Weekend Update 3/5/17

[StewRRFan]

New power for the layout waiting by the station in New Freedom, PA.  Painting/Decals by Jeff Gowers.

[Point353]

The build and new dates on the car are 2/37, so I guess I assumed it was probably ok for the fifties?

http://original.trainlife.com/articles/335

[Cajonpassfan]

http://original.trainlife.com/articles/335

Thanks for that. So the 1937 build date would be fine, but as there were only 25 cars built, and assigned to a specific service to a Ford Plant in Virginia, the chances of one of these cars finding its way to SoCal are minuscule to none. So I'll skip this one. Thank you for educating me.
Otto K.

[Tom L]

http://original.trainlife.com/articles/335

Thanks for the link, good info.  It doesn't give a date about when to auto loader equipment was removed, but maybe I should go back and paint out the automobile lettering and stripe. I would suspect it was prior to my late fifties period.

Whoops, went back and saw the caption that mentions 1956 as the date auto equipment was removed on at least one car

Tom L

[Point353]

Thanks for that. So the 1937 build date would be fine, but as there were only 25 cars built, and assigned to a specific service to a Ford Plant in Virginia, the chances of one of these cars finding its way to SoCal are minuscule to none. So I'll skip this one.

Following link is to a photo of one of those 25 cars that made its way to the Vancouver, CA area, so it might be possible that one of them also got to California.
It would probably depend upon whether or not any of the vehicles assembled at that Ford plant in Virginia were ever shipped to California.
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/virginian-rly-co-automobile-boxcar-62019

[ryan_wilkerson]

Looking good...Jeff does excellent work. Some larger photos would help show off the quality!

New power for the layout waiting by the station in New Freedom, PA.  Painting/Decals by Jeff Gowers.

[Blazeman]

Cruised out to Gettysburg to catch up with Adam (mu126aeh) to exchange currency for engines. Got to do a shake down ops session for his newly renovated/redesigned Glatfelter mill section. I thought it went quite well and notes were made of items to be added for enhanced operations.

The lad (he's half my age) has an achievable vision for the scene and the talents to make it happen.

[nscaleSPF2]

Verne finally returned to the shop last week.  He mumbled something about not having anything in common with Miss Dee anymore, and before I could stop him, he grabbed an old Minitrix 0-6-0 boiler shell, a new Bachmann 0-6-0 mechanism, and the Dremel.  Three days later, he returned with this.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

The biggest issue so far is that the cab is about 2 feet 4 inches longer that the prototype's, the PRR b6.  This discrepancy is visible in archival photos.  Do any of the other SPF's out there know any more about this than I do?  Was the Minitrix cab longer to hide their motor?

I could remove the Minitrix cab and replace it with the Bachmann cab....

Oh, yeah, the idea for this whole concept came from Max Magliaro in another thread, so he gets to share in the credit/blame for this project.

Any comments, positive or negative?  Max?

[Cajonpassfan]

Following link is to a photo of one of those 25 cars that made its way to the Vancouver, CA area, so it might be possible that one of them also got to California.
It would probably depend upon whether or not any of the vehicles assembled at that Ford plant in Virginia were ever shipped to California.
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/virginian-rly-co-automobile-boxcar-62019

Ooh, nice. Thank you! I guess one should never say never....
Still, with only 25 cars built, not at the top of my essential cars' list...
Otto K.

[JMaurer1]

great stuff this week!

I've been working on this factory-decorated Atlas N scale SP GP9 and added SP light packages to both ends as well as BLMA 15" drop grabs. I also finished installing a LokSound Select Micro decoder in it today with the EMD 16cyl 567BC (FT) sound file, which sounds great. The unit has functioning headlight and gyralight effects on both ends....

No disrespect, but I hate you...

[JMaurer1]

PMT terminal is coming along:




Thanks,
Wolf

Wolfe: Why the black roofs on the older trailers? I always thought that they were the same orange as the sides. Do you know something that I don't?

[tehachapifan]

No disrespect, but I hate you...

Thanks! I really appreciate that!

[mmagliaro]

Verne finally returned to the shop last week.  He mumbled something about not having anything in common with Miss Dee anymore, and before I could stop him, he grabbed an old Minitrix 0-6-0 boiler shell, a new Bachmann 0-6-0 mechanism, and the Dremel.  Three days later, he returned with this.

(Attachment Link)

(Attachment Link)

The biggest issue so far is that the cab is about 2 feet 4 inches longer that the prototype's, the PRR b6.  This discrepancy is visible in archival photos.  Do any of the other SPF's out there know any more about this than I do?  Was the Minitrix cab longer to hide their motor?

I could remove the Minitrix cab and replace it with the Bachmann cab....

Oh, yeah, the idea for this whole concept came from Max Magliaro in another thread, so he gets to share in the credit/blame for this project.

Any comments, positive or negative?  Max?

Ha ha!  I'm glad to see somebody trying this.  I always thought it would work.

You are right about the cab.  Although I didn't fix it on my B6s, I am fussier now than I used to be, so I would fix it if I were doing this today.
If you are contemplating sawing off the cab, you could try reusing the Trix cab.   You would have to file off all the rivets and file the front and back shorter, to keep the windows centered.  That would probably mean cutting the front wall out first, and putting it back in after you file the walls shorter on the front.  Archer rivet decals would make short work of replacing the filed-off decals.  Don't forget to shorten the cab roof overhang. 

The oversized cab is one of the two big proportional problems. The other one is the drivers. 

The PRR B6s had 56" drivers, not the 51" drivers that were common on 0-6-0 switchers, and it really shows when you look at this model compared to prototype photos. 
The Trix drivers are scale 53" across the tread, with big flanges, so they looked close.  These Bachmann drivers look smaller.
The B6s was a beefy looking machine and the driver size was a big part of that.   There is probably nothing you can do about the driver size.  But you CAN try lowering the boiler some more.  Getting it low down over the drivers will make them look bigger.

[strummer]

...a new Bachmann 0-6-0 mechanism,..

So that's one of the "new" mechanisms? What's with that clunky-looking valve gear? Before posting this, I went to "Spookshow's" site just to double check, and sure enough, that hasn't changed.

One would think that that aspect of the model would have been up-graded by Bachmann as well...we know they can do it; look at the gear on their 2-8-0...

Mark in Oregon

[mmagliaro]

So that's one of the "new" mechanisms? What's with that clunky-looking valve gear? Before posting this, I went to "Spookshow's" site just to double check, and sure enough, that hasn't changed.

One would think that that aspect of the model would have been up-graded by Bachmann as well...we know they can do it; look at the gear on their 2-8-0...

Mark in Oregon

I agree the 0-6-0 valve gear is strictly 1980s era, but fixing that may not be practical unless you can transplant pieces out of the 2-8-0, the Walthers 0-8-0, or something like that (or make your own tiny pieces).  I would focus first on the major proportional things.  The driver size, I think, is the biggest challenge.