Calling Mad Max.... GHQ L1s Article?

[Chris333]

I use calipers as dividers.

I use them to pick out drill bits.

Even when they no longer work they are useful.

[mmagliaro]

Late to this party folks, sorry.  I hadn't checked in here.

I have JPGs of the pages of the review/construction tips article I wrote for the PRRT&HS "Keystone".
If anyone wants them, shoot me a PM or email and I will send them to you.
(They are high res, so they will print 8x10 pages at 300 dpi)

[Dave V]

I have a couple of the GHQ kits lying around.  Any chance I could get a copy of Max's article?

PM me your email.

[haasmarc]

PM me your email.

Thanks Dave.  Randgust fixed me up.

[fhmac]

Gentlemen, is this the photo presentation you seek? https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNvgE5YVabU1o4AOgXiQDvXGimvlvkcnuErcRutdBlHxum5Qv1lQF46Saew_2xviQ?key=b2huOWFSM29YS0UyV1RxSVUzR3dudTRNN0dMVHJR

[Dave V]

Gentlemen, is this the photo presentation you seek? https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNvgE5YVabU1o4AOgXiQDvXGimvlvkcnuErcRutdBlHxum5Qv1lQF46Saew_2xviQ?key=b2huOWFSM29YS0UyV1RxSVUzR3dudTRNN0dMVHJR

No, it was an article in The Keystone magazine on building the GHQ L1s from a Kato 2-8-2.

[randgust]

Gentlemen, is this the photo presentation you seek? https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNvgE5YVabU1o4AOgXiQDvXGimvlvkcnuErcRutdBlHxum5Qv1lQF46Saew_2xviQ?key=b2huOWFSM29YS0UyV1RxSVUzR3dudTRNN0dMVHJR

Holy smokes, that's even worse than what I did to a Decapod, although the motor is identical.

Glad to see Max stopped by.  Two of the best pages of instructions I'd ever seen, and made up for the sketchy and impossible postage-stamp set in the kit despite the fact that the parts and engineering were excellent.   I'd bought the conversion kit and sat on it for like two years out of pure intimidation until I saw the article.  And that manner of 'bury it in photos' got rapidly adapted for my kits.

The 'leftover' parts from GHQ had an interesting history too.   Most of them seemed to end up with Republic Locomotive Works Marshall Thompson, and you could pick out individual parts out of the literal hundreds GHQ had made off his own website.   When he passed and it was sold out to Bruce Monroe he really didn't want to inventory and identify what must have been a basket of unidentified cast parts.   I contacted him in 2022 looking for some specific stuff for my I-1 project and he made me a deal on all remaining L1 parts he had.   I'm still using those.  I don't think Bruce wanted to take the time to identify all he parts, and part numbers that Marshall had, I just got a reasonably full mixed bag.

[mike_lawyer]

I have assembled about 4 GHQ L-1 kits.  They take a little time to get acclimated with the parts.  The hardest part is assembling the cab, there are a number of parts that need to be fit together.  I did not extend the drawbars on mine, I have 16 inch minimum radius curves and they all run on those without issues.

Mike

[Dave V]

I have assembled about 4 GHQ L-1 kits.  They take a little time to get acclimated with the parts.  The hardest part is assembling the cab, there are a number of parts that need to be fit together.  I did not extend the drawbars on mine, I have 16 inch minimum radius curves and they all run on those without issues.

Mike

When I built mine in around 2002/3 or so (yes, it's been that long ago!) I had 11" radius curves (which I do again using the standard T-TRAK curves) and I did something to make it work (maybe I sanded the tender deck more round?). I don't recall exactly what but I know I didn't extend the drawbar...I left it DC until about 2009 when I had House of Trains in Omaha do it for me. So it had the original drawbar intact. Wish I could remember what I did.

That said, I think what I've learned here is that there's no need for me to do that if I'm doing DCC from the get-go. Just extend the drawbar sans the phosphor bronze wires and hotwire the tender pickups to the decoder harness.

[mike_lawyer]

Dave, are you going to install a sound decoder, or a non-sound decoder?  I only use non-sound decoders and have found the easiest way to install it in a GHQ L-1 is to put it at the front of the boiler where the Kato light board is located.  Take two brass strips, insert them where the light board goes, then solder the decoder pickup wires to the brass strips.  That way, you don't have to run wires from the tender to the motor.  You can fit the N scale Zimo decoders and other decoders in the front, there is plenty of room in the front of the boiler for that.