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I've been asked to give a detailed look at the NWSL power blocks. I choose the 6 wheel version to review because there's been a lot of interest in E-8's and E-9's. The first picture shows the outside of the truck with the changes I made to make it easier to remove the block from the unit and grease the bushings. This change is not a good idea if you run in the rain. I drilled another hole for the wires, attached plugs and changed the way they are attached to the frame (just like MTH does). The next picture shows the 6 screws which hold the two halfs of the block together. The basic block is made from ABS. The last picture is inside the power unit. Notice all axles are driven and there's a flywheel on the shaft between 2 of the axles. All wheels have a electrical pickup and ride inside a non metal bushing. The gears are also non-metal, but in thousands of hours of running these, I have detected no wear to the bushings. Because I used to run with battery power, I ripped out all the electrical pickup wires (another dumb idea) The wires you see inside the block are not the way it comes from NWSL, they are after I put wires back in to have track pickup. All and all, these are a very powerful motor block and comes wih different wheel bases and different wheel flange sizes. If you decide to use these, make sure and order the correct wheels for your track. Hope this helps, Larry

Jerry, leave the electrical pickups on the wheels. I removed all of mine, and then decided to go back to track power. It took tons of work to rewire them. Let's talk about the NWSL power blocks. Prior to MTH, the NWSL power blocks were the only thing available in one-gauge. Great trains, Ralph Brown, Ted Sharpe all used these. My experience with them and with NWSL has beem excellent. Some of my Lionel GP9's (repowered with NWSL) have over a 1000 hrs of run time on them. The wheels show wear, (you can get new wheels from NWSL) but nothing inside shows any wear. Just take them apart and grease them once a year. You can put a flywheel in the "B" trucks with a lot of work. (The "C" trucks come with a flywheel) This allows you to convert them to MTH DCS. Now which one is better, no doubt MTH makes a better powered truck. The gears are metal and the bearings are bronze. MTH power trucks will run forever with a little care. Here's the big problem with them, you have to deal with MTH if you need a part. Have any of you ever tried to get a part out of MTH? On the other hand NWSL will bend over backwards to make you a happy customer. They'll sell you every part that ever been made. They even do custom machine work and they're really easy to talk to on the phone. Hope this helps, Larry

I'd like to throw my two cents worth into the ring about MTH. I've been looking for a smoothside coach EVERYWHERE for over 5 months. I watch Ebay everyday, and nothing ever comes up. Two years ago, there was always something on Ebay I was interested in. Since I intend to use it for parts only, I've set the top price at $100.00. Not a bad price to pay for parts. They have a product that is in great demand, and what do they do? They skip off to S gauge or H.O. which is overflowing with way too much stuff. The quality of their one-gauge products is way ahead of anyone else. So why are they producing just a few of certain items? I don't get it! Why not come out with a real nice SW-1? It would sell like hotcakes. Just my take on great products from a poorly run company. Larry

Bart, I used a regular MTH caboose I got on Ebay for $49.00. Then I used the roof off of one the MTH paint tests from a refrigerator car. (Also on Ebay for $9.99). I built everything else from .080 evergreen plastic. Ebay has a lot of paint test bodies that you can pickup for cheap. Just cut them up to make what you want. I also strip everything with Scalecoat paint remover before I glue it. I use either Scalecoat or Truecolor paints. Lots of green putty and lots of sanding prior to using automotive sandable gray primer. What helps the most is replacing the couplers and wheels. I use KD's and Gary Raymond wheels. Did you see the FP-7A in SP posted on this forum using MTH paint test bodies? It came out better than anything I've ever built. Larry

Jerry, it depends on your grades and radius in the curves. (small radius equals more drag). My guess is the f-unit would pull 8 cars without a problem if your grades are 1% or less and your radius is 10 foot or greater. You can weigh those NWSL units down pretty good, just ask NWSL what is the max amperage they can draw. Its been too long for me to remember if its one amp or a tenth of an amp. I think its one tenth of an amp.Anyway, let us know what happens. Larry

I just finished painting my Southern Pacific bay window caboose. After moving most of the windows, I've had enough filling and sanding to last awhile. I used the stock MTH interior, just rearranged to fit the bay window configuration.

