Locos and rolling stock

tcrofton's picture

EMD E's and F's

As  I assemble my pieces of a 50's streamline era I have been researching the locos. I am fond of the bullnose and variants, trying to get the whole range of curved units.

I have been reading as much as I can and trying to understand design decisions

So far the big question is why double engine E series is in some cases replaced by multiple units of single engine F series. One rap said 4 Fs had 16 drivers vs 12 for 3 E's, and was better in mountains.

What color are these covered hoppers

I am thinking of building the following covered hoppers but the only pictures are the following. Does anyone what color of body and paint they had? The Jack Frost looks like blue on white, but old color photos often turn blue or red with age. I want to be sure before building them.

Models vs Prototype Wheel Size

Do you change out the wheelsets on your rolling stock, and if so what have you found?

My small fleet of freight cars is still running on the wheels they came with. I've had them out to paint the centers and could see there were some different sizes but hadn't looked into it further until reading the "Make it Run Like a Dream" series by Joe Fugate.

eufonist's picture

Kato 106-102 CN Transcontinental Train set - how to drop in a decoder

Hello,

I've bought the CN Transcontinental Train set, Kato 106-102. I bought the "standard" edtion without any lights installed. But the car at the end, the Sleeper Observetion #1903 "Trinity" does have light installed to my surprise.

I run my trains DCC so I'd like to drop in a decoder in that car to control the light. On my DCC layout the car has always the head lights switched on and I'd like to have the lights changing with the direction of travel. 

How can I drop in a decoder and which one do I need?

kfglover's picture

Tsunami2 responds differently to different throttles... really?

This is making me crazy... well maybe crazierwink

I have a new Athearn Genesis GP7u (ATSF 2098). I want to set it up to work with my ProtoThrottle. on my Digitrax DCC system. I have other locos that are working fine with the PT (LokSound v4 and Tsunami decoders). 

Just Announced: New Rivet Counter HO SD40-2s

We’re pleased to announce our next run of the Rivet Counter HO Scale EMD SD40-2 locomotives. Back by popular request, this run includes new road numbers for four (4) roadnames while introducing our first Mexican railroad in the Rivet Counter line.

Roadnames include:

•CSX/SD40-3 Square Cab
•Milwaukee Road
•N de M
•Norfolk Southern/Admiral Cab
•Santa Fe

Light build

Hello! Turns out I really enjoy my rekindled train hobby. I've embarked on a project to light up all the trains I have. Interior car, headlights, fire box, locomotive cab, etc. 

 

I've started with my Polar express set. Reason being is I got an amazing deal on the full set of 3, plus the 2 I already had. Problem is the led boards inside allow light to shine upwards and through the roof. Looked like junk at night. 

 

Brass Steam Pickup and Short Issues - Lead and Trailing Trucks

Hi everyone,

I am reassembling a Sunset Great Northern O-8 Mikado after a paint job. It had no running issues prior to disassembly. I have gotten stuck though with some shorts happening.

OOOO - Drivers and Drawbar hooked up have no issues.

OOOO -ooo ooo Drivers and Tender powered have no issues. 

oOOOO -ooo ooo Lead Truck, Drivers, and Tender = Constant Shorts

OOOOo-ooo ooo Trailing Truck, Drivers, and Tender = Constant Shorts

Project - old brass RSD-15

Hi all - I recently rolled the dice and bought online an old tarnished brass diesel, an RSD-15 ("alligator") and have a few questions for the group.   My goal here was really to just get some practice on sandblasting and painting brass, (ATSF blue), but it would be nice to get this working well as a stretch goal.  

NevinW's picture

Changing the numbers on an Atlas HO illuminated number board

I have a number of Atlas HO GP38-2 engines that will need the numbers on their number boards changed.  I've bought some Shellscale decals for the numbers.  Can someone point me in the direction of a good tutorial on how to redo the numbers on illuminated number boards?  My track record in re-doing locomotive numbers isn't that great lately so I need to get up to speed before trying this.  


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