Quote from: Len on February 09, 2016, 08:23:23 AM
Graphite on the inside corner of 'G' rails, where ...

If that is in reference to the Gn15 - Gn15 rails Are HO rails.

The cars look cool  I like their proportions.
Were the walkways on the loco that wide or were they widened?

Quote from: ceo1939 on February 03, 2016, 08:50:55 AM
Is bachmann dropping On30 from their product line?

It would be interesting to know the foundation behind the question.

Gn15 modelers have been doing this for years, even a whole decade, especially the folks who go to exhibitions in UK and France.
It works, and is not as powerful a "lubricant" as most suspect.

Graphite also helps reduce flange friction on sharp curves.

If you wish. look up this forum and search graphite, The GnATTERbox
Gn15.info's discussion board.
Graphite conversation goes back to at least 2005.

It is interesting to watch people at our train club wonder why trains ran better before they cleaned the rails, and wonder what they did wrong to cause that.
Oh well; several years ago I told several times about the graphite thing, and was dismissed.
Now I occasionally treat the track when no one else is there; then sit back and watch yet another episode of people wondering why trains ran better before they cleaned the rails and what did they did wrong to cause that.

Quote from: Flare on January 11, 2016, 03:36:50 PM
I ordered some Bachmann 18' freight cars over the weekend, perhaps I'll have better luck with those.

Any news yet?

Quote from: RkyGriz on February 08, 2016, 03:01:47 PMI do have a Dremel tool with a cutting blade, but I was afraid that it might damage the car itself if I went too far while cutting the windows!

There is a wooden boat builder's adage to the effect that the great advantage of power tools is they save lots of time, you can screw up so much bigger so much faster than with old hand tools.

Hmm, looking at the cars I'm working on repainting, oh so slooooowly, enough of the original retaining pins along their top remain that I haven't glued them. The pins and then the lower part being held in place by the seats is enough.

But if the situation was such that they had to be glued, what would I do?
First, get paint out of the way between windows and car side plastic.
Second, try to find an adhesive with some little amount of flexibility because of how large the car is, and that it might flex minutely in use. Epoxy is not flexible.

Wonder what a thin smear of some kind of silicone adhesive would do?

Hey, a railroad which works for a living, cool, that's what they were born to do! 
Note: Because cars on curves overhang the track - to the outside at their ends - to the inside in their middle - parallel curves require more clearance between tracks than do straights. And the sharper the curve, the greater the required clearance. And that clearance increase needs to start a bit before the actual curve.

Something else which affects model RR track spacing, though mainly in the smaller scales, is if trains stall or derail on parallel tracks, can you get your fingers or hand in between the trains to grab cars or engines to re-rail or remove them?

Though directed at the indoor scale modelers, Kalmbach's book Track Planning for Realistic Operation covers a lot of track geometry issues. Things such as the track center spacing issues mentioned above, S-curves - both on the mainline and at turnouts, grades and grade transitions, and more.
I'd call it well worth spending the twenty-two bucks on.

Sunday afternoon at our model RR club I had the impulse to pull out a binder of 1940s and 1950s Model Railroader magazines. There is something way, way, cool every 5th to 10th page.

November 1949 issue editorial on page 17, by John Page, "Sound - A New Challenge"
Used my camera to take a 'spy shot' of the page, and the last paragraph, to save it for my reference.

Quote"Good railroad sound effects would be a fascinating auxiliary to any pike. If they are possible at moderate cost, the time may come when a "silent" pike will be as outdated and "flat" as the silent movie today. But if sound is worth having at all, it's worth doing right, and that's going to take suitable recordings and more "know-how" on the subject than we have at present.
Who has more ideas to keep the ball rolling?"

Interesting, development of the feature was being plotted over six decades back.

Also on page was commentary on standardizing couplers at that time and why it was not yet time in the history of coupler development to do so. Author was of a mind that universal acceptance by modelers of a future coupler was what should be the agency which set that eventual standard.

Hey, that eye bolt/screw thing is an idea: am part way along fitting Bachmann couplers to a HLW Mack and that couple centering is an issue.
On a future one I want to try a traction style radial coupler, with coupler fixed to a pivoting shaft like I once did with Kadee's on HO in decades past, which will still need something done with the Bachmann coupler's centering spring shaft.

