Weekend Update 12/20/20

[up1950s]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=NYeYbmCGBYg

[nickelplate759]

Been finishing some Golden State cars:

SP RPO Express 5068  (Wheels of Time kit, not quite accurate for this car)


SP 10-6 Golden Star (Railsmith)


SP 12 br  Golden Poppy (Kato, from 20th Century ltd).


SP 6-6-4 Golden Cloud  (Kato)

[jereising]

Not quite finished but close enough to JFRTM: The Kern County Preventorium or Villa La Paz depending on your mapping service...

[BCR 570]

After several years of intermittent work to survey the two logging exhibits for my Provincial Museum Train, draw them, get the parts 3D rendered and printed, I am finally ready to commence assembly.  The wait has been worth it as the advent of 3D printing has provided parts far superior to anything I could have attempted to scratchbuild given their tiny size. 

The two exhibits rode on display flatcars which I built over ten years ago:




The Dolbeer Spool Donkey Engine was the first steam machine to be used in logging in British Columbia and dates from 1894.  Originally re-assembled and displayed in 1952, it was restored and made operational by Macmillan Bloedel in 1975 for display on the Museum Train.  In 1979 it went to the Duncan Foresty Museum where it resides on display today:




I have scratchbuilt the supporting sled from wood dowel and scale lumber, and acquired 3D parts for the steel chassis with spool gear and for the boiler with valve gear.  A Period Miniatures fire barrel will complete the package:




The Climax Locomotive was built in 1911 as a 23-Ton Climax B engine with a wood cab.  After working its entire career around Cowichan Lake on Vancouver Island, it was salvaged from the woods in 1970 and displayed near Duncan.  It was purchased by the B.C. Provincial Museum and restored by British Columbia Forest Products for display on the train.  It also went to the forestry museum at Duncan where it resides today:




My parts include Fox Valley 28" wheels, 3D parts from various sources, and an etched detail fret from Showcase Miniatures:




An interesting modelling diversion to start the Christmas holidays . . . . .

Tim

[bnsfdash8]

My SD40-3 got a trip through the paint shop the other weekend.

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[davefoxx]

Construction continues on a highway bridge that I’m building, typical of bridges seen throughout the Carolinas in the last half of the 20^th century and into the 2000s.



The joke on my Seaboard Central 3.0 thread is to build a railing section each night (to paraphrase the TRW’s “build a tree every night”).  Should only take about two weeks to finish that task!  Since, I built two sections yesterday, I get the day off, so it’s time to JFRTM.  I’m reminiscing about the RF&P today, so I put together a typical consist that was seen a lot on the B&O, RF&P, and the SBD in the mid-1980s.  This must have been the power that was handed over to the RF&P in Potomac Yard but stayed on the train south of Richmond.



DFF

[BCR751]

Finally completed the the British Columbia Railway's Chetwynd, BC depot/freight shed combination as it was in 1987.  It sported new paint that year and was later demolished sometime in the early 1990's to make way for a more modern building.  Please excuse the crappy cell phone shots.

Doug

[Albert in N]

Doug, the photo and model structure are both good work worth seeing.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

[bbussey]

Worked on the latest attempt at a Pennsy G32B pilot model.

[cjm413]

Lowered MTL gon w/cover on right, stock MTL w/o cover on left

[amato1969]

@bbussey - YES !

[delamaize]

Looks good. Which method you using to lower them?

Lowered MTL gon w/cover on right, stock MTL w/o cover on left

[wm3798]

Further progress on a decidedly seasonal themed micro layout...

Lee

[nkalanaga]

delamaize:  I don't know how he did it, but I've lowered mine very simply.  It takes almost as long to read as it does to do.

Cut the ends off the underframe, at the first crossbearer inside the body bolster.  That's needed for wheel clearance.

Build a new body bolster.  It needs to be 0.090" high, so I usually use 0.060 and 0.030 styrene strip, 1/8 (0.125) inch wide.  Drill a 5/64 inch hole in the center.  If reusing the MT couplers, mark the position for the bolster hole before removing the underframe, then center the new bolster over that hole.  If using trucks with centered bolster holes, the hole should probably be moved.

Mount the coupler directly to the floor.  Either 1025 or 1015 will work. 

Cut the stirrup steps apart, removing the center section to clear the couplers.  Glue them to the floor, then add styrene blocks to the end sills, to "clamp" the steps in place.  They don't glue well by themselves.

You might be able to lower the car using ESM or BLMA trucks, but even then, I suspect that flange clearance will be an issue.

The same method works on the 50 ft flatcars.  I've been doing this since  the 70s, when I used 3/32 inch basswood for the bolsters.  I still have one flatcar with those old bolsters.

[cjm413]

Looks good. Which method you using to lower them?

I didn't think to take pictures while I was working in it, but here are the general steps:

1) cut frame to only leave center portion under the fishbelly, primarily to allow the trucks to swivel freely on new bolsters, but to leave some weight.  This one had an older underframe that was a single cast part rather than one of the newer ones with the plastic bracing, brake detail, etc that left more weight.

2) modify 1015 coupler box to remove narrow part of coupler lid so that it could be mounted directly to the bottom of the gondola floor

3) put 2004 couplers in modified 1015 coupler box, attached to bottom with floor - I used flathead 00-90 screws since the cover hides the holes, not sure how I'd do it with an open/empty car yet....

4) I borrowed the stirrups to replace broken stirrups on other MTL gons I haven't modified yet and replaced them with BLMA, otherwise cut the stock stirrup part into 2 individual stirrups that won't interfere with the coupler boxes.  It may also be possible to leave the stirrups alone and use a 2001 in a modified 1016 box....

5) make new bolsters out of styrene, drill and tap for 2-56 flathead screw - I used .080" x .125"

6) this series of cars had 100T trucks - I used a pair of Bowser trucks from my parts box