I seem to recall that John Allen's GD Line ashpits (where steam engines drop out their ashes after a run) had real ash in it, perhaps cigarette ash?? He also had a red bulb hidden in there, so when a model engine "dropped it's fire" the pit would glow red as if hot coals and ash had been dumped in there. 

I suppose you could try crushing it up and applying it as weathering to freight cars and buildings. I don't know what would happen when you spray it with flat finish like Dullcote, but it should be OK. I use powdered charcoal from the art supply shop for weathering, and seals in with no problems.

Quote from: BestSnowman on June 12, 2009, 04:45:03 PM

Quote from: CNE Runner on June 12, 2009, 04:25:18 PM
Bestsnowman: Thanks for the clarification regarding Progress Rail...I wonder if it should have been given as Progressive Rail? Oops, better late than never I reread your post and you do mention Progressive Rail...sorry about that. Good luck with your new rail line anyway.

Regards,
Ray

It is a pretty generic name, there probably is more than one 'Progressive' rail company

The confusion might be due in part to the fact that Progressive Rail now owns and operates railroads in several different states. But generally once you register a company name, nobody else can use it.

It's an interesting choice to model !!  I lived along the MN&S "High Line" in Richfield MN from 1958-2006 so I saw the tracks being run by the MN&S, Soo Line, CP Rail, and finally Progressive Rail. BTW many oldtimers in Richfield still call it the "Dan Patch" line, from the RR that built it, the Minneapolis St.Paul Rochester and Dubuque Electric Traction Co., better known as the "Dan Patch Electric Line". The RR's owner, Col. Savage, also owned the famous trotter.

Note that their paintscheme isn't exactly like the MN&S one. The MN&S engines had silver roofs the length of the engine, Progressive doesn't do that. Plus some Progressive engines use light blue handrails instead of white...well, way back MN&S just used black of course.

Many Progressive engines are ex-MNS engines, and some still have the Hancock Air Whistles, although they have airhorns too and usually use them because they are much louder. Too bad, the Hancock is very close to a steam engine whistle, it was quite jarring to hear the contrast when Soo Line starting running by the house with their BLAT airhorns in the eighties. 

On the 1905 website it did say re the Spectrum Decapod:

"It is a good substitute and can be backdated and the domes lowered to look more American."

It's still going to be a bit wider than a typical engine of the period, but I don't think that's all that noticeable.

BTW I think there were 2-10-0s in the US in 1905, just not "Russian" ones like these.

Quote from: the Bach-man on May 12, 2009, 09:47:16 PM
Dear All,
Our cars were, if I remember correctly, based on Bethlehem Steel prototypes, specifically PRR pre and post-war. The only thing they share with the AHM cars is the ability to transport really little people.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

Thanks Bach-man!! 

Ya I don't see much resemblence myself, they're clearly different in many ways. Apparently the fellow arguing they were the same noticed that the cars both had roof / window glazing assembly was the same or similar. But then with a lot of diesel models you have to remove the coupler box screws to remove the chassis, that doesn't mean they were all made by the same manufacturer!! 

Hi, somehow an argument came up recently with someone saying the Spectrum heavyweight HO cars were built for Bachmann by Rivarossi, or somehow were copies the AHM/Rivarossi design. I don't see much resemblence myself....

I thought when the heavyweights were introduced about 20 years ago that the ads and reviews said that they were new cars based on Pennsylvania RR cars (to go along with the then-new Spectrum K4 Pennsy Pacific)?? Plus I think they're made in China for Bachmann, not in Italy by Rivarossi?? 

I found on my USRA Heavy Mountain that there was apparently a problem in the lightboard in the tender. I was planning to replace the tender it came with with a different one, and the engine ran fine (on DC) with one tender but wouldn't work with the other - even though both are used by Bachmann Heavy Mountains.

Anyway, if you're sure the tender / engine connection is solid and both are seated properly and pushed all the way in, and it's not running, it may need to go back to the shop.

