du-bousquetaire

I like steam models especially real steam models but when an interesting model comes along in electric it can interest me. In my oppinion (by that I mean that I may be wrong), I sincerly think that turning out the triplex was a commercial mistake, however interesting a prototype it was (And I am an amateur of compound locomotives), it was an unsuccessfull design that only had a short working life and was a sort of freak engine. It only ran on the Erie; the Virginian ones were a totally different loco with smaller drivers and many other differences. I would like them to come out with locos that really ran up a large class of locomotives on a railroad were they were known to have done a lot of work, and be representative of a succesfull class. A Van Sweringen, berkshire, or 611 or an AT&SF 4-8-4 or Santa Fe (or both), a PRR J1, a N&W Y class, a NYC Mohawk or Niagara, or for a period loco a B&0 old Maud or a DSP&P mallet for instance (this would be very beneficial as the trains on the Moffat road were short (like narrow gauge) and the curvature and grades more like most garden pikes). Or some Mikados or even decapods of many railroads, or again a USRA design. I sincerly feel this mistake had more to do with the low sales perhaps more than the economic down turn. Of course this is justr one man's oppinion.

Hi Jens: Very nice of you to take the time to explain to us the evolution on modern Danish steam, the only info I had before was in my regretted friend John, Van Riemsdijk book on compounds and he spoke well of the P class. Says it was one of Europe's best designs. How is Heljan doing with their NOHAB? I might just get one if they make a Belgian version as they used to run on the Nord to Gare du Nord. I would also love it if they produced a Danish passenger car as it would look great on my rendition of the NORD express with the 2-3-2 U1. It and the Russian sleeper would be the only cars not available to date. As well as some French Forestier (or DEV) cars which don't seem to interest many manufacturers these days... Maybe I will tackle a scratch built version. the Alco type front bogie was used in France on a few of Chapelon's designs notably his 2-4-0 P and the 2-4-2 A1 it used two inclined planes to guide the bogie on large radiuses and let the bogie realy move to the side in the tight radiuses in engine terminals and wyes. Thats another feature of US railroading we rarely see in Europe: Wyes and the idea of turning a train as it comes into a terminal by backing up on a wye. I did it once or twice on my travels in the US and Mexico by rail. Simon

About the trucks guys here are a few options: (I sincerly don't recomend stretching out cast Zamac trucks) David Leech makes a fine Pullman standard truck used on lightweigts before the war (SP Dailights and PRR fleet of modernism and probably others) he also makes a truck with an equalising lever for post war trucks these run in an equalised delrin truck frame with a cast resin overlay for the details, they are light, run very well and the resin can be reaired or changed in case of breakage. On my post war cars, visible in the above video (as well as the prewar ones), I used USA trains sprung trucks modified with a new stretcher to bring it closer together and turned down the ends of the axle fusees on my lathe to shorten the width, I also retouched the wheel profile to make it more to scale as well as the flanges. these are metal, sprung and at around $25 bucks a piece are a bargain. I consider the difference between 1/29th scale and 1/32 on such a short component as a truck side frame as acceptable compromise while we await something better...

About the trucks guys here are a few options: (I sincerly don't recomend stretching out cast Zamac trucks) David Leech makes a fine Pullman standard truck used on lightweigts before the war (SP Dailights and PRR fleet of modernism and probably others) he also makes a truck with an equalising lever for post war trucks these run in an equalised delrin truck frame with a cast resin overlay for the details, they are light, run very well and the resin can be reaired or changed in case of breakage. On my post war cars, visible in the above video (as well as the prewar ones), I used USA trains sprung trucks modified with a new stretcher to bring it closer together and turned down the ends of the axle fusees on my lathe to shorten the width, I also retouched the wheel profile to make it more to scale as well as the flanges. these are metal, sprung and at around $25 bucks a piece are a bargain. I consider the difference between 1/29th scale and 1/32 on such a short component as a truck side frame as acceptable compromise while we await something better...