Here's of couple of pictures of the Sp FP-7A unit that I have been working on. I still have the frame, tank, and sideframes to paint. I'm using True Color SP Dark Lark Grey. The secret to their paint is to really, I mean REALLY, shake it up before spraying. I just couldn't wait to post these til the tank and frame were painted.

I got the truck frames from Ralph Brown when he was doing the E-7's. They would be easily to make a mold and cast some for you if you're not in a rush. The NWSL trucks are way over priced, but they seem to run forever. I've pulled my 7 car "Portland Rose" for hundreds of hours. I've never had a problem and they only show the typical wheel wear that you would expect. NWSL is also very good about parts (unlike MTH!!). You can get every part from them for a very reasonable price. I have several pieces of the stainless grills (not enought to do a unit, but you could send one to someone who does photoetching and get what you need, see my recent post of the SP FP-7A for pictures of the grills). I think you could do it, and you come out with a set of E's that are the right scale and run forever.

I ran the Economy Southern Pacific Baggae car thru the paint shop. It came out pretty good, but those dry transfers are not fun to use. They crack and just don't look as good as decals. Does anyone else have this problem?

So what's so great about these trucks. First they are an exact scale (1/32nd scale) of the trucks used on Union Pacific streamlined passenger cars. They are also fully sprung, its amazing watching them go into a low section of track and the bearing caps actually go up and down. I install Gary Raymond 136RL wheelsets in them with a oil-impregated bushing as per another Topic on this forum. They have to be the best passenger car truck frame assy on the market.

Really nice, I love the roof and your rivet details. Where did you get the "Railway Express Agency" decal? Actually looks pretty good sitting on those Great Train trucks. The yellow is close enough, NICE JOB!

Charles, send me your mailing address to ltrumbull1@gmail.com. I live way out in the sticks, so I won't be going to the post office til after the holidays. Dremel has come out with a plastic cutting wheel that makes it easy. The problem is, it melts the plastic as well as cuts it. When you do your repairs, use a very fine razorsaw. I don't know how much you intend to replace, so I'm just going the wack off the entire end of the car and send it to ya. Larry

Charles, here's the picture I said I'd post. If you think you can use the cars end. I'll cut it off for you and mail it after Christmas. Larry

Charles, this car can be easily repaired. I even have the ends of an MTH car similar to yours. I'll take some pictures of the ends and post them today. They're just junk to me, but you'll be able to cut out what you need and throw the rest away. I don't sell parts to other people, you just pay for postage and I'll mail them to you after the Holiday rush slows down. Some glue, some squadron green and a little paint is all you need. Larry

Jerry, please Email me at ltrumbull@gmail.com to let me know which of the two shells you want. You'll need to find either another great trains f7a or a mth A unit. The shells that I have will not work together. The great trains A-unit is wider than the MTH unit. I suggest using the great trains unit (pictured below). I have molds for the fans etc for this unit. I'll ship you which ever one you want after Christmas. Larry

Jerry, I don't have any MTH Caboose trucks. I got a pair on one of the MTH cabooses I got on Ebay. I was unhappy with how high they made the caboose sit. So I cut them up, made molds of all the parts and then cast new trucks which use Gary Raymond 33" wheels. The also have the oil bushing installed. The caboose is now lowered to where it should be. I DO HAVE a set of MTH passenger metal wheels (4 axles) which might work under that new baggage car of yours. And the price is right, just pay for shipping and they're yours (FREE!!!)

Enginear Joe asked me to post some pictures of my UP E-8 pair. I cut up 4 Great Trains F-7 shells to make the UP E-Unit pair. The frames are 1/4" marine plywood and the trucks are NWSL. Since I only model in number one gauge, I ended up having to make almost all parts from something other than what it was intended. Both are powered and running MTH sound systems. I have built 7 streamlined UP car to go behind them. If you're interested in doing an E-unit, I have one Great Trains A-unit shell and a MTH B-unit shell. You need to find another Great Trains or MTH F-7 A-unit shell. Both appear on Ebay on a regular basis. I have no use for either of these shells, so if you're serious, you can have them for whatever it costs to ship em.

