Scale Trains

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Sept/Oct 2003 • Issue #10 • US $8.00Sept/Oct 2003 • Issue #10 • US $8.00

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Modelingfor the O ScaleCraftsman

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NEW! The 1947 Great Northern Western Star 8 car set and single cars lettered for CB&Q in O Scale !

Prototype photo by courtesy of GN.

#17409 Great Northern Western Star 8 car set, factory painted Empire Colors, lettered Great Northern.(1) RPO/Baggage painted #1102 (1) 60-seat coach painted #1112 (1) 48-seat coach painted #1128 (1) Coffee Shop/Dormitory painted #1143 Coeur d’Alene Lake (1) Dining car #1151 Lake McDonald (1) 8-4-4 Sleeper painted #1165 Triple Divide Pass (1) 16-4 Sleeper painted #1174 Many Glacier (1) 2-1 Buffet/Lounge/Observation painted #1193 Kootenai River

Prototype photo by William J. Neill. Similar to PSC #17423-1

GN Empire Builder 1947 Pullman Standard cars, painted Empire Builder colors lettered for CB&Q#17411-1 GN RPO/Baggage car painted CB&Q #1104.#17413-1 GN 48-seat coach painted CB&Q #1132, 1133 and #1134.#17415-1 GN 60-seat coach painted CB&Q #1114 .#17417-1 GN Coffee Shop/Dormitory car painted CB&Q#1144 Red Eagle Lake.#17419-1 GN Dining car painted CB&Q #1154 Lake Michigan.#17421-1 GN Sleeper 8-4-4 painted CB&Q #1168 Red Gap Pass and # 1169 Swift Current Pass.#17423-1 GN Sleeper 16-4 painted CB&Q #1178 Sperry Glacier and #1179 Siyeh Glacier.#17425-1 GN Buffet/Lounge/Observation 2-1 painted CB&Q #1194 Marias Pass.

#17365 1947 Great Northern Empire Builder 8 car set, painted and lettered Empire Builder:(1) RPO/Baggage painted #1100, (1) 60-Seat Coach painted #1110, (1) 48-Seat Coach #1120, (1) Coffee Shop/Dormitory painted#1142 Two Medicine Lake , (1) Dining Car painted #1152 Lake Chelan (1) 8-4-4 Sleeper #1160 Gunsight Pass (1) 16-4 Sleeper painted #1170 Black Foot Glacier and (1) 2-1 Buffet/Lounge/Observation painted #1192 Flathead River.

#17365-1 RPO/Baggage car painted Empire Builder colors, #1101, #1102 and #1103.#17365-2 48-Seat Coach painted Empire Builder colors, #1121 thru #1131.#17365-3 60-Seat Coach painted Empire Builder colors #1111, #1112, and #1113.#17365-4 Coffee Shop/Dormitory car painted Empire Builder colors #1141, #1142 and #1143.#17365-5 Dining car painted Empire Builder colors #1151, #1152 and #1153.#17365-6 Sleeper 8-4-4 painted Empire Builder colors #1161 thru #1166.#17365-7 Sleeper 16-4 painted Empire Builder colors #1171 thru #1177.#17365-8 Buffet/Lounge/Observation 2-1 painted Empire Builder colors #1191 and #1193.

Precisely handcrafted brass models Super-Detailed per prototypes.*Exact paint colors from original paint chips *Full Interiors with all new PSC tooling *Interior Shades

*Detailed Underbodies * Lighting System *Sprung and Equalized Trucks *Working Doors and VestibuleSee your local Hobby Shop and reserve yours today for fall arrival!

Sept/Oct '03 - O Scale Trains • 3

TrainsScaleOTrainsScaleO

Features4 Alex Azary’s DAMN Railway & Transportation Co.

John Henke spins the tale of his friend Alex’s layout.

11 Babbitt Atlantic Modifications: Cab & BoilerPersonalizing a common kit, Bob Garrelts makes his unique.

15 Super Detailed TrackWant to make your trackwork look super realistic? Clark Howell gives us the details on how it’s done.

18 Southern New England Model Railroad ClubRich Godfrey spreads the word about a very active club

26 The L&N and Southern RRCarey Hinch’s contest entry is a switching layout built on a helix.

34 Scale Command - Part IIIThe final installment in Don Woodwell’s coverage of TMCC™ for 2 rail operation. Don gives recommendations and some costs.

38 Where The Eagle Meets The Chief

A photo layout from the 2003 O Scale National

44 Track Cleaning CarA scrape a day keep the locos on their way says Stuart Ramsey

54 Floor ModulesWho says you don’t have room for a layout? See how Gary Woodardsolved his dilemma.

58 Modeler’s TricksA better solution for the InterMountain operating doors is what Harry Hieke, Jr., says he has. You decide.

Departments8 Easements for the Learning Curve – Brian Scace

20 Traction Action – Roger Jenkins23 Proto48 – Gene Deimling24 The Workshop – Neville Rossiter 31 Crapola From The Cupola – John C. Smith45 Modeler’s Shelf – pages 45 & 5746 Reader Feedback – Letters to the Editor48 Product News & Reviews: Golden LEDs & Aristo Craft RC Throttle50 Narrow Minded – Bobber Gibbs59 Buy-Sell-Trade Ads60 Events Listing60 Ad index61 OST Dealers List62 Observations – Joe Giannovario

Modeling for the O Scale

CraftsmanIssue #10Sept/Oct 2003

Vol. 2, No. 5

Editor/PublisherJoe Giannovario

Art DirectorJaini Simon

Contributing EditorsTed Byrne

Gene DeimlingBobber GibbsRoger Jenkins

Jeb KriigelNeville Rossiter

Brian ScaceJohn C. SmithDon Woodwell

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O Scale Trains ISSN 1536-9528www.oscalemag.comPublished bimonthly (6 times a year) by O Scale Trains Magazine,PO Box 238, Lionville PA 19353-0238© 2003 OST All Rights ReservedPrinted in the U.S.A.

Contributors: O Scale Trains welcomes your feature articles, photos, and drawings.Such material should be sent to the above address forpossible publication. If we accept, you will be notifiedimmediately. For more information concerning articlepreparation guidelines, please send an SASE to theabove address and request our “Guide For Authors” or visit our website.

Cover: Steam and Traction run with equal aplomb on AlexAzary’s DAMN Railway & Transportation company.

Centerspread: Reed Artim of O Scale Realty built the freightdock that takes center stage this month (ignore that Class A hid-ing behind the dock). Reed built the structure for Tony Hardi-son of Louisville, Kentucky. The model was photographed byJeb Kriigel of Get Real productions.

OST is a proud Member of the Model Railroad Industry Association

4 • O Scale Trains - Sept/Oct '03

Alex Azary’s

O Scale LayoutIn A Small Place

Alex Azary’s

O Scale LayoutIn A Small Place

by John A. Henkeby John A. Henke

One often hears the statement, “I justdon’t have enough room for it” or “ I lovethe detail and realism of O scale, but...”.Some then go on to fill half a room withHO layouts, which although very nice, justcan’t match the authenticity of the “Kingof Scales.” Others claim that the cost of Oscale is just too high (arguably a justifiableclaim) and then proceed to spend largeamounts of cash on numerous HO enginesand rolling stock or on a few high-priced,brass HO products.

Alex Azary’s Dayton and MichiganNorthern Railway and TransportationCompany (D.A.M.N.), a former Pennsybranch line, on which Ann Arbor Railroadhas trackage rights, is an answer to thosewho just don’t seem to be able to make thestep to O scale.

Alex, a man of many interests, convert-ed to O scale in 1976 after being involvedin HO for a number of years. He has devel-oped his skills over the past 60 plus years,repairing, rebuilding and painting modelsfor himself and others. In 1990, he movedto a new home and because of limitedspace had to downsize his layout to its

present L-shaped 23 feet long by 10 feetwide size, the southern 10 ft of which nar-rows to 6 ft wide. A workshop, a den andan area for Mrs. Azary’s hobbies forcedAlex to improvise in the small area indicated.

Over the past 12 years, Alex has builtand modified his layout and collection, Hehas constantly upgraded his roster ofengines and rolling stock through tradesand purchases following the lineage ofMax Gray through U.S. Hobbies andWestside models to Iron Horse models,with side trips to Overland, Precision Scaleand NJ Custom Brass.He has one lonely plas-tic AHM Indiana HarborBelt 0-8-0 switcher.

A lover of steam andlarge locomotives, Alexhas downsized toMoguls, Atlantic’s andGP35’s. He still main-tains a beloved PennsyQ2, but it just can’tmake it around thecurves on Alex’s layoutso it is stabled on a

friend’s layout with 84 inch radius curves. Much of Alex’s present collection of

engines is based on experiences from thepast. As a child living in Dayton, Ohio,Alex and friends used to bum rides on aPRR B6sb switcher at the sidings on Day-ton’s west side. Alex fell in love with thePennsy Atlantic #460 (the so called Lind-bergh engine) after seeing Charles Lind-bergh fly over his home after his returnfrom Europe. A Max Gray model fills theniche. Pulling his ore train is a KemtronWabash Mogul. A prototype of this engine

An Ann Arbor GP35 (Overland) stops at Ann Arbor Station. Note the WhitcombSteeple Cab Ann Arbor #1.


the Pennsylvania Railroad. Thus the dual-purpose layout hasevolved. The D.A.M.N. Railway Trolley Museum, complete witha trolley barn and overhead wires, allows him to run a fine collec-tion of interurban models based on prototypes from both East andWest coasts, as well as several from in between. An Eastern Mass.Street Railway snowbrush, a prototype of which can be found inthe Sea Shore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, repre-sents the East. The West is represented by a Pacific Electric 1000series “Big Red Car”. Several other trolleys make up the museum

collection. Recently acquired Divi-sion Point Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs)fit nicely in the Ann Arbor Michiganlocale. RDCs were once used on theJackson to Ann Arbor, Michigan,commuter line. These cars areamong Alex’s favorites.

Although a variety of passengerrolling stock has resided on theD.A.M.N. in the past, currently pas-senger operations are limited to the

Trolley Museum and its inhabitants. For senti-mental reasons Alex does retain a GI Pullmanpassenger car (in which he rode many milesduring WWII) and a Wabash heavyweight(because of its past connection with the AnnArbor railroad). The present layout featuresmainly freight operations, with a variety of

hoppers, boxcars, gondolas, tank cars, and cabooses,Carefully selected and weathered structures and accessory

vehicles accent the 1950s venue. Pennsylvania Railroad style sig-nal towers give the railroad a distinct Pennsy flavor, as do the over-head wires, The setting is a combination of the Ann Arbor areaand an elevated Pennsylvania mining town, which is situated atopa hill traversed by a two-track tunnel,

Alex’s wife, Jan, a miniaturist and artist, has supplied the artis-tic talent that has converted a somewhat ordinary layout into a

is housed in the National Trans-portation Museum in St. Louis,Missouri. Alex has a HO scalemodel of the Wabash Mogul andat one time owned a 1.5 inchscale live steam model of thesame engine. A second Mogul isa Pennsylvania F-3 built byGem. Other smaller enginesinclude a pair of PennsylvaniaB1 “Rats” by 3rd Rail, and anOverland Whitcomb 44 tondiesel known as the Ann Arbor“1 Spot”. Two GP-35 diesels byOverland (one lettered PRR, theother Ann Arbor) complete thediesel roster.

Alex has long been a tractionfan and, in fact, when he movedto his new home he started outbuilding an interurban layout.This was necessitated by thesmall space and the tight curvesthat arose out of that situation.The initial layout utilized truescale road bed that was found tobe too limiting and so Alex con-verted to cork road bed withAtlas flex track.

He found, however, that hecould not abandon his love ofrailroading and particularly of

Overview of P.V. Tower, powerhouse, Noble-Onee Packing Company, Jiffy Mix grain storage(a Chelsea, Michigan landmark), and the TrolleyMuseum with Pennsy GP35 on mainline.

A close-up of Chelsea’s Jiffy Mix milling tower area. The Pennsy GP-35 (Max Gray) rumbles by on the main. AFeather River Lumber Company Shay (Max Gray) is on thesidetrack. The “reefer” in front of the packing company is aCustom Brass model.

The Pennsy B 1 “Rats” on the main pass by awarehouse near the engine facility. Note that theOverland GP-35 and three steamers (Max GrayAtlantic and Gem B6sb and Mogul) wait on thesidetracks.

The Ann Arbor GP-35 (Overland Models) heading into a tunnel beneath the Village of Itsall.The B6b is exiting the tunnel.

The D.A.M.N. Railroad Transportation Museum. Entrance to Trolley Museum showingmainline at P.V. Tower. Westbound track with “clear” signal.


um adds interest with overhead wires so typical of the first half ofthe twentieth century and are reminiscent of the PennsylvaniaRailroad. Alex has used a single inverted N scale rail for his over-head wires. This provides an excellent and durable overhead. Itaccommodates both trolley shoes and pantographs very nicely.Wooden trolley poles, by John Pilling, support the system.

The layout has a double track mainline with designated eastand westbound tracks. Three sources of power are utilized, a dualKurtz-Kraft power supply rated at 18 volts D.C. and 5 amps, eachfurnishes power through two cabs. For trolley operations, theKurtz units are disconnected and two A.C. transformers, rated at

24 volts and 4, amps provide power one to each track. A recentlyinstalled North Coast Engineering 10 amp “Power House” systemprovides Digital Command Control. This array of options pro-vides tremendous flexibility on a small layout.

Bench construction utilizes 2 x 6 ft sections, many of whichwere moved from Alex’s previous layout. Each section is coded

for easy assembly and disassembly. Atlas flextrack and Roco #6turnouts on quarter inch cork roadbed, applied using rubbercement, has allowed rearrangement of trackage on more than oneoccasion. The present layout has 48 inch and 36 inch radiuscurves. The detection system and Pennsy-type block signal systemwas designed and constructed by Jay’s Engineering (Joe Kocsis)of Westland, Michigan.

If you happen to be in the Ann Arbor area and want to see amagnificent small O scale layout, look Alex up. You will beimpressed! ◆

work of art with a splendid hillside scene and a wooded backdropwith a painted blue sky and clouds.

A leisurely trip around the layout begins at the Ann Arbor pas-senger station and heads west past the companion freight station.Passing under a Pennsy style signal bridge (Superior Models Lim-ited) one comes on an Model Masterpieces interlocking tower andOverland 35,000 gallon water tank. Following the mainline, twosidings, one for cabooses and one for engines, are noted to theright. In addition, a turntable lead connects the mainline to aBowser motorized turntable using a Dallee electronic indexing kit.Tracks from the turntable lead to a generic engine house in whichresides the IHB 0-8-0 switcher. On the adjacent track sits the AnnArbor “1 Spot”.

Across the mainline from the engine house one encounters theDexter Farm Bureau warehouse. Continuing along the main theChelsea, Michigan, passenger station is on the right. Continuingthrough Chelsea one passes Chelsea Milling Company silos andmill, famous for “Jiffy Mixes,” and ahead a little further encoun-ters the Noble-O’Nee Packing Company. On the left, the GeneralLight Power Company can be seen just in front of the D.A.M.N.Trolley Museum. The PV interlocking tower, obtained from andnamed for the late Pennsylvania Railroad fan and modeler, P.V.Risinger, is also seen on the right. Passing under a second Pennsystyle signal tower one rounds the curve and enters a new venue. Adistinctly Pennsylvania flavor is evident on approaching the por-tals leading under Tunnel Hill.