Hi there: I just wanted to ask all the electronic wizards out there who understand all this much better than I, if there is a way to prevent all engines on the pike not on an isolated siding from starting at full blast as soon as a short circuit occurs. However carefull I can be about this, these tend to still occure now and then. And beleive me, I have spend a considerable amount of time making all possible improvements to prevent it from happening . But human error is unfortunatly common and these do occure from time to time... Is it just that I havent found the magic formula? Can it be prevented from happening? I find that this is the main drawback from using DCS or developping it's use. And I find the manufacturers criminal in not having taken measure to prevent this from happening, from the start. it may not be so much of a big deal in the smaller scales but in gauge one it really wreaks havock in a yard when it happens. In my case I have an outdoor pike with a branch to an indoor terminal, an almost ideal set up: In case of a downpour flip the switch lever and run your trains to safety indoors. Yea, it used to be great, untill DCS. Now I have had to rewire a second time the yard: First each track used to get track current through the switches, with DCS I had to rewire all tracks so they got trackvoltage at all times. Then I installed togles to cut out tracks that hold an engine so that it won't shoot off, if there is a short circuit (What usually happens is two engines start off towards the yard throat then crash into each other! Result: straightening up the grabs on the pilot and doing some paint touch ups every time. Now my procedure is to shut off unwanted engines (unless they are about to be employed within minutes). Then, if I need to call them, I first call the engine up on the handheld, then when it is on the screen, I flip on the togle and immediately shut down. Then I start the engine up again and it goes and does what it has to do. I have found that the read button doesn't do anything at all except add to the pending disaster. Is there some Eureka Idea I have missed? This procedure works but is a bit fastiduous and if I could solve this safety problem I would be real glad as if a short occurs outdoors, I may not be aware that it provoqued the kind of unwanted meet at the yard throat indoors that I just described above. (although now it is one of the first thing I check...) It once made one of my engines burn out two traction motors as the A unit in the A-B-A lash up stalled on the switch (creating a short) but the other A unit near the rear kept running burning out the two traction motors! This cost me more than the cost of the engines to repair. I guess with battery power this would be solved, but how long does a A-A lash up last on batteries before recharging? Can't a TIU be programmed to send out a watchdog signal after every short? It seems that with todays electronics this should be an easy matter to solve. And what an improvement this would be... Well hope we can solve this one one of these days, as in gauge one it is a real issue.

Great pictures Jens: Denmark had some remarquable steam locomotives, it's good to see which ones escaped the torch and are in preservation. By the way smoke deflectors were developped after Chapelon (following the scandinavian Kyllalla) developped his exhaust system which created a better vacum in the smoke box for less counter pressure (meaning less loss of power through throtling of the exhaust), which in turn brought more air to the fire. This was a big breakthrough in European steam developments back in the mid thirties, it permited his Paris Orléans Pacifics dating back to 1911 to nearly double their output in horsepower while consuming 2/3 less coal and water (in term meaning longer runs on the same tankfull). The only drawback to this development was that the smoke and steam instead of shooting many meters over the boiler tended to cling to the boiler and ruined the crews visibility of the road ahead. So windtunnels tests were conducted and the German (Wagner) type smoke deflectors became standard on many european designs because of this. Tightening up the exhaust or the chimney diameter may spoil this engines performance. Although in preservation with light lmoads one may not be aware of this. But if the engine needs to work hard, which engines in regular service had to do now and then, it could become apparent.

Thanks Raymond: I figured from the close up photos I had seen that it was cast integral with the rest of the boiler, but I wasn't sure. It would be a difficult kit bash never the less because of the drivers. Besides I like most of my steamers to be live steam. It's OK for diesels and electrics to be electrically driven, but I prefer live steam for steam locos.