Really nice, I'm doing the same thing. The SP Baggage car is made from 2 MTH reefer shells. I made the roof from 2 MTH caboose shells that I'm turning into an SP Bay window caboose. Makes you wonder why MTH did not come out with a baggage car. The E8A in the background is kit bashed from Great Trains F units and is powered by NWSL trucks. Jerry, I have a ton of the correct red stripes (decals) if you need them for your doors.

The car is just incredible. I look forward to building several cars using the article in "steam in the garden". I'll be building SP prototype cars, but they are similar. I'm so happy to have found this site and found people who actually model in 1/32nd scale. I've got a MTH Black Widow SP F-7A with two powered B-units behind it. Can you see these 3 units pulling 8 heavyweights? WOW! Can't wait. Larry

I posted a desciption of how to put oil-impregated bushings in freight car truck frames in the ROLLING STOCK forum. Check it out, it really works and its very cost effective. Your track is beautiful and the GG-1 looks real. Good job, I'm impressed. Larry

After years of listening to my freight cars squeek as they ran around, I have found a cost effective ($.80 per axle) way to fix the problem. The first thing you'll need is a .250 dia drill and a cheapo drill press. You'll want to dull the sharp edges on the drill bit, otherwise it will cut away too much plastic. This is very important. Set your drill press so the max depth drilled, leaves .060 of the truck frame left at the bottom of the new .250 dia hole. (see the attached pictures). Press the bushing in using an old axle chucked in the drill press. Press it in flush to the inside face of the truck frame. The bushings are part number SS-48-4, SAE841 sintered bronze oil impregated bearings. They are available on-line from www.applied.com. (you'll need to set up an account - easy! ) You'll never need to oil your freight car trucks again. I've found the bushings will last a lifetime. Have fun. Larry

Our internet (CenturyLink) is off more than its on, so I need to catch up a bit. The FP-7A was cut using several cuts to the body to preserve the rivet detail. It was more difficult that way, but provided a better body to work with. The PRR diner is totally incredible. You could sell all you could make, but I know how much work it is to build something like that. You'd have to sell them for about $1000.00 each just to break even for all your time. Its really too bad that someone doesn't see how beautiful these scale cars are and produce them so we could all own one. I'm currently building a Union Pacific dome coach, cutting up three MTH cars in the process. I finally got the window arrangement right, but the dome itself is proving to be a real problem. It looks like you might be using MDC truck frames on your freight equiptment. If you are, I've found a way to add an oil-lite brass bushing in them. It costs about $.80 cents per axle, they roll better and are very quiet. Again, your models are incedible and you've really got me going again. Larry

The FP-7A was made from plans in the Summer issue of SP Trainline, page 31. The plans are done in H.O. scale but it was very easy to convert to #1 gauge. If you don't have a copy of this issue, send me an email ltrumbull1@gmail.com and I'll scan the article and send it as an attachment. Let's see some pictures of what you're doing. Its good to see that someone else is modeling in scale. My previous outdoor railroad was also built using a concrete base under the track. The layout I'm building now is all inside, this is because it either rains or snows here about 350 days a year.

Go to a feed store and buy #2 chicken grit. The guy is going to ask you how big your chickens are, so be prepared to tell a little white lie. I told him they were about this big (holding my hands about 12" apart) he said "Oh, you need number 1 chicken grit". anyway, you need #2. Good luck and let us see some pictures when you get it in. Larry

I cut up a 60Ft evans boxcar to create this 1/32nd scale beercar. The decals were made by Stan a couple of years ago. Tons of work, but well worth it. There are some great engines in 1/32nd scale, but very little modern freight cars. I always loved the WP beercars, so here's a very kitbashed model.