On the workbench my current 19 degree crossover track. 2 rail O scale, code 100.
nine frogs later it ain’t as bad as the last attempt ! next is gaping and wiring.
stained ties are waiting.
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Just finished installing new tires on the Acela !
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Alex,
That looks like a major pain in the tush! But at least the screws are accessible. How do you get the C-clips off the pins and back on them? It does not appear to be much room to work.
Chris
LVHR
@lehighline posted:Alex,
That looks like a major pain in the tush! But at least the screws are accessible. How do you get the C-clips off the pins and back on them? It does not appear to be much room to work.
Chris
LVHR
Hi Chris,
It's a very tedious job to perform . Also these Acela's have the zinc rot issue , have to be extremely careful when handling the journals. As for the e clips have to do all work under a magnifier, and it's still a slow go trying to get the e clips back on. I use mini long nose pliers and mini screwdrivers.
Alex
THAT is one complex truck! 
I would have lost at least one of those clips for sure 
Zinc pest in those??? Good grief! Talk about an expensive paperweight. Are replacement parts available? If not, is there a way to make either a 3D printed replacement or resin cast the replacement? Might be worthwhile looking into, as I'll bet you are not the only one with the problem.
Chris
LVHR
If I could find some worthy flared spark arrestors and a realistic housing for a yellow beacon light then 580 would be finished. This is a Lionel Legacy GP7 formerly painted Pennsy. This is the 4th Legacy GP7 I have repainted for SL-SF, and I think I’m done.
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@lehighline posted:Zinc pest in those??? Good grief! Talk about an expensive paperweight. Are replacement parts available? If not, is there a way to make either a 3D printed replacement or resin cast the replacement? Might be worthwhile looking into, as I'll bet you are not the only one with the problem.
Chris
LVHR
Wait til the "true collector" who bought one of these Acelas unseals it from the shipping carton for the first time in 10 years from now. Sad such an expensive item can have this zinc rot but I am not surprised. Can you imagine the look on someone's face when He finds side frames in pieces?
@jini5 posted:Wait til the "true collector" who bought one of these Acelas unseals it from the shipping carton for the first time in 10 years from now. Sad such an expensive item can have this zinc rot but I am not surprised. Can you imagine the look on someone's face when He finds side frames in pieces?
One more reason I'm glad I passed on this troublesome set. 
Whatever happened to the KISS concept? Can't charge enough for it as we add all our bells and whistles?
Watching Alex do that reminds me of a time when GM stuffed a large engine in a small body car and you had to pull the engine to change the plugs. Back when you had to change plugs. No consideration given to maintenance.
Gerry
Well I did an unnecessary repair today. My Premier PS3 SP Cab Forward came from the factory with a black painted knockoff Pittman. I had a spare ball bearing 9234 Pittman so I swapped it in. Was it necessary? No. But all my other steam locomotives have Pittmans (even if they didn't come with a Pittman from the factory), so I made it match the rest of the fleet 😉.
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@Rob Leese posted:
The Frisco railroad passenger car roster included a lot of round roofed cars, especially headend cars. I do not expect to find this style of car in Frisco livery, so I patiently search for bargains. I do not know which manufacturer made this RPO pictured above. It has a wood roof and stamped metal sides. Actually quite realistic as compared to several other manufacturers.
It was made as 2-rail...
"...wood roof and stamped metal sides..." I'm gonna guess Walthers...nice. 🙂
Mark in Oregon
I finally replaced a proto coupler that's been broken since I bought the engine. Of course it was the rear one and wouldn't close, so it's like having a new engine since I can finally pull with it.
@gmorlitz posted:Whatever happened to the KISS concept? Can't charge enough for it as we add all our bells and whistles?
Watching Alex do that reminds me of a time when GM stuffed a large engine in a small body car and you had to pull the engine to change the plugs. Back when you had to change plugs. No consideration given to maintenance.
Gerry
Amen!!!!
