Quote from: kendoitall on May 07, 2007, 07:35:08 PM

Quote from: O-Beginner on May 01, 2007, 11:02:50 PM
so i'm new at this and i was wondering what is the difference between On3 and On30

six inches

Nah get it right it is only an 1/8 of an inch
Andre

I also wish to chime in on the quality of the Blackstone HOn3 K-27. I just picked up the green boilered 455 and the paint job is stunning.    And I suspect this is the right place to say job well done because I think that the little gem was made by Bachmann for Soundtraxx (you build us a locomotive and we will put a sound system in your locomotive). The packaging, the parts diagram, and the style of box are all very similar to my On30 stuff. I am beginning to sound like a broken record but I have paid a lot more for a HOn3 loco and not received any where near the value that I received with this loco. The first K-27 I bought way back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth cost $360.00 (which is what I paid for this locomotive today), and for this princely sum it was not painted, had a motor in the cab for detailing and did not run worth a darn. If you wanted one with “cab detail” and paint you would have spent closer to $750.00 I then spent $50.00 to get it painted and another $75.00 in a new motor and gear box to get it to run decently but this was considered normal for brass locomotives at the time. How lucky we are to be in this period of new products for model railroading

Andre 

Quote from: cochoochoo on April 13, 2007, 12:52:37 PM
I am designing an On30 layout and I would like to know if a 4% grade is too much for the 2-8-0.

No probably not, the RGS had some 4% grades but as Scott said the C-16s were limited to 5 cars. What you might do is put 2 sections of flex track on a board and raise one end to see what your 2-8-0 will do and then make your own decision. If your board is 6’ long you would raise on end approximately 3”, a good rule of thumb is 1/8” per foot of rise is 1%. You will be a little off but not enough to matter.

Have Fun

Andre

Listen guys, how about some true Western stuff for a change!  Other than the original 2-6-0 the rest has been pretty much Eastern prototypes. The shay and the climax come from Ohio â€" Michigan and Pennsylvania respectively. The freight stock was based on a Pennsylvania prototype, the 2 bay hopper was an East Broad Top car. The Forney is about as down east as it gets and the 2-8-0 comes from south of the border by way of Edaville. I too would like a 4-6-0 but with something SPish about it with the whale back tender or God forbid it a MASON BOGIE. 

Andre Anderson

Ole,

With the full size cars the only time the doors would be left open is with the loading unloading phase of the freight shipment. Do to the fact that they swung open rather than slid open like a box car the doors would usually strike something or someone and be either ripped off the car or severely injure or kill some one or both. One of the things that a brakeman would do when he walked the train just before the start of a run was to check the doors of the reefers in the train to insure that they securely closed and locked both to insure that the food inside was secure and if the car was empty so that no one got injured or nothing was damaged. If the door was not able to be secured then the car did not go. If he found a car with a load open then he had to notify the authorities and the railroad that a theft might have taken place. The ice hatches on the other hand could be left open in shipping to provide ventilation through the car or to force cooling of the load. In most cars there was no way to get from the ice tanks into the load carrying part of the car, the ice was either in big galvanized steel cages or behind bulkheads or both in a car to keep the ice from coming in direct contact with the load. The only time that you could use a car with the doors open is in a static situation where you are modeling the actual loading or unloading of freight and that car was carrying. An interesting scene could be done in a small town where the car has been set out on a siding and they are unloading the car.

Andre Anderson 

When they say that the motor needs to be isolated, what they mean is that the motor can not have either one of the poles grounded directly to the frame of the locomotive. If there are two wires going to the contacts on the motor it is a real good bet that the motor is isolated. If you have a multimeter you can check that there is no connection between the contacts of the motor and the frame. As to which ways is forward, on that unit I don’t think it will make a whole lot of difference, it makes a difference on something like a steam locomotive where there is a definite front and back to the locomotive.

Andre

Bach Man,

Thank you for the great conversation that we shared at the train show this weekend here in Portland. I really enjoyed putting a face to the name. I hope you had some time to get out and enjoy the Pacific Northwest as the weather could not have been any better. How you keep you you’re your sanity at these things is beyond me with the constant crowd and shoving.

Thanks again,
Andre Anderson

Mr Bach Man

Thanks for putting an iccon for the photo gallery but when I click on it this is what I get

"Not Found
The requested URL /home-usa/board/gallery/ was not found on this server.
Apache/2.0.52 (CentOS) Server at www.bachmanntrains.com Port 80".

Just thought you might like to know, other wise thanks for the new format on this board I am very happy with the new board.

Andre Anderson

Stan,

Thanks for the advice, I will try it.

Andre Anderson

Ole,

I don't think that I would add weight to the caboose, I have several and have kit bashed several more and have only replaced the weight that came with the caboose if I took it out for some reason (like poor planning). If you have not taken the weight out that is between the floor (the part with the seats and stove) and the under floor (the part with the steps) you should be just fine.

Andre Anderson

Gary,
No, I have three of the unlettered ones with sound and they came with different head lights and a different pilot truck that you could change out but only one kind of fuel. I think this is understandable as the Forney’s that these were modeled after never used any thing but coal. The very early Forney’s did use wood but were converted to coal probably by the 1880's. Now this would not stop you from building a new tender deck and using either wood or oil on yours after all it is your world.

Andre Anderson

Scotty,

This post might explain why I did not receive a reply to the e-mail that I sent to you privately. I have three, two outside framed and one inside framed, all three run great and sound even better!  The e-mail that I sent was asking if you had figured out yet if you could narrow them down to true two foot gauge.   After looking at mine I am not sure if this is possible as there is very little room between the wheels and the structural frame. Looking forward to answer.
 
Andre Anderson

Has anyone else noticed that the CD for the new Forney has a few quirks?
First once you launch it there is not way to shut it off….at least on my system.
And second that you can’t print the manual out, so if your computer is in one place and you programming track is in another spot you have to run back and forth. I do appreciate that the used Adobe Acrobat for the file structure but why did they cut out the option to be able to print it out. Other than these little problems I love my Forney’s (three of them all with sound).  

Amdaylight