55n3 Reboot -Proof of Concept

[hminky]

Feeling in the mood to think about building a 55n3 layout, I re-examined PECO 0-16.5(On30). Love PECO track, sturdy, robust and available. Something for the ham-handed.



How close is PECO track to 55n3, the ties are 8 inches wide x 6 feet long on 26 inch centers?

The D&RGW had these specs:

"The ties have a cross section of (HxW) of 6"x8" (15.25cm x 20.32cm), regular ties have a length of 6' "

"It seems that 30' long sections of rail were most common, 16 ties were used for such a section, resulting in a distance of 22 1⁄2″ from mid of tie till mid of tie. For 33' long sections of rail a distance of 22" and for 39' long sections of rail a distance of 21 1⁄4″ had been defined."

The Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette Nov/Dec 89 had an article on track and the PECO track fell within many railroads parameters.



Even got some figures painted.

Harold

[hminky]

Wanted to retain my PcalRwy passenger car lettering that I had done earlier in On30.
 


The Bachmann passenger cars are 10'-3" high in the body, most narrow gauge cars are about 9'-3". Standard gauge cars match the 10'-3" height of the Bachmann cars.



Were there any 10'-3" narrow gauge cars?

Going south of the border the answer is yes. The Mexican narrow gauge lines had tall narrow gauge cars in both wood and steel.



The Bachmann cars work as issued.

The Bachmann passenger car's interior is actually Scale55. These Scale55 figures fit the seating. O scale figures are too big.



Things are what they measure not what they are labeled.

Harold

[hminky]

Haven't been here in a while. Found this in one of my wanderings looking for something else.

HO locomotives translate to small loggers and plantation locos in 55n3 better than any other scale. Always knew there was a loco that would match the HO Bachmann Alco 2-6-0. A good match for the Godchaux #4 2-6-0 sugar plantation loco.





"I see narrow gauge"
Harold

[Dave V]

Those little sugar plantation locomotives were really neat!

[hminky]

While out rubber gauging I remembered this conversion of the Bachmann HO 2-8-0.

This was a conversion that showed up in the early days of On30. The mogul body can be adapted to the HO Bachmann Consy or the Mogul cab and domes can be used on the HO boiler to make a 55n3 SP style consy. The drivers never scaled well for Scale48.







Harold