The village of Tunnel Hill,seated on the hill, is the home ofthe Itsall Mine Company. Its oretipple is an Oak Ridge kit andthe hoist house is scratch built.Passing through the tunnel exit,a road crossing is encounteredand the Ann Arbor, Michiganarea, with its passenger andfreight stations, looms justahead.

The D.A.M.N. Trolley Muse-

A Checker Cab, hoping for a fare, sits next to Chelsea Station as #460 (a Max Gray Atlantic) pulls up for a stop.

D.A.M.N. Railroad Transportation Museum showing a variety of traction stock.

The Itsall Mine Tipple and Hoist. Note the Shelby Cobra.

A man of many interests, Alex is an avidMichigan football fan. No, he did not playfor the 1879 Wolverines!

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Easements for theLearning Curve

Easements for theLearning Curve Brian Scace

Well, this column is a year old,now, and this magazine has grownrapidly in that year. For all you folkswho have signed on after the initialone of these musings hit the stands,I’ll recap a couple things. First, ofcourse, is a hearty welcome to oursomewhat dis-functional band. As thetitle of this lamentable error in judge-ment by the Editor implies, we areexploring those things that a newcom-er would find useful. By “newcomer”,we are also assuming that you havecome from other modeling disciplines,such as the HO and N world, or per-haps you’ve made the leap from thethree-rail community. Now, repeatafter me: “I’m an O scaler, and it isn’tmy fault!” Whoops! Wrong meeting…Scace’s Snappy Patter

Not too long ago, I attended a trainshow that was a real eye opener. No, itwasn’t an O scale show, but it gave myfuzzy brain a real boot, and (with theassistance of suitable libation) subjectmatter for this issue’s Snappy Patter. Theshow in question was a “Large Scale”show. These folks are the garden railwaytypes, LGB aficionados, live steamaddicts, and a small but growing numberof scale neurotics and rivet counters. Allsaid and done, a nice group of people.So, why would Scace the O Scale Guywant to go to a show like this? Well, tolearn something, that’s why. We all havea tendency, especially after being at thisfor a few years, to pull our horns in andonly go to the gatherings of, in our case,O Scalers. At this show, for instance, Isaw all kinds of useful stuff for us.

These folks need power, and lots ofit, for instance. We’ve had several lettershere at OST regarding power sources,yet the garden folks have several powersupplies we’d love to use if we onlyknew about them. How does a 14 volt/

found this stuff works nicely on plastichandrails as found on the older WeaverRS-3’s, for instance. No chipping orflaking like the stuff we use.

The lesson here is most valuable foryou folks coming to us from such disci-plines as the HO world and the Hi-railcommunity. In your old worlds, you’vebeen very used to having everything youneed at your fingertips. ‘T ain’t so, here inO scale, and it wasn’t necessarily so then.The Big Lesson:

Other modeling disciplines, like us,bring out techniques and products usefulto them. They, like us, tend to operate insomewhat of a social vacuum, so there issome wheel re-invention going on asthese separate groups find solutions towhat really are common problems. Theship modeler folks have stuff to maketheir own pewter-like castings and lotsof really neat woodworking tools wedon’t know about. Go to an IPMS(International Plastic Modeler Society;you know, the military diorama folks)show. They have different scenery tech-niques than we do, many of which aremuch more realistic than what we’reused to. They are the pioneers of foam/hot-wire scenery, and can teach you topaint figures as nice as the ones we buyfrom Arttista. Diecast car collectorsshow automobiles we lust after. The racecar people have paint and several neatlines of gears. Plastic airplane folks dovacuum-formed parts in amazing detail.The doll house folks have useful hard-ware such as hinges and small powertools that we would find more than use-ful. My wife even showed me a lightingsystem for buildings made for theDepartment 56 folks (those expensiveminiature ceramic houses that your wifesets up into towns at Christmas-time,which is why the cat becomes nervousand hides with you in the basement dur-

20 amp clean DC power supply forabout $150 sound to you? It is marketedby Crest Hobbies and sold throughMicro-Mark as item number 82721 (call1-800-225-1066, or visit www.micro-mark.com). I bought one and am verypleased with it, using it both with con-ventional DC cab control, and now withLoco-Link. Loco-Link, a very robustcommand control system (using radio asthe carrier rather than through the railsas in NMRA DCC), is another productmarketed (in this case, by Kiethco) forthe G scale and #1 gauge crowd that Ifind very advantageous for use in O.

Here’s another case in point. Oneday, while shopping with my darlingbride (earning those points, don’t youknow!), there befell upon my delicatevirgin ears an unholy screeching sound.Quickly realizing that this was anunusual sound to be heard in a soberstate, I hastened to investigate thisapparent case of air tool abuse, only todiscover grown men racing R/C gas racecars about in the parking lot. I had stum-bled on a radio controlled race car con-vention. Feeling it was my moral duty towade in amongst this gathering of hea-then and lend tone to what was other-wise a vulgar brawl, I passed throughthe portals and went in to see what Icould see. “What happened next?”,asked the breathless congregation lean-ing forward in the pews. Illumination!

These people use slippery plasticstuff much like what we have forhandrails on diesels and cabooses tomake bodies for their race cars. And,they have paint that sticks to these car-bodies. It doesn’t even flake off uponimpact with the proverbial li’l ol’ lady inthe parking lot (bent the by-junior out ofone leg of her walker, though; she musthave been a rum-pot.). I left, clutching abottle (of yellow paint! Jeez!), and


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ing December). Found: a simple elegantsolution to my building lighting issues,and they even have a pretty fair “snow”in a spray can!The Challenge:

Here is where Scace throws down therubber gauntlet with a resounding“thwapp”. As you folks who have loyal-ly read this column in spite of your bet-ter judgement and your mother’s advicemay remember, we started somethinghere called “Really Obvious Tips”. Aftera very cerebral discussion with the Edi-tor (followed by the expected cranialthrobbing the next morning) we agreedthat a pamphlet of “Really ObviousTips” would be of Great Value to thecongregation as a future offering fromthis august journal. If you have learnedsomething from the other modelingforms that would be of great interest to

the masses, send it in and we’ll contin-ue to sprinkle R.O.T.’s throughout

the magazine. Oncewe get enough ROTfrom all you ROT-ters, we’llassemble allthe rot in

o n ep o t .

Thanksa lot.

Conclusion: Get thee hence, and explore the world

around you! There is treasure (and knowl-edge) everywhere, even in places youwouldn’t expect. You might feel like a pil-grim in an un-holy land among the doll-house people or in the craft store (take yourwife along like it’s her trip! You get pointsfor that!), but you’ll find solutions, tools,and details in the most bizarre places.Some of my best tree models started withthe twigs and that weird brown waxy tapethe “dry arrangement” folks push at thecraft store. Let’s go Exploring! ◆

oops...

gee Scace...I'mreally sorry.

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I started this article in 1998. As youmay grasp I’m not one to stay with aproject straight through to completion.This is a follow up to the 4-4-2 articlepublished in O Scale News, #167. Ithought I would finish the boiler and caband see what I could do in the way ofother changes. (Ed. note: OSN #167 isavailable from Gate VI Publishing, 630-833-3658.)

In the original article I left the tailpiece of the frame in limbo with thestatement that I wasn’t sure how, or evenif, I was going to finish the boiler andcab. After much procrastination on mypart, and a little prodding on Joe’s part, Idecided to go ahead and use the Babbittboiler and cab with some modifications.

I spent some time looking at theModel Railroader Cyclopedia (Kalm-bach Publishing) and a couple of otherreference books to see if the BabbittAtlantic was close to any prototype.Many were built with inside valve gear,easy to model! Driver diameters were allover the place from 63" to 81", give ortake an inch or two and many had verydifferent style domes.

The Erie had two Atlantics, numbers

535 and 536, that were similar exceptfor the Baker valve gear, an inside bear-ing trailing truck and sand dome place-ment. They had 72" drivers, close to theBabbitt’s 70 inch. I decided not to try forthe Erie look but just continue with whatwas at hand.

I modified a Babbitt cab for another“O” scaler by replacing the sides withPrecision Scale’s Wabash Mogul cabparts. At the time I was pleased with theway it turned out so I decided to do itagain. The work started by removing theold cab sides. A jeweler’s saw or a smallhacksaw can make short work of it. TheWabash sides are a little thicker than theones just removed. In order to make thepieces come back together properly itwas necessary to remove about 1⁄16"from each edge of the cab front and rear.I scribed a line to file to (using blue lay-out dye makes it easier to see) thenclamped the piece in a vise and cut awaywith a hand-driven “Milling Machine”(a 12" smooth cut mill bastard file) untilI was satisfied with the fit. I took enoughoff each edge to allow the roof to justoverlap the top of the sides. I filed therivets off the inside of the cast sides to

give a smooth surface. I cleaned thejoints with fine sandpaper and addedsome rosin flux and used 60/40 rosincore solder. A small torch makes thiskind of assembly easy. I did the same tothe cab rear. It took a little shaping to getthe roof and the other pieces to cometogether but when it looked right, I sol-dered away.

Since I reused the original cab roof. Iadded the Babbitt roof hatches thatcame with the kit. Some cab roofs havea distinctive shape at the rear overhang. Ireshaped the cab roof slightly to make itmore to my liking. I didn’t want thesmoke deflector on the cab roof so Ifilled the slots with some “Lab Metal”epoxy from Micro Mark.

I used the original cab front so itcould be attached to the boiler with thethree pan-head screws provided. Iattached the boiler to the cylinder saddlewith the long 5-40 flat-head screw. Thatenabled me to decide how and where toattach the cab rear to the frame exten-sion. Now you can see why I didn’t cutthe tail piece to length in the first articleabout modifying the frame.

The cab rear can be fastened in a cou-

Babbitt AtlanticModifications: Boiler and CabBabbitt AtlanticModifications: Boiler and Cab

Bob GarreltsBob Garrelts


ple of ways. It’s possible to slice the rearmounting plate from the original whitemetal drawbar pocket. It’s also possibleto simply cut a piece of brass to fit. Trimthe tail beam to coincide with the newmounting bracket and drill and tap fortwo screws. The reason for two is to helpkeep the boiler and cab vertical on theframe. “Eyeballing” the boiler on theframe sitting on a flat surface, deter-mined where those screws should beput. I also cut two pieces out of a 1"square tube to make pieces to fit insidethe cab almost like a floor. The flangethat hangs down fills up a part of thespace under the cab and behind the fire-box to eliminate the empty look thatsome models have.

Domes, domes, domes. They come in

all shapes and sizes. If I were happywith the cast on domes, then a littleclean up with a file and emery clothwould suffice. The cast domes appearedtoo modern for my taste. I had twoslightly reshaped Babbitt Ten Wheelerdomes that I thought would work well. Iremoved the original domes using myDremel tool and cutting discs and fin-ished with the large file. Removing thedomes leaves fairly large holes so astrong back patch was needed inside theboiler to provide a home for the screw toattach the steam dome. It’s possible toplug the hole for the sand dome with apiece of brass sweated in place. I sliceda piece off a 1⁄2" brass rod. I rounded thehole for the sand dome with a carbidebit till the plug fit. I put flux on the plug

and sweated it in place with a torch. Itwas necessary to drill a hole in the bot-tom of the boiler to allow a screwdriverto pass through to tighten the sand domein place. Removal of the turret cover lefta rectangular hole that required filling inwith a slab of brass. When I was readyto install the domes, I sighted along theboiler with the cab front and smokestack in place to position the pieces sothey all lined up properly.

The Atlantic boiler does not have caston running boards like the Ten Wheeler.It’s easy to polish the boiler. It’s evenpossible to remove the cast-on boilerbands and replace them with thinnerbrass strips. After I was satisfied withthe clean up from the dome removal, Iused a strip of emery cloth like a shoepolishing rag. It removed most of thesurface blemishes. The next step was todrill the boiler for handrail posts. All thepost positions are dimpled except thetwo on the smokebox but they can belocated with some careful measuring. Aword of caution here, the kit contains apackage of two longer handrail poststhat are meant for the smokebox area. Imissed it and had to cut the shorter onesout and redrill for the longer ones. Thisis called “read the instructions dummy”!

The running boards must be cut toshape to fit the contour of the boiler . Iused blue layout dye and scribed a lineto file to. The instructions tell you todrill the appropriate holes in the boilerthen drive short pieces of brass rod intothe holes and bend to a horizontal posi-tion. I soldered the boards in place andcut off the excess rod. It pays to taper therod slightly and put CA glue or Loctitein the hole while driving the rods in.

The air tanks, cooling coils and otherfittings such as the bell, generator andcheck valves were added to suit mywhims. The instructions talk about thesedetails so it’s builder’s choice, butoptions abound such as cab mountedinjectors, single or cross compound aircompressors and anything else I couldthink of. Since most Atlantics pre-date

Babbitt AtlanticModifications: Boiler and CabBabbitt AtlanticModifications: Boiler and Cab

firebox ext.

brass angle cab mount tabsomitted for clarity

running boardcut off excess

air tank

clamp coolingcoil brackets 5/8" I.D. brass tube 0-80 FH screw

cut cut

cab wrapper-cutsides from roof

cab front & back-remove enough mat'l.

to fit new sidesunder roof over hangapprox. 3/32"-4 places


the Pacifics and larger engines I used a single stage air com-pressor and, instead of a power reverse, I hooked up a Johnsonbar to the valve gear reverse lever. I also made a change whenit came to mounting the air tanks. Babbitt supplies stampedbrass brackets for the tanks. I didn’t use them. I took a piece of3⁄8" I.D. brass tubing that just fit over the solid tanks. I cut fourrings off the tube to simulate bracket bands. I drilled upthrough the tanks to clear 0-80 flat head screws. I tapped thematching holes in the running boards. After making the appro-priate air pipe coils, I clamped the pipe brackets between thetanks and the running boards so when I tightened the tanks itheld the pipe brackets.Last, I cut off the protrud-ing screw flush with therunning boards.

The boiler front is theoriginal Ten Wheeler cast-ing. It looks fine but it has8 drilled holes around theedge. That’s okay if youcan find a use for all ofthem. The three lower onesare for a handrail, if wanted. Two more are for mounting themarker lights with 0-80 screws. The one at the top could beused to mount a headlight bracket, but that leaves at least twoor more with nothing to do. I threaded the holes 0-80 and putround head screws in from the inside. I made them as tight aspossible without breaking the screw. You guessed it. I took aDremel with a cut off disc and just trimmed the end of thescrew flush with the front. Oh yeah, I thought the stack lookeda little whimpy. I had another Babbitt stack that was for thePacific. I think it makes a difference. The headlight? Therearen’t too many of you out there that can identify the heritageof that piece (see end of story).

By the way, the Erie attached most of their boiler frontmounted headlights without a platform. They used 3 studsthrough the back of the light fixture. It made a delicate look. Imounted this one with a 1-72 flat-head screw right through the

center into the brass bushing that holds the boiler front on.One item not covered in the chassis article was assembling

the valve gear. The Babbitt valve gear kit consists of a set ofnicely made stampings, cast return cranks and Walschaertslinks and all the needed rivets. I HATE VALVE GEAR RIV-ETS! I have a my own solution. Many years ago (early 1960’s)I acquired two vials of Mantua (yes Mantua of HO fame) 00-90shouldered screws. They were supplied with some of their earlybrass boiler kits to hold parts in place. These little gems weremade in a couple of lengths and are plated. I simply ream onevalve gear piece to clear the screw and tap the other and Voila,no rivet needed. Another item in the valve gear system is thereturn crank. That nasty little beast fits on the main crankpinand is advanced slightly (15 degrees?). The instructions call fora pin to hold the crank in place. It is possible to drill through thecrank and pin with a #61 drill and then thread it (yes, thread!)for a 00-90 screw. The pin is steel, so if you try it, go very slow,use tapping fluid and back the tap out frequently. After thread-ing the pin I drilled one side of the crank for screw clearance,put the crank on the pin and continued the thread through theother side. Use a 00-90 screw to hold it in place.

