench pics!

Ricky looks like you are busy  here's mine not as clustered but threw in layout picture also. I would say that it is qualifying as deadrail

Back in Dec I posted about a pw 682 shell I received w/several parts.

Yesterday I had enough parts and decided to correctly put it back together.

Salvaged an ATX Power Supply from an old Computer Tower that the rest of it went to an town Electronics Recycling Event. In process of cutting and crimp solderless caps onto unneeded wiring. Plan to mount it under my layout and run wiring to separate terminal strips for 3.3, 5, and 12 Volt DC Power for LED lighting and accessories on my layout. Link below with instructions in case any of you are interested for doing this for your layout or workbench.

https://www.google.com/url?q=h...W6Ji4PBpJGlxx-WezYZT

Did a little more detailing and lettering on my mow car. Might consider painting the window trim.

@Trussman that looks great!  Are you working from a specific prototype? Because it seems like something that could realistically happen.

@Trussman posted:

Did a little more detailing and lettering on my mow car. Might consider painting the window trim.

Trussman, looking forward to the finished product. That is a very unique project which I’m sure many of us will attempt to replicate. However, you have set the bar rather high. Excellent job and thank you for sharing.

Jay

@naresar posted:

@Trussman that looks great!  Are you working from a specific prototype? Because it seems like something that could realistically happen.

naresar, Thanks for the compliment.

I didn't have an example to work with, I just decided to make a mow car with this extra Madison passenger car.

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

Trussman, looking forward to the finished product. That is a very unique project which I’m sure many of us will attempt to replicate. However, you have set the bar rather high. Excellent job and thank you for sharing.

Jay

Thanks Tranquil Hollow RR,

I posted these pix how I did the kit bashing a while back.

Made a jig using styrofoam and straight pins to make the railing.

Where the bolts would be in the boards, I poked the boards with a small awl, which after stained w/dark walnut stain and wiped off, the stain will stay in the dimples areas to give the effect of bolts.   

Very nice work, Trussman!  Great concept for a work car!

@Gary P posted:

Salvaged an ATX Power Supply from an old Computer Tower that the rest of it went to an town Electronics Recycling Event. In process of cutting and crimp solderless caps onto unneeded wiring. Plan to mount it under my layout and run wiring to separate terminal strips for 3.3, 5, and 12 Volt DC Power for LED lighting and accessories on my layout. Link below with instructions in case any of you are interested for doing this for your layout or workbench.

https://www.google.com/url?q=h...W6Ji4PBpJGlxx-WezYZT

An easier approach is to buy one of these things.  They use the 22 or 24 pin connector on the power supply's wiring harness.

https://www.amazon.com/Benchto...dapter/dp/B07KNV2JTJ

There are lots of different versions for sale on Amazon, eBay, and other sites.  I've used them and they are really easy-peasy.

Decided to beat my MTH 2500HP Transfer Engine into submission. Ever since I laid my track for the current layout, I haven't been able to run this engine. It ran fine on Fastrack, but no go on Gargraves/Ross track.

Turned out that the problem was somewhat obvious when I got to looking at it closely. The six wheel trucks only have four wheels powered, then there's a pair of "idler" wheels that ride in a slotted hole in the truck to allow vertical travel. However, in a break with the norm for this kind of design, they're flanged wheels, most of the time then this is done, they're blind flangeless wheels!

The problem arises when you go around any curve, the slot allows the wheels to ride up enough for them to hop outside the rail! With a flangeless wheel, this isn't a problem, when you straighten out, the wheel just moves back over the rail and is centered again. However, with a flange on the wheel, the wheel can't just slide back in, so it hangs out there and promptly derails the truck!

Since I have a number of Lionel diesels with six wheel trucks that have the same wheel spacing without this goofy floppy wheel design that run flawlessly, I can't imagine what MTH was trying to accomplish with this kludge.



Here you can see the travel, the flange is actually able to simply swivel out of the rail when it's at the top of it's travel with the remaining wheels in contact with the rail.



