du-bousquetaire

As promissed here is the model I made in 1/32 scale of the Renault ABJ1 railcar. It is built of styreene was made about 18 years ago and still runs fine, it was on the cover of the G1MRA newsletter back then. The protoypes where Diesel and had a mechanical transmition; which was great when you traveled on them, because the engeneer would pass the gears and when he was starting the unit, it almost stalled when he lifted the clutch. The same layout was used untill postwar where the latest had their power boosted from 300hp. to 500hp., they could haul trailers too. Then in 1948 the SNCF used the same power chain on the cars that had one cab on the roof top and were unsymetric. As they were the first railcars the SNCF painted bright Vermillion red and cream (so they could be seen on the numerous ungarded RR crossings on branch lines) the French railway men nicknamed them Picassos! Yet they werent as handsome as these streamlined beauties were. There was over two hundred of them made and used by French railways. They were not, as their esthetics would suggest, high speed units, hardly going over 60 mph. The French Doodlebug, I also scratchbuilt in brass the Lartigue semaphore signal in the background of the second photo:

As promissed here is the model I made in 1/32 scale of the Renault ABJ1 railcar. It is built of styreene was made about 18 years ago and still runs fine, it was on the cover of the G1MRA newsletter back then. The protoypes where Diesel and had a mechanical transmition; which was great when you traveled on them, because the engeneer would pass the gears and when he was starting the unit, it almost stalled when he lifted the clutch. The same layout was used untill postwar where the latest had their power boosted from 300hp. to 500hp., they could haul trailers too. Then in 1948 the SNCF used the same power chain on the cars that had one cab on the roof top and were unsymetric. As they were the first railcars the SNCF painted bright Vermillion red and cream (so they could be seen on the numerous ungarded RR crossings on branch lines) the French railway men nicknamed them Picassos! Yet they werent as handsome as these streamlined beauties were. There was over two hundred of them made and used by French railways. They were not, as their esthetics would suggest, high speed units, hardly going over 60 mph. The French Doodlebug, I also scratchbuilt in brass the Lartigue semaphore signal in the background of the second photo:

As promissed here is the model I made in 1/32 scale of the Renault ABJ1 railcar. It is built of styreene was made about 18 years ago and still runs fine, it was on the cover of the G1MRA newsletter back then. The protoypes where Diesel and had a mechanical transmition; which was great when you traveled on them, because the engeneer would pass the gears and when he was starting the unit, it almost stalled when he lifted the clutch. The same layout was used untill postwar where the latest had their power boosted from 300hp. to 500hp., they could haul trailers too. Then in 1948 the SNCF used the same power chain on the cars that had one cab on the roof top and were unsymetric. As they were the first railcars the SNCF painted bright Vermillion red and cream (so they could be seen on the numerous ungarded RR crossings on branch lines) the French railway men nicknamed them Picassos! Yet they werent as handsome as these streamlined beauties were. There was over two hundred of them made and used by French railways. They were not, as their esthetics would suggest, high speed units, hardly going over 60 mph. The French Doodlebug, I also scratchbuilt in brass the Lartigue semaphore signal in the background of the second photo:

Hey Jerry what a showpiece! When I was a kid my parents had a house near the end of Buzzards bay in Massachussets, and since I liked trains they would drop me off at Eddaville in the morning and pick me up at closing time. There was a fantastic unit wich was the Boston and Maine's repplica of the Zephyr which it called the Minutman I used to spend hours climbing all over it and it was a real beautiful piece of equipment. Later when I returned to france I discovered that at the same time Renault the french auto manufacturer did a huge series of railcars for the French railways, that had a very similiar esthetic. in particular one of the series called ABJ 3. I built a model of a different version with the radiators under the windsheild called ABJ 1 it was the first series built around 1934. As when I photographed it it was with photo film I dont have a digital image of it. but I will do one tomorow and post it. Because it's late in the evening, gotta hit the sack. it is in PLM blue and grey, in its original state, after the war the SNCF put buffers on them and it disfigured them. They were then painted red and cream.

Hey Benshell: Don't despair I was a student once and felt the same way, it even lasted a bit longer because I wanted to make it in showbusiness and it is a hard climb all the way. But Model railroading is a life time activity when you get my age, you don't have enough room to store all your engines and cars any more! So don't despair you will probably end up finding what you want sooner or later. And remember Model railroading is a cumulative process little by little equipment just seems to accumulate. Often one ends up saturating ones layout with too much equipment and it fills up every track in all your yards so that you can't operate a descent train any more. And life often has a lot of good surprises too, opportunities will come now and then...