Boiler smokebox braces are easy to add. The holes arealready in the pilot deck. It’s a matter of locating and drillingthe appropriate holes in the smokebox and fitting a piece of

brass wire. The front steps arean optional item. Some earlyengines had very rudimentarysteps. The steps supplied withthe kit were too shallow anangle for my taste. I found apair of ladders (probably Cen-tral Locomotive Works) thatlooked like I could adaptthem. I soldered the top of theladders to the running boards.

At the lower end I fit a small plate of brass to slide under thepilot deck. I filled the old screw holes in the pilot deck with“Lab Metal”. Another item I replaced was the cast Delta trail-ing truck. I replaced it with a Cole Scoville truck from Preci-sion Scale. It seemed more appropriate than a modern Deltatruck.


I don’t know what went through the minds of the Varneyengineers when they designed the original Ten Wheeler kitwhich has provided the basis for the rest of the line. Of course,that was the “Bronze Age”. Maybe they had an “Uncle Louie”who had a hot supply of 5-40 machine screws. 5-40 screws?They are almost impossible to find but a lot of the kit is puttogether with them. Babbitt does have them if you get stuck.

One tool I’ve found indispensable is my Dremel motor tool( I know the instructions tell you to give it to your brother-in-law) with an arbor fitted with a hard cut off disc. Properlyused, it can slice all types of brass things. The discs come intwo thicknesses, regular and extra thick. They are brittle andbreak easily.The floor of my shop is littered with brokenpieces. I buy them two or three containers at a time. Theywork best when I slow the tool down to about one-quarter offull speed by using a variable transformer.

Oh, that headlight. A genuine antique! A BLW gem. No, notBaldwin Locomotive Works. “Before Lost Wax”! It’s an origi-nal Lobaugh headlight, maybe from a C&NW Berkshire kit. Ipicked it up in the 50’s when I was working at Ma Webster’s inN.Y.C. (Model Railroad Equipment Co. on 45th St.).Some items I’ve found useful:

✎ Blazer or similar small torch fueled from Ronson lighterButane. Both Model Expo and Micro Mark offer torches.

✎ Blue layout dye for marking brass and tapping fluid are

both helpful. ✎ Micro Mark offers a soft soldering pad in a couple of

sizes that is great for holding pieces together for soldering. Getsome of their T-pins too. They are useful to pin parts to the padwhile soldering.

✎ 60/40 rosin core solder is available at Radio Shack inseveral different diameters. The smaller sizes work well and60/40 melts at a slightly lower temperature than 50/50.

✎ I have a small supply of 00-90 optical screws to hold thereturn crank to the main crankpin. And, no, I won’t part withmy valve gear screws!

✎ Back in the fifties (middle of the last century) I read a“kink” about a solution that could dissolve broken taps anddrills out of brass or bronze. I mixed a solution that I’ve carriedwith me for all these years and it still works. I’ve been tryingto remember what the chemical was and Jace Kahn (the YahooOTrains list) confirmed my suspicions that the stuff is Alumand came from a tip by Bill Schopp of Railroad Model Crafts-man magazine. Thanks Jace! Mix the Alum with water andheat in a non-metal container, drop the piece in and it will sim-ply dissolve the errant tap or drill over a period of a few days.

For an encore I’m going to put rivets on the Babbitt tender,add different trucks and a Kadee coupler. Watch for that in afuture issue of OST. ◆

Babbitt Atlantic Modifications: Boiler and CabBabbitt Atlantic Modifications: Boiler and Cab

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I’ve built many model railroad lay-outs in several different scales, over theyears and surprisingly, seem to enjoy thebuilding process as much as the operat-ing sessions. I enjoy laying track andhave always wanted to try my hand atsuperdetailed, hand laid track. Wellhere’s my experience.

There are several suppliers of trackdetails, but I remembered those magazineads from the 60’s & 70’s for Right-O-Way(ROW) products and decided to standard-ize with them. I was surprised to find thatLou Cross had picked up the product lineafter Gene LaVancil’s passing and that theline has actually been expanded. A com-plete price list is available from: Right OWay, 23682 Road 153⁄4 Chowchilla, CA93610, 559-665-1001

My original plans were to build asmall switching layout about 12 feetlong and I expected to take several yearsto complete it. Then Joe asked me if Icould write an article about my experi-ences and by the way, could I have itdone by the March 14th deadline. So Iscaled down my plans and designed asmall (1' x 4') diorama to showcase thelaying of a short piece of track includinga #6 switch. I know we model railroad-ers usually call them “turnouts”, but inthis case I’m building a scale model ofprototype trackage and prefer to call itby it’s fullsize railroad name.

Getting information from my favoriteprototype, the Erie Lackawanna (EL),was easy. I live in western NJ and com-mute every day to New York City on

New Jersey Transit, former Conrail, for-mer Erie Lackawanna, former DL&W,etc. For the most part I have based mydetails on current practice with theexception of welded rails.

The project started out with a small 1'x 4' pine box, topped with the traditionalsandwich of half inch Homasote and 3⁄8"plywood. Before starting any track, Ialways paint everything flat black. Thisgives a good undercoating that will notshow up in sections that are left bare.After that I glued down some standardO scale cork roadbed that was fastenedwith white glue and small Atlas brandtrack nails.

For this project I used a pre-assem-bled #6 turnout (switch) I picked upfrom P&D. It provided ties and basicswitch parts already attached to a flatpiece of cork. After removing the railcastings, I glued the entire piece to mymini-layout and weighed it down with30-year-old encyclopedias.

Next came the ties. I used sugar pineties from ROW and did several experi-ments trying to color them. Years ago Iwould have used Campbell tie stain butunfortunately it doesn’t seem to beavailable anymore. The ROW turnoutkit came with pre-stained ties but theywere a little too warm brown for mytaste. I experimented with a couple ofMinwax stains starting with Ebony. Thatturned out to be too black. Dark Walnutwas only slightly too brown so I finallymixed the two together and came upwith a pretty good facsimile of the pro-

totype color. In the end I decided to useall the ties that I had tested and find themix of different colors looks good.Laying Ties

This is a pretty standard procedure. Icreated a jig using a short piece of clearpine with shallow grooves cut on myradial arm saw. For spacing I matchedthe turnout kit of 30 ties per foot but youmight want to measure your prototypeand simply divide by 48. The groovesshould be fairly uniform but not too per-fect. A bit of variation is one of the rea-sons that hand laid track looks morerealistic than plastic tie flextrack. Thegrooves also should not be too deep, asthey will cause problems when remov-ing the tie strips. I suggest a depth ofabout 1⁄16 inch.

Stained ties are placed in each slot inthe jig and a single piece of maskingtape stretched the length of the jig. I usu-ally fold the ends of the tape under itselfso that it won’t stick to my fingers andrisk an accident when everything is cov-ered with glue. After a trial fit of the tiestrip, I apply a generous amount ofwhite glue to the roadbed and positionthe ties carefully. Then I weight theassembly down with volumes of my1967 Encyclopedia Britannica. You, ofcourse, can use any books you haveavailable, but I would recommend hardcover books rather than magazines. Softcover books and magazines tend to fol-low the bumps and valleys of an unevenfoundation, whereas hardcover bookswill be self-leveling. Double check that


the weights are sitting level before leav-ing them to cure.

Years ago I was inspired by an enor-mous track laying project by LorrelJoiner, an O scaler from Texas. Lorrel’snext step after gluing down the tieswould be to sand them level with a longsanding board and then re-stain the tops.I find, on small stretches of track, thatcareful placement of the weights duringthe gluing process produces an accept-able result without the need to re-stain.Preparing Track Parts

All the castings and rail pieces need tobe pre-cut and fitted in place before start-ing actual construction. I use a markerpen to note a spot between ties for thepower lead to be attached. I solder ashort piece of wire to every separatepiece and feed them down through 1⁄8inch holes drilled in the road-bed. Then Ipaint all rail parts with Floquil’s RailBrown. The tie plates and rail braces geta coat of Rust, which may seem a littlebright at first, but we’ll subdue it laterwith a final dusting of black.Constructing The Switch

Once the ties are in place, it’s time toget started with spiking rail. It’s best tostart with the stock (straight) rail. Attachthe rail by inserting a tieplate and spik-ing the ends first and then the middle.Continue dividing and checking with astraight edge until you have most of theties spiked. I usually end up with thespiked ties about 2 or 3 inches apart,being careful not to insert one where arail-brace or flat tieplate will eventuallybe required. Once the stock rail issecure, the frog/point assembly can befitted. This consists of the frog, pointsand 2 approach rails that were cleanedwith lacquer thinner and soldered aheadof time. I also attach power feeder wiresat 3 places, one on the frog itself andone on each approach rail about halfway down.

It’s important to fit the assembly tothe ties first so you can mark places forthe feeder wires that will fall between

ties. The frog/points should be paintedbefore attaching. I use Floquil’s RailBrown and an airbrush.

As soon as you’re happy that thefrog/points assembly is shaped correctly,you can cut the insulating gaps withflush cutting nippers. Be sure to allowfor the 1⁄16" gap required by the ROWinsulating joiners.

The frog is attached first using a cou-ple of Kemtron rail gauges that I pickedup many years ago. Next is the pointassembly, aligning the straight point railwith the stock rail. The frog will requireflat tieplates. Line up the gaps on thepoint rails and remember to leave a gapfor the insulating rail joiner. The joinersmay need fitting with a file or hobbyknife in order to make them fit snuglyinto the rail web. Tie plates should beinstalled at the same time with spikesholding the fishplate (joiner) as well.After all is in place, a couple drops ofgap filling ACC glue will hold every-thing together.

Moving along the point rails, continuespiking until you are about an inch or sofrom the fishplate on the point casting.From here all the way to the point, flat tieplates are used and are not attached tothe points that must be free to move.

With the frog-points assembly inplace you can now continue with thesecond rail on the straight approachtrack. Again, set the rail in place, held byseveral rail gauges, spike tieplates at theends, the middle and continue the divid-ing process. You will likely find some ofthe tie plates difficult to insert using thisprocess. There are two solutions: Youcan carefully set out all the tieplatesneeded for this section of track or youcan use a small screwdriver to pry therail up while inserting each new tieplate.

When the straight approach rail issecured (you don’t need to finish alltieplates before proceeding), place theinside curve rail by eye. This rail shouldfollow the curve of the point rail and lineup with the frog casting already in place.Remember to leave the insulating gap.

Finally the curve rail is installed and thelong process of filling in the remainingtieplates begins.Rail Details

Rail gauge plates are optional and Ifound that on my prototype the numberper switch varied from zero to three. Isuppose the number depends on howmuch stress is expected to be placed onthe switch. Tie bars also vary from one tothree. I chose a compromise for mymodel and installed two of each. The tiebar must be insulated and it is necessaryto built a jig to assemble them. The ROWinstructions show a built-up jig but Imade mine out of a single piece of hard-wood. The instructions call for a smallpiece of paper glued between the matingpieces but I thought it would be easier touse masking tape. That turned out to be amistake as the ACC glue was not able tosaturate the tape like it would paper.

Outside rail braces can be added inaddition to the ones included with thegauge plates. Again, a check with yourprototype will give you ideas. New Jer-sey Transit practice ranges from none tosix or more. I thought it looked fine withfive, two from the gauge plates and threeindividuals. The last detail to be added isthe fishplates. ROW calls them “cementon joiners” but I didn’t find it necessaryto actually glue them. If you carefullyextract 2 spikes far enough to insert theplastic fishplate and then press themback in, avoiding the nut-bolt detail,they will hold just fine.

Finishing up I use normal methodsfor adding ballast. Woodland Scenicscoarse gray ballast is soaked with a finespray of water and dish detergent. Next Iused Woodland Scenics glue adminis-tered with an eye dropper. After a coupledays drying time, a light dusting of Flo-quil’s Weathered Black will subdue thebright colors. The final step is to removethe paint from the top of the rails usingan eraser-type rail cleaner. Be careful notto remove paint from the guard rails andthe parts of the frog that don’t get anytraffic. ◆


Ties are spaced out on a jig made on a radial arm saw. A pieceof masking tape holds them in position until they’re glued to

the roadbed.

The detail castings available from ROW.A spiker available from hobbyshops is used to drive 3/8" low

profile spikes.

Encyclopedias used to weight down the ties until the glue cures.

A hardwood jig for gluing a tiny pieceof paper to insulate the two halves ofthe gauge plate. A hardwood jig for

assembling the throw rod.

Gauge plates are fastened by nut-bolt castings.Frog casting and point rails are spiked in a few places.

Note gap for insulating joiners (plastic fishplate castings).

Plastic insulating joiners are spiked in placeand a drop of super glue placed in top. Theprotruding tabs are filed down after the glue

cures.

Fishplates add a lot of detail to track.Rail braces and a switchstand add final details to the

turnout.

A view of the completed points.

A view of the completed frog and guard rails.A long shot of the whole project.

Closeupof thegaugeplates.

Anotherview of thecompleted

points.


by Rich GodfreyThe members of the Southern New

England Model Railroad Club (SNEM-RR) think of ourselves as a relatively newclub, but we have been formally organ-ized for nine years, and have been infor-

mally operating our modular layout since1990. Initially the layout was a reason-able sized 21' x 45' double tracked oval.Today it has grown to a rather large 21' x81' with interior peninsulas that provide a200 car storage yard, a steam locomotivefacility, diesel terminal, and a busy indus-

trial park. Scenery is nearly complete andwe are working on signaling.

We began using Digital CommandControl (DCC) in 1995 in order to sim-plify wiring (a real plus on a modularlayout) and increase the number oftrains that can operate simultaneously.We typically operate three or four main-line trains while other club members arekept busy making up trains, switchingthe industrial park and hosting locomo-tives. SNE members model many proto-type railroads from across NorthAmerica (no one can stick to just one),with New England railroads well repre-sented. Sixty-car freights with 5 or 6diesels are not uncommon, but all typesof trains from the 1920s to the currentday get a chance to show their stuff.

In April 2002 we began constructionof a 40' x 60' permanent layout. Thismajor undertaking is designed to takeadvantage of the walk-around versatilityof DCC, allowing each train crew tomove with their train and pass througheach section of the layout only once.John Armstrong’s “Mushroom” conceptis used to create a visible mainline runof over 600 feet with many switchingopportunities along the way. We arehand-laying Right-O-Way steel railusing code 148 for main lines, code 125

Southern New EnglandModel Railroad Club



~ O Scale Train Show ~Presented by

Southern New England O ScaleModel Railroad Club

O Scale only (No Tinplate, please)Featuring

Dealers, Displays and the Southern New England "O" Scale Layout20' x70', Fully Scenic'd - Operating with Digital Command Control

Ample Free Parking - Food and Beverages Available

Saturday, October 11, 2003 9:30am - 4:00pmUnited Methodist Church

161 Chestnut St., Gardner Mass Admission $5, Family Maximum $8

Dealer Tables AvailablePrior to Labor day -6ft tables $15.00 8ft tables $20.00After Labor day -6ft tables $20.00 8ft tables $25.00

Make checks payable to Southern New England Model Railroad ClubDealer and General Information: Bob Jones, Show Chairman

860-774-8622 P.O. Box 272, Ballouville, CT 06233SASE for Info & Directions e-mail: [email protected]

or visit our website at www.snemrr.org


for yards and code 100 forindustrial sidings.