Turns out the fix was to pull a wheel and add a couple layers of brass tubing around the axle so that the wheels couldn't move as far upward. I actually used three pieces of brass tubing inside each other, that's what it took to get the spacing right. Now the locomotive cruises around the layout without any problems. I oiled things well to minimize the friction against the truck bottom, and the axle actually spins inside the brass tubing. I wish all fixes in life were this easy!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Decided to beat my MTH 2500HP Transfer Engine into submission. Ever since I laid my track for the current layout, I haven't been able to run this engine. It ran fine on Fastrack, but no go on Gargraves/Ross track.

Nice work John. That's too nice an engine to be a shelf queen.

@RSJB18 posted:

Nice work John. That's too nice an engine to be a shelf queen.

Yep, it's a cool and somewhat unique piece, that's why I wanted to get it back on the rails.

@Bob posted:

An easier approach is to buy one of these things.  They use the 22 or 24 pin connector on the power supply's wiring harness.

https://www.amazon.com/Benchto...dapter/dp/B07KNV2JTJ

There are lots of different versions for sale on Amazon, eBay, and other sites.  I've used them and they are really easy-peasy.

Yes it would be easier to just buy one but since the power supply was still good, and the rest of the dead computer was going to the free town electronics recycling event, I figured it would give me something different to try doing and see if I can make it work. I'm just waiting on the 10 Watt 10 ohm power resistor to be delivered, then I can test it out to see if it works and maybe learn something along the way about it.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

    It ran fine on Fastrack, but no go on Gargraves/Ross track.

Nice save John.

Why was the Cargraves / Ross track a problem when the Fastrack worked OK ?

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Nice save John.

Why was the Cargraves / Ross track a problem when the Fastrack worked OK ?

I honestly can't say, but I'm guessing the round top of Fastrack, I don't what else it could be.  I know it cruised around my Fastrack in the old house without a problem, and that was on carpet!  When I put it on better track in a laser-leveled layout, it derailed on almost every curve!  BTW, the curves are O72 and larger as well.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I honestly can't say, but I'm guessing the round top of Fastrack, I don't what else it could be.  I know it cruised around my Fastrack in the old house without a problem, and that was on carpet!  When I put it on better track in a laser-leveled layout, it derailed on almost every curve!  BTW, the curves are O72 and larger as well.

Seems like a lot of mysteries associated with this hobby John.

If the Cargraves /Ross tracks are flat maybe you are right .   The Fastrack being round top might allow a little more tolerance in wheel movement from side to side and being round it could let the flanged wheels slip down inside the rail easier .

Whatever the case , your solution for your new track was really pretty nice..........one of these days I'm going to have to get a small wheel puller.

Thanks for sharing.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Decided to beat my MTH 2500HP Transfer Engine into submission. Ever since I laid my track for the current layout, I haven't been able to run this engine. It ran fine on Fastrack, but no go on Gargraves/Ross track.

Turned out that the problem was somewhat obvious when I got to looking at it closely. The six wheel trucks only have four wheels powered, then there's a pair of "idler" wheels that ride in a slotted hole in the truck to allow vertical travel. However, in a break with the norm for this kind of design, they're flanged wheels, most of the time then this is done, they're blind flangeless wheels!

John, Norm Charbonneau solved this same problem using a shim on the truck frame instead of building up the idler axel.  His video is quite helpful:

https://youtu.be/VMmczZ_m658?t=1211

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Seems like a lot of mysteries associated with this hobby John.

If the Cargraves /Ross tracks are flat maybe you are right .   The Fastrack being round top might allow a little more tolerance in wheel movement from side to side and being round it could let the flanged wheels slip down inside the rail easier .

Whatever the case , your solution for your new track was really pretty nice..........one of these days I'm going to have to get a small wheel puller.

Thanks for sharing.

You have to be careful pulling wheels.  A small disaster happened pulling the wheel, I cracked one.  I knew I had a bunch of scrap trucks with the same wheel, so it was only a minor issue.  Someone had been there before me (this was a well used engine when I bought it).  They had, for some unknown reason, hammered on the axle ends of the truck idler wheels, perhaps in an attempt to repair the very issue I was having.  The result was they were peened over enough that it was impossible to remove the wheel, hence the broken flange. AAMOF, I never did get that wheel off the axle, but to avoid damaging the truck with more extreme measures, I just cut the axle in two and removed the whole affair.  I then grabbed another wheelset that hadn't been mutilated and continued on.