Hi fellow modelers. Just to show you how good this forum is, I thought that I would paste a photo of the GP7 done the way I wanted to do it; thanks to Larry's beautiful hatch which he sent me and that I fitted along with a few modifications to the Dynamic brake blister to reveal the engine exhaust. + paint to darkgreen loco enamel. And of course a big thanks to Larry! Without his help I don't think it would have been possible. Simon

I came to modeling US railroads late and wanted to use live steam locos, so I started out in 1/32 and stuck to it. I guess it's easier for me because of that late start, as a matter of fact MTH triggered it as I had wanted a GG 1 since a long time as it was one of the only mythical american engine which I had known in regular revenue service. What really gets me mad is not that much people who mix 1/32 with 1/29, I can understand that since there was so much 1/29 the stuff around all these years, what I really find shocking is people who mix in their trains 1/32nd, 1/29th scale and narrow gauge cars in 1/24th or 1/22nd scale in the same train. You see a lot of that on You tube and it is quite shocking as the narrow gauge cars were built quite differently from standard gauge cars and an experienced eye picks it off immediately, spoils the show for me. Real narrow gauge railroads like the D&RGW and the EBT ran standard gauge cars with narrow gauge (the first on three rail trackage the other by changing the trucks on the cars) but that was all in the same scale, not a "mixed scale" train. But frankly try putting an Aristocraft heavyweight behind an MTH GG 1 and you would be surprise at the scale and size diference in both height and width. I guess with the huge tenders on UP articulateds it doesn't show that much but on an ordinary engine, brother, it show up all right! Don't forget those two locos were monsters. And of course there is the important argument that 1/32 is the correct scale to gauge ratio for standard gauge. Of course this is just how I feel about this I am not trying to preach in the desert.

One thing to keep in mind if you are planning a garden pike is to think ahead: Like: Are you going to try to run live steam locos on your pike one day? If you are then you better not have gradients or very short and ones less than 1% or you will have to have a radio control on your steam engines. and even with that it can still be problematic.Even more so if you plan to run long trains with steam locos. butr if you have wide curves (over 10' radius) and low gradiuents you should be ok.

The problem with aluminum track and with aluminum wheels for that matter is that aluminum develops oxidation nearly instantly. A loco with aluminum tires needs wheel cleaning every day and even then doesn't work well if you are bringing the curent in from the rails. It can be worse near the marine air too. With brass one needs to clean the rails every ten days or so, liveable. But aluminum rails would be a daily chore.

Yes the R1 was the motive power department at Altoona's baby, it was more powerful than the GG1 by a comfortable margin, I do not know if the French Paris Orleans railway had anything to do with it, but this french road designed and opperated a whole fleet of 4-8-4 electric locomotives in main line high speed service in particular the Swiss designed 2-D-2 500 class which were very succesfull up to 140km/hour. This at the time (1933) was a speed record for electric traction, indeed locomotive department world wide were experiencing great difficulties with the tracking capabilities of electric locomotives in comparisson to steam, in particular early BoBo electrics were observed wrecking havock with the track alignements. Rod locos were no better above 60mph speeds. A French engeneer of track called Mauzin developped a way to measure track alignement distortions with Quartz piezo electic cells that could measure very subtle track deformations. Nearly all Paris Orleans locomotives were there after limited to 60mph except for the Swiss designed Büchli transmition equiped 2-D-2 alowed at 90mph cruising speed. So it is just possible that the Altoona design team could have been influenced by these succesful series of locos just new at the time. It seems that nose supended motors were a killer for trackwork. I heard in the '70 some enlightened US railfans telling me that there was a study under way in the US at the time comparing track agressivity of steam locos with the then omnipresent nose suspended diesels notably on Penn Central. It seems the steam monsters of the '40s were doing much better than the diesels on that point. The GG 1 on the other hand was developped by the New Haven, which had the experience of operating heavy electrics since 1907 (it had by then used at least three generations of road electrics...) and had experimented lower power and weight double motors on a 4-C-C-4 wheel arangement with cup drive and totally suspended motors, these were apparently much less agressive on the track during tests done on the Pennsy, whose objectives were similar than Mauzins test (but apparently without the Quartz cells, at the time quite a technical revolution) and although the R1 was the Pennsy engeneering department 's baby it's the GG1 which succeded and was produced in numbers.

