Almost famous

Chris was listening to the June Scotty Mason Show (http://themodelrailroadpodcast.com), and Mike Rose discusses the ongoing work for an addition to his layout. Jim Lincoln has built some fantastic trackwork (some of it in his car!) for the layout.

At the NE Proto Meet (right down the street), after Mike's clinic, I cornered the two of them because I wanted to talk to Jim about his experiences trackbuilding. A lot of what he is doing is very similar to the way I've been building track.

Anyway, I had them come on over to check things out, and showed them how I was modeling throwbars with z-scale PC board ties. He had seen some stuff online - about 4 years ago Joe Fugate and I had a long thread on his forum about building CVMW turnouts, and I posted some information and pictures (http://siskiyou-railfan.net - go to the forums). It's still hard to believe I built that prototype turnout over 3 years ago...

Anyway, they have been very happy with the results, and Mike featured it in a column in Model Railroad Hobbyist too. (Which interestingly enough brings it full circle since Joe Fugate is the publisher.)
It's actually pretty cool to see an idea I came up with not only end up in the article, but in use on another layout. Mike and Jim came up with a cool way to use microswitches to throw the z-scale throwbars (also covered by Tony Koester in a 'Train of Thought' article in Model Railroader).  One of these days I'll get up to Mike's to check it out in person.
So from now on, you can just call me 'That Guy'

Choose your poison

Well, it has been a great, but very busy day today. I was in the mood for doing something 'modely' this evening, but wasn't prepared to get involved in something that would require some real focus. Then I went up to the bedroom to get something, and remembered that I had left a Branchline kit up there the other night.

I had been working on organizing little projects and kitbashes I had printed out. I liked the Cocoa Beach Shake 'n' Take from 2006, a KCS Rebuilt Box Car. I haven't made it to Cocoa Beach yet, but I figured I'd build the projects appropriate to my era.

Anyway, this kitbash uses an Accurail Postwar Box Car with an Accurail Double Sheathed Box Car underframe. Greg Martin notes in his instructions that these are great kits to work with, since they are the only accurate kits on the market that have a separate floor instead of roof. As such, it's easy to model a rebuilt box car by substituting an older underframe.

This does require, however, carving off all of the detail parts on the box car shell to apply separate parts. So I figured I'd use a Branchline kit instead. So I had brought one of the undec kits I had on hand up to see how that would work. It looked like a good option, so I prepped it with the parts I'd need (it also comes with the correct 8-rung ladders), and put in the instructions so it would be ready to go when I got to that kit on the shelf.

Because I'd much rather cut out the floor than try to carve off molded on details. Obviously Greg feels otherwise, but my demolition skills are still rather primitive.

So when I went up tonight, there it was. So I figured what the heck, let's see how hard it is to remove the floor. It looked like it would be pretty easy to use a razor saw just inside the sides to cut along the length of the floor. Since the ends are dummy ends I wasn't worried about damage to them. Unfortunately, I found that I could cut through the floor pretty easily, but the thickness of the side sill tabs was less than that of the sides. So once I made it through the floor I was sawing straight down the middle of the sides.

So I figured I'd use a technique that Ted Culotta pointed out in one of his Essential Freight Car articles for a Sunshine mini-kit. I believe the Sunshine instructions recommended the approach - you score the floor along the edges, then cut a big 'X' across the middle, then snap out the triangular pieces. I used the Dremel to cut the big 'X' which was much faster. It still took some work to break off the pieces, but overall it worked pretty well.

Of course, it will go back in the box at this state, because tomorrow I need to get back to the important things, like laying track and the 44 tonners. But it was fun to make some progress on something and not have to really focus or be very precise. I have a lot of these sort of unfinished projects around, and when I get the necessary parts, etc then I'll be able to finish a bunch all at once.

DCC, horns and Canopy Glue

Well, I managed to complete a few things so far today.

First, I installed my first decoder. It's just the MRC drop-in sound decoder for the Atlas S2. In the long run I won't be using this as a primary locomotive since I'm hoping to replace it with one with separate details (like the forthcoming brass one from Key Imports). We'll see.

In the meantime, this is Jessica's locomotive and we'll try it out tonight once we finish watching Prehistoric Park (we're on episode 3).

In addition to the decoder, I finally picked up some canopy glue to try. I keep hearing about it (particularly on the Scotty Mason Show), but there was a recent discussion on the Steam Era Freight Car list about it. It works similarly to a white glue, dries clear, and works very well to bond dissimilar materials. It also remains somewhat flexible after drying. At least those are the advantages I've read about.