Pat (Harmonyards) suggested some machining to put in a brass bearing, that would have been the Cadillac solution, but I was impatient and decided to try my fix.

@Rapid Transit Holmes posted:

John, Norm Charbonneau solved this same problem using a shim on the truck frame instead of building up the idler axel.  His video is quite helpful:

https://youtu.be/VMmczZ_m658?t=1211

Same idea, it just seemed easier to me to slip a couple small pieces of brass tubing over the axle and be done with it.  However, Norm's solution probably didn't need to remove the wheels, so that was a plus.  The real reason was, I thought of the brass tubing first and it worked out.

Very nice job Trussman.  I've seen MOW cars like this before here on the Forum.  I really like how you handled the bolts.

Where the bolts would be in the boards, I poked the boards with a small awl, which after stained w/dark walnut stain and wiped off, the stain will stay in the dimples areas to give the effect of bolts.   

On my workbench this morn is a test track in the build state. A question comes to mind. I was planning on using tubular o gauge instead of my super O, because I can use an RCS instead of the separate operating blades and magnet that are on my layout. On the RCS, does the uncouple button operate both the magnet and the coil coupler rails? I have a few post war coil coupler cars, and have given some thought to swapping trucks to the magnetic couplers. Your input is appreciated

dick

We moved across country last year and I haven't really organized anything and is not neat and orderly like I like...so today, I started by adding a couple of shelves in a closet in our "craft room".  Going to add 1 or 2 more and organize my inventory so I know what I have and what I "need".  Going to organize by freight car type, ie, Milk Cars, Pulpwood Cars, Boxcars, etc.  Not close to being organized yet, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I have stuff still in totes and whatnot from the move.  My goal is to only have larger boxes on the closet floor and all rolling stock on shelves.

I recently had a gear replaced on one truck by Chuck Sartor (great service) and got it put back together last night.  Nice to have her back up and running, it's been broken for a couple of years.

I dropped  this engine from 3+ feet onto carpet when the shell separated from the chasis...dont' ask.    I tried to run it after a few choice words, but  only the deisel start up smoke fan would run, but  the engine wouldn't start, move, no lights...  A few more choice words. Went to sleep.  Took it apart again today, Checked plugs, wiring etc.  Everything seemed to be as it should be. Tried again to run it on my test track. It responded conventionally but not using TMCC.  Then I tried BlueTooth. Success. It was like a miracle! It started and responded to all Bluetooth commands. I then moved to my layout and, it would not respond to Legacy. I tried again with BlueTooth...it worked. I shut everything down, cycled the track power, and now, it's running normally in Legacy.  I have no idea what I may have done poking around inside this morning, but "it ain't broke (now) and I will not fix it."  Well, not quite, the drop did bend some nose guard rails that I'll try to straighten out.

@ToledoEd posted:

I dropped  this engine from 3+ feet onto carpet when the shell separated from the chasis...dont' ask.    I tried to run it after a few choice words, but  only the deisel start up smoke fan would run, but  the engine wouldn't start, move, no lights...  A few more choice words. Went to sleep.  Took it apart again today, Checked plugs, wiring etc.  Everything seemed to be as it should be. Tried again to run it on my test track. It responded conventionally but not using TMCC.  Then I tried BlueTooth. Success. It was like a miracle! It started and responded to all Bluetooth commands. I then moved to my layout and, it would not respond to Legacy. I tried again with BlueTooth...it worked. I shut everything down, cycled the track power, and now, it's running normally in Legacy.  I have no idea what I may have done poking around inside this morning, but "it ain't broke (now) and I will not fix it."  Well, not quite, the drop did bend some nose guard rails that I'll try to straighten out.

I have the first run of the Lionel UP Veranda turbine from years ago. Muy heavy. You didn't mention it, but some may not realize that these Lionel Verandas have die-cast shells, unlike the MTH version, which has a plastic shell (NOT a criticism), so the weight and kinetic energy stored when this thing hit the floor is painful to think about.

Must truly be built like a tank, inside and out, since it "healed" itself.

Well, he did say the shell separated from the chassis, so I'm presuming he was left holding the shell.  Dropping from three feet onto carpet for the diecast shell shouldn't be a huge risk.

