HOn3 Rio Grande Southern First District 1938-1945

[Dave V]

Do you recall which color you used?

PolyBlend Haystack

[Dave V]

Finally got around to finishing the install on the Tsunami2 for my first-generation MDC outside frame 2-8-0. She's no Blackstone but it's nice to know these old late 70s-era kits can be brought well into the 21st century. I detailed her to be a close approximation to D&RGW class C-25 #375. New Sagami can motor, LED headlight, NWSL gears, and Soundtraxx Tsunami2 DCC/sound.



I plan to put together a YouTube video at some point but for now if you want to see and hear her running you can go to my HOn3 RGS public Facebook page where I've put the video here:

https://tinyurl.com/y9zs6ge5 ...if you're not accustomed to Facebook videos, check the sound icon in the lower right to make sure it's not muted.

The Ridgway shops have turned out another ex-C&S "Miller" boxcar with steel underframe.  This is a Grandt Line kit. They used to come with very accurate decals, but the two-pack that I got at the 2017 National Narrow Gauge Convention didn't. The dimensional data in the Microscale set is too wide but I don’t think it’ll keep me up at night.



A narrow gauge “foobie.” This is an MDC Old Timer tank car with an ancient “Narrow Gauge Car Shops” conversation kit for HOn3. It included a new frame and trucks. The instructions were more than vague on installing the brake rigging so I winged it and hoped for the best. The trucks that come with the kit are heavy cast steel—not typical of a narrow gauge Conoco tank car—but I replaced them with some Micro Trains arch bar trucks which are a closer to match to what the Conoco narrow gauge tank cars got. I changed the car number to “CONX 9” since it’s kind of freelanced and there are no photos available of a CONX 9. Sisters 8, 10, and 11 are well-documented so I chose to avoid sinning against the prototype.



Toward better coal loads... The one on the right was a first attempt from last year, made of extruded Styrpfoam and covered with crushed coal. It was too tall for the prototype (it would represent an overloaded car) and it was a tight fit. The new one on the left is made of balsa, again covered in crushed coal. It has a machine screw in it so it can be removed from the car with a magnet. I made quite a few of them including for the drop-bottom gons as well.

[johnb]

Your MDC conversions look great

[Summit]

Dave - the MDC loco looks and runs fantastic. I'm really happy to see one of these old kits in use.  Did you have any advice on building one of these up?
I think I have several hidden away.  I always look forward to your updates - keep them coning.

[Dave V]

Dave - the MDC loco looks and runs fantastic. I'm really happy to see one of these old kits in use.  Did you have any advice on building one of these up?
I think I have several hidden away.  I always look forward to your updates - keep them coning.

Just take your time is all...  Spend most of your time on the mechanism.  Make sure, for example, the drive rods don't strike the crosshead guides or crosshead yoke (a common problem) and don't be too rigorous with filing out the axle journals for the drivers.  A tiny bit at a time.  There's a sweet spot between too tight to turn and too much play, and the only way to that sweet spot is patience.  Also, of course, if you're going DCC, isolate the motor from the frame.  Mine rests on a styrene shim and is secured with JB Weld epoxy.

[Dave V]

Here's the May 2020 layout update:

[Rich_S]

Hi Dave, Great May Layout Update (two thumbs up)    In regards to your town scene approx. Time Stamp 7:15, you need to decide are you building a layout that captures the look and feel of the RGS, is fun to operate and  where people can say, hey that looks like ____________ (fill in the blank) or are you building a museum quality model that's accurate in every detail? Personally I like the town scene and I think it adds to the layout, not subtracts from it. OK I'm going to duck and hide now before the Rio Grande purest run me out of town 

I'm in the same boat as you, I originally purchased my Digitrax Empire builder system in 1999 and it came with a DT100 throttle, UP5 LocoNet Panel and the DB150 command station. I've since upgraded to the DT500 and UT4 throttles which work great with my DB150, but as you mentioned you cannot read back CV's using the DB150. Since my layout is just a 24" x 80" Hollow Core Door layout and I'm a lone wolf operator, I'm not sure if I'm ready to upgrade to a new command station just to be able to read back the CV's. I figure since I use my JMRI with the my Digitrax PR4 for programming my decoders, plus I like the nice database feature of the JMRI software, I'll probably just stick with my current system. But thank you for the added information on the Digitrax Zephyr Express, If I feel the need in the future to make the plunge, this may be the route I take as well.

