What's the best way to remove factory installed handrails and grab irons without breaking them. Are they glued in? If so what do you use to weaken the glue? I always find myself snapping the little nubs of the stanchions that connect them to the body of the locomotive. Also the grab irons on the ends of hoods and noses.

I have an old Lifelike MILW SD7 #2209 with all axis cracked. The "standard" Lifelike replacement axis part # 584 408 does not fit.



The left one are the well known Lifelike axis I have in all my Lifelike GP etc. It is part # 584 408.
The center one is the one I am looking for. Is there a known part number I can ask Walthers for or scan ebay?
(The right one is for reference only an Athern axis with a larger gearwheel)

Yesterday Toptrain and I were out walking along the former Ashley Planes and CNJ backtrack. Here are a few pics from our trip.

This is one of the concrete abutments that housed the winches that hauled the cars up the plane.
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Some cribbing built out of the side of the roadbed, There are a few spots like this, just not sure what they are for.
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The planes passed over a bridge here that has now been removed.

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This years National Narrow Gauge Convention will be held September 3-6 in beautiful Kansas City. Hotels within walking distance of the convention, and free parking. We are looking for volunteers to help with the convention. Please see the note below regarding volunteering, and let me know if you have any questions.

34th NNGC Volunteer Sign Up List

The convention staff would like to invite volunteers to participate in creating a helpful and enjoyable experience for all the attendees and their families. To do this we will need friendly people to assist in many aspects of the convention. If you are interested in doing so, please fill out the information requested below, and we will get in
touch with you when we have the tasks all worked out to request your help in filling them. Some of the work is as simple as helping direct lost conventioneers to the correct clinic room, a few will need to direct vendors and exhibitors to proper unloading sites and pathways to the correct room, and some to help keep the contest and vendor rooms off-limits to the uninvited. Further information will be provided as plans evolve.

I've invited you to fill out the form 34th NNGC Volunteer Sign Up List.
To fill it out, visit:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZsiKwX-yhT5RYTpHzF67v11G2JpDrMxTXrwujXRXL5U/viewform?usp=mail_form_link">https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ZsiKwX ... _form_link</a><!-- m -->

Any ideas why a liquor distributor/bottler would load tank cars?

Diageo in Plainfield, Illinois on the CN (ex-EJE) has three spurs with loading racks that are always full of ethanol (according to the DOT placards on them) tank cars. A little Googling indicates they distribute brands like Captain Morgan rum from the Plainfield plant but I can't figure why they'd be loading tanks.

There are no silos for grain, etc. and the only cars ever spotted there are tanks, so it's not a distillery.

Maybe they blend and reship?

Thanks!

Shore River 416 shoves a string of CP paper cars into Pier 32

Bruce

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Bachmann in the UK have announced that they will have to increase prices due to a number of developments in China. These are detailed in the thread above.
The major impact comes from increased compensation for the workers, but currency and shipping costs are also mentioned.
The increase appears to be in the 20% range.

Not sure how this will affect N.A. models.

I designed these and had them printed at shapeways.com. More pictures and details can be seen at: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2014/04/latest-shapeways-prints-ho-scale.html">http://nvrr49.blogspot.com/2014/04/late ... scale.html</a><!-- m -->

I haven't been all that big a fan of restored steam, maybe because there hasn't been a whole lot of it out here -- every few years, 3751 or 844, but not much else. But somehow I got stoked about UP moving Big Boy 4014 back to Cheyenne. I decided to see if I could get one of the cheap Revell plastic Big Boy kits and modify it as far as possible into the 4014 during its move. The Revell kit doesn't seem to be carried by the usual model train sites, but you can get it pretty inexpensively off Amazon, so I got one.

I need to be careful about scoping this project. My aim is to add whatever details I can to the Revell kit to make it look somewhat like 4014 on its move, without going bananas. For instance, the boiler sheathing has been removed (as it is on many museum locos, apparently to get rid of the asbestos insulation), and I am simply not going to spend the effort reproducing the unsheathed boiler with rivets showing. However, I do want to be able to have a diesel shove it back and forth on my layout. While the kit is advertised as having movable wheels, I'm not sure how well this will work, but I'm going to try to make it into enough of a dummy that I can at least have a mini-restoration trip if I want to.

I'm starting with the tender, as the changes really caught my eye when I saw the loco leaving West Colton on Monday:


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Notice there is no coal in the coal space, and the tender deck is being used to carry what looks like an air tank, as well as some components from the loco. The loco components can be made from the Revell parts, and I'll have to figure out how to do the air tank:


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I cut away the coal load from the Revell casting and will build up the empty coal space from styrene. I will also add weight to the tender for operation, insofar as this can be made workable:


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I replaced the snap-on lead truck attachment for the centipede tender with a screw and washer. I also made a styrene retainer for the pedestal tender wheels.


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I'll need to modify the chassis of both engine and tender to provide for Kadees front and rear, as well as more robust articulation and drawbar connections. I will also need to make the center wheels on the pedestal tender blind.