Hi folks: I agree 100% with Jens analysis, this was one of the reasons I went to modeling US prototypes back in 2009. I was modeling then the French NORD railway, and I haven't given up on that project, but I was confronted with the following dilemna: Fulgurex was producing a fine electric model of De Casos mikado tank engine 1-4-1 TC which was announced at nearly 7000€ price tag and the suburban NORD coaches to go with it at around 1100€ a piece, a minimum train was made up of 4, thats 4400€. these coaches are the one the 1-4-1TC spent most of its long active life hauling and are therefore indispenssable. I also needed a set of Rapide Nord coaches made by Neil Rose Finescale locomotive company, I needed three at around 1200€ a piece add another 3800€. Then Aster Europa was turning out a beautiful but very complex and expensive live steam 2-4-1 P at announced price around 12000€. Add all that up and you are looking at a 27600€ price tag. I just couldn't swing it. So I took a good look at MTH GG1, one of my favourite US engines and bought one, I now have it a F3 ABA lash up, a Baldwin VO1000, and an Alco PA1. In steam I have an Accucraft T1, and I found a opportunity on an Aster K4. I got 5 David Leech coaches and various US freight cars (32), and recently got 5 J&M heavyweights. All equiped with scale metal wheelsets and Kadee or original Janey couplers. Total price including shipping from the US for the most part 16000- 17000€. Now that I have a bit more cash than before, I went to see this gent in Germany whose fine collection and layout is featured in this video and I bought fom him the mikado tank at 5500€ which is a bit more affordable. to continue with my Nord project along with my Pennsy theme... But without his help I would still be dreaming about one. They used to run the line from Gare du Nord to my hometown which was the last line they did right up untill 1970. Where else could you see a whole fleet of modern Pop valve steam locomotives in regular service? These were probably one of the most modern suburban tak engines in the world, perhaps with Tchekoslovakia. Mathias's collection is awsome though, and his layout is very animated with people and scenes that are a joy to behold, besides he is a verywonderfull fellow and fascinating to talk to.

It doesn't seem too far fetched that Maerklin would go for the US market as the European one is down right now (although the German one is still very dynamic), they have turned out a very large stud of rolling stock for the european market and gauge one is now seriously a reality in Germany and Switzerland, alas France is still far behind. One should also remember that Maerklin has purchased its big competitor (and the original reason why it got involved in gauge one, in the first place, back in the late sixties was to compete with LGB) And as the big market for LGB was the US they might very well turn to that market now in gauge one. They have done an awful lot of US stuff in HO (F units, alco PA 1 and GG1... and in Z scale so why not in gauge one, which they entered already with their Maxi tinplate line. It would also make sense in this competitive world, since MTH has entered the O gauge European market why not for them invade the MTH US market. But so far no concrete news of this has filtered through to me, so this is just speculation, but it makes sense. The idea of developing manufacturing in eastern Europe is also quite logical and may reserve some big surprises in the next few years. I got this from a German importer of high end stuff in gauge one, who worked with the far east and doesn't want to hear about it, any longer...

I was wondering if the skyline cassing on the daylight can be removed on the MTH model as it comes very close in proportins to the RF&P 4-8-4 that are such beauty queens, especially the ones with the Hitchins tenders and I would like to try to kitbash this. The main problem is that the drivers although same size are not the correct kind for the RF&P ones. Making it near impossible although the two designs seem to be derived from one another. Nice job on that UP FEF Jerry. Aster is coming out with one soon, but at what price?

Wow if this happens, when I visit the US, I will have to go to Pennsylvania and to Roanoke. I really like the Norfolk and Western. I remember on a few greyhound bus trips to the south way back in the early seventies (When as a student I couldn' afford Amtrack or the Crescent) going through Roanoke in the night and seeing that huge red sign in the roof tops: Roanoke Shops of the N & W railroad. While the bus would cross over the passenger station and junction. When I decided to go US modeling again in gauge one it was a 50% tie between modeling Pennsy or N & W. But I had known the pennsy better especially the GG1 and at the time in 2009, there was no gauge one N &W equipment around except for Fine arts models - Too expensive for me... I wish they would put one of those Y6b back in service, just for Chapelon and Anatole Mallets sake, It was one of the last classes of compound locos in the US. Here in France we had thousands of them. I have fond memories of those Greyhound trips though, in particular of going through Southern towns and cities in the midle of the night and hearing the five chime Leslies of trains howling in the night as they went trough the many crossings. For a French railfan what an exotic railroad lore. Then when we would reach one of those crossings, I remember seeing those Mars lights, once we had crossed over to the other side of the Mississippi. I wouldn't be surprised that if they did a tug of war between a Y6b and a big boy that it could be the Mallet that would carry away the big boy. The big boy is a great engine, don't get me wrong, but I think they get to much publicity. As if the other articulateds didn't exist. what about the DM&IR ones, the Northern Pacific ones, the B&O ones, the Virginian ones and so on...

