Weekend Update 3/5/23

[craigolio1]

Almost done with the tracks on the ferry boat. Still need stubby guard rails at the bow, and car stops at the stern.

(Attachment Link)

I love rail ferries. Looking forward to seeing more of this.

Craig.

[Slim Rail Mike]

Here is a model of the WP Las Plumas that I built on balsa wood sheathed with brass stock so I could solder the rails onto the deck. Since locomotives didn't power onto the vessel, I went this way with building it. It is really close to the exact width and length of the real vessel. I believe I have the bridge drawn up on CAD and that is where I stopped. It was built to go on my RMIM model back in 2016.

Paggs the soild deck was the way to go. Wish I'd thought of it before I started.  Did you have drawings/plans or did you work from photos?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Just turn the trucks around.  The offset bolster is the wrong way.

Now that you have a stash of them, it needs a full platform with railings. 

Oh man, I would LOVE to do that to some. I've long thought that would've been a no-brainer for somewhere like Gold Metal Models to do as an etched kit.

@TrainCat2 , if you're adding stuff to a backlog for future work: a full platform conversion for MTL tank cars would be hotttt

And interesting point about the trucks. But these are truck mounted couplers. I wonder if they're ALL like that. Hmm.

[Lemosteam]

Made a 9-minute "new way" coal video that features a unit train with operating rotary couplers, operating flood loader and dumper, and the latest scenery additions.

And where is the article and mechanics of this wonderous piece of magic stored?

This and a hump yard have been a gol of mine forever, likely never to be done by me.  That is amazing.

[bbussey]

Oh man, I would LOVE to do that to some. I've long thought that would've been a no-brainer for somewhere like Gold Metal Models to do as an etched kit.

@TrainCat2 , if you're adding stuff to a backlog for future work: a full platform conversion for MTL tank cars would be hotttt

And interesting point about the trucks. But these are truck mounted couplers. I wonder if they're ALL like that. Hmm.

Scott Seekins added the top hat to one of the Barrett cars in an article in Model Railroading back in the day, and it was gorgeous.  Used ire mesh for the platform, I don't remember if he use something like GMM etchings for the frame and railings or formed them from wire.  The article should be available in the TrainLife archives.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Scott Seekins added the top hat to one of the Barrett cars in an article in Model Railroading back in the day, and it was gorgeous.  Used ire mesh for the platform, I don't remember if he use something like GMM etchings for the frame and railings or formed them from wire.  The article should be available in the TrainLife archives.

I'll have to go look for that. Thanks for the name. That should make it easier.

Oh man, that magazine. It was such a winner! I'm sad we lost it.

[Scottl]

Made a 9-minute "new way" coal video that features a unit train with operating rotary couplers, operating flood loader and dumper, and the latest scenery additions.

This is fantastic!

[NtheBasement]

And where is the article and mechanics of this wonderous piece of magic stored?

No article, sorry, though there is an older video on the channel showing the dumper before I covered it up with the building.  This dumper is the fourth "back to the drawing board" attempt.  It has been... challenging.  Not sure its a good idea to inflict it on others, but then again maybe someone will end up invested in figuring out more reliable rotary couplers.

Lessons learned:
Round 1: Bigger motor.  Skip anything that is a "hobby" motor or only needs 1.5 volts.
Round 2: Using diodes to reduce voltage is dumb: use $3 pwms, or better yet get a motor that matches the power supply, Tim the Toolman Taylor sized.  You can't make a decent clamp by hanging a weight on the end of piano wire.
Round 3: Make parts of the drum weak so that Tim the Toolman doesn't crush your hoppers.  Limit switches and momentum don't play well together.  Linear drives that don't jam are hard.
This one: The couplers aren't friction free: clamp the adjacent cars.  Maybe the tiny orthodontic rubber band draw bars weren't so bad after all.

[bbussey]

I'll have to go look for that. Thanks for the name. That should make it easier.

Oh man, that magazine. It was such a winner! I'm sad we lost it.

I searched earlier on Railroad Magazine Index and TrainLife, can't find it.  Found every other article of his that I remember, but can't find the tankcar article.  He was published in MRG, MRJ, MR, and MM, so he was very prolific for about a 15-20 year span.

The tankcar was released in October 1987.  He started waning around 2002.  So that's your search range.

I know I still have at least the physical article if not the magazine issue somewhere.  But now I can't say which magazine the article was featured in.  If I find it, I'll let you know.

[TrainCat2]

Oh man, I would LOVE to do that to some. I've long thought that would've been a no-brainer for somewhere like Gold Metal Models to do as an etched kit.

@TrainCat2 , if you're adding stuff to a backlog for future work: a full platform conversion for MTL tank cars would be hotttt

Drawings or reference pics plz. Any specific MTL body style?

[spr1955]

Great looking blast furnace @spr1955 !  I love how you are showing off the size of a mill relative to the trains.

  Frank

That end of the open hearth furnace is to scale, what is not to scale is the lenght of the building, which should be about 12 feet long !!! Steel mills are amazing.

[Sokramiketes]

I searched earlier on Railroad Magazine Index and TrainLife, can't find it.  Found every other article of his that I remember, but can't find the tankcar article.  He was published in MRG, MRJ, MR, and MM, so he was very prolific for about a 15-20 year span.

The tankcar was released in October 1987.  He started waning around 2002.  So that's your search range.

I know I still have at least the physical article if not the magazine issue somewhere.  But now I can't say which magazine the article was featured in.  If I find it, I'll let you know.

He also had some articles in N Scale Magazine, possible it was there. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Drawings or reference pics plz. Any specific MTL body style?

The ubiquitous Micro-Trains tank car.

Do you have a copy of the Morning Sun Tank Car Color Guide Vol 1? Page 17 has a bunch of examples.

[bbussey]

@Ed Kapuscinski,

Found it, thanks to Mike's recollections of the N Scale Magazine articles.

Volume 3 No 2, March-April 1991, pages 20-23

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[Ed Kapuscinski]

Whoa!!!

I was about to say "That's the FIRST prototype photo of the cars that I've ever seen". Then i realized: it's not a proto photo. Holy crap!

And damn, now I really DO need to do that platform.

Thank you!