rbrown7713

Here is the finished pattern for the mold, now the big job, making the molds for the concrete. Still working on the curved one. I am trying to imagine 300 feet of this, well, I can dream can't I. Here are some pics with the E8 on it.

I scratched bashed them. I used an MTH cab and the rest is from a mold that I made from scratch. The electronics is MTH battery powered, TIU is in the baggage car, batteries are in the B unit. I used NWSL three axle trucks. Thanks for the interest. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask.

Yes, I bought them at Lowes, but they discontinued them. They can be purchased elsewhere, here is the name of the distributor, Anitolia tile and stone, 8300 Huntington rd, Vaughn ON. There are several types, some are more porous, so look for the type that is more solid, I think they are made of granite. Lowes discontinues them because they were too rough for a backsplash. You can also find the tile on Amazon. It is very time consuming, because each tile must be shaped around the curves. They have a webbed backing and in the open areas the tile can be laid quickly, but as soon as there is a curve, individual tiles must be laid.

I am trying to develop my layout, quite a job, but while the concrete is setting up, I plan to model an E7, a and b, this time using my own cab.

Well, I am a little further, finishing the curved part of the viaduct here are some more pics.

Most have seen this E8, but you said show me your engines, so maybe someone else has not seen them. They are 1:32 and battery powered MTH electronics. Robert Brown.

Here is a pattern that I am making for my garden layout. I am making these patterns for a mold for concrete viaducts. The entire layout will be elevated on these viaducts. I am making them 30 inches long. There will be a straight one and a curved one, 10 ft. radius. The curved ones will have banked roadbeds, about 5 degrees. There will be two tracks and maybe three on the straights. Here are some pics.

Well, running my E8, I will probably never go faster than 50, that's fast enough for me, after all, I want to be able to see and enjoy it. Thanks for your getting me straight. Robert Brown.

I did the same thing and you are right. At 60 mph, my volt meter read 12 volts and beyond that the voltage increased, but the motors sounded like they were going to explode. I wonder why he would tell me something like that. This time I sent MTH an information request for more technical information, so let's see what they say. Robert Brown.

Unfortunately, unless you pay big bucks for some finescale cars, 3500 dollars or so, we are stuck with kit bashing or making complete molds. What I did, was make a master mold without windows, and then take the part and mount it on a Bridgeport mill and then cut the windows to suit for the different cars. So, that way, you only have one mold for the sides, one for the roof, and one for the ends. The tedious part is making the trucks. I still think the best way, not having molds, is to make the section mold and stretch the cars. Bob.

I would, being a guy that makes molds, make the appropriate mold and then make as many pieces that you need for the future cars, that's what I would do. The MTH cars are beauties,, the only thing that I don't like are the ridges on the roof, not scale like. I would sand them off every car. The prototypes were welded and shows just a slight line where the welds are. Other than rearranging the windows for the different cars, you would have some good looking cars. Thanks for the compliment. Robert Brown

Well, I guess the tech. guy, Jeffery, says that the voltage, 0 to 12 volts, to the motors in Gauge one MTH locos, is controlled by the processor in the loco regardless of the track voltage of 24 volts to the TIU, so I guess Jeffery doesn't know what he is talking about. I wonder where I can get the correct information? I remember Lionel trains going that fast and they weren't 24 volt motors nor 24 volts supplied. Robert Brown

I just talked to an MTH tech. today, I don't know why I didn't do this 2 months ago, but anyway, I asked what voltage was applied to the motors in one gauge locos, and he said it is controlled from 0 to 12 volts by the controller in the locomotive. So all of the worry about thinking that 24 volts was applied to the motors was bogus. The 24 volts is applied to the TIU, but the processor in the loco controls, via the speed controller, from 0 to 12 volts depending on the setting of the throttle, Robert Brown.

I am also modeling ATSF, locos and cars. When I started, no one made 1:32, so, I made my own molds. If I were you, I would kitbash the MTH cars, they are a good start, good details and you don't have to make the trucks, just stretch out and change the windows. The dome care was a little tough to model, but it can be done. Here is what I am working on now, an observation car made for the Texas Special and also used on ATSF.

Thanks again for your kudos guys, I appreciate it. Sometime in the future, I will build another E8 and E7, haven't done the tooling yet on the E7, with a more correct cab that I have, should look even better, that is my dream. I am now putting together a 1947 Pullman Standard observation car originally built for a one railroad that never bought it and then was used as a Texas Special observation car. Since I do ATSF, I won't paint it in the Texas Special color of red and stainless, I am going to use it as an ATSF observation car that was purchased by ATSF, it was the same car, but had a smaller red light in the rear. I might decrease the size of the light, I don't know, then it would be correct. If I don't, don't tell anyone OK? Bob.

Since Chuck asked for a video in this thread, here is a video of the E8 running on battery power.

After explaining the gear ratios above, here is what happened. I have a 34 foot test track, and without going to a full page of math, I came to the figure of 1.833 feet per second at a 1:32 scale speed of 40mph. It should take 18.5 seconds to travel the 34 feet. With 20 spaces, 10 white and 10 black, it worked out to be 33.6 mph, so I decreased again to 16 spaces, 8 white and 8 black and at 40 mph readout, it took 18 seconds to travel the 34 feet, pretty close to the correct time. Actually when you do the math, it should take 18.5 seconds, so the actual scale speed is probably 41 mph, close enough for the girls I go with. There are no doubt some errors in measuring the 34 ft. of track and the timing, so it could be that it is dead nuts on. 8 black and 8 white stripes is the closest that I could actually put on the flywheel. Now the original number of stripes that I came up with was something like 17.4 or something like that. I don't know, if the O gauge soundset figures in the factor of scale, O, as opposed to 1:32, I personally think that it is adjusted with the number of stripes on the flywheel, but I don't know that for a fact. Here is the setup for the 1:32 E8, 1:32 3 axle NWSL trucks, 16 spaces on the flywheel, white and black, Proto2 O gauge E8 soundset. The speed reads correctly and the sounds are fantastic. Robert Brown.

I recently changed soundsets on my E8 1:32 loco from an F7 to 0 scale Proto2 AA Santa Fe E8 with 4.3 and the 2.3 program and had no problems. Of course, I am not worried about lashups. Robert Brown. BTW, the sounds are fantastic.

I have 3 sets of six batteries, around 21 volts and each is 5000 milliamp and according to Gary Raymond, they should last about 2 hours or more. I have an additional set also, so I can change over and have another two hours. The only loco pulling is the A unit. It got away from me the other day and I had to hold it back, it went to full power, and it felt like it would pull at least 10 cars easily, we shall see. Bob.

Well I finally got it running, no issues. Here is a video.

I just looked up and EMD built 427 E7's and 500 E8's and 48 E8 b units, Santa Fe bought 8 A's and 5 b's. I have seen 3 A's in a train and mostly an A and a B. I have seen as many as 2 F A's with 5 B's pulling freight. Amtrak used them for awhile into the 60's. Bob.

The E series, with an A and B unit took the place, power wise, of an ABBA of the F series, two motors each in the E8 a and b. Way more power than the F. The bell and horn sounds quite a bit better also. Bob.

The sound file is from an O gauge E8 AA santa fe . I am going to set up a temporary track to test. Thanks Bob.

Here is a short video of the E8 with new downloaded sounds.

Picture updates, added air tanks, grilles, decals. Tomorrow I will add the hand rails. Bob.