New brass Milwaukee Bipolar EP-2 clinic- part 2

[MK]

I am in awe!  TOTAL  !!!!

[Lemosteam]

Ron, you're not doing the numberboards???   

Just kidding- that bezel looks fantastic!

[u18b]

I've always wondered. What's the story with the three beams? Like, WHY did MILW do that?

I assume it is a fail-safe.

If a bulb burns out, you still have backups burning.

With one bulb-- out of luck.

[u18b]

Ron, you're not doing the numberboards???   

Just kidding- that bezel looks fantastic!

I'm making it official.  I refuse to light the number boards!!!!   

[peteski]

I'm making it official.  I refuse to light the number boards!!!!   

No need for number boards - the latest triple-beam lights with the mushroomed fiber optics are all I ever wanted. Awesome! 

[u18b]

Built the one for the A CAb.

One thing I did differently is use a black Sharpie on the outside rim hoping it would reflect stray light less.




This one turned out a little better than the B unit.
This photo fairly closely approximates exactly what your eye sees.




Glad that task is over.

[central.vermont]

WOW Ron!!!!!!!!!!!!   

You've officially moved to N Scale God status. 

Jon

[nkalanaga]

The Boxcabs used 4-bulb headlights.  The only reason I've ever heard, and it was speculation, was that they wanted to make sure the headlight worked.  Steam engines didn't need them during the day, because it's easy to see the smoke.  Diesels did need them, but even diesels can be heard if the light doesn't work.  A DC electric, especially not working hard, is almost silent.  The only noise is the traction motor blowers.  By using more than one bulb, the light would work even if one burned out.

For the light leak at the bottom:  Can the glass still be taken out?  If so, a little silver paint can fill the gap.  Most of the silver model paints I've used block light almost as good as black, and it would blend in with the Sharpie.

[u18b]

For the light leak at the bottom:  Can the glass still be taken out?  If so, a little silver paint can fill the gap.  Most of the silver model paints I've used block light almost as good as black, and it would blend in with the Sharpie.

Unfortunately, it is not that simple.
The bottom is where the hole for the tube that travels to the shell is located.
So any liquid would go right down that hole.

This might be one more thing I could do on the next one.  If that hole were filled with something like a little body putty, then your suggestion would work.
It would need to be done right after the LED is glued in place.

[central.vermont]

Just need to cut some rubber gaskets for the glass!!!!!
Just kidding.

Jon

[u18b]

OK boys and girls....
Let's play one of my favorite EP-2 games.

I call it.... Count the Cars.

And remember, most brass EP-2s can barely pull themselves.
Like this.....

[mmagliaro]

Ron, that headlight lens assembly looks fabulous!
I know this may sound funny, but I'm even more impressed by how it looks with the lights off.  Seeing the three distinct
mushroom lamps inside the lens housing looks amazing.  It's the sort of thing that will make people look at them and think that they are just "fakes".  "Those don't really light up, do they?"  Ha ha ha... OH YES THEY DO!

I'm glad you took the photo showing how this thing compares to the lines on your hand.   I think a lot of people lose sight of just how miniscule these parts are.    Be proud, man.  You nailed it.

[nkalanaga]

A very respectable train.  Your customer should be happy to have this one.

I once heard a story, and it may be "just a story", from Othello.  It seems that, towards the end of the Bi-Polar's Coast Division use, they were tried on freight trains.  They pulled very nicely, so the Othello yardmaster decided to clean out his yard, and see what one could really do, at the same time.  He rounded up every freight car going west, and told the switcher to keep adding them, track by track, to the train, as the road crew headed out.  He got two or three tracks, however many cars that would be, on the train, and it went into emergency.  An ancient wood-framed boxcar, near the front of the train, had reached its limit, and was literally pulled in two.  After that, the railroad enforced tonnage limits on these motors, not because they couldn't pull more, but to protect the cars.

For lighted number boards, it looks like one would have to build the number board on a surface-mount LED.  To power it, on DC, one could solder one side to the headlight for ground, and use a very small piece of magnet wire for the hot side.  On DCC, the ground could be a problem,

Even if one the right size is available, I suspect it would be too fragile for an operating model, and for a display-in-a-box model, it wouldn't make any difference.

I've long wondered what it would take to make a MILW multi-bulb headlight in N.  See the results, I don't think I will be trying it.  I don't have the skills, and my Kato motors aren't worth the hassle...

[u18b]

Hi Nick.  Great story.  Had not heard that one.

These did in fact pull freight on very rare occasions.
Early in their career- like in the 1920s I think-  the brass put together a publicity stunt, if you can call it that, where an EP-2 would haul a train of ice reefers shipping fish from the coast toward Chicago (showing how fast and reliable they were).

And as for another stunt, around1925- they lashed up an EP-2  with two steam locos (Mikados I think) on a steel bridge for a tug of war.

The EP-2 drug the TWO steamers!

Here is the famous photo.

[u18b]

Well, I can hardly believe it.
Today is mailing day.
So as a celebration, here are some parting shots.







I included some needed tools:  Kato railer, tweezers for plugging in the jumper plug, a phillips screwdriver and a small flat blade screwdriver for the headless screws in the trucks.




Someone asked about the disc.  It is a mini DVD-RW for a camcorder.  It turned out I needed TWO since all my info would not fit on one (at 1.4 gig each).  Contains MP4 videos of the 4 maintenance videos I posted here earlier, as well as a bunch ads.

Obviously, my custom cover looks better than the one by Sony.







Parts bag includes the jumper wire, extra screws and two analog plugs.










I also included some fun stuff.

A pocket timetable from the late black era just before the Hiawatha era.





This is a great booklet.




It documents interesting sights along the travel from Chicago to the coast. 




A color Hiawatha brochure.




And a 1961 menu.




And a vintage souvenir button.