N Scale Hi Rail - Retro Hollow Core Door Layout

[Doug G.]

If you used the original universal, they can be really noisy if not aligned perfectly. Some of my stock Atlas/Rivarossi Pacifics and Mikados were that way and I replaced the plastic universals with a length of tubing and they quieted right down.

It has to do with the angled surfaces in the universal. They slip on each other and make noise if they aren't matched up exactly right which obviously happened on even some of the originals.

Doug

[wm3798]

That's interesting, and I'll keep that in mind for the next one I repower.  I'm reasonably happy with the functionality of this one, although it is noisy...  But I'm loathe to take it apart one more time!
I wonder if I inject a bit of silicone caulk between the two universals if that would provide the necessary "muffler"???

Lee

[davefoxx]

That's interesting, and I'll keep that in mind for the next one I repower.  I'm reasonably happy with the functionality of this one, although it is noisy...  But I'm loathe to take it apart one more time!
I wonder if I inject a bit of silicone caulk between the two universals if that would provide the necessary "muffler"???

Lee

Don’t do that.  You’ll regret it.

[wm3798]

@davefoxx check your email... my life is full of regrets...

[CRL]

Don’t do that.  You’ll regret it.

You have to admit it would muffle the sound... permanently.

[peteski]

Isn't the tubing recommended as a quiet replacement made of . . .  silicone? 

[davefoxx]

@davefoxx check your email... my life is full of regrets...

Roger that, @wm3798.  Email received.  I'll try to get back to you in the next day or so.

DFF 

[Doug G.]

Isn't the tubing recommended as a quiet replacement made of . . .  silicone? 

You may be being jocular but yes, yes it is.



Doug

[Point353]

But just to be sure, I've just purchased another Atlas/Rivarossi Pacific, the same model I reworked into the WM K-2, to pull the Rivarossi B&O varnish I've been accumulating... total foob, but I've loved that set since I was a kid. By the time I could afford it, though, I "knew too much" to buy it.
 


I will have to paint the engine that wonderful blue/gray myself, though.  I've been eyeballing a couple on the popular auction site, but they keep floating up above my financial reach...

You need one of these locos:

[Doug G.]

Yeah, the Rapido Pacifics are great. I have the B&O, Southern, and UP versions.

Even though I have been in N scale from the beginning, I never bought much of anything Rapido, mainly because my local hobby shop, back in the sixties had Atlas. However, I have recently found a real interest in Rapido and have been going overboard buying locos.

Doug

[wm3798]

Is that an offer?

[wm3798]

An update.  After removing the boiler shell for the umpteenth time to chase an electrical ghost, I finally figured out that the front driver was out of synch by two gear teeth.  Upon remedying this, the engine smoothed out considerably, and now purrs at least as well as my old K 2 rebuild did.  It also ironed out an odd binding that was occurring sporadically..

In other news, another boyhood dream has been realized with the acquisition of another set of shiny varnish.  More news as it happens...

[wm3798]

So here's what's on its way to my mailbox.
A Trix F unit, Penn Central #510 (all of the paint schemes were #510 because that's etched into the number board panels)  I've had this model over and over, some were repainted, some were sold, some were scrapped.  But it's a sturdy, if noisy mechanism, and usually quickly revived with a little cleaning.  It's cool to think about the fact that when this model was originally released, Penn Central was "contemporary" modeling.

A set of Atlas/Rowa fluted passenger cars in Penn Central to trail behind the F (I'll have a baggage/rpo combine, two coaches and a round tail observation.  After Atlas imported these cars I think Con Cor did, and I always liked them.  I think I read somewhere that the tooling from them was lost in a fire or in the shuffle of a bankruptcy or something, so they became sort of mythical beasts for a long time.  Apparently the wave of hoarders has started dying off because they're now all over ebay at reasonable prices.

A Trix K-4 in PRR... When I was a kid I had the 2-10-0 that shared the shell like a bad fitting suit... I always wanted the 4-6-2 instead, now I've got one!  This will pull the PRR consist my cousin gave me that started this whole mess...Atlas/Rivarossi heavyweights mostly but a couple of the smooth side cars with the lighted interiors)

A Bowser N5 in shadow keystone to properly punctuate my PRR local freight pulled by a Bachmann 0-6-0.  Okay, so not retro, but I never could abide a Santa Fe caboose with keystones on it...    Plus outside of a small fleet of vintage freight cars, (which technically still need a vintage locomotive) I've been enjoying running sections of my MT equipped freight cars.  I also run my B&O local behind my upgraded Bachmann 0-4-0 with a Fox Valley Wagon Top caboose.

Incidentally, I'll be selling the Focal Orange N5 I bought a couple of weeks ago, not realizing it represented the wrong era.  Check the trading post if you're interested...

The final piece of the puzzle for my Royal Blue, a Rivarossi heavyweight combine.  That brings this consist to full baggage/combine/diner/3 Pullmans/Observation.  I add an REA box at the head end.  I hope I've added enough weight to the 4-6-2 to handle this... and I hope she doesn't mind when I add two more feet to the layout to gain some running room

I'm in Richmond for a few days doting on my youngest daughter who had foot surgery this week, but when I get home, I'll get everything photographed.  It will be a busy day at the mailbox!

[DKS]

So here's what's on its way to my mailbox.
A Trix F unit, Penn Central #510 (all of the paint schemes were #510 because that's etched into the number board panels)  I've had this model over and over, some were repainted, some were sold, some were scrapped.  But it's a sturdy, if noisy mechanism, and usually quickly revived with a little cleaning.

Hope you didn't pay much for it. I would have given you one of the two dozen or so of these units I have on hand...

A Trix K-4 in PRR... When I was a kid I had the 2-10-0 that shared the shell like a bad fitting suit... I always wanted the 4-6-2 instead, now I've got one!

Likewise, I probably have a dozen of these...

Need any more Trix from this era? PM me.

 

[wm3798]

$15 with free shipping...
It's funny.  Most of the stuff I'm buying is going for about what the original price tags from 45 years ago say. 
You don't have any PRR or B&O units do you? Oh, and maybe a B?
Lee