@Rob Leese posted:
If I could find some worthy flared spark arrestors and a realistic housing for a yellow beacon light then 580 would be finished. This is a Lionel Legacy GP7 formerly painted Pennsy. This is the 4th Legacy GP7 I have repainted for SL-SF, and I think I’m done.
Nice work
Right now my custom 3D printed set of Rock Island TAs (with frames and trucks salvaged from postwar Lionel Alcos) are still sitting on my workbench. I just finished building them but I want to do more. Right now they're just as simple as possible-- a Lionel Pullmor motor and LED headlights-- but I'm considering adding command control and sound to them as well. While I'm at it I could put in a flasher circuit for the Mars lights as well. Big decisions!
On my virtual workbench in Fusion 360, I'm designing some parts for a much-requested 3d-printed kit, the McKeen motor car. I'm trying to figure out how to graft some new sideframes onto some of the power trucks that I have on hand. The unequal wheel sizes of the McKeen add complexity to the design process!
edited to correct grammar
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@Trainguy Ken posted:Right now my custom 3D printed set of Rock Island TAs (with frames and trucks salvaged from postwar Lionel Alcos) are still sitting on my workbench. I just finished building them but I want to do more. Right now they're just as simple as possible-- a Lionel Pullmor motor and LED headlights-- but I'm considering adding command control and sound to them as well. While I'm at it I could put in a flasher circuit for the Mars lights as well. Big decisions!
On my virtual workbench in Fusion 360, I'm designing some parts for a much-requested 3d-printed kit, the McKeen motor car. I'm trying to figure out how to graft some new sideframes onto some of the power trucks that I have on hand. The unequal wheel sizes of the McKeen add complexity to the design process!
edited to correct grammar
This is really something Ken. 
It's hard for me to fathom how you can do 3d-printing like this. Really nice work on those TAs. 
I recently fixed a K-line MP-15 that wasn't working. I bought it used and it has been a shelf queen. The demo paint is a winner so I kept it. I decided to see what was wrong recently and it turned out to be a simple fix. After stripping out the parallel/ series switch (all of my K-line's are series wired), and sound board, I found a bad solder joint on one of the triacs. After a quick hit with the soldering iron, I have another working loco.
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Bunch of prewar Walthers tank cars. Three early #3560 Crestline and the Texaco is another that will get rebuilt. It is the next version #3806 from about 1942. It’s fun to rebuild these old doorstop cars and I don’t have to be concerned with ultimate scale detail.
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Getting around to finishing the front stairs on my Inspection Engine.
Found some brass ladders from Precision Scale O on ebay and sectioned them.
Adding a brass plate to the pilot and will probably bolt the upper and lower ladders to it with
#0 brass screws. Then shorten the upper steel walks to match and add a brass wrap around handrail.
The 262T tender I bought for the project was missing the sheet metal coal pile. The reproduction piece I saw on ebay
( a piece of black sheet metal with some wrinkles on top ) looked nothing like the original ones I saw in photos. So I cut and
formed some .020 in. sheet copper to fit the general coal pile area and then made an embossing tool from a large ball bearing and
a piece of pipe and an anvil area in a soft pine board to make a random pattern.
Then I bent and finish shaped the copper to fit. Looks too nice to paint black, so I'll probably leave it raw and let it age more.
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A few days ago, I returned a Marx 1666 locomotive to a friend. It needed axles, and axle bushings. A rather simple repair, with parts still available. When I returned the locomotive, he handed me a much older Marx Commodore Vanderbilt locomotive that stopped running. This is even simpler then the 1666, with the drive/reverse mechanism, and a light. When removed the drive unit, I noticed after applying power, that it wanted to run. I inspected the motor, and found the hole in the frame for the armature was rounded, causing the armature to not sit centered in the frame. The only other repair needed is one side rod, a light bulb, and a new feed wire for the bulb.
Right O Way switch being worked on.
JET
Been playing Tic Tat Toe on the work bench??