A little background - HO ("Half O") scale was developed in the 20's, first I believe in Germany with Marklin. A problem came up for the English modellers, since most British locomotives were relatively smaller than their European or US counterparts, so an HO scale (3.5mm = 1 foot) model of a typical UK engine was too small to fit the smallest available motor inside. So they increased the linear scale to 4 mm = 1 foot and ran it on the same track, calling it "OO scale".

So OO trains and HO trains run on the same track. Since British engines are about 1/8th smaller than a similar US engine, they don't look that different in size when next to each other. I'm not sure (Bach-man??) but I think the Thomas and Friends Bachmann pieces are really OO scale??

BTW the models in the TV episodes are I believe modified Marklin No. 1 gauge trains, 1:32 scale - using the same track as "G" gauge models.

Interesting site! FWIW I'd love to see Bachmann release versions of their 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 engines with Stephenson valve gear.

Well and most of the turnouts are (like the prototype) set up using 'numbers' relating the the angle of the frog, not to any particular radius of curve. The higher the number, the lower the frog angle...so a No. 4 turnout is much sharper than a No. 6 for example.

Quote from: Woody Elmore on October 18, 2008, 09:11:29 AM
a half century ago the Varney company made ore cars - they turn up on Ebay once in a while.

I remember a fellow having a train of ore cars and they were die cast - he pulled them with a Hobbytown of Boston RS-2. Were those die cast cars made by Ulrich?

I believe the Varney ones became the Roundhouse / MDC ones. They were originally all-metal but MDC changed the bodies to plastic ones.

It appears the new Walthers ore cars are a new version of the Upper Michigan ore cars as used by the CNW, LS&I and others...althought they are apparently going to offer it lettered for the DM&IR too. I can't tell from the pic it it's accurate (i.e. higher and narrower than a Minnesota car) or if it's just an outside braced version of their previous Minnesota car.

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/932-40501

The only accurate models of Missabe 24' ore cars are the Walthers ones. They've done a couple of versions over the years including IIRC the older style with the herald instead of the reporting marks, the more recent ones with "DMIR" stencilled over the herald, and DMIR taconite cars with taconite extensions. There was even a limited run of cars lettered for the Duluth Missabe and Northern maybe 10 years ago or so.

Before the Walthers "Minnesota" cars came out in the nineties, the only ore cars in HO were the Roundhouse/MDC ones which have been around for many decades. They are good models but are based on Upper Michigan ore cars, which are slightly higher and slightly narrower than Minnesota cars. So yes you can get MDC Missabe ore cars but they're not as accurate as the Walthers ones.

The Bachmann ore cars also aren't based on real DMIR cars, I don't think that type was used in the Great Lakes region??

Well there are a fair number of models out there that are sound-equipped and will work either on DC or DCC. You might not be able to adjust and access everything, but if you're OK for now just being able to honk the horn and ring the bell along with the 'automatic' diesel rumble sounds you should be OK. I'd lean towards getting one or two really good quality sound equipped engines rather than 6-8 "OK" (cheap) engines.

The Union Pacific 4-4-0 is based on one of the two engines that met when the golden spike was laid at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869, completing the first US Transcontinental railroad. Bachmann has offered a model of the engine for several decades.

Full-sized working reproductions of the two original steam engines are used to recreate the event each year in Utah. About 10-15 years ago a rail historian discovered that the colors on the UP engine were incorrect, and that engine was subsequently repainted. Bachmann then changed the decoration of their model to match the revised engine.

I think General Hobbies was an importer of brass locomotives.

Brass engines have usually been made in Asia, first in the 1950's in Japan and in recent years in other countries. Brass is usually top-of-the-line as far as attention to detail and value.

If the tender is plastic it could be someone "kitbashed" it - replaced the brass tender with a plastic one to make it more accurate for the particular engine they wanted to model.