Most of our turnouts arebuilt by members and we areeven cutting our own ties!While all this track work israther labor intensive it doessaves money, and workingtogether helps the time passquickly.

Initial construction is focused on the major yard area atSpringfield Junction, the home of the Southern New EnglandRailroad’s corporate headquarters, and the point at which thedouble tracked Western Division meets the single tracked East-ern Division. With freight and passenger yards, a passenger sta-tion, and both steam and diesel facilities, as well as industrialswitching, Springfield Junction will take quite a while to com-

plete. Meanwhile wekeep operating inter-est high on the modu-lar layout.

The Southern NewEngland Model RRClub is located in

Gardner, Mass., just off of US Route 2, in the basement of the United Methodist Church at146 Chestnut Street. Members get together every Wednesday evening from 7:30 to 10:00PM to work on the layouts. While visitors are welcome at any of these work sessions werecommend visiting on the third Wednesday of a month in order to catch an operating ses-sion. For up to the minute info regarding our schedule please call 508-829-4529.

Southern New England sponsors an O scale show each fall, complete with dealers, dis-plays, and layout operation. Food and beverages are available and there is ample freeparking. This year’s show will be held on Saturday, October 11th, during the peak of theNew England fall foliage season. If you are in the central Massachusetts area why notdrop by and check out our two layouts and buy some O scale rolling stock and supplies.

For updates on theclub’s progress, direc-tions, our fall show, andrailfan trip to Steamtown, USA please visit our website athttp://www.snemrr.org/. We hope to see you in the near future.

◆


Bronze Key Models (no longer avail-able) and are on the layout of JohnBishop who is modeling the Sacramen-to Northern Ry. This line used pan-tographs and poles on their equipment.

Here’s what John has to say:“Roger asked me to send you the

attached pictures from my layout inRiverside California with the idea one ormore might be used to illustrate hisupcoming article on trolley wire work. Healso asked me to give you a description.

My layout is based on the Oakland,Antioch and Eastern, the South End of theSacramento Northern. It is a work inprogress, and the scenes shown still lacksidewalks and residences and other things.Construction has progressed as far as theentrance to the tunnel in Sheppard Canyon.

The scenes are shot on Shafter Avenue,near the yard at 40th Street. The wire is #26 phosphor-bronze, the hangers are fromBronze Key (not currently available; Ibought him out), the insulators are madefrom .08” (2mm) square styrene rod.Those that truly insulate (I block the wireto simplify signaling) are drilled as com-pression insulators, those just for appear-ance are drilled lengthwise so they can bestrung on the wire like a bead. They aresecured by ACC and painted brown-red.

The guards on the bottom of the guywires are aluminum tubes. The poles arewood dowels, tapered by putting them in adrill and applying sandpaper; then Iapplied walnut stain. The insulators on thecrossarms are brown Indian beads, securedwith Walthers Goo®. The poles aremounted in brass tubes; the tubes arealigned in the somewhat oversize holes inthe homasote and plywood using a dummypole and then glued; I have never beenable to drill a straight hole the first time.

Oh, yes, The PE car is leased equip-ment to deal with a traffic surge!”

I use 26 ga. nickel-silver wire obtainedfrom Rivers Traction & Trolleys for theoverhead wire and 26 ga. phosphor bronzewire for the span wires and pull-off wires.The price for 100 ft of Nickel Silver is $5.75and the Phosphor Bronze is $6.30 for 100 ft.He also has bracket arms for the track underwooden poles for $6.50 per Dozen.

I use the #615 casting for pull-offs on thecurves, as you have to follow the inside railwith the overhead wire. I put slack in thewire on curves so it can be pulled up to theproper curve. This position can be deter-

TractionAction

TractionAction

Roger Jenkins

Roger JenkinsMore on Trolley Poles

When putting up wire, the poles in citiescan be the metal type as seen in the last issue,or made from wood. If you choose wood,you can buy 5⁄16" dowels at your local hard-ware supply store, Ace, Home Depot, etc.These are cut into a length so that about ascale 30 feet (or more) remains when insert-ed into the tabletop. Then crossarms for feed-er lines can be placed above the span wires.The final height depends on the number ofcross arms used. Span wires across the streetcan be put into the wood pole through pre-drilled holes of very small diameter andwound around the span wire after bending itback to the front. Rivers Traction & Trol-leys* sells hangers (p/n 610) that can bepressed onto the span wire with a pair of nee-dle nose pliers. You also can put up his casthanger (p/n 615), but you must cut the spanwire wherever these are placed, bending thewire back on itself to feed thru the holes inthe wings of these hangers. The running wiremust be over the center of your track onstraightaways, but follow the inside rail oncurves.

When reaching a switch, the frog madeby Rivers Traction & Trolleys (p/n 640) isplaced over the switch halfway between theswitch point and the switch frog area. Thisusually works but the frog is equipped withpull-off positions cast into the sides. Youcan place a pull-off wire in there to adjustthe frog. Longer cars sometimes need thefrog to be adjusted, compared with shortercars. You sometimes need to move the frogposition closer to the switch frog to getthem to track right. Leave enough runningwire after bending it to fit into the frog soyou can re-adjust the position of the frogforward or backward. You can only bendthe wire a couple times before it breaks, sobe careful.

The pictures shows a layout with wireconstructed to accommodate pantographsand poles. The hangers here were made by

mined by having a test car on the curve withits pole up and the running wire must fit intothe wheel or slider on your trolley pole. Thisis very critical so that the pole wheel followthe wire at all times.

A handy tool to use to solder these cast-ings on the wire is a reverse tweezers thatwill hold both the wire and casting togetherso you can solder the wire to the casting. Useflux when you solder these. The tweezerswill act as a heat sink so the heat will not takethe temper out of the wire. In starting tostring wire, place the end on a brick or a 2x4and place a lead weight or similar heavy itemon the end of the wire. This will keep thewire taut so the first solder point will beattached and subsequent solder points will betaut as well. You can hold the wire with yourfingers beyond the hanger you are solderingor duplicate the 2x4 and weight beyond thehanger like the other one and just move thisto the next point to be soldered. You will beamazed at how fast the wire goes up.

*Rivers Traction & Trolleys is at 540County Line Road, Gates Mills Ohio, 44040

Any questions, contact me at[[email protected]] ◆


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boxcar that were rather scarce by the early 1950’s. While we are on the subject of Pennsy equipment, their huge

fleet of hoppers has escaped the manufacturer’s eye. Cars like theH-21, H-25 and GLa were found all over the East and Midwestfor a long time. For years, I have never understood why manufac-

turers have totally ignored the most common cars East of theMississippi. These hoppers are well represented in brass withmore than one importer doing them recently. Brass cars are greatand I do own a few of the better ones. If I were modeling easternrailroads, I would be broke paying $225 to $325 plus for hoppersto fill out a decent train. It would take roughly $5000 to put 20brass hoppers in a train. Just think if you could get them in plas-tic, you could afford to build a decent string to tax the drawbar ofan I-1 “hippo”.

Speaking of taxing the drawbar, the Atlas twin hopper weighsin at around 30 oz. A string of these diecast beauties will tax mostlocomotives. Diecast has it value but plastic would be far morepractical from a weight and cost standpoint.

If O scale manufacturers and importers are lacking inspiration,they need only look at what is going on within the HO communi-ty. Most of what I mentioned above is readily available from peo-ple like Life Like and Bowser. HO modelers are very interested inprototype modeling. Their insistence on correct models accurate-ly decorated is a concept that hasn’t quite caught on in O scale.

A large scale like O should have more detail, accurate modelsand correct lettering. The detailing possibilities of 1/48th scalegot me to convert from HO along with seeing inspirational workdone by the likes of Bob Brown, Gordon Cannon, Bill Coffee, AlArmitage and others. While these guys were all narrow gaugefans, it wasn’t hard to see the possibilities of doing the same instandard gauge.

In the next issue I will get back to a discussion on the topic ofProto48. Better freight cars benefit standard O and Proto48 equal-ly. They allow us to create a more accurate portrayal of the proto-type. You don’t have to be a “rivet counter” to see the difference.

◆

The Basics Are Still NeededDo you wonder what thought process goes into

the selection of models for kits or Ready-To-Runcars? It seems there are some obvious holes in thesteam era rolling stock scene. I would like to sharemy thoughts on the subject.

We have really been short-changed in the gondola and flatcarselection so far. Two of the most common in the WWII to early1950’s era are the 53'6" War Emergency flat cars and theGreenville-built 53'6" gondola. Yes, I know that Lionel brought ina “drop dead” Pullman PS-5 gondola. The steam to diesel era stilldominates the hobby in terms of interest and the Lionel carreflects a later era. Lionel has announced a PS-4 53' flatcar forthis year. That car also misses the steam era by a few years butwas probably made into the 1990’s until the forty year rule caughtup with them.

The Greenville gondola was very popular with the Erie, NKP,WP and NYC. There were large numbers of them built either byGreenville Car Company or railroad shops. The car’s 53’6”length would make an impressive model on any layout. Bethle-hem Steel produced a similar design which had its prototype roadfollowing. Another gondola that would have possibilities is theAC&F welded 53'6" gondolas used by the WP and Lackawannaand is very similar to the PRR G-31 class. Atlas imported a G-31model done by Roco but it was shortened a few feet and had riv-eted construction. The majority of the Pennsy cars were welded.

The 53'6" War Emergency flat was about as common as a carcan be. The car was done in brass by Pacific Limited but a goodplastic/metal car is needed since the imported brass cars are hard tofind and expensive. Thirteen railroads used this style car. The designwas pioneered by the UP as the F-50-11 class. It was later adoptedas a war emergency design during WWII. Roads like the NP, NKP,UP, MP, SOO, C&NW, IT and others acquired impressive numbersof cars. Many of the cars lasted well into the 1970’s.

I am sure that we all have favorites to include in the list. Onesuch car for me is the Enterprise General Service gondola. It wassold to a number of roads that used to haul all sorts of materials.The multiple drop-bottom doors added a great deal to the clutterand charm. It is the western modeler’s equivalent of the easternmodeler’s hopper.

Speaking of a common car that has been overlooked for years,how about the Pennsylvania Railroad’s X-29 class. They had over20,000 of them. That is more of one car class than most roads hadin all rolling stock. You could find them all over the country. I amalways amazed when I come across a picture of an X-29 on someobscure line like the Sierra Railway. I wonder why no manufac-turer has taken up the challenge of a well-done kit or R-T-R plas-tic model. Instead we get models of a USRA single sheathed

Gene DeimlingProto48 Modeling


Tips from Neville Rossiter Perth, Australia

THE WORKSHOP[]\

In this issue of The Workshop, I would like to write about my experi-ences at the Model Railway Show that was held here in Perth West Aus-tralia in June of this year. The show is an annual event and runs for threedays over a long weekend that includes Saturday, Sunday and Monday.There is a day allowed for setting up on the Friday.

This year I entered a layout called the Brooklyn Terminal Railroad(BTR). The BTR is a module layout consisting of seven modules with atotal length of 54 feet. It is an O scale 2 rail layout and is based on one ofthe many terminal railroads that were once numerous in New York Har-bor. I won’t go into more details about the layout, as I intend to do an arti-cle for OST at some stage on the BTR, but would like to talk about myexperiences at the show as I am sure you would have similar experiencesin the US.

To move a layout this size required two autos and two trailers. Thetrailers are covered and fairly high (we call them furniture moving trailershere in Australia) and can be hired out on a daily basis from your localservice station.

On the Thursday night before the show we loaded the trailers anddrove down early Friday morning to the Perth show grounds. The floor inthe pavilion was already marked with our space and we proceeded tounload the layout that took no more than an hour. By midday we had thelayout connected and running. The afternoon was spent tidying up andtouching up any areas that were missed during construction.

The layout was operated with two operators each having a cab, andhalf the layout under their control. Each operator would make a train up

and send it to the other. We found that after a while we could turn trainsaround at each end very quickly so the public always had something towatch. I think with a switching layout where trains are not continuouslyracing past the public you need to have lots of details to amuse themwhile they are waiting for a train. This was where the BTR stood out.

Some of the important points for a successful large switching layout ata show are:

• Have lots of details and small scenes to amuse the public.• Make the track plan interesting but not to difficult and have plenty of

industries to switch so the operators don’t get bored.• Recruit plenty of operators. You can never have enough for three

days!• Check all your rolling stock and locos before the show especially the

couplers. It’s nice to have Kadees, but I found that Weaver and Atlas cou-plers were not a problem.

• I used hand uncoupling with the plastic coffee stirrers.• Have someone out in front talking to the public (I was given that job

most of the time!)• Have some kind of communication link between the operators so

they are not shouting at each other! We used hand telephones and spoketo each other regularly. Next year I will use headsets.

• Have all the turnouts controlled from control panels that are locatedin front of the operators. Also, have many isolated track sections to holdlocos. Disregard this if you have DCC.

Every morning I would be there early and clean the track with a Cen-terline track cleaner using some solvent on the rollers. The loco wheelswere also cleaned every morning using the cradle that was in my article inOST#4 (Sept. 02).

What makes a person want to do this for 3 days of the year?It’s a great chance to share a large layout with your friends that nor-

mally you couldn’t at home. I really enjoyed it and will be back next yearwith an even bigger layout. ◆


Buy⁄Sell⁄Trade Consignments

Jim Hackworth

MODEL TRAINS(and Subsidiary JH Consulting)

2631 Edgevale Road, Columbus OH 43221-1113Phone:614-4514517 Fax:6144514557

Email: [email protected] • Web: www.jhmtrains.com

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The L&N and Southern RR:


Let’s suppose you have aspare room or a corner of thebasement. If the attic ceiling ishigh enough, maybe... you canstart a layout! A dream layoutin two rail O scale. Think it isout of reach? Look no further,a simple solution to crampedspace is the helix. A helixswitching layout has numerousadvantages compared to anaround-the-wall design. Themost obvious is space usageand the ability to run trainswith no duck under. By utiliz-ing a multideck design, scenesthat would take considerablespace to string along in a lay-out room 20' x 30' can fit in aroom 11' x 14'.What’s In A Name

This helix design, with sixswitching levels, includesupper and lower staging yards.It is a basic point-to-point rail-road. The helix allows theoperator to traverse from anygiven level to another. Thehelix begins at the lower L&Nyard and progresses at a 3.15%grade to each successive levelto terminate at the TOFC yard.The 3.15% grade is well with-in the parameters of the Atlas RS-1 orSW8/9 series engines. Minimumradius on the helix is 36 inches. TheAtlas #5 switch can be modified (short-ened to the points and frog) to fit intothe helix curve so a diverging line canfeed each level. Turnouts are #5throughout. Simple open-frame gridconstruction can be utilized for the

By Carey Hinch

The L&N and Southern RR:

Illustrations by the Author

level sections. Plywood or foam boardcan be used for the top of these sec-tions. The helix is, in short, a circlewhich could be “cookie” cut from 4x8foot sheets of 1⁄2" or 3⁄4" plywood. Ihave noticed there is even a manufac-turer of a plastic helix system thatcould be used for O scale.

Tools and GadgetsAnyone with the slightest knowl-

edge of a jigsaw, drill, screws, and asquare would have little trouble plan-ning and assembling the helix and levelsections. I think the intimidation lies inthe thought of the helix. Much has beenwritten on the virtues of helix use inlayout design and articles have


diversified in struc-tures and scenery. Theheight differencebetween level sectionsis around 20 inches.The L&N yard wouldbegin around 24 inchesfrom the floor. Thiswould put the TOFCyard at 69.25 inchesfrom the floor, neareye level and stillreachable. While at 24inches the L&N yardis low, a roll-aroundchair would make iteasier to view the firstthree levels.

