Weekend Update 8/20/23

[arbomambo]

And some shacks and trash pile for the “Two Guns” T-TRAK double module.

[brokemoto]

I went to the Greenberg at Chantilly, Virginia Saturday. I had not been to one in some time.  The Chantilly show used to be pretty good.  It was somewhat of a disappointment this time.  The worst part was the prices.  I had thought that FeePay was bad, this was nutty.  I get it, there has been inflation, but GOODNESS!  One hundred bananas for a plastic frame LL FA-2/dummy B?  On a good day, that is worth twenty five. Another guy wanted three hundred fifty dollars for an MDC 2-8-0 (or was it a 2-6-0?) plus a freight car four pack plus a Overland passenger car four pack. Those are just two examples.  There were perhaps three tables with reasonable prices for N scale items.


I ended up buying three T-shirts, a package of paper scenery from this guy who had some interesting paper printed scenic materials.  I do not buy freight cars that much any more unless it is something unusual or that I do not have.  The one exception is flat cars.  This guy had several boxes of loose freight cars, mostly Atlas and MT.  He h ad some stuff that never had I seen previously and reasonable prices, so he made a sale.


I did not have either an ACL or SP&S flat, so I bought those.  A log flat car does not really fit the concept of my pike but it will work as an occasional outlier.  I will have to fashion a wood "floor" for when I want to run it empty.  The log load will pop out.







I do not often see TA&G cars. I  do have one other box car. It is a CC or something, I forget and can not find it right now.  I saw this. It actually had a  box.




I knew that the G&D car existed but never had seen one, except in photographs.  This one did not have a box, but I bought it because I do not have one.




I never knew that this car existed.  It actually had a box, as well.  It is an old MDC "shake of the box" kit.  Curiously, the truck and coupler pack that is in all of these cars did not have the MDC knuckle couplers, just Rapidos.  I do not use the MDC knuckles, anyhow, but I did think this curious.  I just trim the coupler tongues on the arch bar trucks, trim the "undercarriage supports"  between the truck hole and the ends then body mount 1023s.  The MDC nineteenth century cars are small enough that even on sharp curves, body mounts do not cause problems.

[PiperguyUMD]

GUYS! I got published!! I wrote this article 5 years ago, and never heard anything. We've since moved into a larger house and I've gone headlong into FreemoN, but maybe I should pull out that layout and see what I can make of it!

[Mark5]

I never knew that this car existed.  It actually had a box, as well.  It is an old MDC "shake of the box" kit.  Curiously, the truck and coupler pack that is in all of these cars did not have the MDC knuckle couplers, just Rapidos.  I do not use the MDC knuckles, anyhow, but I did think this curious.  I just trim the coupler tongues on the arch bar trucks, trim the "undercarriage supports"  between the truck hole and the ends then body mount 1023s.  The MDC nineteenth century cars are small enough that even on sharp curves, body mounts do not cause problems.

Walthers had N decals available back in the '70s for the Carstens car. The RMC layout series featuring "Inspection tours" used HO Athearn Heavyweights factory decorated - part of my model railroad youth! 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324835754967?hash=item4ba1b843d7:g:LoIAAOSwzCBhXbbv&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAABEEftd%2FcpEWFDudt57X%2BK6BkWHZFw70Ir89erOcmR1HAfUw3p4Hk681oQbjVfcGD4elRpDT9lIY5fDK9oTecBrqdA6bkGkKW7n7LZUu6ab5FI334QPAJZmEdGvhvb3RxSjzZ5zMf%2B%2BuZEgBEmWNmpgXGAT%2BA%2B%2BwOZnTwTuG78UNtdSAdoWavh1bD6isbQthFkv44jjk%2FlvyWu9Fp6g4wSs1jtQI7Ux%2FVApzmlHudiQVcsd131xy73l61u5uVUq6BccdscIL4P%2F8VYPbPYbLau6sGIzXNuqnt8YU%2F9m4ecyz8bOmqPjyThljs3moib27Bm45coNNPDLH8aRzUzqfOBT91eE0%2FNu3DPhL%2Bm%2FVLNiuKo%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8zDgMrCYg

[garethashenden]

That is a great improvement of the pilot, but the solid spoke drivers still make that model look like a child's toy.

My goal is to make the best B&M K7 I can without touching the mechanism.

With that said, I have started work on a new tender. I'm reusing the wheels, axles, and pickup strips from the Bachmann tender and scratchbuilding the rest. The Bachmann tender is 50% longer than it should be. The truck sideframes are from Lemosteam via shapeways. Still need to add the springs.

The stock locomotive


With the new tender


Will be sound equipped


The target class:

[Kentuckian]

Attended the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society Annual Meeting at Cass Scenic Railway this weekend. Here is the engine we rode behind on a gorgeous West Virginia Saturday:



We got a shop tour and WM #6 is finally completed, paperwork has been approved, and may be available for the fall foliage runs!



Please forgive my cell phone grabs.

[jpwisc]

I converted an old Walthers hopper. Carved off the ladders and replaced them with Gold Medal Models brass. Chopped a couple sections out of the middle. After some paint and decals, I weathered it and added some ballast for looks and to bring the weight back up.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[peteski]

My goal is to make the best B&M K7 I can without touching the mechanism.

With that said, I have started work on a new tender. I'm reusing the wheels, axles, and pickup strips from the Bachmann tender and scratchbuilding the rest. The Bachmann tender is 50% longer than it should be. The truck sideframes are from Lemosteam via shapeways. Still need to add the springs.

Nice job on the scratchbuilt tender!

[nkalanaga]

The TAG boxcar is ConCor, from many years ago. 

If you want your own G&D boxcar, K4 Decals has a set for them.  The N scale version will do several cars, if you want more than one.

[Lemosteam]

My goal is to make the best B&M K7 I can without touching the mechanism.

With that said, I have started work on a new tender. I'm reusing the wheels, axles, and pickup strips from the Bachmann tender and scratchbuilding the rest. The Bachmann tender is 50% longer than it should be. The truck sideframes are from Lemosteam via shapeways. Still need to add the springs.

With the new tender

@garethashenden , How do the trucks fit?  Hopefully OK?

[garethashenden]

@garethashenden , How do the trucks fit?  Hopefully OK?

The pickups and axles fit well. The bolster hole is a little loose. My post is slightly smaller than the Bachmann one and your trucks are slightly looser than theirs, I should be able to address that. But this is an older tender than what you designed the trucks against. You made them for the stand alone tenders and I haven’t check them on those. I have a couple and I’ll investigate how it is.

[Philip H]

I started working on installing a thing:



https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=40665.msg776764#msg776764

[wazzou]

The TAG boxcar is ConCor, from many years ago. 

The one pictured above is a MT car.

[JMaurer1]

It's taken much longer than expected (was told 6 weeks and now it's going on 3 months), and it's not N scale, but it will house N scale and a shop. Everything has been harder than expected...even the garage door has caused threats of law suits (on both sides) but the end is in sight.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[C855B]

It's taken much longer than expected (was told 6 weeks and now it's going on 3 months), and it's not N scale, but it will house N scale and a shop. Everything has been harder than expected...even the garage door has caused threats of law suits (on both sides) but the end is in sight.

Of course the first thought that comes to mind is the cheesy movie, The Money Pit.

Garage door problems. Been there. They have their ups and downs.

(Good luck with it all!)