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Re: What's everybody working on??

 

I've been working on a Dockside cab forward. I don't have that Kemtron shorty Vanderbilt tender, however. Perhaps I'll use an MDC 0-6-0 tender.

Al
Re: What's everybody working on?? [3 Attachments]

 

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Very nice work Ray.

?

Don’t know why you’d want a Penn Line boiler as yours looks very nice indeed.

?

Love that pilot!

?

John Hagen

?

From: yardbirdtrains@... [mailto:yardbirdtrains@...] On Behalf Of Ray Marinaccio
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 12:09 PM
To: yardbirdtrains@...
Subject: [yardbirdtrains] Re: What's everybody working on?? [3 Attachments]

?

?

[Attachment(s) from Ray Marinaccio included below]

I got side tracked from the Mantua Mikado I was working on.

?I have been working on an old scratch built K4 I started about 20 years ago. I had hoped to find a Pennline boiler to fit the Pennline frame but haven't found one (cheap enough), so I am going to finish it as is.

?Hope to get back to the Mike soon.

?
Re: Tyco 2-8-0 repowering?

DONALD HENNEN
 

Some time ago, Mantua offered a consolidation with the same boiler as the Chattanooga Choo-Choo and a die cast frame and the same wheels, motor, etc. as the Mantua Mikado. If you could get a Mikado, you could modify the back of the frame to fit the back of your boiler body. The underside of the boiler would have to be modified, as well, to allow for the motor placement and you would probably need to make your own weight to fit everything.

That's an option, anyhow, though the question arises about whether the proud owner of a working Mantua Mikado would rather have the Mikado or the consolidation.

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "kbkchooch" <kbkchooch@...> wrote:

Greetings gang!
I have 2 old Tyco 2-8-0's that have been turned into dummies. The
"Chattanooga Choo-Choo" tender drives were swapped out for regular
tenders, headlights wired, then repainted. Useless, but impressive when
tacked onto the rear of a train at shows. Folks always wanted to know
how I got the "helper" to run so well with the lead engines. [;)]
Anyhow, the show days are over, so I was wondering what the best way to
power them was? There is a space in the frame for a gearbox, but no
gear on the axle. NWSL parts? Or is there an already powered chassis
that will fit? (Mantua, Bowser, etc?)
Any ideas?
Thanks in advanceKarl B.
Re: What's everybody working on??

 

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Thanks Karl, that makes perfect sense.
Regards,
Vic Bitleris Raleigh, NC

To: yardbirdtrains@...
From: kbkchooch@...
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 19:02:19 +0000
Subject: [yardbirdtrains] Re: What's everybody working on??

?
Vic, the headlight was pretty easy. The headlight and platform are separate castings (Cary or Cal Scale, I can't remember which). The headlight bracket has 2 pins coming off the back. I just located the spots, drilled 2 holes and CA'ed it into place!
Some of the other parts were harder, and the is more to come!

KarlB

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., Victor Bitleris wrote:
>
> Very nice, very nice. I wonder how you mounted the headlight to the smokebox front? I had to solder one onto a brass PRR A5s and it was a bear. I ended up drilling a couple of holes in the top of the smokebox front and soldered .015" brass rod to give the headlight some support. Soldering onto zamac is not something most mortals would attempt, so I am guess some kind of epoxy and maybe pinning it?Regards,
> Vic Bitleris
> Raleigh, NC
>
> To: yardbirdtrains@...
> From: kbkchooch@...
> Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 01:32:31 +0000
> Subject: [yardbirdtrains] What's everybody working on??
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> Been quiet here, any good projects going on??
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> I currently have an old (Very old integral gearbox) Mantua Mikado with a Pacific boiler and steamchest (thanks Dan) which is absorbing detail parts about as fast as they come in! I still need to fashion the front walkways out of brass (these are just stand ins) A more appropriate Bachmann tender will house a sound decoder once the engine is finished.
> Pics of progress so far
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Re: Wood Vs Coal

DONALD HENNEN
 

There were many coal burning locomotives built with the firebox between the drivers. There were also many engines built, with essentially the same boiler, which could be ordered with different grates for wood or for coal (or with an oil burning setup).

The above-the-drivers fireboxes, with their larger grates, likely had more to do with the boiler size and intended steaming capacity, regardless of fuel. These were usually coal or oil fired, because the wood burning railroads were either long ago or little short lines with small locomotives.

