Resurrection

You may recall that I had this locomotive painted.

You may also recall that when I put it back together it ran horribly, and then not at all.

Well today I got it running again, although it is once again a DC only locomotive.

First I checked the locomotive with the decoder installed on DC power. It didn't work. Then I took the decoder out and wired it back up as a straight DC locomotive, and the motor did run but the gears slipped badly. So then I took the locomotive apart and carefully inspected each and every gear.

It turns out that any grit at all in the gears will cause them to decouple, and anything that keeps the frame from firmly contacting the boiler only exacerbates the problem. Additionally, when the grit causes the gears to push the frame outwards the cast on brakes that are there purely for show actually start to work, further binding the drivers and throwing them out of quarter.

Once the gears were cleaned of all debris, the wires were tucked firmly into their channels to keep them from interfering in the frame to boiler fit, the brakes disengaged and the drivers requartered the locomotive ran smoothly again. I have hooked up a train full of cars to it and had it running laps on a temporary track setup on the kitchen table all afternoon.

The next step will be to install another decoder and program it for the new number, but for now I am just enjoying seeing it run.

Work Progresses

on the layout.

After several false starts I've finally nailed down where I want all of the downtown buildings to go. I had to buy a couple more corner buildings but now it looks like everything is in place as it should be.

Now I'm cleaning and painting the buildings before detailing their interiors and finally placing them on the layout. I'm also looking at interior lights for them, but that is a project that may have to wait for a while.

I also have to get some of the DPM Modular Building System walls to finish out the tool making factory (although in the final take it's probably going to be some other kind of manufactory). I have the DPM planning package that I've used to mock it up and I like the way it looks like it's going to turn out.

I also have to scratch-build a scrap metal baler and some sort of loading system to take the place of the scrap yard. The plan is for the manufactory to wrap around the "scrapyard" with the scrap from the manufacturing processes being fed into the baler and then the bales loaded into the waiting gondolas. I'm thinking about some sort of chute, something like you find on the coal mine kits to load the boney (rock that has had the ore processed out of it). It's going to have to be on an angle, which makes things interesting.

Pics when complete.

More Projects

I finally ordered a PowerMAX unit for use on my Shapeways East Broad Top M1, and it arrived yesterday, so this is finally on my build list.

I also received several Kato Mikado boiler shells to see if they can be used on the Erie K5A project. Perhaps with some modifications (and a lot of cutting) it would be possible, but they look kind of small so I'm not so sure they will work.

What I really need to do is learn to cast so I can reproduce that Arnold Pacific shell. I did get a book from BHI Publications about white metal casting, so maybe I'll educate myself enough to try it.

Another Locomotive Project

One of the problems in modeling Nn3 is the lack of RTR equipment. There are a few mostly Colorado prototype locomotives but for the East Broad Top everything has to be built.

Building an Nn3 locomotive usually involves starting with a Marklin chassis. In the case of the surviving EBT Mikados the 8827 Class 41 Marklin Mikado is a good starting spot, the drivers are a touch too small but with the oversize flanges the dimensions are about right. The same chassis is used for all the Mikados, and a kit is available for them through Republic Locomotive Works.

Since some of their earlier 2-8-0 locomotives were standard designs also shared by the western roads there are kits available to build them as well, and with the new PowerMax chassis you can find kits for Brill Motorcar M1 and the dinky locomotives also owned by the road. Some of the existing Marklin chassis can also be used to create the road's Mogul and ten-wheeler locomotives as well. There is one, however, that is a bit more difficult.

This is East Broad Top locomotive 11. It is a Prairie 2-6-2 locomotive and was the road's first wide firebox loco. The design was so successful that the railroad used it as the pattern for their six existing Mikado locomotives, essentially just adding another set of drivers and extending the trailing truck a bit. I have long wanted to build this locomotive but have been unable to decide how to go about it. The choices seemed to be shortening a Mikado chassis, something that I didn't feel my modeling skills to be equal to, or modifying a Marklin 8803 Mogul chassis to accept a different motor, also beyond my skills. However, there did seem to be an alternative...

This is the Marklin 8806 chassis. I first saw this locomotive on the popular online auction site but didn't have any dimensional information for it. At first glance it looked to be a promising start, the drivers appeared to be the same as the 8827 chassis and the motor is horizontal rather than vertical as it is on the 8803 chassis. However, I had problems finding one that was in a price range I felt comfortable about taking apart for a donor chassis.

And then...one came up. No box so collectors weren't interested in it, so it was had for a bit over a C note, which is about what an 8827 chassis goes for. A few clicks of the mouse and it was on its way.

