Quote from: scottychaos on October 12, 2007, 07:18:50 AM



Both locomotives are Bachmann Heislers.


Scot

Scotty,

Heislers ? ? ?  I see two Climaxes. And yes I agree that those two locomotives are much different due to scale differences, but the Gilpiin ore cars in O scale don't even make a small car in HO scale as the real ones were so small.

Andre

I have about 100 of the Tichey HO scale wood ore cars; they are almost the same size as the larger Gilpin ore car from Grandt Line. I changed the brake wheels and extend the ends so they have a platform like the Gilpin cars and I think that they look just great behind the Porter or the shay.

Andre

Quote from: rrjTooele on September 28, 2007, 11:43:30 PM
Ahh, but with what lettering (Flying herald or its predecessor) and will it come with the snowplow?

Thank you all for your feedback. It's fun.

If it is the green boiler it should have the Royal Gorge toilet seat herald, the flying Grande came later, one or two schemes later if I remember correctly. The green boilers were pre 1936 with the Royal Gorge herald then they went to the black boiler with the Moffat Tunnel herald and then it was the black boiler with the flying Grande herald.

Andre

Matt,

So my questions first are:

1) What interval should I solder the PCB ties?
As is mentioned above with code 70 and code 83 rail there is no reason to use the PCB ties, I agree that this only adds an extra step and will cause track problems. When you use PCB ties you rigidly mount the rail to the substructure and there is no way for the rail to expand or contract with heat and cold, and yes I have had problems with kinks and such with soldered rail.

2) Anyone have a good source for the wooden ties? I saw rail, joiners, gauge, spikes at Micromark, but no wood ties.
Mt Albert (http://www.mtalbert.com/ ) has both full size and profile ties in both 6’ and 6.6” lengths for narrow gauge along with switch ties.

3) I am planning on putting the track on a foam base (The Lawndale Rwy did not have a heavily ballasted line). However, I am afraid that the force required for a spike to puncture the wood tie will more than likely force the tie deep into the foam.
I can not speak to this problem, but it does not take a lot of force to get the spike into the tie. You might want to use something like homesote or something similar to provide a good base for your track. I have used the homesote product from California Roadbed (http://www.homabed.com/ ) in the past, and this product will hold the spikes quite nicely. Just because the railroad that you want to model did not have a great track bed does not mean that you should not have one. If you use a road bed of some kind you can hide it with the scenery after the track has been laid.

4) Assuming I can spike into the tie without deforming the foam, should I use a drop of glue or other material to hold the track down. I'm not real sure how well the spikes will grip in the foam.
You really will need to either glue the ties to the foam or to the sub roadbed, for attaching either to the foam I would use the “foam” safe Liquid Nails. I have never relied on the spikes to hold the ties to the sub roadbed; I have always glued them to the roadbed and then spiked the rails to the ties. One of the reasons that the ties need to be glued down first is that you need to lightly sand the top surface of the ties to get an even tie height, even though the manufacturers try to get the ties all the same height it does not always work that way. Some ties may have a little more glue under them, there might be a slight hump in the roadbed and the tie might not be level side to side. One the final leveling of the tie is done then I restain the ties just before I install the rail. I don’t worry about the dark colored stain between the ties as the ballast hides it and when I say ballast I mean dirt, gravel, sand, weeds and any other thing that I think should be there.

Yes, I could eliminate a lot of this by going with the flex track, but I've done enough HO to be flex'd out and On30 looks big enough for me to actually see the spikes, and it looks like it might be fun. Or not.
Remember this is HO track; it is not any larger or smaller than regular HO track. The main reason to hand lay track is to get a better looking final product than you can get with any other means of laying track and the satisfaction that comes with having done it yourself. One other advantage is that you can custom fit the switches to your situation rather having to try and fit what you want into your space with somebody else’s idea of what a switch should be.

Remember if the track is not as perfect as you can get it YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS with derailments and other operational problems.

Andre Anderson

I personally would like a nice medium size two truck three cylinder shay, say something in the 30 to 40 ton size.

My two cents worth,

Andre

Jim,

To really get the most out of a Tsunami you should have a DCC system. There are several advantages to this in that your layout wiring will be simplified, you could control more than one locomotive at one time, and several people could run locomotives at the same time to name just a few advantages. There is several good starter level DCC systems out on the market place now, Bachmann, NCE, Digatrax, MRC are some of the systems available as starter sets. I would recommend that before you buy one of these that you do some research on each. I would recommend on an open ended system that you can add on to and one that follows the DCC standards as set by the NMRA. Another thing to consider is what are the modelers in your local area using. This way if you have a question you could ask one of the local modelers or your local hobby shop that is closest to you for help.

