Well., last night I was given the go-ahead to acquire a small 0n30 layout for the club, bearing in mind that I'm the only one with any rolling stock or locomotives - all presently running on my window ledge on a shuttle track.

Also bearing in mind that I live in the SE of the UK, is there anybody out there who knows of a small layout for sale?? Don't mind if it needs some work, and can collect within 100 miles.

Did I mention that I'll pay?

Yes, I'm not after a gizzit, but somebody who really wants to move a little layout on to a good home.

TIA, but not holding my breath...

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Any Rivarossi mavens out there?  I've been offered a Big Boy - mint in box - out of a collection - it is at least fifteen years old, and I need to know when Rivarossi changed the design of their motors to the more modern style.

I'm not about to ask if I can dismantle this one to find out as the owner is, shall we say, delicately poised on the precipice of reality at the best of times.

TIA

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Just got my unlettered caboose in yellow from a pal over in Port Orford - and what a little beauty it is!!  I'll be lettering mine up for the 'Roaring Camp' line in NorCal.

Great job, Bachmann!

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Afternoon, Bach-Mann.

Grrrrrrrr.  I bought the Bachmann N&W 611 from a UK dealer only to find, on opening it up, that that the canteen is missing.  His advert never mentioned this omission, either.

Are they available as a separate item?

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Evenin', folks, just got my 2010 0n30 annual delivered and have to say that it is a complete inspiration to anybody even in the least bit interested in this scale.

There is some wondrous stuff in there!!!

Highly recommended!

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Dear Bach-Man - please advise me as the the actual date-in-store of the improved ten wheeler we all call the 'Annie'.

i bought mine in the Train Stop in Santa Barbara [I think] back at the end of 1998, but my recollection is a mite hazy...

Best

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Well, folks, I decided since we can't run to pre-empt the better weather and do some PM on my locos.  Lifting the connie out of the lower half of the packaging, i found a little black plastic ball - about 1/16th" diameter -  with a hole in it rolling around.  I have no idea if it is part of the model or not.

Any ideas?

TIA

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Anybody here from the UK like to give me a steer onto UK-based sites for 0n3/30?

I guess that terrytwofoot might be the man here, but I've not seen him post for a while.....

TIA

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Dear Mr Bachmann - bearing in mind that the new skidder and flat have been on sale and sold out in Japan, and are not even on sale yet in the USA, can you hazard a guess as to when we might see them on sale anywhere else?

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Dear Bach Man - there is a good deal of discussion taking place on another LS site about the possibility of the new and long-awaited LS Thomas models going on sale in UK - one poster remarks that they are already fully compliant with Australian electrical standards, for instance.

My current understanding is that they will not be sold as sets in Europe for reasons of non-compliance with EU electrical equipment regulations - the controllers do not comply.

There is absolutely no mention of any Thomas products in LS on either Bachmann UK or Bachmann EU sites.

I need a real Bachmann company response to this question, preferably from Mr Bucksco, not a  'best guestimation' from a well-meaning poster.

What is your take on this matter, please?

Graders

tac
www.ovgrs.org

problem is, it's here in UK. 

Anyone UK-side who is interested in this brand-new in box unlettered Climax, please get in touch with Steve Warrington at his store - Back2Bay6 - see his website for details.

I've found it - YOU do the rest.

tac
www.ovgrs.org

I wonder if Bachmann will ever make the trucks they use on their Fn3 rolling stock available to the scratch builder?

Or the couplers, for that matter.

I go ahold of a tank car that had had an unfortunate meeting with a powered tailgate, and only those parts were really useable, and IMO they are the equal of anybody else's versions.

The are now underneath, and on the ends of, a scratch-built flat/low-sided gon, and they sure do look pretty!

I'd buy twenty sets, if only I could!!

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Afternoom, All - got a call this morning from a friend whose wife had bought him a 1/20.3 Climax many moons ago, and he had forgotten about it [!], and since I had one, could he bring it around and get it checked out before attemtpting to run it [wise move].