The one case I can think of where coal determined the grate size was if the engine was intended to burn anthracite. Engines on the anthracite railroads (Reading, Lackawanna, etc.) had huge grates and wide fireboxes because hard coal burns so slowly.

As a spotting feature, I would not expect to see a wide firebox burning wood but, in my experience, the mere presence of a narrow one tells you little about its intended fuel.

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "lnnrr" <lnnrr@...> wrote:

There was a fairly basic difference between fireboxes made for wood
burning and ones designed for coal. When you look at Civil War era
locomotives, one sees that it was common for fireboxes to be no
wider than the frame of the engine. This gave a long narrow firebox
that generally was quite deep to allow layers of wood. Example: the
American Standard 4-4-0.
Fireboxes designed for coal used a wider shallower firebox that
needed to hang behind the drivers or spread above them. This led
to the trailing truck.
There were exceptions, of course. Not to mention design failures
as builders experimented with improvements.
As the railroads evolved, many locomotives were given quicky
conversions from wood to coal but these were generally locomotives
put into secondary service because of poor efficiency compared to
engines built for coal.
One historic example was when the L&N converted a number of locos
along the Gulf Coast where there were few grades. Then a hurricane
blew through Mobile and Baldwin County Alabama. Farmers there lost
most of their crops which often were shipped by L&N. The RR
reconverted several engines back to wood in order to burn fallen
timber and give the farmers a bit of cash until the next year.
Chuck Peck
Re: What's everybody working on??

kbkchooch
 

Vic, the headlight was pretty easy. The headlight and platform are separate castings (Cary or Cal Scale, I can't remember which). The headlight bracket has 2 pins coming off the back. I just located the spots, drilled 2 holes and CA'ed it into place!
Some of the other parts were harder, and the is more to come!

KarlB

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., Victor Bitleris <bitlerisvj@...> wrote:

Very nice, very nice. I wonder how you mounted the headlight to the smokebox front? I had to solder one onto a brass PRR A5s and it was a bear. I ended up drilling a couple of holes in the top of the smokebox front and soldered .015" brass rod to give the headlight some support. Soldering onto zamac is not something most mortals would attempt, so I am guess some kind of epoxy and maybe pinning it?Regards,
Vic Bitleris
Raleigh, NC

To: yardbirdtrains@...
From: kbkchooch@...
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 01:32:31 +0000
Subject: [yardbirdtrains] What's everybody working on??


























Been quiet here, any good projects going on??

I currently have an old (Very old integral gearbox) Mantua Mikado with a Pacific boiler and steamchest (thanks Dan) which is absorbing detail parts about as fast as they come in! I still need to fashion the front walkways out of brass (these are just stand ins) A more appropriate Bachmann tender will house a sound decoder once the engine is finished.
Pics of progress so far
Re: What's everybody working on??

 

I got side tracked from the Mantua Mikado I was working on.
?I have been working on an old scratch built K4 I started about 20 years ago. I had hoped to find a Pennline boiler to fit the Pennline frame but haven't found one (cheap enough), so I am going to finish it as is.
?Hope to get back to the Mike soon.
?
Back to the Future

 

Looky, looky.
Preproduction samples of BLI's DIE CAST H10.



Denis
Re: What's everybody working on??

 

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Ohh, I forgot to answer your question; "What's everybody working on??"
I have not worked on ANY modeling projects in months. ?the last modeling project I did was working on a New One, brass 0-6-0. ?I had to completely rebuild the pilot beam and installed a Kadee coupler. ?Likewise, I had to create a rear beam and foot boards for the tender, so I could add a Kadee coupler to it. ?I would like to get back to that and finish the loco and get it running. ?But, running is the key.
I have been diligently slaving away at the layout. ?I have finally got all the new subroadbed knitted to and modified the old layout so now I can continue to lay track. ?Before that happens, I have been working on pre-wiring and making control panels (WHAT A CHORE!) and mounting Tortoises, also a chore. ?My initial plan was to have the main line completely connected and fully operation by my retirement next May/June. ?This seems to be going way ahead of schedule and with luck, I will have the mainline done, control panels in place and RUNNING TRAINS again. ?
Having said, that, one cannot just work on the layout bones non-stop. ?I am absolutely certain I will take breaks before the summer is out and work on my locomotives. ?I will try to take photos and post in the Photos section.
Regards,
Vic Bitleris Raleigh, NC

To: yardbirdtrains@...
From: kbkchooch@...
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 01:32:31 +0000
Subject: [yardbirdtrains] What's everybody working on??

