Weekend Update 10/27/24

[jpwisc]

I’ve been running ops sessions on White Pine, making sure the JMRI switchlists are functioning. Three sessions in two weeks and everything is looking good.
The L044 (EB White Pine Turn) was running a single GP35 this week, and the caboose isn’t a shove platform, it held the radio gear for the remote control. The White Pine Sub was used for testing the early equipment.
Switching out Global Wood Sticks (yes it was a real business, that made popsicle sticks)
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Switching out the White Pine copper refinery
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
Pulling the outbound loads back into WC’s White Pine Yard after weighing all the cars.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[johnb]

Life. Don’t talk to me about life – Marvin The Paranoid Android



Well, I know that it has been a while since I last posted, my new layout room is still mostly painted and a lot has changed. One of the biggest changes is a new job. For the first time in MANY years, I am not working from home or only four days a week. I have also picked up a kitten, and will be bringing home a large amount of records and a classic car. Those are the highlights, and I am not going into the lowlights. Needless to say, life is interesting.

Last week, I ordered a pair of Kato Pocketline Steeplecabs. I have been thinking about these for a while, and I figured, why not?



There are a few things that I do not like, I want to swap out the pantographs with trolley poles, the paint is rather ugly, and I would like to convert the pair to DCC. I am also pondering the idea of wiring them together for 8 wheel pickup.



I repainted one loco black, like later Pacific Electric freight motors and the other red as they were delivered. I don’t have any decals that will work correctly.

More fun info, tonight I decided to run those little locos on my Unitram track, as much as I looked, I couldn’t find the power cords for my Kato Power packs….Interesting.

[peteski]

Last week, I ordered a pair of Kato Pocketline Steeplecabs. I have been thinking about these for a while, and I figured, why not?

If these are the new design (coreless motor and equalized suspension), they should be good runners (for a 4-wheel loco).

[MK]

They are the new design.

[Maletrain]

There are plenty of photos of B&O E-7s with small number boards.  They seem to be the ones purchased/delivered first in the series.  There are photos of #64,#68, #70, #72 #78 and #79 with the small boards, so I would assume the numbers between also had them,and maybe also some higher and lower numbers, too.

And they stayed  small through renumbering in 1957 and on into the 1960s with repainting into the sunburst and solid blue eras.  There are photos of #1423 and #1427 with small boards.

But, there is also a photo of #1426 with large boards.  So after renumbering in 1957, all bets are off about which numbers had small and large boards, because the E-7 series did not seem to be renumbered in the same order as the original series.

Really?

[randgust]

Those new Kato steeplecabs have the 11-108/9 chassis in them, and one side of them literally is equalized with a lever.  They have the best slow speed and electrical pickup of any stock four-wheel chassis I've ever seen.  Watching them step through a switch frog without stalling is pretty impressive.

So have fun.

The way the chassis are built, the motor leads are simply soldered to the end-axle pickup arms with a short wire.  If you're comfortable with unsoldering that to make new connections, any given DCC decoder should be relatively simple.