Turned out to be the same road-name as mine - Pardee & Curtin - so without delay, I upended it and took off the truck bottom covers.

Hmmmmmm  The inside of both trucks was liberally spread with a near solid white substance, and I MEAN near-solid.

I take it that that was the white grease that had gone totally mastic over the years, and set about removing every trace of it, a task that took me over two hours...

Got my Hob-e-Lube set out, and did a full lube job, top to bottom, front to back, and put her on the tracks for a gentle run.

Well, that was three hours ago, and it's still running in front of ten home-built log cars with wood logs.

What a beauty this loco was and is, and what a great shame that it has been deleted from the Bachmann catalogue.

I would not part with mine for a small fortune.

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Just spent a pleasant half hour lubing my six-screw Shay - bought almost ten years ago from the Train Stop in San Diego.

To my amazement there is not the slightest trace of wear on the motor gears or the drive axle gears, or anywhere else for that matter.  Sure, I look after it, and take care to follow the lubrication instructions - after all, this htning has more working parts than the average large-scale model - three-truck shay excepted of course.

It usually runs around a track - either my teeny 75 footer in my backyard, or a demo track up at the high school on base, with a consist of eight or ten log cars, for at least a couple of hours a time.  It has so far accrued about 500 hours running time, I figure, as it is VERY popular among ex-pat Americans.

Just like the Climax and the Heisler, as a matter of fact.

Looking forward to running my three-truck Shay now.....even though it's dark and below zero here in my part of UK.  

Enjoy!

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Well, after a long wait, we got our two three-truck Shays this morning - Oregon Lumber, o'course.

Unpacked 'em, lubed them up like we did for the three other two-truck versions, stuck them on the track and ran them for a coupla hours in each direction - first of all nekid, and then with a short consist of my home-built log cars.....

Faultless and beautiful.

Well done, Bachmann - another wholesale winner.

tac
www.ovgrs.org

PS - as ever, we were wondering just where the fantastic layout seen in the DVD is located.

 

Hi there - having a lot of problems here in yUK trying to find an LNER Peppercorn loco - nobody seems to have a single one in stock.

Any of you from over THIS side got a good dealer who might help?

Graders

tac
www.ovgrs.org

Afternoon all - just thought I'd share my latest acquisition with you, even though I'm not that much of an H0 fan.

After making the acquaintance of the 'Lady of Portland' - the former SP&S E-1 Northern #700 - a few years ago, and longing to see it in model form, Sunset Models made my day about eighteen months ago by announcing a keenly-priced brass model of the West Coast Baldwin-built Northerns with various tender styles and names/schemes, in DCC/DC versions and with/without full QSI sound for around the $600 mark MRSP, an irresistable combination of their well-known high quality and keen pricing policy.

It finally turned up yesterday, and I am sitting here looking at it for about the millionth time.  It is just plain drop-dead gorgeous.

There are a few tiny descrepancies from the full-size version that I know so well - the tender logo is located slightly adrift of the correct position, and the yellow of the cabside numbers and lettering seems a tad dull, too.  The first is something I'll have to ignore, the second is an 'I'll live with it'.  On the plus side the model IS plentifully provided with all the plumbing and cooler coils that bedecks the full-size loco, and it looks very convincing to my tired old eyes, used, as I am, to seeing the real thing from a distance of less than two feet.  Banding on the firebox and boiler as well as the many cladding clips, are carried out extremely well, as are the numerous add-on details that sprinkle the impressive length of this huge locomotive.  Even the boiler cladding rivets are there to be seen and wondered at.  The massive side rods are coined from what appears to be stainless steel or nickel silver and have a convincing matte finish, and thankfully Sunset Models have refrained from using the hex-head securing screws that so often spoil the appearance of an H0 model from other model makers.  There is even a finely-crafted representation of the lube feed/oiler crank on each side adjacent to the valve chest.  The drive wheels are beautifully-modelled Box-pok/Scullin type, with the usual RP25 flanges - but in a toned-down grey/black finish, as are all the wheels.  Even the booster truck has the white-painted wheel rims that are such a noticeable feature of the full-size loco.   