The choice of rail material and wheel rim material is most important in model railroading with electric track power, but it isn't the only issue. I have found from years of HO operation that having direct gears opposed to worm gear drive gives a nice flywheel effect which helps overcome spots of poor electrical contact. And in my latest HO doings before going to all gauge one, I found the importance of using coreless motors which have a very low current draw, these have become extremely standard in continental HO scale and O scale practice. Not so in the US practice it seems... The interest in these is this: That as they draw much less current, there is much less tendency to arc at the wheel to rail contact. The result of this is (at least in indoor HO): That you practically never have to clean your wheels or your track. This is a very nice feature. The only exception I have known to this, thus far is MTH gauge one which seems to have some pretty hefty motors that have a healthy appetite for amps yet their locos have a fabulous slow speed. I supect that this can be atributed to their having pick up shoes, and all the electronics and flywheel optic detectors, but it is a source of amazement and joy to this old hand at it. I found that even the quality of the nickel silver alloy used on wheel rims has an impact on HO locos. Nickel silver rails are nice but they have a greater resistance to current flowing in them meaning for us outdoor fellows, more feeders. I setled for brass. It needs fairly frequent cleaning (around every 10 days or so) but otherwise with rail bonding it does the job. I still cannot determine if my rail oxidises so fast because of oxidation or because we are situated on the path of landing jet liners, which on account that their jet engines are not at full power have a poor combustion and polute more because of this... When I was doing HO I remember needing to clean the rails if we had smokers over for dinner or a running session...

By the way: Smooth side cars is the why I went Pensylvania RR, since also I wanted the MTH GG1. It hauled ribbed cars also for the senator train sets, but I guess that I will have to wait for someone to make the correct ribbed cars. It's such a shame, they exist in 1/29th scale! I even pondered the idea of cutting down some USA PRR cars to 1/ 32 scale but I guess I could never shorten them... I had originally planned to make my own smooth side cars, then I discovered that David Leech was making a whole lot of authentic PRR diagram smooth side cars. That really saved the day, and these cars have stacked up millions of scale miles by now, at home on my line or at shows where I take them to run in public. At Rail expo I ran my K4 about 5 times for over an hour each time with 6 coaches behind. You can check that out on you tube, here is the link to it: I was running the K4, my D. Leech cars and my scratch built B 60 and D78 dinner (all in aluminum), with my buddy Dennis who was inaugurating his rebuilt Merchants navy with a long train of plastic coaches.The big problem today is E units and ribbed passenger cars with ribbed roofs (MTH ones don't have the ribbed roofs and are too short). I am no Santa Fe expert but I beleive most Santa Fe cars had ribbed roofs.

Real nice job R Brown, I don't know why but I love E units. For those that want to see my Accucraft T1 and train, made from authentic PRR diagrams, in action on my line check out the photos I posted in General discussion T1 forum.

Actually depending if there has been a lot of subzero temperatures or not I have little maintenance to do, except cleaning out pont blades here and there pushing in a few brass spikes that thend to slide out, creosoting now and then , and a bit of tweaking every spring. The main maintenance chore on my track now 33 years old, still with its original oak ties, is getting rid of the moss that invades it over every winter. This is very time consuming and has stopped my gluing down the ballast on the outer plastic (Tenmille) track with scale sized ballast. Because as it becomes invaded with moss, it is very hard to scrape off without ruining the ballast. Now it is time for a tie replacement and thankfully as I will retire this summer it should get done over next year. I must explain that my track is screwed with brass screws to a concrete base about 5" thick (road borders obtained at a construction supply house) The main problem that occurs now and then is when that shifts either because of frost, or more rarely because of roots growing under it. I used to have a lovely lilac in the center of the large curve near the depot that made a very pleasant shade near the loco steaming bays. I had trimmed it like a parasol. Well once I had established that it had completly knocked the large radius curve out of its alignement and was pusshing the whole steaming bay towards the house I had to destroy it. A two year undertaking that solved this issue, it was the biggest chore in thirty years! I see a lot of track that is floating on ballast and goes up and down like a roller coaster, not very prototypical and very dangerous if you plan to run live steam without radio control. It is strange that this practice is so common with people who use telelens to film their layouts where it shows most. Using a concrete sub base permits the use of scale rail too, which is a definite step in the right direction towards more realistic outdoor railroads. My generation was raised as model railroaders with code 70 rail, seeing all this ovesize rail is quite a regression, I feel. Well I guess it is the rise and fall of the art of model railroading...