The L&N andSouthern yards areessent ia l ly fiddleyards. A car/card sys-tem for train routingwould function wellhere. Rolling stock caninclude almost any carmade with exception ofthe very largest 89'6"cars. A time frame forthis layout could be setfrom the 1920’s totoday. Two operatorscould move easily inthe wide isle space.

Reaching the backsof level-sections is easy since they donot go much deeper than the NMRA’srecommended three feet. The back ofthe helix is another story. At six feet indiameter the helix is a spread. Since themain level section starts at 24" off thefloor, the front of the helix sectionwould be around 30" from the floor.This could vary since not everyone is

A Switching Layout Built on a Helix

appeared in many magazines over theyears on constructing a helix. See thesidebar "Round and Round We Go...".If desired, this layout could be built instages to facilitate money and materialby only building as much of the helixas is necessary to go to the next level-section. Layout wiring would be mini-mal with DCC. Conventional block

wiring could divide the layout intoblocks for each level-section. The helixcould be divided into blocks allowing atrain to hold a level-section whileanother passes on the helix. Turnoutscould be controlled with ground throwsor remotely by Atlas switch machines.Variety of Life

The level sections can be highly

An O Scale Trains Magazine Contest Entry


A rolling chair would greatly assist an operator when switching the lower level yard.

Sitting in a rolling chair, the operator could switch the middle sections at near eye level.

The L&N and Southern RR: A Switching Layout Built on a Helix


5'10" as I am. The main reason for the 30" height is the abili-ty to roll under the helix on a mechanics dolly. Fill’er up andcheck the oil. A dolly is the easiest way to go under the helix.Stepping through is not possible. Reaching through is a possi-

bility and you could use one of those reaching tools as seen onT.V. By lining the edges of the helix with a three inch strip of1⁄8" hard board panel, you can keep trains from falling to thefloor in the event of a derailment. ◆

The upper staging yard and TOFC Yard are just below eye level and easy to switch.

Round and Round We Go...How to Construct the Helix

A helix is a vertical spiral, much like a spring. The trick tobuilding a railroad with a helix is building the helix itself. Thisprocess is no more complex than layout wiring can be to abeginner. To start, let’s break down the helix into its most basicelement - a circle. The minimum radius for the layout is 36", butwe need some space to either side to safely guard in case of aderailment. By adding 21⁄2" to the minimum radius and subtract-ing the same amount from the minimum radius we have a widthof five inches and a maximum diameter of 381⁄2" and a mini-mum of 331⁄2". To cut a circle out of wood is as simple as layingdown a pattern and cutting. But if you are not careful you willwaste more wood and money than necessary. By dividing thehelical circle into quarters and cutting from a pattern you canmaximize your wood purchase.

Figure 1 (next page) shows how to lay out the pattern on a4x8 foot sheet of plywood. The thickness of the plywood is notcritical, 1⁄2" to 3⁄4" is sufficient for strength. To make a radius cut-ting template I use brown package paper to lay out the helix pat-tern. This paper is used to wrap packages for shipping and can

be found at an office supply store or craft store. Give yourselfsome working room. Since the paper is only 24" wide, twopieces can be taped together to get the required space. Figure 2(next page) shows the layout. Start 40" in and at the edge closestto you. You really should have a protractor to give yourself anidea of where 45° is in relation to your starting point. Make amark at 381⁄2" and at 331⁄2". Using the protractor, place 0 degreeson the edge of the paper and mark 45° without moving the pro-tractor. Now use a straight edge long enough to draw a line fromyour starting mark out to 381⁄2" on the 45˚ angle. Make a fiveinch line from 381⁄2" toward your starting point. Voila! You havethe quarter section needed to make the helix. To make thecurved lines that join the outer and inner marks you will need astring and a nail or tack. Tie the string to the nail or tack andwith it partially driven into a suitable surface, loop the stringaround a pencil several times to prevent slipping. Stretch thestring tight and move the pencil from one mark to the other.Repeat the steps for the inner circle. Done! Cut out your tem-plate and trace the edges to the plywood. Using the template


over and over will give consistent results. The ends are the mostimportant they should all be cut straight as possible for the bestfit.

To join the helix sections (Figure 3) glue and screw isthe best method. To insure the sections are straight beforejoining two sections completely, measure from the insideedge of one section to the other. It should be 473⁄8". If not,make it that way and finish joining the sections. A half sec-tion of helix should measure 67" inside to inside. It doesn’thave the be 0.0001 exact, but over and over and it willthrow the helix out of alignment.

So how do you join two sections and not compromise theclearance below the sections? Use a shortened curve section cut

from 1⁄4" ply, if you use cork or vinyl roadbed, and join the sec-tions on top. When you lay roadbed, just stop at the section jointand continue on the other side. Run the track right over the jointas if it were roadbed. If you use homasote for roadbed use 1⁄2"plywood for the joint. Support the helix with 1"x4" lumberglued and screwed at each section joint. The helix sectionsshould rise 7⁄8" every joint. An assistant is very helpful when try-ing to assemble the helix. To prevent a train disaster when thehelix is completed, use 3" wide strips of 1⁄8" hardboard to line theouter and inner edges of the helix sections. If a train derails thestrips prevent a car from pulling the rest of the train to the floor.

Now that the easy work is out of the way, you can get on tothe hard part of deciding what track arrangement you’ll use ateach level-section for your operating enjoyment. And, that iswhat it’s all about! ◆

FIG.1 This is the segment layout for threeturns of the helix. Shown is a 1/8 segment.

The 1/4 segment is too wasteful.

Fig. 2

This is the layout for the paper pat-tern. You can use just about any

type of paper that is big enoughto accommodate the radius. A

plywood “master” could becut and used repeatedly

without the risk ofdestruction from use.

Fig. 3

Some supports omitted for clarity.Supports should be installed atevery section joint.

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Ph: 207-655-2550


Chapter XI was met at Kimpo airport by Steve

Olm, and Mr. Kim, spokesman and owner ofFM Model Co., (and later owner of BrotherBrass which is another chapter.) They tookme to the Koreana Hotel in the center ofSeoul. This was one of the cheaper of thedowntown first class hotels but two blocksfrom the center of Seoul. I had been up formany hours and went right to bed. I got upfresh and had another of those famous Kore-an hotel American breakfasts for $15. Thesetwo gentlemen came to my hotel roomabout 10:00 am that next morning. I wasready for them.

I had all my plan packages copied, andphotos duplicated and I was ready to negoti-

ate with another company to continue whereI was headed. I was confident that FMwould probably be the next best companyfor me at that time. I had given up all hopeof getting anything from GangSan. The pastwas past. If Dave Bush, with years of experi-ence in Korea, couldn’t find anyone fromGangSan Model Company, how could I eversucceed?

Trying to work with FM that morning

Crapolafrom theCupolaJohn C. SmithPecos River Brass

was a disaster. I presented a project. I brieflydiscussed the model, the differences in vari-ation, the similarities in the versions, and aquantity desired. I then asked for an idea onprice. All the builders at that time had a chartfor different types of projects: car, loco,other, scale. They would plug a quantity intothat chart and they could tell me it would be$40, or $50 or $100, or whatever, based onseveral factors. I knew this from talking withJun and Jim Findley before him. Steve Olmspoke English, Kim spoke none, but Olmwould never give me a price. He would say,we will look into it.

I would present another project and thesame thing would happen. After 2 hours,and about 5 proposed projects I still had noidea if we could do business. That afternoon,after lunch, I would visit their factory, but Iwas anxious. I pressed Olm for a price. Hethen explained to me that if he quoted mewithout knowing more about the project ormy company, that they might price too highand when I rejected the price, they wouldlose face. I hit the ceiling. “Damn, we’reboth adults here. Give me a price, I’ll take itor leave it and we will go on. I’m sure itwould not be too different from what I wasquoted at GangSan. Let’s get on with busi-ness.” My anxiety was too much for me andthem. Olm suggested that we not start busi-ness and that I should just wait for GangSan.Right! Where was he coming from?GangSan was gone. When I said that, Olmsaid, “Not really.” I should wait in my hotelroom and someone would probably contactme. My face must have been frozen. Theygot up and left the room leaving me standingthere. What was this?

The Korean brass world is very small.Everyone knows what everyone else isdoing. The designer at firm A is a drinkingbuddy of the stamping man at factory B.There are no secrets. I wasn’t in Korea for24 hours and that afternoon, I received noless than 4 phone calls from model factorieswanting to meet with me. They all knew mysituation, and they all wanted a piece of me.I never say never, so I agreed to meet withthem and see what they offered. I set up aschedule. The next day, I would meet Char-lie Sandersfeld (now dead) of OmniconScale Models, strictly an S Scale importer.

He was in a similar situation and looking foran alternative builder and agreed to meet andvisit several factories with me.

It was now into the early evening. I hadsat around the hotel room most of the day. Iwent for a couple of long walks. I had a lightdinner, not knowing what I might be eating.I retired early to my hotel room and watchedArmed Forces TV, about the only Englishspeaking TV in Seoul, and a link to home. Ifell asleep about 11:00 pm, but was awak-ened by a phone call at 2:00 am. It was Jun,and I sat up in bed, wide awake. He askedme if it was alright if he came to my room. Iasked where he was and he said he was inthe lobby. I said come up. I quickly put onsome clothes, and Jun, Ho Chul Lee andNamh Il Park were at my door in just min-utes. To say the least, this was a very emo-tional moment for us. Jun and I were veryclose, and I knew instantly that he was introuble. To this day, I still don’t know all thestory, and I have asked Jun many times. Itjust doesn’t translate well I guess.

Jun was hiding. Not only from the policebut from the Korean equivalent of Guidoand Bruno. I guess there were street loansout there too, at very high interest rates. Theonly time he dared visit me was in the mid-dle of the night. He explained what had hap-pened, and explained that he could no longerbe in business, but that Lee and Park hadbeen looking for another financier. They alsohad all the machinery, plans and samples,including my HO heavyweight passengercars, half built, and they would surface againwith my projects and finish what they hadstarted. Jun promised me that Lee and Parkwould take care of me and all would be OK.I then asked about PSC and Sunset. Junresponded, you are my friend. I will takecare of you first. All of their models wouldbe returned to them.

This is one time when being his friend,above business, paid off for me. I caredabout him, more than about his business,and it was returned. Jun and I are still friendsand I visit with him often. He is in anotherprofession, in the Christian church.

I asked one more thing. If he had all mystuff, and the models that belonged to PSCand Sunset, I wanted to see it.

to be continued... ◆

FM Models, Steve Olm and President Kim,Jong Hee


Scale Command - Part IIILionel TMCC�Adapted for 2-Rail O Scale OperationScale Command - Part III

Don WoodwellDon Woodwell

Lionel TMCC�Adapted for 2-Rail O Scale Operation

In the first part, I introduced Lionel’s Scale Command,described its functions and features for the 2-rail operator, andlisted several locomotive manufacturers that include 2-railScale Command in their product lines.

In Part II, it was shown how Train America Studios’ makesit easy to connect Scale Command technology to a 2-rail DCtrack system. Their Inverter connects directly to the track withinput from both the DC Power Pack’s variable and a fixedvoltage posts, and the Lionel Command Base that injects theradio signal into the rails.

In Part III this month, I’ll discuss how to get started withScale Command by describing typical component configura-tions and pricing.Scale Command Guidelines

Every layout is different and each layout has its own uniquepower requirements. Therefore, it is difficult to apply one ruleto suit all track plans. The following guidelines will help lay-out operators get started with Scale Command.

In a Scale Command operation, the entire model railroadmust always be powered at 14-18 volts. Layouts with exten-sive block wiring and multiple cab setups can be converted towork in a Scale Command environment by simply turning onall the insulated blocks. Power to every track loop may be sup-plied by a primary DC power pack with a TAS Inverter (seeFigure 1) or by an AC transformer.

Similarly, stub and passing sidings, and yards must have aselectable cab control for eachtrack. Determine which powerpack will be powering individualsidings and wire a TAS Inverterbetween it and the track.

Reverse loops or crossoverswhere the polarity of the rails ismismatched require a TAS AutoReversing Booster (ARB). EachARB controls one reverse loopand connects on one end to theisolated reverse loop or crossover

and to mainline power on the other end. An ARB immediatelyreverses the track polarity when a short is detected. Each lay-out will require one Lionel TMCC™ Command Base and oneCAB-1 Remote Controller� (CAB-1) regardless of the size of

the layout. Either a Lionel SC-2 or ASC enables the CAB-1 tocontrol four or six switches, respectively. For example, a lay-out with 23 switches requires either 6-ASC’s or 4-SC2’s.

If your layout is equipped with a turntable there are twooptions for controlling it: (1) Use whatever pre-existingturntable mechanism is installed; or (2) Use a Scale Commandreceiver to power the turntable motor and control speed anddirection with the CAB-1 remote.

Scale Command is the on-board electronic motherboardthat must be installed into each locomotive and allows theaddition of a command receiver and the optional Lionel Rail-sounds 4.0™. Minimally equipped Scale Command boardshave a command receiver, but options include electricallyoperated coil couplers, smoke units, and various lightingeffects.

As an example, here’s what it takes to upgrade a Weaver Oscale Pacific 4-6-2 steam locomotive with Scale Commandelectronics:

(1) Base Scale Command control includes directional light-ing, smoke unit on/off control, and scale coil coupler control.

(2) Optional equipment includes:• Command control with Railsounds 4.0TM digital

sound system • Directional lighting • Coil couplers • Smoke unit on/off control • High-output fan driven smoke units that can be added

to engines with either Seuthe units or no smoke units • Special lighting effects like strobe lights, Mars lights,

and oscillating ditch lights can be added.Recommended Scale Command Components

Beginning operator required components:1 Lionel Part # 6-12969, Command set (CAB-1 and base) $129.99

1 Lionel Part # 6-22983, 80 Watt, 10 Amp Powerhouse $89.99

1 TAS Part # TAS-4002, Signal Enhancer $29.99

A Signal Enhancer must accompany each Powerhouse,e.g., two loops of track require two Powerhouses and two Sig-nal Enhancers.

• Optional to control any manufacturer’s switches:1 Lionel Part # 6-14182, Accessory Switch Controller $79.95

Total Cost = $329.88A single ASC controls up to 4 individual switches or multi-

Figure 1: TAS Inverter


ple switches grouped for crossovers, passing sidings, or doubleslip switches. Twenty-five ASC devices may be used on a sin-gle layout.

Operators who already have a DC transformer and toggletheir switches need these components:

1 Lionel Part # 6-12969, Command Set $129.95

1 TAS Part # TAS-4001, 60 Hertz Inverter $49.95

Each loop of track requires one inverter that permits switchselection of DC operation or AC Scale Command operation.

• Optional to control any manufacturer’s switches:1 Lionel Part # 6-14182, Accessory Switch Controller $79.95

Total Cost= $259.85These component recommendations also apply to existing

DCC operators who must select which track loops will beScale Command controlled. For example, if a DCC operatorwants to run only one Scale Command loop, he could useeither AC or DC transformers with the stipulation that theydeliver 18VAC to the Scale Command-controlled track. Hemust use a TAS Signal Enhancer with AC and a TAS Inverterwith DC.