Hi Larry: Yes these are the twin 36 inch fans, the blue ones on top, that would be great as, so far, I haven't found any. It would be the only thing I need now to make a very legitimate model of the GP7 out of this nice little Lionel I found, for my "Valpo dummy" which was PRR slang for the Valparaiso local. I will gladly pay for the shipping or any expense that you incur. Thanks very much for your help and happy new year, Simon

Thanks for your help I have contacted Brasseur trains.

You are lucky with Midge though, when I asked if they could provide me with a scale pilot for my F3 they couldn't. I had to modify one with the huge opening. My trackwork is based on a couple of things: One. When I was 13 years old there were a lot of articles in the model Railroader on using scale size rails code 70 and handlaid track so I learned then in HO, Concrete under the track makes up for the weakness of the rail itself. Two. Also there were those fabulous John Armstrong articles on laying out tracks for realistic (and much smoother) operation with wider radiuses that used before. Basically he remaked that most locos were designed to negociate (at very low speeds) 380 foot radius curves found in and around engine terminals and interchange wyes. That scales out to about 11' curves in gauge one, I try and stay above that always (not just when I can, Always!) It is much easier for us in the garden than for HO or O scale modelers in house. Three. When you run live steam as I do without radio control, you must have smooth reliable track. Try and contacting David, he might have some solution for you he is a very nice fellow. But retirement is such a good thing, he might not...

Hi there, I recently aquired and detailed a Lionel GP9 into a crediteable model of a Pennsy GP7 or EFP 15 in PRR parlance. ( see my post in the locomotive section in Milwaukee GP9) I need, to finnish the job, a roof hatch with the two smal 36 scale inch fans to replace the single large 48 scale inch fan roof hatch on the cab side. Living in France I have absolutely no chance of finding one, let even a large scale Lionel GP9 here. I would be happy to swap one roof hatch with the large 48" fan and the supercharged exhaust for one with the two small fans for those who might want to model one of the later GP9s (actually the case of the 7151 prototype which the Lionel model is supposed to reproduce which sported roof hatches with one large fan) . If possible a Pennsy one would be ideal as I would not have to match paint but I can repaint if this is not available. To remove the roof hatches just push on the two locking tabs from the inside of the body shell and they pop out. A great big thanks for any help as this is really impossible to find over here.

Hi mr. Brown: I am sorry it took me so long to answer your query but better late then never! Here are a couple of close up shots that show how I did it. the whole thing started because one of the Zamac USA trains frame stretcher came broken from shipping; so I looked as to how to replace it and found that it was an excellent solution for reducing the width of the trucks after. I used off cuts from extruded aluminum masons rules (that I had been using to make all aluminum bridges to replace my original plywood ones) to make the new stretchers. But any 2mm thick aluminum would do I left one of the 90° wings to make it more rigid, on one end. This by the way indeed makes an excellent all metal structural base for bridge decks, I simply bolt together with epoxy three rulers to make a two track bridge using threaded rod. I drilled it where the original USA stetcher holes were and used the original screws. What I did for 1/32 scale trucks is to turn the end of the axles so that the fusee is much loger giving better wear in the journals and this permits to thin down the width of the original USA trucks. To be specific, this operation reduces the lost space between the wheel and the truck frame. I also thinned down the tire thickness for cosmetic purposes while I was at it and the flanges of course. I have a lot of admiration for what you have acheived with your beautifull mold making and models of full size coaches and locos (I just love those E units). On this photo the cosmetic thining down of the tire width and flanges should be more apparent While I am at it this is one of my all aluminum bridges which shows the use of the masons rulers (I do not know if these are available in US hardware stores though they probably are) with my friend Loïk 's beautifull scratch built Stirling singles crossing over it:

Hi Joe, its actually a breeze to make something nice out of those old Lionels, it took me off and on about four days work at about 3-5 hours of work each. it is one of the easiest superdetailing jobs I ever did. Now mind you I am not finished yet, there still needs the screens on the hood louvers (I haven't found the apropriate mesh yet) and a few other small things like lifting rings. The lightweight cars are David Leech from Vancouver Canada, they are all aluminum, full scale length and of authetic PRR diagrams. On the two fleet of modernism cars (pre war 1938 cars) I used his pullman standard trucks, and on the three post war ACF 1949 car I used USA trains trucks narrowed down a good bit. They are all 1/32 cars. I should look up with Accucraft to see if they would sell me three pairs of their new lightweight passenger car trucks to replace the I/29 scale USA trucks. I don't know if he still makes them but you can look up his site on Google and ask him. They are very nice cars.I have taken them to exhibitions and they are sturdy, light and run fine. You can see my K4 doing it's stuff with these cars on this video of Rail expo 2014: Best wishes to all for the new year, Simon