?
Been quiet here, any good projects going on??

I currently have an old (Very old integral gearbox) Mantua Mikado with a Pacific boiler and steamchest (thanks Dan) which is absorbing detail parts about as fast as they come in! I still need to fashion the front walkways out of brass (these are just stand ins) A more appropriate Bachmann tender will house a sound decoder once the engine is finished.

?Pics of progress so far

?

?
Re: What's everybody working on??

 

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Very nice, very nice. ?I wonder how you mounted the headlight to the smokebox front? ?I had to solder one onto a brass PRR A5s and it was a bear. ?I ended up drilling a couple of holes in the top of the smokebox front and soldered .015" brass rod to give the headlight some support. ?Soldering onto zamac is not something most mortals would attempt, so I am guess some kind of epoxy and maybe pinning it?
Regards,?
Vic Bitleris Raleigh, NC

To: yardbirdtrains@...
From: kbkchooch@...
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 01:32:31 +0000
Subject: [yardbirdtrains] What's everybody working on??

?
Been quiet here, any good projects going on??

I currently have an old (Very old integral gearbox) Mantua Mikado with a Pacific boiler and steamchest (thanks Dan) which is absorbing detail parts about as fast as they come in! I still need to fashion the front walkways out of brass (these are just stand ins) A more appropriate Bachmann tender will house a sound decoder once the engine is finished.

?Pics of progress so far

?

?
Re: What's everybody working on??

Nathan Rich
 

That is a very nice looking light Mikado you have there...

As for me, I am just about to get a new job, the truck driving got real old real fast and I went home in May. Now I am about to start a new job as a septic tank pumper guy... the smell sometimes isn't roses but the people are sure happy to see you show up!

Once I get rolling on that, and get out of my mode of taking my mind off the hook (It's been nice to be able to set my own schedule, just been doing odd jobs here and there to keep gas in the truck), I'll probably eventually reorganize my stuff again and start getting things back on track. I have a couple of steamers that need finishing, and that will mean some parts to be procured from Dan... I also have two others that will need new motors and one that I need to buy a jar of bullfrog snot for (the traction tires are gone).

It's hard to do anything when you can't buy parts! Those days are numbered though.

Til next,
Nathan

On Jul 30, 2013 6:43 PM, "kbkchooch" <kbkchooch@...> wrote:



Been quiet here, any good projects going on??

I currently have an old (Very old integral gearbox) Mantua Mikado with a Pacific boiler and steamchest (thanks Dan) which is absorbing detail parts about as fast as they come in! I still need to fashion the front walkways out of brass (these are just stand ins) A more appropriate Bachmann tender will house a sound decoder once the engine is finished.

?Pics of progress so far

?

?
What's everybody working on??

kbkchooch
 

Been quiet here, any good projects going on??

I currently have an old (Very old integral gearbox) Mantua Mikado with a Pacific boiler and steamchest (thanks Dan) which is absorbing detail parts about as fast as they come in! I still need to fashion the front walkways out of brass (these are just stand ins) A more appropriate Bachmann tender will house a sound decoder once the engine is finished.

?Pics of progress so far

?

?
Re: A Mantua engine in MR?

Henry
 

Yeh , Those guys will do what they think is best . Who knows ? Lots of things to buy , etc. , etc . ?? It might happen ? Henry H.

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "kbkchooch" <kbkchooch@...> wrote:

Henry,

A ploy to pump up circulation? Kalmbach? Naaaaaaahhhhh!!!! The Youtube video was my idea,,to help sell the article to them! However, if Kalmbach felt enough pressure to ask me,, I could do a follow up article with a different engine. I'm just dying to remotor my Penn Line 4-4-2 and maybe try a new TSC Wow decoder in it! :-)

Karl B

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "Henry" <long95209@> wrote:

Always nice to know you guys can cut it up when I'm busy ! Could this article be a ploy of Kalmbach to pump up circulation ? That little 0-4-0 sure ran well on that you tube clip . Henry

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "lnnrr" <lnnrr@> wrote:

With the cab roof on hinges, a G scale engineer can ride and
run it. That same G scale engineer probably has some Z scale
in his basement.
Chuckles (Just following Denis's lead here)

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "Denis Long" <avanti78@> wrote:

Fabulous set up! Doesn't an engine that small require no bigger than O
scale hands to do thee work?