When it arrived the disassembly began apace:

Once the lid was off the mechanism looked even more promising. The motor is a bit long, but the large cab of the EBT prototype should cover it adequately. There was a light board at the back of the locomotive and the frame extended back to support it, but it looks as if the chassis can be cut off aft of the rear motor mount without too many problems. The solid bottom of the motor mount platform can be filed flat as well to get rid of the arches, and the whole thing should be covered by the bottom of the cab.

With the light boards and leading and trailing trucks removed the chassis looks even more promising. The front of the locomotive is actually going to be more problematic than the back. The cylinders are going to have to go right in front of the drivers and they are mounted on a solid bar. The two options are to cut the top of the chassis flush with the front driver edge or file the bottom of the chassis in front of the drivers up to mount the bar underneath. Either way the front of the chassis is going to have to be cut away more than the rear.

The only other issue I can see is the front motor mount. It stretches the width of the locomotive and it looks like its going to hit the bottom of the boiler just forward of the cab. I am hopeful that it can be disguised behind air piping and whatnot under the running boards. At any rate I don't think it will be an insurmountable obstacle.

So all in all it looks like my prospects of having this locomotive on my roster one day is promising.

Scenery

It's about time I finally posted some of the scenery that has been done already.

The train room is in a state of flux right now as I am rearranging things. This necessitated the separation of the two halves of the layout, so while they were apart and more or less moveable I decided to do some scenicing using some of the items salvaged off of the layout mentioned in the previous post.

Most of the structures that I salvaged are going to have to be disassembled (they were glued together with what looks like rubber cement) and cleaned before being reassembled, but they were good for place markers. Other items I was able to transplant without too much trouble, and some of the scenes I was able to lift completely off with their underlaying turf intact and use as-is.

So, without further ado, here are some of the results:

Trucks in the gravel parking lot of the trackside transfer. This was the building I chose to stand in for the meat packing plant on the prototype, it looks nothing like the building in question but then again the only thing that is following the prototype at this point is the basic track layout...mostly.

A covered hopper takes a load of grain from the elevator while a couple of farmers get things they need at the feed store.

Today at the church we have a burying...

and a marrying.

Thankfully no one has been agitating for the removal of this statue at the Jamestown Memorial Park.

The cabin here serves as the park offices.

Some of the locals have put on a play in the open air theater at the park.

The milk man and the ice cream man are both doing well as one resident gets ready to go to work and another mows his lawn.

Meanwhile, under the old shade tree, there's some snuggling going on!

The neighborhood kids take a chance to enjoy the pool while school is out across the street.

Some fruit on the trees and some veggies in the hothouse contribute to a well balanced dinner table.

As it stands the scenery is about half done. I'm having some troubles deciding how the downtown is going to look, not helped by the prototype since "downtown" was several miles away from the railroad stations. Also, since I've been in the North Raleigh Model Railroad Club I've been exposed to some bad influences, so to speak, so now my empty buildings just don't look right...which means I am having to do some interior building and maybe even some lighting before I'm all done. It may make me a better modeler, but it sure does add some complications.

The worst part about all of this is my layout is non-operational for the time being. Good thing I have a collection of Unitrack to fall back on when the urge to run trains overtakes me.

In other news...I really do have too much junk in my train room. I'm probably going to have to go on an extensive downsizing spree soon.

Rearranging

Some time ago I acquired a "layout" from an older gentleman that was moving out of his larger house into an assisted living apartment. I say "layout" because it was nothing more than a loop of Bachmann N scale EZ Track with one siding on a hollow door base. The loop itself was elevated and the layout scenery was completely done.

Once I had gotten the thing home I took the track off of it (it was mostly fallen off anyway) and took a good look at the scenery. It was mostly the grass matting you can find at AC Moore's or Michaels with a nice selection of buildings, vehicles, people and trees.

There was a bus station, a large house with a swimming pool, a row of modest homes, two churches, a stream with fishermen out on boats and on the banks, there was a dog show and a fashion show, there were kids playing baseball and a high school football game, there was tennis and another pool, there were deer, there were sheep, there were cows, there were horses, there was a farm with a barn and haystack...in short, there was a lot of scenery.

I took it all off the board it was mounted to, most of it was stuck down with rubber cement or hot glue. Some of the buildings fell apart and I saw that they, too, had been assembled with hot glue. Most of the rest of them will need some sort of rebuilding or painting, but some of them are fine just the way they are. I have been using the buildings and scenes to mock up the "Clarinda" layout (at this point all it shares with its namesake is a faint resemblance to the track arrangement) and it was turning out to be pretty good, even if it no longer resembles my little hometown at all.