The final required Scale Command components areonboard controls. These vary from simple to complex depend-ing on the desired locomotive features. For example:

(1) A Weaver dual-motored locomotive like the U25B orRS-3 would need the following for a complete conversion tocommand control, sounds, and coil couplers (See Figure 2):

1 TAStudios ‘SAW’board w/ diesel Railsounds 4.0TM $164.95

2 TAStudios Scale Coil Couplers $12.00 each

4 12 Volt Grain of wheat bulbs (for directional lighting) $1.50 each

Total conversion cost: $194.95(2) Steam engines like the Sunset Hudson or a medium

sized articulated locomotive would need:1 TAStudios ‘SAW’board w/ steam Railsounds 4.0TM $164.95

1 TAStudios Scale Coil Coupler $12.00

1 TAStudios 6-Pin Tether $8.00

2 12 Volt Grain of wheat bulb $1.50 each

Total conversion cost= $187.95Other add-ons such as Engineer on Board (EOB) cruise

control, oscillating and flashing ditch lights, and Turbo Smokeunits are also available. More feature information may be found at:

http://www.tastudios.com/scalecommand/o_scale_cmd/o_scale_welcome.htm.

Comparison to DCC DCC decoders are designed to control the locomotive’s

motor, lights and one or two auxiliary features. PurchasingDCC decoders and installing them into non-commandequipped locomotives can cost upwards of $100 per engine.Adding sound to a locomotive may require an additionaldecoder that could drive the decoder cost up to $200. Com-pared with Lionel’s Railsounds 4.0™, the features of the DCCsound system may be severely limited.

All DCC decoders must be programmed prior to using.Operators must follow detailed programming instructions tolocate the values for various configuration variables. By com-parison, reprogramming is very easy with Scale Command.Simply slide one switch located on the frame of the locomo-tive or tender to Program, press a few buttons on the CAB-1remote, slide the switch back to Run, and you are finished.Reprogramming a Scale Command locomotive may be doneanywhere on the layout as no special programming track isneeded.Summary

Train America Studios’ Scale Command system compo-nents are based on the proven, full-featured 3-rail TMCC™system pioneered by the Lionel Corporation. Two-rail opera-tors may want, therefore, to consider Scale Command as aserious alternative to DCC.

For Scale Command operation, an entire model railroadmust always be powered at 14-18 volts. Layouts with exten-sive block wiring and multiple cab setups can easily be con-verted to work in a Scale Command environment by simplyturning on all the insulated blocks. Power to every track loopmay be supplied by a DC power pack with a TAS Inverter orby an AC transformer.

Compared to DCC, the cost of getting started with ScaleCommand or adding it to an existing layout is usually lessexpensive. Virtually any O scale locomotive may be eitherfactory equipped or retrofitted by TAS for a relatively low cost.Scale Command features are generally more extensive thanDCC features. ◆

All prices quoted are subject to change by the Lionel LLC or Train Amer-

ica Studios without prior notice.

Figure 2: WeaverU25B with ScaleCommand


620 Wright Loop Williamstown, N.J. 08094 — 2-RAIL

SS PRR I-1 2-10-0 Original Unpainted ( SHORT TDR. ) $1,120

SS PRR Q-2 4-4-6-4 F⁄P $1,480

SS PRR S-1 6-4-4-6 F⁄P Shrouded ⁄ Unshrouded $1500 each

SS PRR P5a F⁄P BOXCAB $800

SS PRR FF2 F⁄P $850

SS PRR P5a F⁄P MODIFIED (baby GG1) $750

SS PRR B-1 F⁄P $750

SS PRR E-6 4-4-2 Original U⁄P $725

SS PRR N-1 2-10-2 F⁄p $1,150

SS B&O 2-8-0 F⁄P $750

SS PRR J1 2-10-4 F⁄P $1,275

SS PRR HH1 2-8-8-2 F⁄P $1,650

SS PRR G-5 4-6-0 U⁄P $850

CB PRR T-1 4-4-4-4- C⁄P Light. weathering $3,500

WSM PRR J1 2-10-4 C⁄P Light weathering $1,750

WSM PRR Q-2 4-4-6-4 U⁄P $2,500

WSM PRR M1 4-8-2 U⁄P Cab detail (NOB) $1,380

USH PRR M1a 4-8-2 C⁄P extra detail, by H. Hieke $1,500

OMI PRR M1a 4-8-2 U⁄P Mint $2,300

OMI UP 2-8-8-2 EX N&W Y3 $2,550

ALC PRR K-4 4-6-2 U⁄P Broadway Limited Streamlined $1,400

WIL PRR T-1 4-4-4-4 U⁄P 2 Railed by Trackside $1,100

WIL PRR L-1 2-8-2 2 Railed by Trackside $750

Call 856-629-9702 Between 6 and 10 PM EST


Where The Eagle Meets The Chief!Where The Eagle Meets The Chief!Where The Eagle Meets The Chief!

A small station sits in front of a HUGE warehouse on John Smith’s Texas Western layout. John is the owner of Pecos River Brass and sponsored this year’s National convention.

Left: This was the scene on Sunday evening at the BBQdinner. OST sponsored dinner for all the vendors.

Right: A small part of the Pecos River Brass bandentertained on Sunday evening.

Below: The 2003 O Scale National Committee: LarryBarnes, Phil Camp, Rick Graves, Dick Kuelbs, Chuck Lind,

Tracy Mitchell, Michael Ross, John C. Smith, JohnThornton, George Wallace and Mike Walter.


Above: Goodies were for sale everywhere. These shorty coaches andtrestle were on Jim Cantner’s table.

Above: Need structures? There were plenty here.

Above: Weaver displayed their revised John Wilkes & new Milwaukee Road S-3 4-8-4.

Above: A gallows style turntable for sale.

Left: Richmond Controls shows off their line of goldenwhite LEDs.

Above & Below: BTS had a great display with several of their kits builtup. The Cabin Creek Coal Co. is impressive.


Right: Gordon Payne took 3rd Place, SteamLocomotives with his SP 4-4-0.

Below & Below Right: He also built thisSouthern 2-8-8-2 an Southern 2-8-2.

Left: Charles Goodrich won 2nd Place, SteamLocomotives with this Shay.

Below: Charles also took 2nd Place in Dieselswith this On20 Mine loco.

Right: Tom Mix took 1st Place, SteamLocomotives with his CB&Q 4-6-0. OSTreaders were treated to a detailed look

at this loco last issue.

Left: Tom Mix took 2nd Place, Traction& Other with this CB&Q Gas Electric.By the way, all of Tom’s stuff is made

from scratch.

Left: Bernard Brock really hates Diesels.He put together this homage to thoseflatulent boxes of horsepower with his“Diseasel” entry.



Left & Above: Chuck Lind’s LoggingCamp took 1st Place, Display.

Above: Charles Goodrich’s Flour Mill took 3rd Place,Structures.

Above: Tom Mix was another busy guy building’ models for the convention. Shownare two of his cabooses (cabeese? cabice? What the heck is the plural of caboose,

anyway?). The C&S is standard gauge not narrow gauge.

Above: Terry Mitchell took 1st Place, FreightCars with this D&RGW narrow gauge box car.

Right: This Rock Island Diesel was built by E. W. Green.

2003 O Scale Nation Contest Winners

Steam Locomotives1. T. Mix CB&Q 4-6-02. C. Goodrich, Shay #73. G. Payne, SP 4-4-0

Diesels1. M. Nelson, SP SD-402. C. Goodrich, On20 Mine3. C. Christiansen, TNO F9

Freight Cars1. T. Mitchell, D&RGW boxcar2. C. Goodrich, Crowell Lumber3. C, Goodrich, D&RGW gon

Passenger Cars1. T. Mitchell, D&RGW Combine2. G. Payne, MoPac Bus. Car

Caboose/Non Revenue1. J. Zwerneman, RI caboose2. Tom Mix, CB&Q caboose3. T. mitchell, D&RGW caboose

Traction & Other1. C. Lind, Track Removal 2. T. Mix, CB&Q Gas-Elec.3. T. Mitchell, RGS Goose #6

Structures1. C. Goodrich, D&RGW Tank2. C. Goodrich, Chama Station3. C. Goodrich, Flour Mill

Display1. C. Lind, Mining Camp2. J. Zwerneman, Gas Station


Left: Charles Goodrich wasa busy bee... his renditionof Chama Station was fullydetailed but still only took2nd Place, Structures.

Below: On the final night of the convention the full 19 piece Pecos River Brass provided the evening’s entertainment.



There were plenty of clinics and they kept everyone busy.

◆


If there is one thing that makes us allmad it’s dirty track that interferes with goodoperation. I live in Florida and with thehumidity, dirt and oil that gets on the track itis a never ending process cleaning the track.I prefer dry cleaning over a wet type ofcleaner, unless the track is really dirty.

I made a simple track cleaning car froman All Nation depressed center flat car. Thecar uses a regular track cleaning pad. I pre-fer the type that has some grit in it, but isn’ttoo hard. The spring motion pushing thepad down exerts about 15 oz. of pressureand about an extra 2-3 oz. of drawbar pull.This amount of drag hardly effects the per-formance of the train. I added weight to thebottom of the track cleaning car to counter-act the upward force of the cleaning pad

In the picture of the car on the track it ishard to see the cleaning pad under the carnumber. The first thing I did was to cut outthe bracing at one end of the car. I then cutout a small piece of 1⁄4" masonite to fit intothe cavity. I drilled 2 holes at either end ofthe pad and through the bottom of the carand tapped them for 5⁄8" 2-56 screws. Iredrilled the pad to accept a 1/8" inch brasstube 7/16" long on each end. You can overdrill or ream it out to make a smooth travelfor the pad up and down. I made a softspring by cutting a 0.005" brass sheet to11/4" wide by 13/4" long and rolling it so itstands up about 1/2" in the bottom of the car.You need to roll the ends up a little so itpushes smoothly against the bottom of thecar floor. Adjust the spring by bending it toget the pressure you want. I then took thecleaning pad and rounded the front andback of it so it wouldn’t snag on any of thetrack or uncoupling ramps. I used tinyscrews, countersunk, to fasten the pad to themasonite.The spring is installed in the carwith the round side toward the pad and thenthe screws with a washer and the 1/8" spacertube are screwed in.

After running it for awhile you’ll noticebetter operation of your engines. ◆

Track Cleaning CarTrack Cleaning CarTrack Cleaning CarStuart Ramsey


The word is going around therail fanning grapevine that theGreat Central Railway hasjust purchased three of RichYoder Models GE 70 tondiesels to use as their mainmotive power, replacing theSW and GP units that theyhad. I received a call from myrail fanning friend, Trevor, that# 22 was on the Paper Millturn. He had seen it headingNorth through Tara Mills, so Igrabbed my camera andheaded to Abbie Springs. Ijust got there in time to catch#22 switching some emptybox cars into the Paper Mill and then departing town,heading South back to Inwood and the interchange. I amlooking forward to many enjoyable days rail fanning theGreat Central, now that they have these 70 tonnersaround. –Mike CulhamPhotos by Mike Culham

Kerry Jones' Intermodal train


Reader FeedbackReader FeedbackMore On Power Supplies

Congratulations on an excellent mag-azine. I noted in your letters section thatsome readers were looking for a lowpriced power supply. There is a constant18 volt AC power supply manufacturedby Lionel for their command system, inboth 8 amp and 10 amp sizes, the Pow-erhouse 135 and 180. The prices forthose are between $50 and $65 from thebig Lionel mail order houses, such asIsland Trains or Charles Ro. Add a suit-able sized rectifier from Radio Shackand there you go. Also, you can find 200to 300 watt 12 volt lighting transformersat Home Depot. Hope that helps.

Regards,John MallardPS. the part number for the 10 amp

Powerhouse is 22983. These can be par-alleled for more juice.

A CorrectionIn a letter published in Issue #8 Read-

er Feedback, I stated that all versions ofthe NCE D408SR DCC decoders didnot support DC operation. I must eatsome crow—I was wrong. My assump-tion was based on the instructions thatcame with a unit I purchased. I havesince learned that there was a typo in theinstructions. NCE says all their decoderssupport DC operation.

Jim Wood

Still More On Power SuppliesThanks for the Rose River article.

When I moved to Florida I lost a 22' by28' basement. I settled for 2 bays of athree car garage. After moving all my“stuff” including a big ol’9" South Bendlathe, work bench and a huge pile ofother stuff it kind of looked like a layoutwas pretty much out of the question. Inormally don’t pay too much attentionto track plans but the longer I looked atthe Rose River RR track diagram it

became apparent that with a few minormodifications it might just work for me.So thanks to Daniel Wehrli and hisfriends who built it and thanks to you forpublishing it. By the way, great sceneryand buildings.

Having read some letters concerningpower supplies I guess I might as welltoss in my two cents worth. The bestpower supply I ever made for big oldopen frame permag motors was built outof scrap components from the last NewYork Worlds Fair. No matter, the com-ponents are still around from surpluselectronic suppliers. The basic idea is tocontrol the input voltage to the powertransformer by using a variable trans-former on the input side. The variabletransformer controls the input potentialfrom zero to 120 volts. Then through thepower transformer to a diode bridge orrectifier. I put a huge capacitor acrossthe output to smooth out the ripple.Then on to meters, a circuit breaker andreversing switch. This scheme elimi-nates the need for a rheostat as the trainspeed is controlled by the variable trans-former. It works on large can motors toobut the small trolley and interurbantrucks don’t respond well to thisscheme. Single phase variable trans-formers aren’t much bigger than an oldOhmite “O” gauge rheostat!

Bob Garrelts, Tarpon Springs, Florida

Reflections on the Dallas Ft Worth 2003O scale Convention.

This convention was outstandingbecause of the [better than average]organization. There were a lot of clinicsand several excursions, even for theladies, and also several good layouts tovisit. Besides there was the trolley lay-out of Dick Kuelb and the magnificentmodular layout from the Baton Rougegroup. I want to thank O Scale TrainsMagazine for the delicious BBQ.Thanks to Brady Mc Guire for opening

his layout the days before and after theconvention, thus filling in for those whocame early or stayed late.

I noticed the absence of severalimporters (who make money on Oscale) and also of several noted hobbyshops. Luckily there were others pres-ent, even from very far up in the UnitedStates. I would like to emphasize that ifO scale wants to survive, we shouldstick together and be at the shows and/orconventions. Also we need to meet theleaders of the different O scale groups.

Congratulations to John Smith andhis group having done their best to makeit a good convention.

Roger Segers Mentor Ohio

Some Traction ActionGot # 9 yesterday and read the article

on traction. For a great selection of trac-tion dealers and supplies go towww.EastPenn.org or type East PennTraction Club with a space betweeneach word in your browser and checkout the great pictures and dealer directo-ry. Jason's Brass Poles carries the capsfor the poles. This is an excellent sitefor downloading info for traction model-ing.

Keep up the Good Work!Rich Crooks

A Suggestion TakenIssue #9 is great. Types of articles

cover a variety of facets of the hobby.Most anyone should find something ofinterest. Suggestion: at the bottom ofeach page along with the page numbersis “O Scale Trains,” is it possible to addthe date of issue or the issue number?Reason: I copy articles of interest forfuture reference. Later, when I look atthe copies, sometimes I want to go backto the original to double check some-thing, look at a color picture or some-thing. If the date of the issue is not onthe copy, I have to write it on the copy


for future reference. Adding that wouldbe a convenience.

Bud Brock, PC&C RR

Joe G. responds: Bud, your wish isour command. Actually, several peoplehave asked us to add a date on eachpage, and we meant to several issuesago... honest... really... but we kept for-getting to do it. So, starting with thisissue we have the month and year addedto each page.