Hi fellows and happy new year! I finnally figured out again how to post photos on the forum so here is a look at my US roster. Strictly Pennsy electric and diesels are used as well as live steam as that's the reason I got into gauge one and 1/32 scale modeling in the first place: the first is my MTH GG1 lowered with flanges turned down and pantographs filed down to scale size. The second was the F3 switching some cars at a siding (which in reality is the lead to the branch to the indoor terminus Then the accucraft T1 in full swing with my scratch built B 60 baggage behind Then I was lucky to get a K4 Then I took advantage of the MTH sale to snatch a PA 1 set This is the only photo I found of my VO1000 on a turntable track in the engine terminal This is a position light signal I scratch built in brass This is my N5 I scratchbuilt of brass and aluminum This is my D78 diner I scratchbuilt of aluminum with David Leech trucks this is my latest a much modified and detailed Lionel GP7 These are a pair of Gondolas I scratch built in styreen Sorry folks the captions didn't end up where I put them... I hope you enjoy these!

Great train Joe and those F3 are real good engines Mine have been growling around for four years now with up to 35 cars in tow.

Very nice paint job Chuck. and happy new year to everyone! Just before Christmas I made a fantastic "catch" on E Bay: A Lionel GP9 for 50 bucks! As I had the Garry Raymond articles in Outdoor Railroader, I knew that it was a very good replica of the GP7 actually in 1/32 scale. It was sold as is for parts and when I looked at the photos it seemed all there, except maybe the electronics. When it arrived, it was true to my first impression, complete except for one handrail stantion, and all the motors were growling along nicely. I wired it up and cleaned the wheels (nicely rusted a bit) and it ran and had all the lighting. But it creeped away very slowly and there was absolutely no sound. I tried turning the airtank potentiometer but it didn't help the sound. So i finally gutted out the onboard electronics and rewired it for straight analogic running; which it now does very well. I took advantage of a clear day to test run it outdoors with about 13 cars and she did fine ( on very dirty track). I then commenced with the cosmetic improvements: Lowering the body, bolting the pilot to the frame at the correct height, adding Kadees, then more cosmetics to the pilot and redid the handrails with scale sized ones chemically blackened. I did the grabs and coupler lift bars and a bit of painting and there she is a new unit for my pike. So far it is in analogic and I can't run it with my MTH, but I might do a conversion, two of the motors have slight extensions above so I could fit a flywheel... But I may use it in battery mode also if there is enough space under the hood. I may just keep it analogic so that I have at least one US analogic loco. But I was happy to have this little unit as it fits my financial status as a new retiree very well. I will make it out as a GP7 which the body represents, although it is numbered as a GP9, nobody will know over here, I am on the lookout for a roof hatch with two small fans rather than one large fan either for sale or for swap as it should be done that way to be accurate. If you know anybody who might want to swap or have one for sale, please let me know as here this Lionel large scale Geep is unheard of (it's probably the only one in France, lest the continent!) (even if it isn't in dark green loco enamel as the Pennsy called it)

Hi there : I have ordered one Accucraft 10-6 pullman and gotten it, to complete my set of David Leech pre and post war sleepers. It matches very well with them and I am amazed that the Tuscan red I mixed myself with no colour chip available is bang on. Unfortunatly the two horizontal gold leaf stripes are too low which is a bit dumb. The trucks are very nice, they have rubber bellows but no door between cars. I will probably install some flexible diamond fencing. They have interior detailing, are the correct length, and nice roof details added on. The biggest surprise was that they feature dummy couplers, however as the draught gear box is a copy of the Kadee ones it must take only minutes to fit Kadees. I guess this was in order to keep the price reasonable, they are after all, sold at a very comptitive price for gauge one. They feature an aluminum body. Do not forget that most European metal gauge one stock sells for over a thousand dollars each. They also have a simple underbody detail casting. They are totally different from the Accucraft freight cars which are highly detailed as these are rather simplified so as to provide operators of live steam engines rugged cars for taking around to Get Togethers (a very common activity with live steamers) and exhibitions without breaking parts off. These are full scale length replicas of lightweight smooth side cars used by such roads as the NYC, PRR, N&W, Lackawana,, MP, UP, NP, GN, some SP, IC and probably many other roads. Be carefull that MTH cars are too short and represent both smooth side and fluted side cars but not fluted roof cars such as those made by Budd for the PRR, NYC, Santa Fe, Burlington, Zephyr and so on. It would be nice if Accucraft proposed these budd style cars in the near future in 1/32.

