It has been a long time since I have updated the site.
The Pennsy L1 is done, the paint just went on it this last weekend. It is a beautiful loco and a strong puller. It won't stay on my current horrible trackwork, but all of that will change when I get the new layout up and running.
Speaking of the new layout, I have finalized the plan for the PRR portion of the Path Valley. The PRR portion is just a double loop that incorporates an interchange with the SR&W at Duncannon PA, not prototypical at all but it will suit my needs. It will be built on a 3x7 door. I'm hoping to have construction started soon, but I have been hoping to have construction started for quite some time now.
The Atlas locos have both been re-motored and they are running fine. The Mikado does not like my trackwork any better than the Kato, but the Pacific does just fine. Both of these have to be run on a transistorized throttle that I built from an MRC unit, they ramp to full speed and don't have any fine control on a rheostat throttle. Just as well, I suppose, since I was planning on building more transistorized throttles anyway.
I picked up an Arnold Pacific as well, so now I have three Pacifics and two Mikados. The train set Consolidations have been shipped off to a new home where hopefully they are providing their new owners with good service and much enjoyment.
The train table has been cleared of trains and the track is being pulled up a little at a time. When the track is all up I will dismantle the table and hopefully be able to use it's pieces for the new benchwork. I don't know what I will end up doing with the roundhouse and turntable, but they will be stored away for future use or sale depending on what happens.
I also picked up another J class, but it is the older model and does not run. I am investigating the possibility of sending it to Bachmann for replacement, we will see how the warranty goes with the new warranty policy.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Turnouts, part 3
All five turnouts are now complete. Next I build the framework and module tables. I am planning on going with two standard Nn3 modules in the size of 1'x4', 1x3 framework and 1" foam on top. Track will be at the 6" centerline as per Nn3 Alliance standards.
I will also have to scratch build some structures, but I'll deal with that issue after the track has been planned out, the road bed has been laid and the whole shooting match is ready for scenery.
I haven't been able to find out if there are going to be any Nn3 clubs at the convention, so I am not sure how to go about getting the modules entered. First things first though, they have to be built before they can be entered.
I will also have to scratch build some structures, but I'll deal with that issue after the track has been planned out, the road bed has been laid and the whole shooting match is ready for scenery.
I haven't been able to find out if there are going to be any Nn3 clubs at the convention, so I am not sure how to go about getting the modules entered. First things first though, they have to be built before they can be entered.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Turnouts, Part 2
So far I have built two turnouts, one left and one right, with the Fast Tracks jig. The toughest part is gapping the point rails after everything is soldered together. So far the X-acto razor saw is doing the job just fine.
I ordered a stock rail filing tool to assist in the turnout building, it should be here soon. This is the first time I have built turnouts, and the jigs certainly help the process. I don't know if I would have wanted to tackle the project without them.
I ordered a stock rail filing tool to assist in the turnout building, it should be here soon. This is the first time I have built turnouts, and the jigs certainly help the process. I don't know if I would have wanted to tackle the project without them.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Turnouts
The package containing the Fast Tracks turnout kit is waiting for me at the post office. I'll be picking it up today and perhaps I'll be building some turnouts this weekend.
The shed has also arrived and is being filled with things that previously had no real place to be stored. The train room will be getting cleaned out this weekend as well.
There are eleven months remaining until I must have the Saltillo modules finished.
The shed has also arrived and is being filled with things that previously had no real place to be stored. The train room will be getting cleaned out this weekend as well.
There are eleven months remaining until I must have the Saltillo modules finished.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Three Little Locos
The L1 lacks only paint and finish. It doesn't like the tight corners, but should run OK on a 15" minimum radius. I modified the drawbar connection by removing it from the locomotive and attaching it to the tender, it now hooks downward into the trailing truck to prevent contact between the loco's metal frame and the brass hook. I also hard-wired the tender to the LED light board in the locomotive, so it picks up on both sides from both locomotive and tender. The tender now needs a little weight to improve the contact, but this locomotive is as stall-free as the Bachmann Spectrum F-7's are.
The Atlas Mikado and Pacific have both received new gearmotors. They run well, but because they only pick up on one side of the locomotive chassis they can be a bit balky over turnouts. There doesn't seem to be any way to fix this, the original design had the tender picking up on one side and the loco on the other. The Bachmann tenders allow pickup on both sides, but since the Atlas frames still only pick up on one side of the locomotive a stall can occur if both tender trucks hit the same dead spot. Fortunately that doesn't happen often, and when it does a bit of track cleaning has so far taken care of it.