Just to give you an idea of what it would be like this is my Accucraft one in steam with prototype prr diagram cars in tow. This engine really needs wide radius though, just because you are running at passenger train speeds, not freight ones... It is very easy to drive and has a fantastic boiler. Now it will even have some PRR position light signals on its way. I scratch built one last year. it can indicate 9 positions manually. MTH and live steam work well together, just the problem of insulating steamers, I am thinking about battery operation with DCS as Garry Raimond described to overcome this. Enjoy!

Boy those E units look nice Robert, did you make them or kit bash them? I heard that St. Charles station made some and that also Great American Trains turned out a few before they stopped manufacturing. I would really like an E unit in 1/32 scale as they were standard Passenger power on PRR from the late forties on. And I remember riding behind ex Pennsy ones in New York Boston service in the early Amtrak days when I attended NYU and visited my mother who; lived in Boston then. Congratulations on a beautifull job Robert.

Its about the same in France Jens, the SNCF is almost out of the freight business but has thriving trucking subsidaries...And it is the same process: Using RFF (who is suposed to maintain the track for operators who run the trains on them) is charging such exhorbitant rates to use the tracks that it is cheaper to shut down the whole operation. Furthermore the present governement just passed a law authorising bussing companies to set up routes across France which will now kill the passenger business, which hitherto was the only one that still existed and seemed to have a futur. The more you look at it, it seems that Americans with their private entreprises who kept alive moving freigh as a commercial proposition and are now recovering quite a chunk of the market now that airports and highways are saturated might weather the storm better than our nationalised railways of Europe that seemed so much ahead only a few years ago still. In the case of France it seems that the management of the nationalised corporation just doesn't know how to do it's job, the incompetence is obvious and the general public has the impression that it is heading into the wall. A few years ago, it seemed that the TGV had blown new hopes of prosperity to railways here, but recent rate hikes of over or nearly 150% in a couple of years have scalped that hope. And now the futur looks bleak to say the least. If you want to go for a few days to the riviera which used to cost about 60 euros round trip now costs over a 175 euros. Nobody can travel by rail any more it is too expensive. As you say the folly of man, just when everyone is concearned about global warming, pollution, the best transport system is going to be destroyed...

Hi Dash 8 I wish my German was as good as your English. Very nice track work! I also use hand made trackwork, the inner track on my layout in the photo is hanlaid and so are the switches they work very well and have been in service since 1982. I did a bit of consolidation lately because I used brass spikes and no steel ones on the switches. Brass tends to slip out with the constant switching from rainy weather to dry spells. It used to hold pretty well by pushing the spikes back in every year, but recently there just was too much play and I rebuilt the switches with a copper wire clip from under the tie which has a U shape and holds the rail once they are bent around the rail base, replacing a few oak ties where necessary. with Sunset model switch throws that make a positive lock (particularly good for electrical contact in relation to DCS operation, makes for much more reliable operation. It is also nice for steam as when a very heavy and expensive loco is going down the track at express speeds, with a heavy train in tow, you dont want a point blade to be half open. Sorry, this post really doesn't belong to the subject of improving MTH cars.

