Weekend Update 1/4/15

[Dave V]

I conquered a Tichy water tank kit for the Midland.

I suspect that the CM, being cheap, used whatever local rock it could find.  Run spoil from cuts, waste from mines, talus slope material, etc through screens, crush and rescreen the too-large stuff, and don't buy anything.

FWIW, the Midland was one of the best financed of the Colorado silver boom railroads.  JJ Hagerman was able to drum up considerable capital, and by 1890 the railroad was backed by no less than the AT&SF.

OTOH, much of that money was sunk into expensive rockwork, tunnels, and iron bridges.  There likely was little left to spend on track after grading went so far over budget.  It's been said that surveying for the railroad was rushed such that neither the cheapest nor the most efficient route was chosen.  Allegedly, the D&RG was charging astronomical rates to haul construction supplies to the Midland's connections at Leadville and Glenwood Springs, so they rushed construction through Ute Pass so they could haul in materials through the AT&SF connection here in Colorado Springs.

Drilling the 2,161 foot long Hagerman Pass tunnel at 11,500+ feet above sea level went way over budget and way over schedule.

This railroad had a very interesting history.

[Cajonpassfan]

Drilling the 2,161 foot long Hagerman Pass tunnel at 11,500+ feet above sea level went way over budget and way over schedule.

This railroad had a very interesting history.

Yea, but it was drilled to bypass THIS [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Dave V]

Well, not at first...  The Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel--at 9,394 ft in length and 10,953 ft above sea level--was built to bypass that.  That original alignment you show still had the higher, but shorter, Hagerman Pass Tunnel.

[nkalanaga]

I wonder if that inspired part of John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid?  Engines and cars of that period would work fine on 12 inch radius curves in N scale, so one could almost model it as is.

Iain:  The original NS?  I'll bet you have fun finding models, or decals, for that!

[Dave V]

I wonder if that inspired part of John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid?  Engines and cars of that period would work fine on 12 inch radius curves in N scale, so one could almost model it as is.

I'm hoping 10" work too!  That's the minimum radius I'm planning on using.

[nkalanaga]

I usually don't have anything to report, but did take on a small project today.  It should have taken half an hour maximum, but ended up taking considerably longer.  I put body mounted MT couplers on three ExactRail Gunderson 5200 boxcars.

At first glance this looks easy.  Cut  the McHenrys off the trucks, drill and tap the holes, mount the new couplers.  What could be easier?  So, I unscrewed the trucks and cut the couplers off.  Five of the six worked fine.  On the sixth the truck frame split right through the bolster hole.  I already had the coupler off and was cleaning up the cut edges with a knife, so it almost had to be a brittle or defective part.  No problem, substitute another truck.  I have plenty to choose from.

The car sits a little too high with MT trucks, compared with the other two with original trucks.  Not only that, but ER used a shouldered bolster and screw, so I had to cut the shoulder off, and drill the hole for a pin.  But it worked, I've done it before with the old Bachmann Center Flows, and the height difference was barely visible.  So, I put the ER wheels in the MT trucks.

On to the couplers.  Drilling and tapping the holes was easy - on five of them.  The sixth worked, barely, as the weight was attached off center, and the drill scraped it.  A bit further off and I would have had to remove and reattach the weight.

Body mount 1015s, as there's not enough room for a 1025, the bolster is too wide.  Put the trucks on, the ER axles are quite thick, and won't clear the screw, even with the 1015's countersunk holes.  Tried to screw one down a little tighter, and stripped the hole in the floor. 

Tried 1025s, after trimming the fronts of the bolsters.  That cleared, but I had to trim the draft gear case to clear the truck bolsters, and countersink the draft gear holes for flathead screws.  That part is easy, using a 3/32 drill bit spun between my fingers.  Attached the one with the stripped hole with a nut on the inside.

The one with MT trucks didn't look like it should have the bolster trimmed, since I had already drilled out the inside for the truck pin, so I used 1015's anyway.  To clear the screw I tried BLMA 70-ton trucks, which required a 0.02 inch styrene washer, made with a pair of paper punches.  That not only cleared the screw, since they have smaller diameter axles, but sat at the right height, unlike the MT trucks.  Put the MT trucks with ER wheels back in the parts box, with an attached label, for future use.

By this time two of the roofs were loose, as they're a press fit, with very little press or fit involved, just a very thin edge, so I glued them on.  Fortunately the one with the nut didn't lose its roof, so I can still get into it if I ever have to change the couplers.

These were among the hardest cars I've ever found to put new couplers on, in 40 years of using KD/MT couplers, simply because they seem to be designed to frustrate the attempt.  And they looked so easy!

Has anyone else tried, and found an easier way?  I have four more cars ordered...