The Atlas locomotives run well with each other, but due to gearing differences they are both slower than the Kato mechanism under the L1. I haven't tried double-heading the Pacifics, but I will be surprised if the Model Power runs at the same speed as the remotored Atlas. The remotored Mikado isn't a very good puller when compared to the Kato, but that is no doubt due to the heavy pewter shell of the L1.
The Class J, by the way, has had it's drawbar shortened as well. Turns out that Bachmann supplied two holes to attach locomotive to tender, and it was at the furthest hole. The fix was to simply attach the locomotive to the closer of the two connecting holes.
So at this point the Atlas locomotives are complete and ready for service, and the L1 shell and tender will be painted as soon as I have time off from work to do them, along with the white metal bits on tender and loco mechanism. The Class J was ready to go from the time it came out of the box, but has now had it's minor quibble repaired. All of these locomotives have received Micro-Trains couplers on their tenders and all but the Class J has a Z scale Micro-Trains coupler in it's pilot. The fleet grows (but will soon contract by two train-set Northerns and two train-set Consolidations), so it's about time to give them a place to run.
I have ordered a new shed to be built and brought to the house, this will give me the much-needed storage space to de-clutter my "train room" and so give me the room I need to start building the new layout. First things first, the carpeting will come out and be replaced with a hard-surfaced floor of some sort. I have stick-on simulated wood strips that I will use if I have enough of them, and if not I'll see if I can find some more. If not once again, I'll look into some engineered wood floors.
I have also obligated myself to building a pair of Nn3 modules based on the East Broad Top Railroad's operations in Saltillo PA for the National Narrow Gauge Convention to be held next September in Hickory NC. To that end I have ordered the Fast Tracks Nn3 turnout kit for a #6 turnout, so I'll get to try my hand at building turnouts. If all goes well I'll get one for the standard gauge as well, and maybe I'll get crazy enough to get the ones for dual gauge. On top of that, I am trying to finish the dollhouse for the granddaughter before Christmas.
All in all I will be very busy for the next year.
The Atlas Mikado and Pacific have both received new gearmotors. They run well, but because they only pick up on one side of the locomotive chassis they can be a bit balky over turnouts. There doesn't seem to be any way to fix this, the original design had the tender picking up on one side and the loco on the other. The Bachmann tenders allow pickup on both sides, but since the Atlas frames still only pick up on one side of the locomotive a stall can occur if both tender trucks hit the same dead spot. Fortunately that doesn't happen often, and when it does a bit of track cleaning has so far taken care of it.
The Atlas locomotives run well with each other, but due to gearing differences they are both slower than the Kato mechanism under the L1. I haven't tried double-heading the Pacifics, but I will be surprised if the Model Power runs at the same speed as the remotored Atlas. The remotored Mikado isn't a very good puller when compared to the Kato, but that is no doubt due to the heavy pewter shell of the L1.
The Class J, by the way, has had it's drawbar shortened as well. Turns out that Bachmann supplied two holes to attach locomotive to tender, and it was at the furthest hole. The fix was to simply attach the locomotive to the closer of the two connecting holes.
So at this point the Atlas locomotives are complete and ready for service, and the L1 shell and tender will be painted as soon as I have time off from work to do them, along with the white metal bits on tender and loco mechanism. The Class J was ready to go from the time it came out of the box, but has now had it's minor quibble repaired. All of these locomotives have received Micro-Trains couplers on their tenders and all but the Class J has a Z scale Micro-Trains coupler in it's pilot. The fleet grows (but will soon contract by two train-set Northerns and two train-set Consolidations), so it's about time to give them a place to run.
I have ordered a new shed to be built and brought to the house, this will give me the much-needed storage space to de-clutter my "train room" and so give me the room I need to start building the new layout. First things first, the carpeting will come out and be replaced with a hard-surfaced floor of some sort. I have stick-on simulated wood strips that I will use if I have enough of them, and if not I'll see if I can find some more. If not once again, I'll look into some engineered wood floors.
I have also obligated myself to building a pair of Nn3 modules based on the East Broad Top Railroad's operations in Saltillo PA for the National Narrow Gauge Convention to be held next September in Hickory NC. To that end I have ordered the Fast Tracks Nn3 turnout kit for a #6 turnout, so I'll get to try my hand at building turnouts. If all goes well I'll get one for the standard gauge as well, and maybe I'll get crazy enough to get the ones for dual gauge. On top of that, I am trying to finish the dollhouse for the granddaughter before Christmas.
All in all I will be very busy for the next year.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Update on Motive Power
Almost all of the pieces have arrived.
The kit for the L1 Pennsy 2-8-2 is going well. At first I thought I would not be able to use the tender casting, but when I took a good look at the Bachmann tender I found that it's shell pulls straight off the top and has what looks suspiciously like a decoder in it. At any rate, with a bit of judicious trimming of both tender floor and the casting, including removing the coal bunker floor and replacing it with a piece of styrene cut to fit just a bit higher, the Pennsy casting will work fine on the Bachmann floor.