Up until Christmas I had Grand-daughter's dollhouse in my train room (it has once again started to become the repository of anything She can't find another place for...real estate disputes have always been the bane of model railroading). I'm happy to report that I did (finally) get it done (just in time for it to be loaded into the truck) and it went to Florida, where it was well received by its new owner.

The completed interior. The post in the middle of the attic room is temporary, just long enough for the glue to dry.

The bathroom, with a "ghost" wall so you can access the room.

The nursery

The completed exterior, minus shingles.

The shingle work is being left for Grand-Daughter to complete.

A better shot of the attic room, complete with the temporary ceiling support

The stairway going up to the attic room. It was painted the same color as the railing and ended up really looking nice.

The completed second floor tower room, minus all the building materials (which have been partially moved to the library)

It was a relief to finally get it done, and when it left it opened a space in my layout room. So, when we returned from our travels I set about re-arranging the train room. To do this the layout had to come apart again, which means everything on it had to come off. And since it is all cleared off, I have begun to put permanent scenery down.

So far I have all four corners done, which really didn't take much except at the right (railroad north) side I have a camping scene in the rear and a copse of trees with a couple in a car parked underneath them. The southern corners are just earth and grass, although there will be a number of trees planted there when I am all done.

Again on the north end I have the front block done, containing three identical houses (except for the paint), a pool, a greenhouse, two apple trees, a handful of other trees, a man  mowing his lawn, the milkman and the ice cream man. I'm going to have to paint the sidewalks I think, but otherwise I'm pleased with how it came out.

On the southern end the meat packing plant (a Woodland Scenics Trackside Transfer kit) has been planted in its proper place and surrounded with grass and a gravel parking lot. The grain silos have been likewise planted, along with a feed store to go along with them, and the first stretch of ballasting has been done on the grain silo lead. Across the street there is a church with a wedding just concluding in the front and a funeral in progress in the graveyard behind it.

Sadly I have not been able to find a place for the Berrys Feed store that I had build out of card stock, I kind of like that building and was hoping to find a place for it. Perhaps it will find a spot elsewhere on the layout.

On the north end, across the street from the houses, there will be the schoolhouse square. I have two schoolhouses, one small Bachmann structure with the playground equipment all mounted on a "concrete" base and a larger Model Power building. I haven't decided if I am going to use one or both. There is also a pickup baseball game in progress that I would like to put on that block as well.

All told the scenery on about five square feet of the sixteen square foot layout has been completed, and the rest of it has been planned out at least. There have already been changes from the way it was mocked up, and I am going to have to build a couple of buildings because I have not been able to find anything that fits my industrial area. I'm leaning towards the DPM parts and pieces for this purpose, I think they will work out well.

Even though I have plenty of buildings for the downtown section I am going to have to do a lot of repainting. It looks like they were painted with watercolors, not very carefully at that, and some of them were put together with a hot glue gun so they will have to be deconstructed, cleaned and reconstructed. The good thing is I have plenty of buildings to work with.

The way its going I just might get this layout completely finished. Pictures will be available when they are taken.

Back From the Paint Shop

 The Pacific in Norfolk and Western paint. The N&W did have Pacifics, and the number does indeed correspond to an actual locomotive, but to the best of my knowledge they never had any streamlined Pacifics.

Sadly, it no longer runs. I spent a few hours soldering wires and adjusting the chassis and the best I could get out of it was reverse. Now it won't respond at all. This is the trouble with the Model Power locomotives, they are finicky. Before I took it apart for paint it was my best running Pacific, I should have left it in Lackawana paint instead of taking it apart in the first place I guess. So it fills a spot in my repair yard until I get the time and ambition to fiddle with it.

 The heavyweight cars were also repainted, and of course at the train show this weekend I happened to find a full set of heavyweights factory painted for the Norfolk and Western. It wasn't difficult to talk myself out of them but they did look good.

 The streamlined Hudson shells were repainted in a fantasy Erie scheme to match the previously painted passenger cars. As far as I know the Erie Railroad never owned Hudsons at all, much less streamlined ones, but it sure does look good at the head of those cars.

 And while we are on the subject of the cars, these are the repaints. I really like the way they turned out. These are two of the coaches in their green and cream (I know, it looks green to me, too) livery.

And one long distance shot showing as much of the train as I could get in the photo. Excuse my mess, my layout is a work in progress.

And now I need to get a DCC chip in that Hudson so I can run it at the next show.