Who Says It's Hard to Model O ScaleWith the addition of the Atlas pig flat,

I completed an inter-modal train that Ihave been working on for some time. Itis made up of twenty-two cars: sixteenwell cars, three Front Runner cars, oneeighty-nine foot pig flat, and two spinecars. In the wells and on the flats, areforty-five containers and truck trailers.A very impressive train. Sources I usedare: Bowser, Atlas, K-Line, Skillfingers,Weaver, MTH, and PRB. The train isnot broken up and runs as a unit. Novariety in O Scale? You have to search it

out but there is more available than peo-ple realize.

Kerry Jones, Paradise, CA(For more of Kerry’s Intermodal train

see page 45 this issue.)

Wants It Both WaysHi, this is Bill, the guy who wanted to

run both a.c. and d.c. powered trains onhis Atlas layout. Well the mainline is upand running fine on either type. I have anice Weaver chain drive diesel and it’spulling a nice set of O-scale cars I gotoff Ebay for $20. These were built bysomeone in 1956 (date on the bottom).

Anyway I found an easy way to makean Atlas pratt truss bridge into a pull out

bridge for a walk way. I have a long wayto go but at least I have something run-ning and I have your fine magazine toread to inspire me.

Thanks Again, Happy Bill

A Comment on the Z5 ReviewRefer to product review of the Sunset

Northern Pacific Z-5 locomotive by JonHeller in July/Aug 2003 issue #9 of OScale Trains. Refer to page 29 whereMr. Heller makes this statement, “Thiswas the ultimate design for NP steamfor freight. After these, the only newdesigns NP took delivery of were dieselunits dedicated to freight.”

The 5000 was delivered in 12-1928,the 5001-5011 delivered 4-1930 thru 9-1930. The Z-6 5100-5120 delivered 10-1936 thru 5-1937. The Z-7 5121-5126delivered 10-1941 thru 12-1941. The Z-8 5130 thru 5149 delivered 01-1943 thru09-1944. These figures are from Super-steam Era 1925-1945 by Robert L. Frey& Lorenz P. Schrenk. The overallreview of the model was very good. Ihave one and I’m very pleased with it.

That one statement was very mislead-ing so I couldn’t let it go by.

Truly yours, Gayle ChristenAnd neither could Jon, he sent a cor-

rection which you will find on page 59.

Comments on the Schnable Car Conversion by Norman Hills.

I did one of these as soon as I couldget one. I used 36" wheelsets made byNorthwest ShortLine specifically for theMTH trucks. The problem I had wasgetting the vertical motion of the varioustrucks. Had to reshape flat bottoms ofbolsters that rode on the truck bolsters.The first set took three tries before get-ting the shape of the flat round enoughso that the truck would have verticalmovement. The second set went mucheasier and faster. The unit tracks andrides very well now.

I have quite a few MTH cars and 3locos that were made for 2 rail use andthe boxes had that printed on them. Idon’t understand why Mr. Hills hadsuch a hard time determining the carwas for 3 rail.

Very impressive car on the track.Hope Mr. Hills enjoys his as I havemine. I, too, had doubts at first butdecided to go ahead with it when Ifound out about the NWSL wheels.Very satisfying when the car wentaround all the track and through switch-es without derailing. CongratulationsMr. Hills.

Truly yours, Gayle Christen

On the Way to Sunriver The watercolor by Ted Rose that was the subject of a letter to the editor inOST#7. Steve Miller who owns the original painting sent this print.


Product News & ReviewsProduct News & ReviewsREVIEW: Golden White LEDs Richmond Controls PO Box 1467 Richmond, TX 77406 281-342-4895 www.richmondcontrols.com Reviewed by Ted Byrne Cost: $9 for two

I always love it when I go to a trainshow and find something that I didn'teven know existed. At the O ScaleNational in Dallas, Texas, I found Gold-en White LEDs. These are light emittingdiodes that are built to light in an old-time incandescent lightbulb color. Previ-ous white LEDs were actually ablue-white color. These LEDs also havea small lens built in to focus the lightinto a 30 degree beam. As a result theyare bright! Instrument LEDs have a dif-fuse face so they can be seen from anydirection, but then they glow more thanshine. The Golden LEDs can be used tosimulate old electric lights and gaslights. In particular, one can be the head-light in your locomotive.

So I couldn’t wait to get home andhook one up. I happen to use DCC con-trol so I put a Golden LED in the head-light of a four-car South Shoreinterurban train. Those trains had twoheadlights, one at the top and the otherat the center of the front of the first car. Iconvinced myself that the center head-light should be a Mars light. (WilliamMiddleton's 1970 classic book SouthShore, the Last Interurban doesn’t saythey didn't have them!)

Put your eyeball down at track leveland the result is awesome, just likestanding on the platform in Mendota,Illinois, and watching the Zephyr comethrough with that bright stuttering light.(At least my wife says it is and she wasthere) Disclaimer: the light doesn't reallymove in a figure eight pattern; it wink-winks instead. But close enough).

LEDs are useful for O scale modelrailroads because they are very efficient,reliable and small. Standard diametersare 2, 3 and 5 mm, just the right sizesfor crossing lights, loco headlights,block signals, etc. The lights in yourpassenger cars will not use up moretrack power than the locomotive motor!But they have electrical characteristicsdifferent than incandescent light bulbs,so you need to use them properly.

If you are replacing an existing LED,there will already be a series resistor andpossibly a diode, and the only thing toremember is that the longer lead is thepositive lead. If your rework is moreextensive, you need to be aware that anLED is a dc current-driven device. In theDCC situation, which I described above, Iconnected the Golden LED to the head-light accessory output of my DCC con-troller (FO). Its measured output wasabout 15 volts and the Golden LED usesabout 3.5 volts so the needed droppingresistor value is calculated using OhmsLaw. We need to drop 11.5 volts acrossthe resistor at the rated current of the LED(20 milliamps). The result is about 600Ohms. There was one more gotcha: theDCC controller I use, the NCE D408SR,headlight output supplies negative voltageso I had to swap leads on the LED. So thecircuit was as shown in Fig 1.

If you are lighting passenger cars,you will run the LEDs from track volt-age. If that is DCC, as in my case, it isAC and a constant amplitude so youneed a rectifier and a series resistor. Aconvenient rectifier is the Radio Shack276-1152A. It is about a big as a pencileraser and has 4 leads. The one marked+ is the positive output and the oppositelead is the negative output. The two

leads in between are the AC (track)inputs. The resistor has to drop trackvoltage (16 volts) minus the rectifierloss, (1.2 volts), minus the LEDs (I usedtwo for 7 volts), divided by 20 ma. orabout 390 ohms. The circuit is as shownin Fig 2.

If you are using DC power, you willstill want the rectifier so the lights willwork no matter which direction the trainis moving, but the track voltage changeswith locomotive speed. After all thiswork you don't want lights that getbrighter and dimmer so you want a con-stant current power source. Fortunatelythat is easy to do as shown in Fig 3.

The new element here is the LM317(Radio Shack 276-1778). It is a constantvoltage regulator but can be “con-vinced” to be a constant current regula-tor instead. The only trick here is toknow which lead is which on the LM317. It is a block about 3⁄8" square and1⁄8" thick. From one end extends a metaltab to bolt to a heat sink. We use so littlepower in this application that it doesn'tneed a heat sink but call that side thebottom side and think of the other side(with the printing) as the top side. Look-ing at the top, three solid leads come outthe end opposite to the heat sink. Theyare (left to right) the adjustment control,the output and the input leads, common-ly called leads 3, 2 and 1 but not markedon the unit. The circuit above shows theLM317 from the top side. By the way,the output lead is connected to the heatsink tab so keep that from touching any-thing electrical.

The LM317 will work its little heartout to keep the voltage between pins 2

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3


ty may be a little light for O scale light-ed passenger trains or the occasionalvisiting juice hog, that would still bequite adequate for my present limitedoperations (Micro-Mark also markets a10 amp Aristo-Craft multiple train ver-sion). Later, I can use it for running aswitcher or peddler freight.

The “Basic Train Engineer” has onlytwo components: the hand held trans-mitter and the receiver on the layout.The transmitter sends a 27MHz FM sig-nal when a button is pushed and thereceiver controls the output voltage andpolarity to the track from a DC powerpack. Since the control is by a radiotransmission, no “line of sight” isrequired and interior walls do not inter-fere with reception. I was able to controla train in my basement while standing

the thumb, leaving the other hand andmy attention free for watching the train,operating switches, couplers, etc. Themomentum, which is not adjustable,gives a slow acceleration to the desiredspeed and an even slower braking to astop, which is not unlike my own 1:1 cabexperience. This forces one to keep tomore realistic speeds when switching.That may take a little getting used to, butthere is always the panic button.

The receiver has a circuit breaker,which automatically resets itself whentripped. My unit trips at just under 11⁄2amps although the spec sheet states a 21⁄2amp capacity. I contacted Aristo-Crafttechnical support about the discrepancyand they replied “The 5480 is designedto be a 21⁄2 amp unit. The circuit breakerissue may be related to the power sup-ply.” Presently, the lower amperage cutout is not a serious problem for me asthis unit will still run my largest andheaviest loco plus a lighted caboose onmy steepest grade, but not a lighted pas-senger train or a double header.

I’m very satisfied with this productalthough I would have preferred the cir-cuit breaker operation to be closer to therated amperage. Some further testingwith another power pack may eliminatethat complaint. I think this is an excellentthrottle for the model railroader wholikes switching with walk around controlon an O scale layout.

NEWS: Ultra Scale II by ChoochPO Box 1220, Maple Valley, WA 98038425-788-8680, [email protected]

Mike O’Connell says that they’vefinally shipped the first #611 passengercar of the Great Northern Oriental Limit-ed train series, and that they will beginshipping the whole train in Septemberand October. This is a project that hastaken 15 years to complete. More than20 railroads ran all five of these Pull-mans, so they can run on almost any lay-out. Each kit runs about $150 except the

and 3 from exceeding 1.25 volts. So ifwe put a 62 ohm resistor from the outputpin (2) in series with the LEDs and con-nect its other end to pin 3, then, byOhm's law again, the current throughthat resistor is 1.25 volts divided by 62ohms or about .02 ampere or 20 ma. Soit becomes a current source and we canuse it to feed one or more LEDs inseries. Actually I put two in a passengercar.

You can also call Jim at RichmondControls to get literature about GoldenWhite LEDs. He will also be happy totell you about his various LED con-trollers, designed for the smaller scalesbut also useful in O scale. And you canget resistors at Radio Shack. They alsohave an envelope with an assortment ofLEDs in various sizes and colors (butnot Golden White) for a few dollars.

Review: ART-5480 Basic Train EngineerControl System, A Wireless Throttle byAristo-Craft Trains, www.aristocraft.comMicro-Mark catalog item #82591Micro-Mark340 Snyder Ave.Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922www.micromark.comReviewed by Charlie MorrillRetail price $99.95

During the O Scale National, I had achance to witness the Aristo-Craft 2amp “Basic Train Engineer” wirelesswalk-around throttle for DC poweredtrains in action on Michael Ross’s lay-out. That convinced me that this was justwhat I needed for my new layout-in-progress. The fact that it was also onsale for $77.95 from Micro-Mark didn’thurt. My new layout is an around-the-wall arrangement located in a 30 foot by40 foot basement which has a stairwelland utility and storage room complex inthe center. I had already discovered thatdragging the plug-in cord from my oldmemory walk-around throttle aroundthe area was not going to work as wellas it did on my previous smaller layout.

Although the reported 2 amp capaci- continued on page 52

about 30 feet away from the receiver.Installation could not be much sim-

pler. I disconnected the two output wiresfrom my power pack and connectedthem to one side of the receiver box.Two wires from the receiver are thenconnected to the track (or PFM soundunit in my case). I attached the receiveron edge to the benchwork with a pieceof double-sided tape so the box wouldhave cooling airflow. The antenna istacked along the layout edge. Attachingan antenna rod to the hand transmitterand installing a 9-volt battery completesthe installation.

To operate, set the control on the DCpower pack to the maximum voltageyou want to use. Speed and braking withbuilt-in momentum are two buttons onthe transmitter. Two more buttons selectdirection and a fifth is the panic stop.

I find the transmitter is easy to hold inone hand and operate the buttons with


Colorado & Southern. On3 modelerswere pleased to be able to purchase inex-pensive passenger equipment and all theyhad to do was trade the On30 trucks forOn3 trucks for compatibility.

Bachmann also chose to install theirHO couplers at HO height, (18.75") which involves a thickspacer but many people think it detracts from the looks of thecars. Frankly, the Bachmann couplers droop down and donot look good in my opinion but On3 modelers cheerfullypurchased the cars, cut off the spacers and installed theirfavorite knuckle couplers at 26" height to add more passen-ger coaches and freight cars for a fraction of what other On3models usually sell for.

That left the On30 modeler with the choice to either modelthe Colorado & Southern with incorrect gauge track,wheelsets and coupler height or repaint the equipment and cre-ate their own fictitious or freelance 30" gauge lines, whichmany people are doing. The Bachmann coaches and freightcars are quite useable for 30" gauge equipment and look justfine on HO gauge track if one covers up the too-short and too-close-together HO ties, or uses On30 flex track available fromseveral manufacturers, or hand lays his own On30 ties and rail.

If the couplers are left at the HO height, all equipment on anOn30 layout might be compatible, but many modelers preferto have the couplers on their freight and passenger cars at theusual 26" height with the coupler pockets right up under thefloor, eliminating the unsightly spacers. It’s not hard to do.

It takes only a few minutes to make up an On30 26" couplergauge. I used a block with two grooves for the rails and builtup a pad so that the center line of my coupler is right at 26"(0.54" or just over 17⁄32") and glued a coupler pocket on top. Ifevery car mates with the coupler gauge, you know they’ll matewith each other.

This is not so much a how-to article as a why-to. In thephoto on page 51 an American Flyer gondola with Bachmanntrucks and Kadee couplers (mounted at 26") mates perfectly

NarrowMindedBobber Gibbs

Change Those On30 CouplersTo model any of the Colorado 36" gauge lines or the East

Broad Top or any of the Maine 24" gauge lines in O scale,one follows the prototype exactly for coupler heights, wheeldiameters and truck designs and anyone who does not mayfind his equipment is not compatible with others. The Col-orado lines, the EBT and most three-footers used 26" as theirstandard coupler height and the Maine two-footers adoptedsixteen inches. Coupler height is measured from the top ofthe rail to the middle line of the coupler.

In On30, although there were a few American and Canadi-an 30" lines, their coupler heights may have varied from oneline to another, allowing a modeler to create a railway usingany standard that he chooses. It makes good sense to choose26" for larger On30 freight and passenger equipment and 18"for tiny industrial equipment.

Because much of the earliest On30 modeling involved con-verting HO locomotives and freight cars to 1:48 scale, couplerswere often left at the standard HO height and they looked justfine on tiny O scale models. A ten foot wide HO standard gaugecar is about five feet wide in O scale and 34" diameter wheelsscale out to about 18", appropriate for small rolling stock.

HO couplers at their standard HO height scale out to about18.75" in O scale, which is also appropriate for smaller indus-trial equipment. Grandt Line On3/On30 ore cars are built sothat HO knuckle couplers fit perfectly and also operate per-fectly with undertrack uncoupling magnets. Those who con-vert HO equipment and use HO couplers can use an HOcoupler gauge to ensure that their models operate perfectly.

