Weekend Update 12/30/18

[up1950s]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Railways_rail_tractor

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VR_RT20.JPG

[hegstad1]

I started yet another project this week.  Actually I started thinking about it 10 years ago but was finally able to start thanks to Michael livingston and his idea to use a craft cutter to make car sides (among other things).  The sides were cut using .015 styrene and the doors were cut from .010.  I will use these with the AMB core kit to make a master and then cast them in resin.  This is really just a feasibility study using this process.  The prototype is a Northern Pacific 200 series baggage car purchased in 1956.  The NP had a lot of these and used them mainly on their mail train, the Mainstreeter. 

[Lemosteam]

Started a group of fifteen PRR P70 class coaches by upgrading very old but venerable Lima brand castings to pull behind my K4 and T1 locomotives. many folks believe that the T1 only pulled the Broadway Limited, but this is simply not the case, and yes there is photographic evidence of this.

The group below will look like the one test model I have made (still needs stripes):



Beltline grooves filled, vestibule underfloor cleaned to make way for the steps, bolsters filled and drilled, and lead weight added:



Keystone Details etched doors, vestibule endplates and integral step/snap in coupler pocket installed:





These will be painted this weekend before adding proper Keystone Details 2DP5 roller bearing or friction bearing trucks, arch, clerestory, and Refrigerated clerestory roofs with proper vents and my  populated interiors.

[mighalpern]

Hegstad:
I would really like to see what you come out with , since I model the NP
And as I wait for my bridge barrel platforms to arrive so that i can finish my double track Green River Viaduct module, I turned my attention to a matter that has gotten under my skin.  I bought 3 sets of BLI F7 A/B sets and 2 of them run ok,  little sputters now and then but ok.  The third was a basket case from day one and Tech support tried to help me out, but in the end I sent it in on Warranty  and after 30 + days i got it back.  So it ran good for the first 5 minutes and then started its sputtering, jerking like before.  Couldn't even go 2 inches without rebooting
So i e-mailed back and they asked me to try some things and neither worked, but after looking at the trucks, it seemed that the pickup plates had to much play and I wondered if that could be reduced and then maybe create a better pick up.  Well the answer is yes !!

I bought the smallest brass washers at the LHS and tried putting one washer on each side of the first wheel on the front truck

 
snapped that back onto the frame and had it crawling over areas that it previously could not run.
So removed the rear truck and installed on opposite axles for a different approach and snapped that on.


Let me say the difference is incredible.  Now i look at the 2 good runners and they anti s**t compared.
I would also like to give a positive shout out to BLI tech staff.  I never had issues and they replied pretty quick

the one thing I would like to try is find thinner washers.  These are walthers stuff and are .100" wide x .015" thick and hole dia. of .045"
Anyone know of maybe .005" or .010 " thicknesses
BTW
Happy New Year to all.
Miguel

[Lemosteam]

@mighalpern , innovative idea!  About a thousand phosphor bronze (better wear) washers of any thickness you desire could be designed and etched for about $80 USD from PPD.

[mighalpern]

Thanks  John:
never thought about etched,  will keep that in mind
Sorry who is PPD ??
Miguel

[narrowminded]

Or some could be machined from Nickel Silver.   If you really want to pursue this send me a PM.  And verify your dimensions because the O.D. and I.D. as well as thickness can be pretty much whatever you want them to be. 

Also, if I'm understanding the problem you're chasing, would there be any benefit to soldering some phosphor bronze wires to the inside of the truck pickup plate that would engage the axle needles with some light spring tension.  Based on your washer thickness of .015" and interest in some thinner ones, maybe a .010" wire installed in that manner would be just the ticket.

[mighalpern]

Mark:
you make an interesting proposition about machining these.
 What I'm chasing is-  Hell I don't know !!! just thinking that the power is being picked up by these plates and that mostly is happening thru the axles, so in reality very little contact area.  I am guessing and this is why i tried using the smallest washer I could quickly find. Then by placing the washer on the inside and making contact with the wheel and axle to a degree, and the pickup plate sandwiched together, there would be a whole bunch more power contact surface area. 
It looks like this has solved the hiccups this loco's was having.  I bought those N scale retarder axle springs as well but they looked too large and the axle shafts don't really stick out from the pickup plates.  The washers seam to fill the void in between the wheel and the pick up plate and also keeps the plate more rigid / in place so it has a more constant contact to the power strips on the frame . It looks like it pushes the pickup plates just slightly outward, so .010" might be just right  I will definitely look at this with the next loco I do this weekend ( see if the results repeat )
The wire idea sounds good too, but I'm worried about my soldering skill at that small detail 
Thanks guys
Miguel
 

[narrowminded]

From what I'm gleaning from your description, is it possible that the origin of the problem is the truck frame being too wide, not holding the contact plates against the axle ends?  If so, a shim in the axle/ contact plate pocket, outside the axle contact plate, between the plastic truck frame and that contact, might be the better solution.  Without seeing it it's hard to say but maybe the pocket in the frame could be built up or a shim, even from .010" styrene, could be cut to fit and dimpled to set in those frame pockets to keep them located, shimming the contact bar in towards the axle points.