Denis
Re: A Mantua engine in MR?

kbkchooch
 

Henry,

A ploy to pump up circulation? Kalmbach? Naaaaaaahhhhh!!!! The Youtube video was my idea,,to help sell the article to them! However, if Kalmbach felt enough pressure to ask me,, I could do a follow up article with a different engine. I'm just dying to remotor my Penn Line 4-4-2 and maybe try a new TSC Wow decoder in it! :-)

Karl B

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "Henry" <long95209@...> wrote:

Always nice to know you guys can cut it up when I'm busy ! Could this article be a ploy of Kalmbach to pump up circulation ? That little 0-4-0 sure ran well on that you tube clip . Henry

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "lnnrr" <lnnrr@> wrote:

With the cab roof on hinges, a G scale engineer can ride and
run it. That same G scale engineer probably has some Z scale
in his basement.
Chuckles (Just following Denis's lead here)

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "Denis Long" <avanti78@> wrote:

Fabulous set up! Doesn't an engine that small require no bigger than O
scale hands to do thee work?

Denis
Re: A Mantua engine in MR?

Henry
 

Always nice to know you guys can cut it up when I'm busy ! Could this article be a ploy of Kalmbach to pump up circulation ? That little 0-4-0 sure ran well on that you tube clip . Henry

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "lnnrr" <lnnrr@...> wrote:

With the cab roof on hinges, a G scale engineer can ride and
run it. That same G scale engineer probably has some Z scale
in his basement.
Chuckles (Just following Denis's lead here)

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "Denis Long" <avanti78@> wrote:

Fabulous set up! Doesn't an engine that small require no bigger than O
scale hands to do thee work?

Denis
Re: A Mantua engine in MR?

lnnrr
 

With the cab roof on hinges, a G scale engineer can ride and
run it. That same G scale engineer probably has some Z scale
in his basement.
Chuckles (Just following Denis's lead here)

--- In yardbirdtrains@..., "Denis Long" <avanti78@...> wrote:

Fabulous set up! Doesn't an engine that small require no bigger than O
scale hands to do thee work?

Denis
Re: A Mantua engine in MR?

 

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Fabulous set up!? Doesn’t an engine that small require no bigger than O scale hands to do thee work?

Denis
Re: A Mantua engine in MR?

 

That is excellent! I'll be looking for it in MR.?

Jeff
jppellas@...


-----Original Message-----
From: kbkchooch
To: yardbirdtrains
Sent: Mon, Jul 22, 2013 6:19 pm
Subject: [yardbirdtrains] A Mantua engine in MR?

?
Yes, its true! The September issue will have an article with a lowly Mantua 0-4-0 sporting a DCC sound decoder, a TCS "keep alive" circuit piggybacked to the decoder, and what little engine would be complete without one of Dan's(Yardbirds)can motors.
No other modifications of any kind were done to the electrical pickup system on the engine, yet it traverses dead frogs with ease, even a 6 inch section of track with tape over it!
Here's a sneak peek!

Re: A Mantua engine in MR?

 

开云体育

Now that sounds like a timely article. ?If the write up turns out at my expectations, it should breathe new life into MR. ?I think there are LOTS of articles such as this one waiting to get written/published now with the advent of better motors DCC, Sound, etc.
Regards,?
Vic Bitleris Raleigh, NC

To: yardbirdtrains@...
From: kbkchooch@...
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 01:18:56 +0000
Subject: [yardbirdtrains] A Mantua engine in MR?

?
Yes, its true! The September issue will have an article with a lowly Mantua 0-4-0 sporting a DCC sound decoder, a TCS "keep alive" circuit piggybacked to the decoder, and what little engine would be complete without one of Dan's(Yardbirds)can motors.
No other modifications of any kind were done to the electrical pickup system on the engine, yet it traverses dead frogs with ease, even a 6 inch section of track with tape over it!
Here's a sneak peek!


A Mantua engine in MR?

kbkchooch
 

Yes, its true! The September issue will have an article with a lowly Mantua 0-4-0 sporting a DCC sound decoder, a TCS "keep alive" circuit piggybacked to the decoder, and what little engine would be complete without one of Dan's(Yardbirds)can motors.
No other modifications of any kind were done to the electrical pickup system on the engine, yet it traverses dead frogs with ease, even a 6 inch section of track with tape over it!
Here's a sneak peek!

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