Well before I start changing the lettering on the Rio Grande JLC Challenger I picked up to UP I wanted to get the mechanicals squared up. Basically the issue was the smoke unit and number of chuffs. From the factory these had 2 chuffs a revolution and a continuously running smoke fan. I changed the chuff cam from the factory 2 lobe to a 4 lobe cam. I installed another cherry switch next to the one that generated the chuff sound to control the smoke unit fan. @Norton was able to give me instructions on how to wire the smoke fan to the cherry switch so it would short the fan motor, making distinct puffs. I also removed the sock Lionel put around the resistor in the smoke unit from the factory, repacked the batting, and enlarged the smoke fan air intake hole to 1/4". Pretty simple 4 chuffs a revolution (double chuffs at low speed because it's an articulated) and puffing fan smoke. Much better than stock.
@Lou1985 posted:Well before I start changing the lettering on the Rio Grande JLC Challenger I picked up to UP I wanted to get the mechanicals squared up. Basically the issue was the smoke unit and number of chuffs. From the factory these had 2 chuffs a revolution and a continuously running smoke fan. I changed the chuff cam from the factory 2 lobe to a 4 lobe cam. I installed another cherry switch next to the one that generated the chuff sound to control the smoke unit fan. @Norton was able to give me instructions on how to wire the smoke fan to the cherry switch so it would short the fan motor, making distinct puffs. I also removed the sock Lionel put around the resistor in the smoke unit from the factory, repacked the batting, and enlarged the smoke fan air intake hole to 1/4". Pretty simple 4 chuffs a revolution (double chuffs at low speed because it's an articulated) and puffing fan smoke. Much better than stock.
very impressive!
doesn't that locomotive come with loco specific crew talk?
and wasn't that unit made in Korea?
@Berkshire President posted:very impressive!
doesn't that locomotive come with loco specific crew talk?
and wasn't that unit made in Korea?
Yes it does have road specific crew talk. I never use it so changing the lettering to UP won't bother me.
It is a early 2000s piece made in Korea with a Pittman 9434 motor and a bullet proof driveline with large worm gears. IMO a much better unit mechanically than any of the later Legacy/Vision line Challengers.
I added 6 Warm White 5 mm LED'S inside my Menards 2 Bay Engine House to look more like old fashioned light bulbs. Working on making Bay doors out of Basswood for the building. Ordered some miniature hinges for mounting the doors. I am going to use Tubular Track inside the building, mating it up to Fastrack outside, wiring the sidings to the building to on/off switches. Also work in progress stacking 4 Basswood strips that somewhat look like track ties to use for end of track stops with holes drilled to have track pins fit into it and have a couple red Blinking 3mm LED's as warning lights on them.
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Super 381 getting motors, PS3 board & speaker
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And done. What a pain to work on. 
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I have a friend's Marx Commodore Vanderbilt that I posted about several days ago. I had a little more time to examine it again after closing the elongated armature shaft hole with a dab of epoxy. Now the armature stays centered in the hole. I applied power, and the motor still wouldn't turn. Looking at the brushes, they are a little more then halfway worn, and were quite dirty. I cleaned the brushes and the points on the armature that the brushes contact, and the motor runs fine. I need to order a side rod, and a bulb, and I'll also see if brushes are available. If not, I can make those from some brushes I saved from old drills, or from a carbon arc pencil rod. My friend was willing to pay for a used replacement motor, but the cost with shipping would be more then the value of the locomotive.