 

[Dave V]

Hi Dave, Great May Layout Update (two thumbs up)    In regards to your town scene approx. Time Stamp 7:15, you need to decide are you building a layout that captures the look and feel of the RGS, is fun to operate and  where people can say, hey that looks like ____________ (fill in the blank) or are you building a museum quality model that's accurate in every detail? Personally I like the town scene and I think it adds to the layout, not subtracts from it. OK I'm going to duck and hide now before the Rio Grande purest run me out of town 

I'm in the same boat as you, I originally purchased my Digitrax Empire builder system in 1999 and it came with a DT100 throttle, UP5 LocoNet Panel and the DB150 command station. I've since upgraded to the DT500 and UT4 throttles which work great with my DB150, but as you mentioned you cannot read back CV's using the DB150. Since my layout is just a 24" x 80" Hollow Core Door layout and I'm a lone wolf operator, I'm not sure if I'm ready to upgrade to a new command station just to be able to read back the CV's. I figure since I use my JMRI with the my Digitrax PR4 for programming my decoders, plus I like the nice database feature of the JMRI software, I'll probably just stick with my current system. But thank you for the added information on the Digitrax Zephyr Express, If I feel the need in the future to make the plunge, this may be the route I take as well.

 

Thanks!  The good news is that the Zephyr Express is pretty inexpensive and will work with all of your existing Digitrax equipment.  I have a substantial number of Loconet throttle jacks around the layout and also haven't wanted to replace throttles themselves.  The Zephyr Express only displaced my DB150 and the 5 amp power supply (it comes with a 3 amp power supply which--so far--seems to be sufficient for the RGS.

Nothing wrong with the PR4/JMRI interface, especially if it's easily accessible to your computer.  I would have continued down that road had I not gotten the ZE.

[Hawghead]

Dave,

I think your "town of Rico" is just great.  You did a great job on the scene and it just looks like it belongs there.  The fact that it's not in it's prototypical location is at most a minor point not really worthy of consideration.  Every model railroad has to have some "modeler's license".  As far as rule number one goes, I think you've avoided it more on your layout then the vast majority of RGS layouts out there.  I'm really looking forward to you getting #20 on the road, those ten wheelers are my favorite RGS engines. (Well except #74).

Looking forward to further updates,
Scott

[Dave V]

Dave,

I think your "town of Rico" is just great.  You did a great job on the scene and it just looks like it belongs there.  The fact that it's not in it's prototypical location is at most a minor point not really worthy of consideration.  Every model railroad has to have some "modeler's license".  As far as rule number one goes, I think you've avoided it more on your layout then the vast majority of RGS layouts out there.  I'm really looking forward to you getting #20 on the road, those ten wheelers are my favorite RGS engines. (Well except #74).

Looking forward to further updates,
Scott

20 needs to be requartered I think...and that's about as fun as jumping off the roof onto a bicycle with no seat.

[Hawghead]

20 needs to be requartered I think...and that's about as fun as jumping off the roof onto a bicycle with no seat.

Yeah...
If it was me, I'd farm that out to a reputable person that does steam engine repairs to get it running well then add DCC and sound myself.

Scott

[Dave V]

Yeah...
If it was me, I'd farm that out to a reputable person that does steam engine repairs to get it running well then add DCC and sound myself.

Scott

My PFM RGS 25 is with Craig at Narrow Gauge Colorado.  Assuming he does his usual outstanding work on 25, I may send him 20 next.

