Re: Weekend Update 5/17/26

[CR4100]

I saw this covered hopper with solid sided a couple of weeks ago and decided to model it.


There are two versions of the Thrall 5851 cu ft car with different cutouts by the top grab iron.
The steps are separate parts as they are subject to breakage. I'll probably make a finer version before painting these cars.





There is also a newer version of the 5851 which is a few inches longer and looks like a regular covered hopper. It and the 6011 cu ft aluminum body car will probably be next.

[Scottl]

Beautiful model, nice work.

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Sunday morning spinning some tunes and JFRTM…

[Dave V]

Did some railfanning this weekend:















And finished a model of PRR's MO Tower at Cresson...a 3D print from Yelton Models.

[btrain]

Had a good time running trains on the Free-mon setup at Ohio N Scale Weekend. It was nice to give a good jog for my Conrail and NYC trains from the loops they usually do on my doughnut layout. And it was pleasant to see others work my Lake Shore Central junction with switching ops.

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[randgust]

Did some railfanning this weekend:

If you look at the Colorado Rail Museum from the air, yes, it's a racetrack.  A come-to-life HOn3 4x6 with a roundhouse in the middle and display tracks.

But if you're good, and pick your spot, you can still get some amazingly authentic photo angles in a couple spots with little visual garbage.   And you can pretty much walk to the next spot and wait for the train to loop around to you when you get there!

[NorthWestGN]

I was able to get my old school Life-Like Alco FA-2 A&B set running again, they pull like crazy, but don’t like running on DCC… Any decoder suggestions for these plastic frame versions.



Brent

[Jesse6669]

I saw this covered hopper with solid sided a couple of weeks ago and decided to model it.

I bet these are popular with the hobo-inclined.  Mostly enclosed ends and less viewing of any rider from the side.  Nice looking models!

[bbunge]

I was able to get my old school Life-Like Alco FA-2 A&B set running again, they pull like crazy, but don’t like running on DCC… Any decoder suggestions for these plastic frame versions.



Brent

I have cut the rear weight off at the end, or just trimmed the top of the weight, and put a Digitrax DZ-126 in these.  They still pull like crazy and run well, especially on code 80.  With a bit of tweaking, you can get decoder based momentum to provide for smoother stops since they are lacking flywheels.

[robert3985]

I have cut the rear weight off at the end, or just trimmed the top of the weight, and put a Digitrax DZ-126 in these.  They still pull like crazy and run well, especially on code 80.  With a bit of tweaking, you can get decoder based momentum to provide for smoother stops since they are lacking flywheels.

Okay...tell me why these engines "...pull like crazy and run well, especially on code 80."???

Seems to me that the rail height is totally irrelevant as far as pulling power and running well...unless you're referring to pizza cutters not working well on Atlas55 track products??  Which has nothing to do with the rail height and everything to do with the height of the blobs holding the ties to the rails.

I would venture a guess that yours will pull and run just as well on Micro Engineering Code55, Peco55 and even hand-laid PCB Code40.

Just sayin' 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[nickelplate759]

I put NWSL replacement wheels on plastic-framed FAs.  They still pull well.

[bbunge]

Okay...tell me why these engines "...pull like crazy and run well, especially on code 80."???

Seems to me that the rail height is totally irrelevant as far as pulling power and running well...unless you're referring to pizza cutters not working well on Atlas55 track products??  Which has nothing to do with the rail height and everything to do with the height of the blobs holding the ties to the rails.

I would venture a guess that yours will pull and run just as well on Micro Engineering Code55, Peco55 and even hand-laid PCB Code40.

Just sayin' 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Since my entire code 55 experience is with Atlas track, no doubt they would, Bob!  Apologies, I didn't mean to step into the code wars

Bob

 

[SAH]

Just about finished with this NW5 build, just waiting on some number boards to arrive.

Beautiful job Bill.

[robert3985]

Since my entire code 55 experience is with Atlas track, no doubt they would, Bob!  Apologies, I didn't mean to step into the code wars

Bob

 

HAHAHA!    No offense intended at all.  I was genuinely curious that maybe there was something about these engines that made them run better on Code80 trackage, other than having pizza cutters.

I'm not a participant in "the code wars" either.  However, I do have a big gripe about Atlas55...in fact, several gripes, and I have a tendency to get set off when modelers assume that ALL N-scale Code55 trackage will cause tall flanges to buzz and maybe don't even know about ME Code55 and Peco55 which definitely don't have that problem because their designers had enough brains and foresight when creating those products to make sure that pizza cutters wouldn't buzz on grossly oversized blobs that I suppose are intended to represent spikeheads.

I've laid plenty of Code80 flex over the years for customers and friends, and as long as it's flex and not sectional track, it can be made to look surprisingly realistic...at least when not compared head-to-head with Micro Engineering Code55...or even Atlas55.

Rumor has it that Micro Engineering has new Code40 flex that pizza cutters will supposedly run on.  I'll have to see it to believe it, but...that would be GREAT imo!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

*edited for grammar*

[dandopinski]

I hope you're right Bob.