I had to modify all three of the tender drawbars by gluing in a piece of styrene and drilling a hole to connect to the locomotives. On the Atlas locos I drilled a hole in each of the trailing trucks and bent a thick piece of brass rod as a connector. On the Kato I bent a piece of the same brass rod to fit in the existing trailing truck hole. All three tenders will now connect to their respective locomotives, but I might have to rethink the Kato as it is a bit too close for operations on tighter curves. I'm planning on running a minimum of 15" on the standard gauge, but I'm not sure if the Kato will make a curve that tight with the current coupling distance.
I also modified the slope-back tender for the 0-6-0 by clipping the part of the old tender's drawbar that connected to the locomotive and trimming it to fit inside the new tender's drawbar opening. Now I have a good tight fit and a better contact system than before so this locomotive, already a good performer, is now a great performer. It is very difficult to stall this locomotive now since it picks up from both tender trucks as well as from four of the six locomotive wheels. It still won't pull a full length freight train, but the prototype never did either. It does just fine with a cut of four to six cars, I haven't tried it on anything more than that but this will likely be it's standard train length anyway.
The worms have been removed from the Atlas locos along with their enclosures, they will be sent to the Motorman to be installed on the gearmotors that are being built for them. At present the only one of the three locos that run is the Kato, and it is a real jewel. I have to finish detailing the L1 shell and it will be ready for paint and decals. It is a running locomotive that needs cosmetic work, the Atlas locos are good cosmetically but don't run. All that will change when the new motors get here, but there is no rush since I don't have an operational pike for the moment.
There has been one final addition to the roster, and this one is completely non-prototypical. It is a Bachmann Class J Norfolk and Western 4-8-4 with auxiliary water tender. I have to install couplers to close the gap between the tender and aux tender, and I would also like to close the gap a bit between the loco and tender, but it is as beautiful as it's prototype counterpart. It is road number 611, which is also the only surviving prototype of it's class. In my opinion, the N&W J class locomotives were the most beautiful steam locomotives ever produced.
So what is a N&W J class doing on a PRR themed pike? The story I'm making up is that it's leased with an option as the "PRR" contemplates a switch to diesel. In the real world, it's my railroad and I'll run what I like.
Nowadays of course the N&W and the PRR are combined into the Norfolk Southern on the part of the Pennsy system that I'm modeling.
The kit for the L1 Pennsy 2-8-2 is going well. At first I thought I would not be able to use the tender casting, but when I took a good look at the Bachmann tender I found that it's shell pulls straight off the top and has what looks suspiciously like a decoder in it. At any rate, with a bit of judicious trimming of both tender floor and the casting, including removing the coal bunker floor and replacing it with a piece of styrene cut to fit just a bit higher, the Pennsy casting will work fine on the Bachmann floor.
I had to modify all three of the tender drawbars by gluing in a piece of styrene and drilling a hole to connect to the locomotives. On the Atlas locos I drilled a hole in each of the trailing trucks and bent a thick piece of brass rod as a connector. On the Kato I bent a piece of the same brass rod to fit in the existing trailing truck hole. All three tenders will now connect to their respective locomotives, but I might have to rethink the Kato as it is a bit too close for operations on tighter curves. I'm planning on running a minimum of 15" on the standard gauge, but I'm not sure if the Kato will make a curve that tight with the current coupling distance.
I also modified the slope-back tender for the 0-6-0 by clipping the part of the old tender's drawbar that connected to the locomotive and trimming it to fit inside the new tender's drawbar opening. Now I have a good tight fit and a better contact system than before so this locomotive, already a good performer, is now a great performer. It is very difficult to stall this locomotive now since it picks up from both tender trucks as well as from four of the six locomotive wheels. It still won't pull a full length freight train, but the prototype never did either. It does just fine with a cut of four to six cars, I haven't tried it on anything more than that but this will likely be it's standard train length anyway.
The worms have been removed from the Atlas locos along with their enclosures, they will be sent to the Motorman to be installed on the gearmotors that are being built for them. At present the only one of the three locos that run is the Kato, and it is a real jewel. I have to finish detailing the L1 shell and it will be ready for paint and decals. It is a running locomotive that needs cosmetic work, the Atlas locos are good cosmetically but don't run. All that will change when the new motors get here, but there is no rush since I don't have an operational pike for the moment.