[Dave V]

In 1938 the RGS acquired a fleet of boxcars from the Colorado & Southern through a settlement between the C&S and the RGS' receiver Victor Miller.  While I have several Grandt Line car kits I've built to represent the steel-underframe, metal-roofed, Bettendorf-truck equipped "Type 3" ex-C&S cars, I wanted more variety.  The RGS also got "Type 1" (wood underframe, arch bar trucks, wood plank roof) and "Type 2" (wood underframe, cast Bettendorf trucks, and a 13-seam or 9-rib Murphy roof) boxcars.  In practice, there were three different roof types scattered across all the car classes, although for the most part the planked roofs stayed with the Type 1s and the Type 2s and 3s had a some variety of 9-rib or 13-seam Murphy metal roofs.

To that end I dug up an old Rail Line kit for the familiar, ubiquitous, and unmistakable D&RGW 3000-series boxcar that I’d bought from the local hobby shop. It had been assembled by someone else pretty much in accordance with the instructions, but had been painted for C&S in a block letter scheme. It also had some damage which is why it was waiting in my parts box for many months. Well, I replaced the doors, door hardware, roofwalk corner steps, and trucks as well as made some general repairs. It represents one of the “Type 2” C&S Miller boxcars which had cast Bettendorf trucks and wood underframes. Apparently some of the Type 2 and Type 3 cars were rebuilt with the familiar D&RGW-style 9-rib Murphy roofs. A few so-equipped cars may well have made it to the RGS. I chose 8603 because it was a Type 2 and I couldn’t find a photo of it, so I couldn’t say for sure that it didn’t have the 9-rib Murphy roof. It still needs weathering.



The kit's D&RGW-style heritage is still visible, but hopefully it looks a little more C&S/RGS.  It's a good filler car.  If I go down this rabbit hole again, it'll be a Type 1 and I'll shave the ribs off the Rail Line roof and replace it with planking.  I'd also like to find a way to remove the door guide to the right of the door if I can do so without destroying the siding...if I can do that, it'll look much more C&S/RGS style.

[Dave V]

I've been working through a backlog of car kits.  This is a Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly boxcar painted as-built.  As you'll see, the lettering stencils say that the car should not stray any farther than Durango and by extension would have no reason to be interchanged with the RGS, but...Rule #1.  Anyway, this is a good old-fashioned LaBelle kit, but because of some minor inconsistencies with the thickness of the scribed siding and some rough scribing, I decided to replace the the wood sides, ends, doors, and roof with styrene.



Here's the plan from Robert Sloan's The Rainbow Route along with an in-progress floor shot.  I did my best to replicate the split airbrake system pipe for pipe.  Dimensionally, the car is correct...and while the decals are off (they specify a length of 30 feet), these cars were behemoths by Colorado narrow gauge standards at a full 32 feet in length, so my model is 32 HO scale feet long.



Here's the underside completed:



Also from Sloan's book is this shot of one of the cars in the waning years of the Silverton Northern RR (to whom the 10 SG&N boxes were transferred when the former took over the latter).  Note that by the 30s, the upper door track awnings had been removed.  The lettering had all but disappeared as well, including both the original S.G. & N. lettering and the subsequent S. N. R. R. lettering .



Here's a link to the only photo I've found of one of these cars in service in their original paint (the LaBelle instructions include a builder's photo).  The caption is wrong...the car number is 1004 and the loco is a 2-8-0:  https://ngtrainpics.photoshelter.com/image/I0000.GMEMSBNZOc

I also "busted out" a traditional Labelle kit, wood scribed sides and all.  It's an F&CC boxcar painted and detailed not so much as-built, but as modified in later years like the one at the Colorado Railroad Museum.  I included the upper door track awning though (it just makes the build that much easier, LOL).  Note the presence of car end truss rods.



Here's a link to a Pinterest photo of a surviving sister car at the Colorado Railroad Museum:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/752241943979499983/

[wm3798]

Your craftsmanship really shines with this project.  I can see why HOn3 appeals to you.

I'll just be over here trying to figure out the noise my 50 year old N scale engine is making... or is that my 56 year old spine?