I used it to glue a brass horn I picked up for the Bachmann 44 tonner project. So we'll see how it does.

I also need to install two more lengths of track tonight to connect the staging to the east helix. Once that's in place, I can test running trains up the helix. Parts are also on the way to complete building the crossovers on the mainline which will allow me to complete a full mainline loop to staging through both helixes.

So back to work...Oh, and I have to figure out which horn and bell to use on the new decoder.

Working on the Phase IIa (really Phase III) 44 tonner

After pulling out the 44-tonners, I was surprised to see how little remains to be completed on the one I started modifying a few years ago. So I sprayed on a coat of gray primer to see where I needed to smooth out some of the modifications. Most of it looked pretty good.

So tonight I completed the uncoupling lever, and replaced the large grabs across each nose. Since it's so easy to drill with the Dremel Stylus I recently picked up, I actually drilled holes to mount the NBW castings above the end grab irons. Now that I'm writing about it, I probably need to do a few on the nose.

Next I wanted to figure out how to complete a detail that's visible in a photo in Diesel Locomotives of the NHRR. Originally I thought that it was some sort of extension of the stack onto the roof. They look like a mirror image of the shape of the stack. After looking more closely at the picture, I think they are actually hinged covers for the stacks. When the locomotive is in use, they are obviously open, and rest on the cab roof.

Anyway, to model these, I cut off the very top of the stacks from a spare 44-tonner, then sanded them very thin. I sanded the bottom and the top, to make it as thin as possible, but still retain the shape including the interior circle. I think they came out pretty well.

Even if I complete it this year, I doubt I will be entering it into the NHRHTA Reunion modeling contest, since I agreed to be a judge again. But I'll at least be able to display it. I should try to complete the modeified NE-5 and NE-6 models as well...

Note - I have since verified this is a Phase III 44-tonner.

44 Tonners

So here are three GE 44 Tonners. The New Haven had (at least) 4 different phases of 44 Tonners.

The first (0800) was a very early phase with one set of steps on each side of the locomotive, in the middle of the running board. It was later modified to have the steps at each corner.

The second was seven phase Ic locomotives (0801-0806). The W&R brass one is this phase. At least I think so, the box was labeled Phase IV, but it's clearly a phase I. But I have yet to find a resource that details the differences between all of the phases. So I suppose it could be a phase Ib. The prior owner moved the horn to the roof. I will have to move it back to the hood.

The next group (0807-0816) are unclear to me. Someplace I picked up they were phase IIa. Visually they are similar to the phase IV (see below). The differences that I can see is the cover over the hood, and that the two small vents along the top of the hood near the end are smaller than the later locomotives.

But I've seen a W&R model for sale that states it's a phase IIb. It does not have the small vents at all. It seems odd (but possible) that the small vents were added for phase IIa, removed for IIb and reappeared for phase IV. I don't have any info about phase III locomotives.

The final two locomotives are phase IV. These are the only two that match the Bachmann model. I will still replace the stanchions they used for the uncoupling lever, and I may replace the door handles with wire like I have on the phase IIa one. The W&R model has cast brass door handles separately applied (with two missing).
 
I have since tested the W&R and Bachmann on the layout. The W&R seems to have just a little more pulling power. And there is a lot more space to add weight as well. Of course I need to add sound first. In any event, it appears that either will pull at least 8 cars up the 2% grades (curved) which is plenty for operating the layout.

I'll paint the W&R in the delivery scheme of all Pullman Green. The phase IIa will be in the 1947/8 scheme with a Hunter Green cab and Warm Orange hoods. I believe this was the delivery scheme of the final two as well. By 1956 this also included a green top of the hood as well as a thin band along the bottom of the hood.

I am not sure when this variation was applied. I have pictures of 0802 in this scheme in New Britain in 1956. It appears that the hood and cab are Hunter Green and not Pullman Green or 401 Exterior Green, so it had to be painted prior to 1950.

So further research is required, but my initial plan is to paint the phase I in the delivery scheme, the phase II with a Hunter Green cab with Warm Orange hoods, and the 0817 or 0818 in the later variation with the green band and green hood top. I hope to pick up a second phase I at some time as well, also in the delivery scheme, since the first record I have of a phase II locomotive being assigned to New Britain is 1952. In any event, after the T-2-b locomotives are retired ('47-'48) there are always two 44 Tonners assigned to work in New Britain.