Like many DCC/DC models, it needs a bit of urge to get it going, even with the excellent Canon five-pole motor.  The headlight comes on at around 6.5V on mine, followed closely by the feedwater pump and sundry hisses, water injection noise and turbine generator whine...by 8V there is a loud and convincing sound of steam admission with open drain cocks, and off she goes, sounding for all the world like the real thing....I'm sure you all know what I mean.  There is a drifting and load simulation built in to the sound system, as well as brakes/flanges squeal as you close the throttle.  Opening the throttle again and you get a simulated heavy beat to the exhaust note, just like the real thing. 

The overall finish is a flawless semi-matte black with graphite firebox and smokebox.  By way of contrast, the real thing has a finish on it reminiscent of a high-class limousine - the 'excursion' shiny black that looks so good and takes so long to get ready on 700's days out.   The valve gear is very finely modelled and moves with that misleading slowness that comes from having pretty large drivers.  The tender has two coupling holes, a close one for large radius curves, and one for those that most of us have, and  the chamfered corner fall-plate covers both eventualities.  It WILL negotiate 24" radius curves, but will look pretty ridiculous doing so, IMO.  The six-pin QSI Quantum sound system plug from the tender connected much more easily than I would have imagined, even for my old fingers, thanks to the generous amount of slack stowed inside the capacious tender.  All wheels were exactly in gauge, from the six-wheel tender trucks to the pilot, and a little bag with cab steps and a couple of other as yet-unidentified parts in was also to be found in the well-protected box.  The overall level of detail on this economically-priced model [made in Korea, by the way] is very impressive - a tiny handwheel on the tender plumbing is barely 3/64th of an inch across, yet is totally convincing in detail - and even the tender truck security chains are there.  A full set of in-line brakeshoes are there, and the cluttered spaces under the cab are convincingly filled with manifold pipeworks.  A beautifully-detailed backhead, with many separate parts, especially on the fireman's side, is clearly visible though the open vestibule of the cab, but the fine wooden interior of #700, with its varnished finish, is not modelled - instead, the usual Baldwin 'yuck' green is to be found.  There is no glazing in the cab-side windows, but the engineer's and fireman's stands are there.   A final touch is the Baldwin builder's plate, an etched brass miniature just about the size of this letter O, but perfectly legible....... 

Here in crowded UK I have limited facilities for testing this model, but as we are heading off to Oregon next week for the New Year, and have a couple of sets of IHC's 'Empire Builder' and SP&S heavyweights awaiting my collection, I'll post a better report as soon as ever I can, promise.
   
All in all I am mightily impressed with this model, and so, it seems, are quite a few other folks - the DCC + sound model version of this prodigious locomotive - the third largest operational steam locomotive in the world, BTW - has sold out already.

It needs saying that I have no connection with Sunset Models, except as a very satisfied customer, and have no qualms or reservations in commending their fine products to anybody.  As an aside, in an e-mail conversation with Sunset Models, I DID ask that they might consider an HO model of the CPR 'Royal Hudson' royal train and as running from North Vancouver to Squamish as future project, and with the seventieth anniversary of the real thing coming up in 2009...who knows?  They seemed interested!

To the boys at Sunset Models, thanks a million! 

tac
www.ovgrs.org

PS - Sadly I can't post images from this PC, but if anybody cares to e-mail me for images, i'll do my best to provide them.

Mornin' All - general question here to all you experts out there.

Apart from high-end brass, and I already have one, BTW, who makes an H0 version of the GN S2 Northern in glacier green colour scheme so a pal of mine can replicate the Empire Builder from the Age of Steam?

Thanks in advance...

tac
www.ovgrs.org