Extra contact area always seems like a good idea (how could more not be better? ) but in reality, with these low currents, not much is needed.  Look at the wire gauge as a confirmation of that.  And with a big surface area contact can be worse due to that surface oxidizing and requiring pretty high pounds per square inch pressure to break through that oxide.  With a small contact area (when adequate) the square inches are few so not much force actually makes for a very high pound per square inch force, breaking through the oxide, affording steady contact.  That's why pointed axles into bronze pockets work so well (when they are fitted right).

[S Class]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Railways_rail_tractor

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VR_RT20.JPG

Chassis are off recovered rail wagons. I class 10 ton wagon under frames, if I'm not mistaken which is a design that dates back to the late 1800's.

More info here:
https://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c466m.htm
https://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c005m.htm

[thomasjmdavis]

I started yet another project this week.  Actually I started thinking about it 10 years ago but was finally able to start thanks to Michael livingston and his idea to use a craft cutter to make car sides (among other things).  The sides were cut using .015 styrene and the doors were cut from .010.

@hegstad1 - I have been thinking about getting a craft cutter for several similar projects (car sides and building parts) from styrene.  Which cutter do you use?  It is difficult reading specs as the manufacturers assume one is cutting cardstock or various "cardboard" type materials.

[hegstad1]

@hegstad1 - I have been thinking about getting a craft cutter for several similar projects (car sides and building parts) from styrene.  Which cutter do you use?  It is difficult reading specs as the manufacturers assume one is cutting cardstock or various "cardboard" type materials.

I used a very old Silhouette cutter by QuicKutz.  Michael got this thing used from a coworker years ago and it has been sitting in a box for a long time.  We had to dig out his old computer with an outdated operating system to run it.  After struggling with software and hardware issues we got it going.  I used the the deepest cutting setting and it scored the styrene perfectly but would not cut through.  It was easy enough to punch out the openings but I will be looking for a new blade that will complete the job or possibly just get a more modern cutter.  Like I said, this was a feasibility study and if I feel it is worth it to get a new system I will.

[brokemoto]

many folks believe that the T1 only pulled the Broadway Limited, but this is simply not the case, and yes there is photographic evidence of this.

make way for the steps,

Some T-1s worked their last miles pulling Pittsburgh commuter trains.  They did look somewhat funny in front of those P-fifty whatever or sixty whatever coaches that Penn used on those trains.  I do not know where you would find the photographs of that, but I have seen two.  I do not remember where i saw them, though.

Where did you get those steps and how do you secure them to the bottom of the coaches?  The coupler pocket appears made to accommodate a screw, so I am guessing that the screw would go all the way through the step part and secure the coupler to the car.



Here follows two photographs of my non-historic's newest additions, two drover cabooses.  My non-historic does not run livestock trains.  These are more for accommodating passengers on mixed trains.  These are Father Nature castings.  While Dr. Kreider provided many shells that were not obtainable elsewhere, some of his castings were crude and it was difficult to work with them.  The resin seemed to be extremely brittle.  I do not know if this is due to the age of the castings or simply the resin that he used.    I ruined one just from trying to sand or file out the flashing from the windows.  At times, the mere sanding or filing would cause large chunks to break off of the body.  What finally worked best were sanding sticks applied EVER SO LIGHTLY.  Even those did not always give the results that I would have liked.  I did have to re-construct some sections of the bodies with styrene, Loc-Tite® and Squadron Green. 

I am somewhat less than delighted with the way that he put on the roofwalks.  In the future, if I use the shells that I have left, I should take off the roofwalks and pull some out of my parts box to replace them.  This assumes that the shells will not be so brittle that attempting to remove the roofwalks will destroy the shell. 

Another option would be to take the actual plastic cars that he used for his mold and reconstruct the mold, just use that as the car.  I do have all of those available.  The short one appears to be an MDC Overton combine with a MT wood caboose roof.  The cupola is the eight window style.  The MT wood caboose did have more than one type of cupola--more on that in a minute.  It fits onto an MDC Overton chassis or wood caboose chassis. I used the Overton, cut off the railings and replaced with MT caboose railings/ladders. The smokejack is an MT.  I would have preferred arch bar trucks for this, but I could not find any without couplers in my MT box, so I went with the Andrews.  They are not MTs, but Andrews trucks would be acceptable for a car such as this.

The longer one was a bit of a mystery, until I finally found a chassis that fit it.  At first, I tried the B-mann nineteenth century coach/combine chassis, but it did not quite fit.  I saw an Arnold and the window pattern fit.  The chassis fit, as well.  This one appears to be made from an Arnold nineteenth century combine, the roof of a RoCo ATSF caboose and the cupola from the MT ten window wood caboose cupola (the one with the long, narrow window on either end that is between the two more or less square windows).  RoCo had a similar cupola on one of its wood cabooses, but I do not recall that it was detachable.  Dr. Kreider had the cupola as a separate casting for this.  It had tabs at the bottom of either end, which I ended up removing to get the best fit for the cupola.







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[bnsfdash8]

Very early progress on Norfolk Southern's theater car Buena Vista.  The sides are from Union Station Products.

[paggs]

I started built this construction crane from two different kit. A Langley Bucyrus 22RB and a GHQ Bucyrus 30B.  The boom is over 100 feet tall. Parts are interchangeable