Yes engenear Joe, when I see what MTH has offered in O scale it makes my mouth water, all the box cab PRR electrics, the Baldwin centipedes, the sharknoses, the Baldwin transfer switchers, and of course all the PRR steamers: J1 ,Q2 and many others, even the H10s. If only there wasn't this depression.... We should be entitled to sign up for another life! Then we might see it happen who knows? Good idea to use large radius though, whatever you model, because it operates much better and especially because it looks much better. Alas the manufacturers have to cater to the miriads of folks who still use sharp curves, hence the articulateds. But using them on large curve improves their esthetics tremendously. Why people who do outdoor layouts don't sistematically go to larger radiuses beats me completely. In many cases there is no restriction at all. I adopted on one end of my layout an 11' radius curve (There is a picture of that curve in the rolling stock> improving MTH freight cars forum) and I plan to enlarge it to at least17' radius as soon as I retire. I did this because of the lay of the land was at a 10% avererage gradient , but I have found a solution to that. It is a big undertaking though meaning quite a lot of earth to move. I sure hope MTH success with their new items. PRR Hypos 2-10-0 had blind drivers on 2nd 3rd and 4th drivers too.

Very beautifull job on the bulkhead flat and the C&O box car Dash 8, and I like the simplicity of the solution you use for the trucks. Mine is quite simple actually too, just two saw cuts with the hack saw. How does the trapeze shape sheet you moved to its correct position (on the axis of the bolster, or where it should be) stand up in service, I find it quite difficult to glue the polycarbonate which MTH uses although I was able to obtain some chloroform from a plastic specialty house. It is especially difficult to keep the PRR railphone antenas intact, I am now replacing strategicly placed ones, with ones I turn from square brass rod. But then I operate in the garden environement. Here is the freight with an ABA F3 on the point and a pair of PA 1 pushing up the rear to help the train over the grade. those MTH cars fit in well with the Accucraft ones.

Yes Dash 8 , it would be nice to see some of these again, Custom model products had plans for a very interesting line of cars (including some of PRR design I particularly wanted to have) but those plans were shelved when the owner died last year, unfortunatly. Meanwhile we shall have some nice things from Accucraft starting wth the C&O three bay hoppers, (50' flats and gondolas announced). I appologise with my last (empty) post, I wanted to post some photos but it didn't work. I shall try again.

Beautiful job rbrown! This is surely a good way to do it making a generic body mold and milling out the windows to suit whatever configuration you want sleepers, roomettes, diners, coach, baggage,, RPOs, dome cars and lounge cars. Most limiteds had a whole range of cars in their conssists to suit every passengers needs. modeling these can and is quite a long term effort in 1/32 scale. I now own 12 passenger cars in PRR made from authentic diagrams, but I still can't represent one authentic consist on the east west fleet. Keep in mind that the Santa Fé cars had fluted roofs which is a different style of roof (because made from a different builder than...) the MTH ones which are right for cars built by ACF or Pullman standard but not by Budd. I have the same problem to produce Senator sets for my East coast corridor traffic. Stretching them will produce scale length ones but still without the correct roof. So it would be better to consider another option. It sure would be nice if someone made some scale length fluted side and roof cars. Perhaps if the smooth side cars being made by Accucraft sell well they may follow up with such an offering. The main difficulty is having the extrusion made; then its no big deal to open out the correct window configuration. Otherwise and in particular for smooth side cars there is the David Leech products which make up very nice scale length cars in aluminum. It seems that he has offered some fluted side versions, but I don't know how he makes these or if they are still being offered. I have Five of his smooth side cars. Check out his site.

Its not that difficult or a lot of work and it makes a clean and sturdy job. I have been operating with cars like this since three years. First I started like you did, Dash 8, by making a second pivot 7mm towards the ends of the car but on the second one I realised that not only I could reglue the bolster sawed off in two places. but it would be screwed down to the floor by the doorguide screws in the middle and by the draught gear screws in the end, making for a firm and sturdy job of it. As I didn't retouch with paint (I am so lazy!), it is easy to see where I sawed, note that I added a strip of 2mm thick styrene (plastic card) to shim what the saw had cut away. With gary raymond wheels,kadees makes a very nice car and looks very good right next to my Accucraft cars.