Diesel locos
new motive power
A recent addition to the motive power fleet in the form of an New England Rail Services GE 70T with MU and drop steps. It is pretty much bang on for several of the HBM&S 70 Tonners used at the smelter. I am planning to model #5 as it was one of the frequent engines I saw around the plant, and the brass version is vastly superior to the Bachmann rendering.
Shell & frame situation.
I suppose it's been about a year now, since I purchased my Athearn "TM" on ebay. Which also happens to be another story in it self. Anyway...here's the issue I have.
Somewhere along the line, someone CA'ed the shell to the frame. Anyone have a solution to solving this problem, Short of destroying the shell with a Dremel. I know normally nail polish remover will normally dissolve the CA, but that's usually fresh CA. I'm not sure about CA that has long since cured.
Proto 2000 - RDG GP7 - LokSound Install...
Today was a typical cold & wet Melbourne day, so time for decoder installs...
I continued on with the install of the LokSound - Select Direct decoder into the Proto 2000 RDG - GP7. I had to cut out and Dremel several sections of the weight so that i could install the decoder.
Rebuilding and Detailing Athearn Switchers
I found a pair of abused Blue Box SW7's that need a lot of attention but with some detailing, could be a nice model. I'll strip the paint, clean, lube and tune the mechanism and get the shell ready for details.
I plan on making one into a Conrail SW9 with a Cannon & Co cab and sound. The other will probably become a Lehigh Valley switcher but I'm not sure yet. Only one works as is, the other has it's shell glued on and a truck that spins freely.
More LokSound Conversions...
So as a little project to get back into the layout after a a break for about the last month I decided to install some more LokSound - Select Direct decoders in my non-sound locomotives.
The first project was a Athearn - RDG RS3 #445.
Phantom Engineer
I was taking some photos to compare my recent n-scale Atlas Master RS-3 with my first (50 y/o?) RSC-2 diesel. It was made in Yugoslavia for Atlas and its box is no longer around.
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Then I noticed. There seems to be someone in the cab of the RSD!
Spooky!
Happy Early Birthday to Me - Thank You Michael Rose
I was joking when I told Michael on his thread on this site that I'd store his new HO German doodlebug at my home so he wouldn't be tempted to switch back from N scale to German HO scale. So what happens when the Mrs. and I show up for a visit yesterday? He gives me the doodlebug as a birthday present! It is a beautiful unit and it looks great on my tourist doodlebug line on my layout. And besides this wonderful present we were treated to delicious German food and coffiee! We had a wonderful time - thank you!
Attack of the NW2s
A side by side comparison of similar locomotives with dissimilar decoders.
The same operation is performed. The results are quite different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsQRFTKc65Q
DD9C-2 Transfer locomotives #6100
I have always wanted a transfer locomotive to work between my steel mills and foundries, but the only one I know of was a model of the brass Baldwin DT-6-6-2000. Only time I have found those those was high dollar locomotives so I set out on designing and building my own.
I stated by looking for a mechanism and frame. I wanted to use a good running engine that ran great at low speeds. I ran across a Kato SD40-2 that had electrical problems but for the price I pick it up. Once I found the issue and fixed it I had my base for the transfer locomotive.
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