Hy Jan: Sorry but I have been extremly busy these days with family and other matters and some building of SNCF regional cars for a friend, So didn't contribute to this thread since last summer. Since one of the things done has been to renovate 13 meters of my track, with new ties as I had already done 2 meters it's now 15 meters renovated. Some portions of that track had been laid back in 1978! The oak ties were like balsa wood by last summer... This is15 meters out of 50 meters, next summer I will renovate another 12 meters which should bring me to portions which were laid in 1982 with a different wood for the ties (the lumber dealer called it asian oak at the time but I don't know the real name for it, alas.) Which has not rotten at all so it won't have to be renovated probably. This makes my track look like american right of way as the tie spacing is very close now.

Sorry fellows but I have been very busy these past monthsand haven't posted much because of that. Now that I have received the Accucraft 10-6 pullman I ordered, I can say this: The USA trucks look a bit big next to the Accucraft ones. The better proposition would be to try and obtain Accucraft trucks, although it would be a bit more pricey. This I will endeavour to do. Also David Leech makes : or made correct trucks.

Great looking car Jerry, it reminds me of the days when I lived in the USA. I guess it's just a question of where your priorities are, for me it's definitly my railroad. Cars are just a convenient way to get around and I spend only what it takes to do that. But if a FEF is what you are after (it should be as you have scratch built one.), think about live steam. Not only are Asters made of high quality but they are also very well detailed and proportioned. You will see it right away and enjoy at last a model that doesnt look different than the prototype. Which cannot be said about many other manufacturers in G scale. This is also why I advocate wide radius curves in the garden, most real locomotives needed curves of at least 360' radius to turn onto, at restricted speeds in engine terminals, wyes and junctions. That's about 11' radius in 1/32 scale. And as Asters are very closer to the prototype they need these kinds of curves to operate on. The diference is that on those radiusses we dont have to fight inertia and can sail through them at track speed, which of course the prototype couldn't (they would tip over likely). besides other advantages are nicer, much nicer aspect (especially with articulateds), smoother performance and much less drag meaning you can run longer trains. I have no links with Aster (usual disclaimer) and much the same could be said about Accucraft locos. Well just a thought because I think you really like the FEF. Take care and congratulation for the restoration.

I guess you are right Raymond, economically it is risky at the present, But I do feel that when manufacturers offered a model that was produced in great numbers, the price was affordable and that this trend towards catering to the pre ordered is only making prices for the same product go up without any increase in quality for the customer. Its true though that MTH did a lot a few years ago before the economic crash and I adhere fully to what you say about that. My way of limiting myself is to choose a given prototype and stick to it, This comes from model railroading for years, so unfortunatly Big boys and Chalengers as well as the GS4 are out form me. I did caress at one point the dream of kitbashing a GS4 into one of the RF&P beautifull 4-8-4 with the Hitchens tenders, but the fact that the skyline cassing of the GS4 is molded on and cannot be removed sort of made me scrap that idea, also the fact that the disk drivers weren't correct for the RF&P engines. Since I have also discovered that the polycarbonate doesn't work with solvents (and I even tried chlorophorm...), not too good for kitbashing... I also considered taking a triplex to make a couple of PRR hyppo's out of it but that too seemed a bit far fetched. I think it is better to start from scratch in brass and steel. I am an Appalachian railroad fan so that's why I won't go for a Big Boy. What I was really hoping for from MTH was some more freight cars and newer types of cars too, not just reeditions of older releases with new paint schemes. We still don't have a gondola or a tank (1940-'58 era) car in 1/32 scale, nor do we have a stock car, so there is still quite a lot that could be produced and that probably would sell quite well. I build a lot myself so when a product is issued that fits my need, I try to buy it instead of scratchbuilding it. This is a fantastic hobby, very far reaching and fulfilling , so it is good that a manufacturer like MTH doesn't throw in the towel during difficult times.

Aster makes one right now in live steam Jerry, if your curves are about ten foot radius or over it should run on your pike, Aster models are expensive but the quality is there, beleive me, I just got a high end electric brass model of a French prototype this winter, very, very expensive and the quality compared with Aster stinks (So I won't mention the brand name)! Aster models are very good quality for your money. And so far they have kept their value quite well over inflation. They run very sweetly too.