John, both, shell and chassis hit the floor...I'm not sure why I let go of the shell when the chassis started the free fall, all I can think of is my brain thought, 'save the important stuff' and I let go of the shell while watching the goodies hit the floor.  D500, yes it's a beast. Heavy stuff.

Why drop one when you can drop both of them!

225e with Bubba ized motor two 2224 tender shells looking for tender frames and cast whistles... building one as a 2235w  the other as 2245w

Another bench projedt is my 403 switcher consisting of a 201 / 203 motor 1665 boiler needing replacement markers and moving the e-unit slot          Looking for my basket case 1946  726 hopefully to be returned to operating condition. Have my box of electronic  control receivers  may make it a never sold electronic berkshire

since I had decent luck with the first Natty Boh GP9…

I decided it neede a sister locomotive.

Found this UP GP9 reasonably priced and went to work removing hand rails, and prepping for repaint

Next two are out of sequence.

White base coat first. The tape off and Colonial Red applied

another tape job, and black added on areas of roof.

Below finished project.

Only a caboose left to do.

Here are the 2 225e s I am working on.   One was a boiler and steamchest swap as the pilot was ctound down and the cross piece under the cab was just plain gone.  Loco 2 motor was Bubba ized needs serious TLC and the boiler has a bad "broom" paint job to be stripped and redone to satin black.

One tender shell I see is genuine Lionel the other questionable as it has a cast in coal pile.   Still need 2 frames and 2 cast whistles

I have been working on adding auxiliary air tanks to my MTH Mikado.  The Duluth Missabe and Iron Rang Railroad (DM&RR) added them to several road locomotives in order to increase air capacity and to get the air filters further away from ore dust.   A long string of short ore jennies has more wheels to break/release than a similar length train with standard length cars thus, the need for more air!     It gives these workhorse a more rugged look.   I like the look! Had to position the new tanks behind the sand dome instead of in front, which would be correct for the prototype.  Hey, we are running on 3-rails and lashing up our trains with big “Lobster-claw” couplers, so you can’t hurt my feelings for the deviation!     After a 48 hour cure, I will give the tanks a final finish coat and permanently mount them to the boiler.

Still managing to put off the process of weathering!!

Cheers, Dave

@Jim M Sr posted:

I decided it neede a sister locomotive.

Found this UP GP9 reasonably priced and went to work removing hand rails, and prepping for repaint

Below finished project.

Realy nice looking job Jim.

Where do you get your decals ?  🤔  They look great.

Strasburgs recently acquired CN86 about ready to help out #89 just in time for the busy summer season.

Pete

Dallas Joseph,

Realy nice looking job Jim.

Where do you get your decals ?  🤔  They look great.

Thank you.

I made the decals from pictures I found on line. Copy and paste into “Word” then adjusted the size. Used ink jet printer, so they had to be sealed before wetting and applying.

Engine numbers on the side are dry transfers.

I needed a few of these trucks for some pw slope back tenders I was working on, they seemed to be a little hard to find by themselves, so....... I decided to stock up and wire them up.

Are you fitting out the front truck with a roller as well?  I would fit both trucks with rollers  and add a 3rd wire to the locomotive as was the pre-war Magic Electrol locos 201 and 1663 except  wiring 3rd wire to carry center reail to the loco as switchers may have an issue of stalling on switches and crossings  ir not locate magic electrol relays to add magic electrol to postwar

Waiting for the glue to dry on the paper relay shed!  Still a work in progress! 8-)

Jim K

@Ed Samsen posted:

Are you fitting out the front truck with a roller as well?  I would fit both trucks with rollers  and add a 3rd wire to the locomotive as was the pre-war Magic Electrol locos 201 and 1663 except  wiring 3rd wire to carry center reail to the loco as switchers may have an issue of stalling on switches and crossings  ir not locate magic electrol relays to add magic electrol to postwar

What I've noticed on all the 6403b (14)  & 2403b (3)  tenders I've worked on did not come w/a roller on the front trucks. The roller on the rear truck is for the bell and the flying shoe on the rear truck is for the coil couple on the tender and also that wire goes to the left female plug in the cab of the engine which goes to the front coil coupler on the engine and the other wire connects from the ground in the tender up to the right female plug in the cab of the engine for a better ground.