Had a look at some video footage a railfan made of the Tweetsie copies built for a Cuban sugar plantation in the early 1920s. The best description I can make is that they had steel cabs, the cabs looked much like the "big window" steel cabs made for Bachmann's Big Hauler, except that there was a window post app 1/3 the way down the front. There was no wooden window framing visible.

FYI, I am sad to report that these locomotives were scrapped shortly after the video was made.

Bad ideas: part two

Scale-proportioned CF-7 diesel (They're shorter than most road diesels and they use two-axle Blomberg-type trucks). While the CF-7 was originally a Santa Fe-only engine, they've since showed up on a lot of short lines in the US (And also in Amtrak service in the Northeast) and some are still in use.

Here are some of my bad ideas:

(A) GE U-18B, of the sort used by SCL, Maine Central, et al. Most 3 railers have to put up with tight curves, so why not a relatively short-wheelbase locomotive.

(B) GP-15. OK, OK, so the NJ tool company makes one. Just a suggestion.

(C) Maybe an MP-15? I'm trying to think of a short locomotive that could go out beyond yard limits and use the pre-existing EMD Blomburg trucks already used for other Williams by Bachmann products.

(D) Shorty-version  Pullman--Standard Osgood Bradley cars. The New Haven wasn't the only road that operated those passenger cars; so did the Boston and Maine, the Seaboard Air Line, the Cotton Belt and, briefly, the Southern Pacific. They needn't be scale length; rivet-counters would likely shop somewhere else, anyway.

Despite my increasing mogul fleet  (My latest one came with the Wonderland Express combine and Wonderland Express observation car), I do hope that Bachmann does put out a DCC version soon.

I am interested in backdating one of my Bachmann 2-6-0s to a late 1880s-1890s appearance (Yes, I have seen that article in the On30 Annual). Does anyone know who makes replacement flanged steam and sand domes that fit the 2-6-0?

I'm looking forward to reading the answer on the boards.

Thank you.

Touching on an earlier theme, Mason Bogies are very nice engines but in practice they suffer the same problem many of us have with the Forneys.

Forneys are nice engines, but many of us On30 folk find that we lack the space to give them curvature to do them justice. That's why some On30 modelers saw off the backs of their Forneys, build small tenders to go with them, and turn their Forneys into tender engines.

Mason bogies have the same problem, only more pronounced. If a Forney would be happier with 24 to 26 inch curves instead of the 22 inch curves which many of us modular modelers possess, a Mason bogie would prefer something like a thirty to thirty two-inch radius curve.

In an ideal world, tight curves would be limited to sports cars and pretty girls. Alas, even in model railroading, it's a  less-than-perfect world.

I'd like a tank engine bigger than the Porters, smaller than the 2-8-0, and capable of tackling an 18 inch radius curve without derailing.

I keep wishing that some model railroad manufacturer could come to a happy and inexpensive understanding with the Charles Addams estate. Considering the role that O-gauge tinplate played in both the Addams Family television series and the first Addams Family movie, I think a model railroad/tinplate/Addams Family connection is a natural.

Imagine Gomez, Morticia, and the kids waiting for a train. Or some poor wretch hoisted high in a man-sized cage from a old-time High Ball signal. Or a happy Pugsley Addams joyfully awaiting the receipt of his pet reptilian monster from the REA man.

Some of the wargamer figures might have possibilities for a Morticia or possibly an Uncle Fester.

Other than that, it looks like make-your-own.

I have come to believe that you can detect demand for certain types of locomotives by keeping an eye on the number of conversions or kit-bashings of stock locomotives. The more locomotive kits the aftermarket manufacturer sells, the higher the pent-up demand.

A certain well-known aftermarket manufacturer has put out a kit to convert Bachmann's HO scale standard-gauge 0-6-0T into an On30 tank engine with or without pilot or trailing trucks. I've bought such a tank engine and  I've just ordered such a kit.

I think that one of the Hawaiian plantation tank locomotives might be a good bet.

I concurr with others that curved-roofed or corrugated-roof boxcars or stock cars/banana cars would be great. I also like the idea of a two-truck Caribbean/Cuban style sugar cane car, too.

While I would also like to see an Railway Post Office car or a combination Railway Post Office--baggage car with either a clerestory roof or round roof and NO end platforms, I'm beginning to think that even modelers with my minimal skill might be able to kitbash such a beastie.

I'm admittedly electrically inept and clumsy with my fingers. Nevertheless, I have seen two different techniques for converting the Bachmann 2-6-0s to DCC. One method involves putting the decoder in the tender. The other involves using an N scale decoder within the locomotive itself.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures or a description of just HOW the decoders were installed.

I have two separate wish-lists for passenger and freight cars. For passenger cars, I'd like to see a combination baggage-RPO car and a Boston, Revere Beach, & West Lynn-style passenger car. While originally an East Coast prototype, a few of those cars got very far afield after the BRB&WL was abandoned.

For freight cars, I'd like to see a double-truck steel sugar cane car, like the sort still operating in Cuba up to a couple of years ago. I'd also like to see an outside-braced wooden side boxcar, preferably one with a simulated corrugated-metal roof either a la Oahu Railway & Land Co. or something found in Latin America.

Way to go Bach-mann! I'm sure that you've made a lot of eastern US-style narrow-gaugers very happy. I'm thinking that I'll get at least one of the 4-6-0s myself.

I don't know how many modelers know it, but several copies of the ET&WNC 4-6-0s were built for three-foot gauge Cuban sugar plantation railroads. These copies lasted through the 1980's, but were later scrapped.

Sorry, Dusten, but I hope the new 4-6-0s have mock oil bunkers.

A Williams version of the GE 70 tonner switcher might not be a bad idea--especially if it would be possible to slip either Bachmann's or somebody else's trucks, motors, and couplers under the frame and inside the hood to turn it into an On3/On30 engine.

As much as I'd like to see a nice little 4-6-0 either based on the Tweetsie's 4-6-0 or something Baldwin built for one of the western roads, I fear that I have to concurr with Hamish; I doubt that a ET&WNC 4-6-0 would sell all that well. Most of us do have small spaces and tight curves and even On30 ten wheelers need a lot of room. Bachmann would do better to put out something like one of the US Army's World War One tank engines.

However, if Bachmann did make a Tweetsie-style 4-6-0, I'd buy one or more. I am interested in Latin American narrow gauge; I'm told by an authority on Cuban sugar cane railroads that Baldwin did rap out several copies of the ET&WNC design for one or more Cuban sugar cane railroads and that they ran early into the 1990's. (They've since been scrapped, drat it!).

This isn't the forum for it, but I think that someone ought to make On30 boiler, cab, and tender conversion kits to fit something like the Mantua "Petticoat Junction" ten-wheelers or the Bowser G-5s.

I bought part of one of the O scale Plasticville two-span steel truss bridges (no deck)  at an estate sale and I'm a bit surprised in spite of myself. I think that they'd pass the three foot rule with ease.

Could Bachmann at least consider re-releasing the O scale bridge again? While I'm sure that the steel truss bridges would fit a lot of "broad gauge" O two-and three-rail projects, they'd also make a wonderful fit to Bachmann's On30 line, especially if they had a deck that has/accommodates On30 ties and/or code 83/code 100 rail.
I like to think that the On30 modular crowd would LOVE them.

How about it, Bachmann?