Silver Tray was built in 1940 by the Budd Company for the streamlined Texas Zephyr running between Denver, CO and Dallas, TX. It was always lettered BURLINGTON on the letter band and sublettered FW&D at the car end. In 1956 when the CB&Q Denver Zephyr was modernized with unarticulated equipment the articulated trainsets were sent to the Colorado & Southern and the Fort Worth & Denver subsidiaries to run as Texas Zephyrs. These trainsets were relettered TEXAS ZEPHYR in the letter band and had their own round end observation cars, so Silver Tray and its C&S mate Silver Bowl were temporarily replaced. However, the last Texas Zephyrs were again served by Silver Tray before the train was discontinued. It is likely I saw this car in revenue service on the Zephyr going past my grandmother's house outside Chillicothe, TX. Upon retirement from service in the US, Silver Tray was sold to Chihuahua Al-Pacifico and brought up the rear of the Vista Train which operated between Chihuahua and Los Mochis Mexico. I had an evening meal in Silver Tray in 1974 on the Vista Train. It is a very special car to me.
The closest match I could find is this Lionel obs lettered for the Empire State Express. To improve similarities, I will need to blank out 1/3 of the forward windows on the left side to simulate the galley area. Silver Tray also had wide low-profile round roof vents over this area. The artwork included in this post includes tail sign work for this project as well as for another obs on the Frisco Meteor. The Texas Zephyr tail sign was simply red neon lettering permanently affixed to the end. I will be printing decals to place over the lighted tail sign molded onto the Lionel car. Red neon was simulated on MS Publisher as a text box using 8 point font enhanced with "text effects" creating an orange glow around the text. Decal Venetian blinds have been ordered to apply to the middle windows. Have not found decals to simulate curtains for the end windows.
This stock photo of Silver Tray is circa 1967.
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I don't know why I have neglected responding to this topic for so long. Maybe it is because I don't have room for a regular workbench. I pull up whatever layout space or shelf space I can find empty to use as a workbench. Well, since the wiring is basically done on my layout, and I put a lot of tools, screws, lugs, wire away, I am using the roll around cart as a workbench. So, this Altoona Model Works Branch Line station kit is there right now. It is a little farther along than in this photograph with the windows and doors installed, but you get the drift. Drift. Yes, it is snowing again outside. 
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@rail posted:I have a friend's Marx Commodore Vanderbilt that I posted about several days ago. I had a little more time to examine it again after closing the elongated armature shaft hole with a dab of epoxy. Now the armature stays centered in the hole. I applied power, and the motor still wouldn't turn.....
Can you describe the technique you used to close the elongated armature hole? Did you fill the hole with epoxy and then drill it? And have you done this before and can describe how long one could expect such a fix to last? Thanks!
George
Somewhere GRJ ,GGG or Stan mentioned something about extra connectors possibly in steamers boilers or tenders.........so ......I opened the tender on this Railking 4-6-2 that had zero lighting . Always bothered me. 
I found two open connectors.
I found a pair of red LED marker bulbs and then a couple of light stands in my ju-- , ah inventory box. I also found a clear lens . I drilled the appropriate size holes for the markers and reverse light.
The final test before screwing everything back together.
Thank you ogrforum.......again.
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Wow! That looks great, Dallas!
Backup and markers look great, Dallas! I wonder how many other tenders have open connectors!
@GeoPeg posted:Can you describe the technique you used to close the elongated armature hole? Did you fill the hole with epoxy and then drill it? And have you done this before and can describe how long one could expect such a fix to last? Thanks!
George
George,
First, I used a small knife blade to scrape the plastic mount for the armature shaftto clean it and provide a bonding surface. I used a tooth pick to wedge the armature shaft to the top of the hole. I then mixed a small amount of JB Weld epoxy, and used a tooth pick to apply it into the elongated gap below the shaft. I don't remember what the set time was on the epoxy, but after a few hours, I turned the shaft to make sure it didn't adhere to the epoxy. I waited until the next day, and turned the motor again to check for free movement. I applied power to the motor after cleaning the armature and brushes as mentioned in the OP, and it runs fine. I'm waiting to hear back from the parts guy for brushes, side rod and light bulb.
For the first time in years, NOTHING on my workbench but a fresh coat of paint!
No mess, no woodworking projects, no household repairs, no train repair projects, no scenery projects, no test station, no engine cradle, no tools, etc.
I'm sure this will last about 10 minutes after the paint dries!
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