Now I prefer NCE but that is a personal choice as a lot of my friends are using Digatrax. I find that the NCE controller is easier to use than the Digatrax controller. NCE has a truly wire less radio controller that does not need to be plugged in to acquire a locomotive where the radio controller for Digatrax has to be plugged in to acquire a locomotive and then you unplug and run your locomotive.

I hope this has been of some help.

Andre 

According to Walthers there will be one in the green boiler # 455 (part #83097) and one painted but unlettered with the green boiler (part #83098) and then four in black, two with the D&RGW toilet seat herald #453 with a doghouse, #464 without a doghouse , one with the flying Grande herald #463, one with the Sunrise RGS herald #455, and one paint black but unlettered. I hope this is some help.

Andre

Jim,

The C&S had two different orders of reefers, the first were the Saint Charles cars which were truss rood reefers and were white with the oxide red ends and roofs, the second batch were the steel under framed ones that Micro Trains did in HOn3, these cars were either yellow sides with oxide red ends and roofs or all oxide red. The second batch are the cars that went to the RGS.

Andre

Bob,

I don't think that Bachmann will do a K-27 in On30 as PSC/MMI already has done one, and a very nice one at that. As to HOn3, I think Bachmann is doing the K-27 for Blackstone/Sound Trax. I have two of them and the box, the packaging and the part sheets all look like the way Bachmann is packaging their products. The CD that was included with the K-27 matched the CD that was included with the Forney.

Andre

Dustan,

My only comment to this whole topic is the next time you go to a swap meet or your local hobby shop and see if some one at either place has some cheap plastic cars to practice on. I usually pick up a couple of box cars and a few tank cars from the $1.00 tables just to practice on before I start the main project. These cars can be HO as for what I use them for it does not matter what scale they are. I then use one of these cars to be sure that the paint is the right consistency for spraying, that it is the color that I wanted, that the air pressure is right and that the air brush is working right. If any of these things are not right I can make adjustments before starting the main project. I also strip these cars and reuse them a half a dozen times before I chuck them in the trash. The reason for the tank car is so useful is that it matches a steam engine boiler in shape and then you can see how it looks before you commit to the expensive locomotive.

By the way keep pestering for something that you want the rest of us might like it also.

Andre 

PS
I have several HO steam locomotives in Southern green, just because I like the color. I also have several K-27’s in both HO and O scale in the D&RGW green boiler scheme for the same reason. 

There are other manufactures that make a reversing system, Circuitron
AR-1 Automatic Reversing Circuit is one of these. I have used this system several times before and have installed it both on Bachmann’s Easy Track and Atlas's track systems. You have to do some simple soldering and drilling a few holes but you don't have to buy special track for this system. It took me about 30 min. to set it up and getting it running.

Andre

My three Forney’s track quite well but they are a little sensitive to vertical changes in the track due to the length from the drivers to the rear coupler. Your track spacing center to center is too tight, should be about 2.5 to 3"" due to the over hang of the On30 equipment On30 rolling stock is about 1.5 to 1.75" wide, so from the center line to the outside of the rolling stock is between .75 to 1" wide only leaving you with a .5" from the other tracks center line. I hope this is of some help.

Andre

As part of my setting cars up for running on the layout I toss the Bachmann coupler that comes with the car and replace them with a Kadee coupler. I used to use the standard #5 and leave the coupler lid a little loose so as not to clamp the coupler tight now I use the #148's as well and I am going back over the rest of the fleet to install 148's in those cars as well but when you have over 200 cars to do it takes a while.

Andre

Mr. Bach-man,

To beat a dead horse, when will the after market frames be available? We have not heard anything in a while.

Andre

Harold,

From what I can see of the photos the fire box does not extend past the rear diver set so the back head of the boiler is to far back in the cab. I guess this is one of those that I will have to buy one and see what I can do to make it look better. I may still cut the cab down to make it look beter.

Andre

PS
Is there a scale that you have not modeled in, I noticed that you are now in S scale. Or do you just switch the trains on the track as your mood changes.
I do admire your modeling skills and keep up the good work. And as to which scale to model in I have modeled in everything from Nn3 to Fn3 and the only one that I don't work in is the Nn3.