There has been one final addition to the roster, and this one is completely non-prototypical. It is a Bachmann Class J Norfolk and Western 4-8-4 with auxiliary water tender. I have to install couplers to close the gap between the tender and aux tender, and I would also like to close the gap a bit between the loco and tender, but it is as beautiful as it's prototype counterpart. It is road number 611, which is also the only surviving prototype of it's class. In my opinion, the N&W J class locomotives were the most beautiful steam locomotives ever produced.
So what is a N&W J class doing on a PRR themed pike? The story I'm making up is that it's leased with an option as the "PRR" contemplates a switch to diesel. In the real world, it's my railroad and I'll run what I like.
Nowadays of course the N&W and the PRR are combined into the Norfolk Southern on the part of the Pennsy system that I'm modeling.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Upgrading Motive Power
I have just sent away for the final bits and pieces for three more locomotives.
I have been a dedicated train set Bachmann locomotive purchaser since I started in N scale, and I can certainly say I have gotten what I paid for. The Bachmann train set locos have gotten better in recent years, but they are what they are.
I have older train set versions of their F-9, 4-8-4, and 2-8-0 locomotives. The F-9's aren't so bad, but they aren't so good either. The steam, on the other hand, is mostly horrendous.
I have puttered around with them a bit, adding tender pickups and even re-motoring the Northerns. The results have been mixed at best, they are better than what they were but it is still trying to make silk purses out of sows ears. So, I have been slowly working on an upgrade program for the steam motive power that will pull the Pennsylvania and standard gauge Path Valley trains.
I purchased a Kato Mikado mechanism without shell when they were on sale, and purchased one Atlas Rivarrosi Mikado and one Atlas Rivarrosi Pacific mechanisms off of an Email list, with shells but without motors, later on.
I have just purchased the Pennsy L1 pewter kit for the Kato, one gearmotor each for the Atlas Mikado and Pacific, and three Bachmann medium length Spectrum tenders, one for each locomotive. When all of the pieces get here I will assemble each of the locomotives and will then have a pair of Mikados and a pair of Pacifics.
At that time I will "retire" my train set Consolidations and Northerns. I will retain the Spectrum Consolidation and the Spectrum F-7's, and the non-Spectrum F-9's will become the exclusive property of my 11 year old. I'll also keep the 0-6-0 switcher but it is getting a Spectrum tender as well.
That will give the "PRR" one authentic Mikado, one non-authentic Mikado, and two non-authentic Pacifics. The Mikes will pull the freights and the Pacifics will handle passenger duties.
The standard gauge portion of the Path Valley will have a Consolidation (also non-authentic) and an 0-6-0 switcher (need you ask?) for the processing plant. The narrow gauge will have to soldier on with the collection of two Mikados, one Mogul and one American that it already has.
I suppose I'd better get to work on the new pike so all of them will have a place to live.
I have been a dedicated train set Bachmann locomotive purchaser since I started in N scale, and I can certainly say I have gotten what I paid for. The Bachmann train set locos have gotten better in recent years, but they are what they are.
I have older train set versions of their F-9, 4-8-4, and 2-8-0 locomotives. The F-9's aren't so bad, but they aren't so good either. The steam, on the other hand, is mostly horrendous.
I have puttered around with them a bit, adding tender pickups and even re-motoring the Northerns. The results have been mixed at best, they are better than what they were but it is still trying to make silk purses out of sows ears. So, I have been slowly working on an upgrade program for the steam motive power that will pull the Pennsylvania and standard gauge Path Valley trains.
I purchased a Kato Mikado mechanism without shell when they were on sale, and purchased one Atlas Rivarrosi Mikado and one Atlas Rivarrosi Pacific mechanisms off of an Email list, with shells but without motors, later on.
I have just purchased the Pennsy L1 pewter kit for the Kato, one gearmotor each for the Atlas Mikado and Pacific, and three Bachmann medium length Spectrum tenders, one for each locomotive. When all of the pieces get here I will assemble each of the locomotives and will then have a pair of Mikados and a pair of Pacifics.
At that time I will "retire" my train set Consolidations and Northerns. I will retain the Spectrum Consolidation and the Spectrum F-7's, and the non-Spectrum F-9's will become the exclusive property of my 11 year old. I'll also keep the 0-6-0 switcher but it is getting a Spectrum tender as well.
That will give the "PRR" one authentic Mikado, one non-authentic Mikado, and two non-authentic Pacifics. The Mikes will pull the freights and the Pacifics will handle passenger duties.
The standard gauge portion of the Path Valley will have a Consolidation (also non-authentic) and an 0-6-0 switcher (need you ask?) for the processing plant. The narrow gauge will have to soldier on with the collection of two Mikados, one Mogul and one American that it already has.
I suppose I'd better get to work on the new pike so all of them will have a place to live.
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