[nkalanaga]

Dave:  It probably will.  Your equipment isn't much larger than Nn3, and it works fine on 10 inch curves, as long as one watches the truck swing.  The biggest problem is wheels hitting the draft gear or center sill, and your wheels are further apart, so your only problem will likely be the sidesills on low-set cars.  Since most N scale is designed for 9 inch (or tighter) curves, you should be in good shape.  I have a MT 39 ft tank car on narrow gauge trucks and it works on my sharpest curves, so using standard gauge trucks it should work even better. 

Are you going to use Z/Nn3 couplers, either MT 903s or others?  The 903s have a smaller gathering range than standard gauge couplers, so may not couple as well on sharp curves, but will work fine.  They'll run on 6 inch radius if the corners of the cars don't hit.  Coupling may require manual assistance, with a wire on a handle, or something similar, but so do prototype couplers on such sharp curves.

If you need tank cars, and haven't already checked them out, Republic locomotive Works makes Nn3 kits for the UTLX "Gramps" cars from the D&RGW.  The prototypes were standard gauge, built very early in the 20th century, and later converted to narrow gauge.  At least two standard gauge cars lasted into the mid 60s, and if you could find plans and build the standard gauge bolsters these would work fine for your line.  Send Marshall the masters and he would probably sell standard gauge conversion kits for them.

[Dave V]

Dave:  It probably will.  Your equipment isn't much larger than Nn3, and it works fine on 10 inch curves, as long as one watches the truck swing.  The biggest problem is wheels hitting the draft gear or center sill, and your wheels are further apart, so your only problem will likely be the sidesills on low-set cars.  Since most N scale is designed for 9 inch (or tighter) curves, you should be in good shape.  I have a MT 39 ft tank car on narrow gauge trucks and it works on my sharpest curves, so using standard gauge trucks it should work even better. 

Are you going to use Z/Nn3 couplers, either MT 903s or others?  The 903s have a smaller gathering range than standard gauge couplers, so may not couple as well on sharp curves, but will work fine.  They'll run on 6 inch radius if the corners of the cars don't hit.  Coupling may require manual assistance, with a wire on a handle, or something similar, but so do prototype couplers on such sharp curves.

If you need tank cars, and haven't already checked them out, Republic locomotive Works makes Nn3 kits for the UTLX "Gramps" cars from the D&RGW.  The prototypes were standard gauge, built very early in the 20th century, and later converted to narrow gauge.  At least two standard gauge cars lasted into the mid 60s, and if you could find plans and build the standard gauge bolsters these would work fine for your line.  Send Marshall the masters and he would probably sell standard gauge conversion kits for them.

Lots of great advice and info there, thanks!

Gonna probably stick with MT short shanks, whatever number those are.  I was considering body-mounts but given the curves I may just stay with truck-mounts.

Also on that front...  Just finalizing a deal on a full supply of Colorado Midland decals.  All freight, though, so I'm stuck with alphabet sets for locomotives and passenger cars.  The good news is "COLORADO MIDLAND" doesn't take that many letters versus back when I was in HO and had to hand-letter "GUNNISON SOUTH PARK & PACIFIC" on my passenger equipment!

[Cajonpassfan]

Well, not at first...  The Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel--at 9,394 ft in length and 10,953 ft above sea level--was built to bypass that.  That original alignment you show still had the higher, but shorter, Hagerman Pass Tunnel.

Ah, I stand corrected, Dave. What a railroad, regardless! You should have a lot of fun with that...
Otto K.

[bbussey]

I usually don't have anything to report, but did take on a small project today.  It should have taken half an hour maximum, but ended up taking considerably longer.  I put body mounted MT couplers on three ExactRail Gunderson 5200 boxcars.

... Has anyone else tried, and found an easier way?  I have four more cars ordered...

Given that EXR has developed a body-mounted coupler pocket and retro-fitted a number of their earlier models, it might be worth contacting them directly to see if they will sell the draft-gear parts separately.

[skytop35]

Milwaukee Express car in 1948 paint.

[dougnelson]

Also put some MTL D78 trucks on a HGM RPO!


[/quote]

Very nice Josh. Is MTL selling the PRR trucks separately?

Doug.

[nkalanaga]

Bryan:  Thank you, but these are the only ExactRail cars I own, and, with the four on order, probably the only ones I ever will, so it's easier to do it myself.  The next four will be a lot simpler, because I know what I'm getting into.  I even have another pair of BLMA trucks just in case, though that isn't what I originally bought them for .

Since it looks like they've given up on N scale, based on past comments on Railwire, I doubt that they'll have anything new, and the only old stuff I "need" would be another pair of Gundersons, in SP&S and original BN.  The SP&S were in their first run, and they were sold out before I heard of the company...

[Puddington]

Art....... just pure art Bill.........nice work on the baggage express !

[Missaberoad]

I started lowering and body mounting my freight car fleet.
nothing groundbreaking but I am very happy with the difference.

Unfortunately I don't think I can turn back now 

Ryan