Modern Rolling Stock

[Schraddel]

Hello,

here i will sum up my my experiences with modern US models or locomotives and cars in loose order. This was also my last willful big hunt for rolling stock. Because now i have more then enough cars and locos for my demand. Occasions not exemted. Now i can play my layout in:
- Classic steam era 1920's - 1930's
- Transiton era 1940's - 1960's
- Medival era 1970's - 1980's - 1990's
- Modern era 2000's up
Conditioned by my membership in FREMO and the Southwest Division (SWD). For this my layout is modular and portable. On conventions it will be a industrial area with some hevy traffic. We run our meetings and conventions in different eras, Antik (antique), Mittelalter (medival) and Modern. For each of the eras you have to provide your own rolling stock for your part of the big layout made of modules.


Sometimes at evilbay you randomly find occasions. Randomly because the evilbay search engines are still deadbeat; a systematic search is not possible.
So this high cube box car from Walthers, a second hand offer for a reasonable price "buy immediately". Which i did. It was in mint condition.


As with Walthers Gold Line you have to mount the grab irons by yourself. Naturally this car also was equipped by me with a 3-point equalisation. Also i painted the shining wheels black. Kadee Scale Head whiskers #158 were mounted too.


But the brake was only rudimentary. Only brake cylinder, air reservoir and triple valve were there. No pipes and no rods. The model in the background was my pattern to rig the brake system.


The underframe was separated. The two white pieces of plastic profile are part of my 3-point suspension.


The eyelet of the brake cylinder rod was drilled out. 0.3mm bronze wire will be used for rigging.


Then started rigging.

For those members which are not so familar with brakes, Ted Culotta's tutorial is still the best: http://www.steamerafreightcars.com/model...smain.html


A closer look. With modern cars the brake rigging deviates in some points from those out of the steam era.
So some levers are not horizontal, but instead vertical mounted. This structure made out of black plastic stripes is such an bearing for a vertical brake lever.


And another one. The little chain is the conncetion between brake cylinder and hand brake.


The remounted underframe with completed brake rigging.


Check. This will be visible when the car is on the track.


And at least Darth Brush has striked.

Lutz

[TMo]

Vast improvement! Great work Lutz! Watch out for the kids and their spray paint cans, those modern box cars take their fair share of graffiti abuse....

[tompm]

Nice job. Looks a lot better.

[Schraddel]

Hello,


After some years waiting for it, at least two pre ordered Atlas Diesel ALCO C-425 locos arrived here. Ordering date Feb. 2019, delivery Dec. 2021.


Some months before i was able to purchase a suitable Atlas caboose. Also pre ordered and delivered after waiting several months.


One of the running chassis 9s shown here with my alterations:
- 3-point equalisation
- additional pick up wipers to the wheels
- Kadee #158 couplers
- cut down rear weight
- big Zimo double driver speaker
- Soundtraxx Tsunami2




The bodyshell of #811 is still as delivered and unboxed. With #812 i had done some modifications and still missing the typical horn cluster.

Photos of the prototype:
https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/bcr/bcr812mfa.jpg
It must be in a later apperiance. Extra rock lights and streak paintinf deviate form the model.

https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/bcr/bcr811mfa.jpg
The state of #811 are more matching with the Atlas models.


Collecting parts.

Lutz

[Schraddel]

Hello,

as a impulse buy, i purchased a Bowser MLW C-630 in BCR livery. My dealer had one of these on offer in DCC ready.

At Bowser meanwhile they are mounting Esu electronic components. Bearing my bad experiences with Scaletrains with also esu components, i decided to investigate mistrustful the electronis inside.
The photo shows a part of the interior.


Further investigation if the boards are useable with Non-Esu decoders. Happily they were. Otherwise i had removed the propertiary crap. Ordered a Soundtraxx Tsunami-2 PNP8 and started over with this type of sound decoder. Just as i had done with my Scaletrains GE ET44ACs (see separate thread).


Because the boards and electronics were useable, i orders an Tsunami-2 with 21-pin connector. The photo shows the electrical test run. All lights were acessible and all functions were working properly.


After the sucessful test run, the loco was completely dismantled for my mechanical optimisation programme.


Lutz

[TMo]

That trio is going to be very handsome!

[Schraddel]

Hello,

@TMo
Wait a little bit.


The rear truck.


The front truck. Manufacturing as usual. And as usual this loco with it's long frame and it's also long pivot base for the trucks is stiff.


O.k. let's grip some coarse rasp and take some action to the trucks.
This photo shows the rear truck afterwards.


The front truck. Still more material shaved off.


To create some more space for my beloved Zimo double-speaker, some material was removed from the weight casting with the aid of my bench grinder.


And my invest in a hassle free future, additional wipers for all half axles. As long the bearings are new and clean this type of pick up works flawless.
But not long into the future this not more the case. Inevitable some dirt, oil, grease will find it's way into the bearings. Or fibres were picked and wound around the axles and forming fluff balls. All of these will hamper the flow of current bewen rails and decoder (motor). The loco will become unreliable and tends to stall although wheels and rails are clean. The worst cases i had experienced were with Walthers Proto locos. Even new and shiny locos had probems with a reliable current pick up and were stalling. In all of these cases later mounted wipers solved the problem effective.


Lutz

[Amalynn]

I’m always incredibly impressed at all your work to improve the reliability of the equipment you get.