Wonder if an eye pin could be formed out of music wire and glued in to a hole in shaft in lieu of bolt or screw? Even a simple U might work, a la wire staple.

Hey Y'all;
Been making some modifications to Big Hauler train set track - something to which a slight misquote of Hamlet may be applicable, "Though this be method, there is yet madness to it."

Making some feeder connections from wiring and plugs stripped from Christmas light reels purchased for stripping the LED from. They do make an observable difference on the large loop.

And ...

Trying my luck at creating track sections with insulating gaps. Am doing 2 straights and 2 curves.
Reinforced stringers under rails toward one end of piece. Sawed through both rails. Inserted sheet plastic to fill gap. Am adding imitation fishplates to outside of rail to help stabilize it.

Second step is to add headblocks from ties either side of block by gutting out one end of tie each side of gap, adding 6 inch piece of 1/4 by 1/4 basswood, then coming up with some way to mount an appropriately sized double pole, single throw, toggle switch where on a turnout the switchstand would be.

For now, the feeder wires provide power, plug it in for power, unplug to cut power. Kind of a what I'd call a trailer park redneck tech level method, but hey, it works for now  

My track is currently at our model train club set up on floor under HO modular layout's yards. Track is classic oval with cutoff at one end. What I want to do is be able to park a train on either inner our outer track, shut off that track; then turn on other track, and run other train, rinse and repeat as desired.

Theoretically, this will get you to a 10 picture - edit, now 15, I think -  album of the project, and my hairy little "helper", who knew model trains were a spectator sport,  on Flickr https://flic.kr/s/aHsktynbLL

Info worth having, thanks. Have a Reading 2-8-0 which could use the conversion. Is currently operating as a rather heavy and draggy dummy unit with pancake motor removed.

Streetlight package cardboard might have had bulb amp rating in the fine print.
If none of those are left, try contacting MRC - I just looked at their website and current rating doesn't seem to be shown in MP product descriptions.

Power pack ought to somehow, somewhere, have the output ratings, some power packs even have the writing molded in to the plastic instead of printed on.

There is this,

QuoteIn 1885 six locomotives with a 2-6-2 wheel arrangement were built by Baldwin for New Zealand Railways. In October 1898 Baldwin built a 2-6-2 for the McCloud River Railroad. In 1900 Brooks built several of this type Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. They were planned to be used on the mid-western prairies. However, they did not find favor with the Class I railroads. Only 1500 Prairies were built with many of them destined for short lines.
Railroads that used 2-6-2 "Prairie" locomotives in the USA (data provided by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media)

http://steamlocomotive.com/prairie/

That gif is distracting.

Looking in a reprint of an H.K. Porter catalog published by Periscope Films in 2010, on page 96 at the Plantation Logging and Industrial Saddle-Tank Locomotive Four Driving Wheels Back-Truck with Canopy, Class 2-B-S-K,  the two specifically, one with driver wheelbase of 4ft 6in which could be ordered with telegram word PARVAS; and, the one with 5ft 3in driver wheelbase which could be ordered with telegram word PASACH at their hauling capacity ratings.

The 4ft 6in wheelbase one - weight in working order 35,500 pounds - 870 tons on the level - 200 tons on 1% grade - 65 tons on a 3% grade.

The 5ft 3in wheelbase one - weight in working order 41,000 pounds - 990 tons on the level - 225 tons on a 1% grade - 75 tons on a 3% grade.

Loco was available in sizes all the way from 15,500 pounds in working order to 53,000 pounds in working order. I'm kind of guessing at size/weight on the On30 model since mine is several miles away from home down at model train club.

And it is shown that model trains normally pull somewhat less proportionally on the level and somewhat more proportionally on grades.

I remember sometime back an HO scaler who was disappointed that his 0-6-0 could only pull 6 to 8 cars - which actually is prototypical all the way, mate - Model Railroader's Steam Locomotive Cyclopedia gives that as prototype rating in the pages of 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 types, my edition has that on page 28 with "A typical cut for an 0-6-0 was about six cars while an 0-8-0 might shove some twenty cars over a hump".

The little Porter's low car hauling ability might not be all that unrealistic.