Weekend Update 7-27-2008

[central.vermont]

Hi Jon,

That is the Highball set  ;D, but it's not complete sadly. It lacks the black square with a yellow dot in it (not sure what that means) that goes to the left of the lube plates and the ACI plate (which I've added from a Microscale sheet).

Simon

SirTainly,

He does have it in HO
http://www.mgdecals.com/FCD-WIP.htm
and has been known to do things in N upon request.
Still might be quicker than MS. ;D ;D

[DKS]

After weeks of work, I've finally completed an in-depth product review comparing the Z scale AZL GP7 and the Micro-Trains GP9:

http://jamesriverbranch.net/review_1.htm

[UP_Phill]

Bob ? Is/was that a brass kit ? Did the bars over the windows have to be applied separately ? Very nicely done . 

It's all brass. Kit is available from Traincat.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I just spent a bunch of time organizing the galleries on the CRHS site.

Modern NS and CSX fans? If you have need for pics of ex-Cons, we're DEFINITELY your resource now.
Check it out. There are at least 1500 photos up now.
http://thecrhs.org/?q=ConrailEquipment

[Chris333]

Guess I'll keep a look out for the blue SD80Macs that sometimes come through Warren and park at the steel mill overnight. But now that I'm looking...

[Erik W]

It’s not N scale but  . . . it’s small for HO scale . . . This is my HOn3 PSC D&RGW Long Caboose build.  I’m modeling caboose #0503 as it appeared in 1955, as seen in the top photo (taken on the Cumbres and Toltec).  I’ve added a fair amount of my own touch to this one.  I’ve added the following details.  .010”, .015”, .019” phosphor bronze wire, Athabaska Models etched chain, Sergent Engineering couplers, Grant Line turnbuckles, Northwest Short Line custom semi-scale wheelsets for PSC trucks that I had made for me a while back, and various bits of styrene to get the correct look for this caboose.  The sunshade on the cupola sides was one long solid piece molded onto the sides.  I removed the material of the center section between the two windows and carved the tops of the siding boards into the plastic.  None of the three sections of roof are attached yet.  I will paint, decal and weather the caboose with the roof off and then add the window material, .005” clear styrene, before gluing the roof on.

















Erik

[Zox]

I spent a good part of the day working on a prototype for a self-standing, folding leg system for BANTrak's OneTrak group. (Note that the plywood's not attached--it's just resting on top to simulate a 1x4 module.)



The leg unit doesn't quite get one-dimensional when folded, but it's pretty close:

[John]

Rob .. looks interesting .. details ..

[wm3798]

I've gotten all the bits and pieces I need to build my "real" H-21 hopper for an upcoming article, plus some parts to work on another WM project, a "Hammerhead" RS-3.

Also, this weekend we did a little traveling down the shore to Virginia, and visited the car float terminal at Cape Charles.


While there, I stumbled across two of these old beasts. 

They're old enough that I can't readily identify their lineage.  Fallen Flags has a photo of one, but it's only listed as an MRS something or other, which doesn't mean anything to me.  A little help with the photo captions, if you can provide it, please...

Then we headed across to Williamsburg where we spent Saturday at Busch Gardens.  Tried a nice Belgian Ale, made, I assume, by the new landlord...

Being out of work made the trip budget pretty tight, but as you can see, I was able to come to an "arrangement" with the campground where we lodged...


Nice work on those cabooses, by the way!
Lee

[Bob Bufkin]

Those locos look like ex U.S. Army units.  Built by either EMD or Alco.  I've seen photos in various mags and books of them.  Don't remember the horsepower or any other particulars.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Lee, those are MRS1s:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_MRS-1

[central.vermont]

Lee,

Those units you saw were Alco made MRS-1's.  They were rated at 1600 hp.
Both EMD and Alco made these.
The MRS stood for Military Road Switchers.
http://www.berail.be/usa/emd_images/manual.jpg
The Alco MRS-1's got a number from 2041 to 2123. Fifty units were equipped
with a steam generator in the short hood. Their road numbers were prefixed
with a 'B' (for boiler). The two you saw had these boilers.

Below is a link to some great info on them.
http://www.berail.be/usa/index.html

Jon

[Zox]

Rob .. looks interesting .. details ..

I was basically trying to retain the "trestle" effect of the current BANTrak 1T legs, while making them fold as compactly as possible. The key ideas to making this happen were to (a) avoid horizontal bracing and (b) allow the cross-braces to disconnect at the top. The fact that I was able to make the leg unit self-standing, so you can just "drop" the module on top and bolt it down, was a bonus.

Here's an intermediate stage in the folding process, so you can see what's going where:




The cross-bracing at the ends is held in place at the top by the bolts that attach the module to the top. These can be slid partway in to allow the legs to stand, then slid the rest of the way in and tightened down once the module is in place. (For the demo pictures, I'm using bolts that are just barely long enough to hold the legs; the actual implementation would probably use eyebolts and T-nuts for tool-free assembly.)

The cross-bracing at the sides is held in place at the top by "keyhole" slots:



These allow the bracing to be slid over a screwhead, then the screw to be slipped into the smaller hole to trap it. When the module is placed on top, the bracing under the module holds the ends apart, locking the bracing in place.

For all this to work, the bracing under the module has to be properly spaced. But there's enough stability in the legs to hold them up until the module is dropped on and bolted in. Once the module's in place, these legs are going nowhere until it's unbolted.

I've got threaded inserts in the bottom of the legs for adding levelers, but the levelers haven't been installed yet.

There are only three unique parts to the system: the legs, the end braces, and the side braces. You need four of each part for a full set. The legs are nominal 1x2 lumber. The braces are the same width, but only 1/4" thick.

[atsf_arizona]

Hi, all,

For this week....

After publicity tours at the 2008 N Scale Convention and
2008 NMRA Nationals, the N scale Randy Gustafson Whitcomb
65-tonner and GE 70-tonner are on their way back to the
Randgust shops:



(If you want more info, see:  http://www.randgust.com ).

Thx, Randy, for letting me tour them, and hope all of you who
saw them enjoyed the Randgust's work. 

[absnut]

MeC 75' woodside coach with vestibules and steel ends bash I've been finishing up.  Its components include two MDC 50' Overland coaches and the ends from an Atlas/Rivarossi standard coach.  Couplers are MT 1015's body mounted.  I might try seating sometime although the plastic window inserts might be just a little too thick to allow for a good effect.  While I have a fleet of 68' bashed open platform equipment and a few Rivarossi steel coaches, I thought it would be nice to have a piece that kinda represented a "transition" between the two types.