When Bachmann Trains produced their first On30 Moguland passenger car sets, they created superb O scale equipmentthat was appropriate for On3 but they installed 30" gaugewheelsets so they could use their existing HO track, which

scales out to justabout thirtyinches. Thenthey letteredtheir equipmentfor lines thatwere reallythree-foot gaugelike the

Bachman stock coupler on left.

Bobber's On30 coupler gauge at 26".


with the altered Bachmann boxcar. In future articles, I’ll showmore photos of more altered freight cars and passenger cars.Like, how about a neat eight-window shorty coach from aBachmann 12-window?

I hope that a few of our O scale standard gauge modelersare building narrow gauge industrial lines and will share somephotos with us. I know that Neville Rossiter (from WesternAustralia, see OST#1) is doing just that. Anyone else?

For more On30 information, join the On30 Conspiracy onthe net at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/On30conspiracy/

Happy rails to you until we meet again. [email protected] ◆

Product News & Reviews... cont’d.observation which is $175. San Juan CarCompany will be doing 4 and 6 wheeltrucks for these cars. Champ has thedecals and Precision Scale has brakedetails. Another new item mentioned islaser cut acrylic flush fit windows forthe Weaver Pullman Bradley cars(reviewed in OST#8). Also noted is aWar Emergency 53'6" flat car kit withthe master patterns made by GeneDeimling (now, there’s a guy who getsthings done. See his Proto48 columnthis month.) Release is early 2004.

NEWS: Rail Photos UnlimitedPO Box 2306, Joliet, IL 60434www.railphotounlimited.comFax 815-478-5158

Bob Stonich provides an interestingservice that, while not O scale specific,will be most useful to O scalers whomodel specific prototypes. Rail PhotosUnlimited sells slides and prints offreight cars from major railroads, short-lines & switching railroads, as well asindustrials, cabooses, piggy back trailers& containers, MoW, and stations. Allslides and photos are in color.

Here’s a sample from his latestfreight car catalog: Atlantic & WestPoint RR (AWP) #51139, Box car,Evans, DF-2 loaders, 50ft., Brn/Wht;Yreka Western (YW), #25164, Doubledoor box car, 50 ft., Blu/Wht. His cata-

log #6 lists over 1400 new pieces ofrolling stock not included in previouscatalogs. Prices are $1.50 for slides, $3for 5x7 prints and $6.50 for 8x12 prints.

NEWS: Red CaboosePO Box 250, Mead, CO, 80542970-535-4601, [email protected]

Red Caboose is having a “Scratch &Dent” sale on their O scale RTRReefers. The flaws in these cars rangefrom broken brake lines, to broken stepsand paint runs. Regular price on a per-fect copy of these reefers is $51.95 to$54.95. The sale price is $39.95 for anyversion. The cars available are WP/PFE,ART w/shield herald, ART w/MP &WAB heralds, Italian Swiss Colony,PFE UP/SP, and NP. All cars are sold“as is” and the numbers are limited.

Other reefers previously announcedare still on hold. These are the PFE dou-ble herald RTR, the Western FruitExpress/Great Northern wooden icereefer and the MDT reefer, both in kitand ready to run.

NEWS: Kohs & CompanyPO Box 689, Clarkston, MI, 48347248-625-6396, www.kohs.com

Kohs & Company has announcedseveral new projects, some of very limit-

ed quantity. One of those limited runs isa Norfolk & Western Y6a, 2-8-8-2.Those not familiar with the N&W maywonder if there is much differencebetween a Y6a and a Y6b, a Kohs for-mer offering. On most railroads thereprobably wouldn’t be, but there is ahuge difference on the N&W models.Kohs will produce only 50 Y6a modelsand already more than 30 of the modelshave been reserved. Cost is estimated at$4000 and no auxiliary tender this time.Kohs has also announced their PRRG22b gondola project is underway. Thegon comes with one of two styles ofcontainers. No price yet and they’re nottaking reservations yet but if you’reinterested in this car, contact them soyou will be notified when it becomesavailable. Another announcement involvesthe future production of cabooses (cabincars to PRR fans). First up is the PRR N5ccar of porthole fame. Future projects willcompliment previous and future Kohslocos. Planned are C&O, N&W, Erie, SPand UP cabooses. Future locos planned atthis time include: PRR K4, C&O H8Allegheny, NYC S1a, S1b, & S2 Niagaras,UP Big Boy, Erie Class S Berkshire, and aC&O K3/K3a Mikado. And on a finalnote: all future Kohs engines will be deliv-ered with documented performance infor-mation stating the actual measured range ofscale operating speed and pulling power. ◆


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OMI NP A4 4-8-4 unpainted, new TRO 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1795

PSC D&RGW L-131, F⁄P Road# 3600, black boiler, tender has correctspacing between the Rio Grande unlike the production run. No filmdecals from PSC. New, never run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3695

Key SP E7 A&B, latest run F⁄P Daylight, new, never run (pair) . . .$2595

Key NYC E7 A&B, early run, F⁄P lightning stripes, new, never run (pair) . . . . .$2250

OMI SP&S Z8 4-6-6-4 Unpainted Very Little Tarnish TRO New . .$3200

PSC SP AC-9 2-8-8-4 Coal 222 R-1 Tender F⁄P - Black Boiler New . . .$3195

PSC N&W Z1b 2-6-6-2 Factory Painted Rd# 1438 New . . . . . . . .$2975

PSC NYC S1a 4-8-4 C⁄P by Bernie Beedy Crown Series New . . . .$3995

OMI 120 Ton Crane Open Cab Version Industrial Brownhoist FactoryPainted Black, Unlettered OMI No. 0027.1 New . . . . . . . . . . . .$1195

Key B&A K3n 4-6-2, Factory painted, Rd#506, New . . . . . . . . .$2550

Div Point RDC-3, F⁄P NP. new, never run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1250

OMI UP FEF-3, F⁄P, Road# 844, new, never run . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2550

OMI UP FEF-3, F⁄P Road# 835, triple stack, new, never run . . . . .$2550

Kohs & Co. NYC J3a 4-6-4, Factory Ptd, Rd#5447, Late version Pt4Tender, Boxpok drivers, roller bearing rods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$4000

PSC C&O T1 2-10-4, C⁄P, like new condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2095

OMI UP DD40X F⁄P Road# 6931, like new w⁄Cockerham drive . . .$2250

OMI NP Z8 4-6-6-4, Unptd, New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3200

PSC CB&Q S-4a 4-6-4, Factory Ptd, Rd# 3003 new . . . . . . . . . .$2850

Key SP E9a 2 A units, Latest run, F⁄P Daylight (pair) . . . . . . . . . .$2695

PSC NP Z5 2-8-8-4, F/P Rd# 5006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3295

Kohs & Co NYC J3a 4-6-4, F/P Rd# 5424, late version PT4 tender,Boxpok drivers, plain rods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$4000

Kohs & Co N&W Y6b 2-8-8-2, F/P Rd# 2178 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$4000

Kohs & Co N&W Auxiliary Water Car F/P . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$650

PSC C&O C-16a 0-8-0 Custom Painted for PSC Rd#242 . . . . . . . .$1750

PSC SRR Ps-4 4-6-2, F/P Rd# 1401 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$1650

C&LS C&O H6 2-6-6-2 F/P Rd# 1477 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3295

C&LS WM M-2 4-6-6-4, F/P Rd# 1201, late version . . . . . . . . . . .$3295

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Floor ModulesFloor Modules


Let me start with a little history. Ihave been a model railroader for morethan twenty five years now. In thattime, I have been involved in every-thing from N scale, including N scaledetail manufacturing for a short time,to HO, to N, to HO, to N, finally get-ting to O scale in the early eighties. Adisastrous experiment with outdoor Oscale in the Texas sun put me offtrains until 1999 when I discoveredthe internet. What a cool place. Icould travel the world from the com-fort of my own home.

I was looking at different websitesand trying to decide which scale tomodel in. I was looking at the possibil-ity of doing S scale and I discoveredthe BTS website [www.btsrr.com].From there, I saw that O scale was stillgoing strong and I ended up at the OScale Kings website [www.oscalek-ings.org]. From there I ended up join-ing the Otrains list at Yahoo[groups.yahoo.com].

After being a member of theOtrains list for a couple of weeks, Istarted looking for equipment. Thepeople on the Otrains list have beenvery helpful. The first thing I startedlooking for were my old favorites,Atlas F9’s. It took virtually no time tofind a pair. I ended up buying twoengines that a guy had listed on theOtrains classifieds for $25 each.

Then I discovered Ebay. Yep,Ebay is how I ended up acquiringmost of my rolling stock. Now, all Ihad to do was find a way to build amodel railroad.

It has been nearly four years nowand I still don’t have what one wouldcall a model railroad. I still seem to

have the age old problem of space.However, I started building smallmodules using polystyrene foam insu-lation. I had found a piece of foam thatwas eight feet long and nearly two feetwide. I figured if I could cut it down tosix inch widths I could build some-thing that would have room for thetrack. Heck, there might even be roomfor some scenery. And that’s how I gotstarted with my floor modules.

Why do I call them floor modules?Because they are designed for justthat, to be used on the floor withoutrisking any carpet fibers getting intothe mechanisms of engines. Or theycan be used outside. At a train showthese can be set up across tables.There’s many possible locations but Istill call ’em floor modules.

The foam I had found was green,two inch thick, polystyrene foam insu-lation. So far, only Lowes carries it inmy area (Florida) and they only carrythe one inch thick foam. I had foundanother piece of this same foam a cou-ple of days after finding the first but itwasn’t in very good condition. It willbe usable when it comes to having aplace to put buildings and such, morelike a diorama that will fit next to thefloor modules.

The construction of these modulesis pretty straight forward and it reallyis pretty easy. The first thing to do iscut down the foam. When workingwith this stuff you don’t need a saw oreven a big knife. You score and break.It’s that easy. Since all I have at themoment are straight modules, it wasridiculously easy to do. Also, youwant these things to be manageable sothey shouldn’t really be much longerthan four feet. I made mine about six

inches wide. That is just enough tohave a couple of inches off each sideof the track and still provide for just alittle scenery by shaping it after thetrack is laid.

After cutting the foam, I startedlaying roadbed. I’m using Vinylbedroadbed. You can use Vinylbed,

Woodland Scenics, or any number ofdifferent brands of roadbed includingcork that can be purchased in autoparts stores. (Whenever I go to theauto parts stores, or the homeimprovement stores, and even hard-ware stores. I’m always on the look-out for items I can use for myrailroad.)

I attached my roadbed to the foamusing latex Liquid Nails. Any goodlatex adhesive will work. You have touse latex based adhesive since petrole-um based adhesives would dissolvethe foam.

The next thing is painting. Yes,painting. Gee, you get to do a littlescenery work here and you haven’teven laid the track yet! Just like the biglayouts, these little modules take a lotof paint, which also has to be eitherlatex or water based acrylic. I use areal cheap paint I pick up in the craftdepartment at Wal-Mart. It’s calledApple Barrel and comes in a variety ofcolors, many of them earth tones.There are also several shades of graywhich is what I use for the initial coloron the roadbed. I also use some raw

Gary WoodardGary Woodard

End view showing cross section of a module


umber, burnt umber and some rawsienna. I like to mix and match the col-ors as I go along. This helps to bringabout a cohesive color to the wholething. The only part that stays gray isthe roadbed.

While the paint is drying (about 24hours), I get the track ready. I use Gar-graves two rail track. It has a railheight that is close to code 172. Mosteveryone else that would build thesemodules would probably use a muchsmaller rail size, like code 148. What-ever you use, the first thing is to soldersome pigtails to the bottom of the railnear the middle of the track section.These pigtails are short pieces of 20 or24 gauge wire that will be used tomake electrical connections betweenmodules. I initially used some heavyduty solid 8 gauge wire but soon dis-covered that it wasn’t really necessary.I could just run the pigtails downthrough each side of the modules andmake it come out close to the bottom.By doing this, you just run a jumperwire from pigtail to pigtail. Do thisbefore the track is down on theroadbed otherwise you will melt thefoam trying to solder the pigtails inplace.

(Editor’s comment: Were I buildingthese, I’d attach pigtails at each end ofthe track on a module and attach alli-gator clips to each pigtail. Then youcan just daisy chain the clips/modules.Attach your power supply at the “cen-ter” to minimize voltage drops acrossthe modules.)

When all the paint on the module isdry, it’s time to glue down the track. Ifone was a glutton for punishment, onecould always hand lay their track, buton these modules that would not bethe best use of that talent. I put a littlelatex Liquid Nails on every third orfourth tie. I make sure the track sectionlays down good and flat against the

roadbed. Then I let the adhesive set upand dry for a couple of hours.

Punch a hole on each side of thetrack where the pigtails will gothrough. Thread the wire downthrough the holes and out the bottom.This will neaten things up around thetrackwork and allow the wires to beout of the way. It also makes thingseasier when you go to hook one mod-ule up electrically to the next.

Now for the anchors. When buildingregular wooden modules they are usu-ally anchored one to the next with Cclamps. But, since we are workingwith foam insulation that’s not going towork. I had to come up with somethingthat would be durable enough to han-dle being put up and taken down andnot destroy the foam. I use 1⁄4 inchwooden dowels.

I measure back four inches from theeach end of the module and ream ahole at the centerline of the module

height. This is to make sure that I haveenough foam holding the dowel. I usewood glue to hold the dowel in place.There is an inch of dowel exposed oneach side of the module. To anchortwo modules together, I wrap rubberbands around the dowels. I can hearyou laughing now, but it works.

The next step is to enjoy runningyour trains back and forth after build-ing a few of these modules. Of course,that will get boring after awhile. So, Iguess a few curved modules and someswitches are called for. Those will, ofcourse, require wider modules. I’mstill working out the design on these.

After you have enjoyed runningyour trains back and forth, it’s time forsome scenery. This is pretty easy onthese modules since there just isn’tvery much ground to cover.

I start the scenery phase by paintingthe track. Yes, track is a detail also, andshould be considered before anythingelse is done. I use Floquil Rail Brownmixed with just a little Grimy Black. Iuse my little sprayer from Testors. Areally nice little paint shooter. Youcan’t regulate the paint flow but it is acool little item. It fits right on top of acan of Propel and off you go.

After I paint the rail, I put a littlepaint thinner on a rag and clean therailheads. This makes the track lookbetter as you can see in the photo-graphs. I was considering doing a lotmore like adding rail joiners with allthe nut-bolt-washer detail at scale thir-ty nine foot intervals but decidedagainst that at this point. Maybe in thefuture. Now ballast the track and addany scenery like ground cover.

Next, work on the sides of the mod-ule. There are several options. Youcould leave it all straight across anduse styrene to make imitation concretewalls along each side of the right ofway, or you could use brick or even

Quarter-inch wooden dowels will hold themodules together.

This view shows the pigtails coming out themidpoint.

Painting the track is the first step in addingscenery.


cribbing. That would give it the look of anelevated line above swamp land or somethingsimilar. Or, you could use a hot wire foamcutter to shape the ground work anyway youlike.

I decided on concrete sides. These are made using plainstyrene sheet. While you could go to your local hobby shopand buy the styrene sheet there, the amount you will needfor this operation would be expensive. What I did was go toa local plastic supplier and for $5 bought a whole bunch oftheir scrap plastic. This has come in very handy not just forthis project but for all of my other projects, too.

The scraps were all about six inches wide and most wereeight feet long. I cut them down to more manageable sizes.Most were cut to one and two foot lengths. I measured offtwo inch heights along the length, scored and broke what Ineeded for sides. Measure the location of the dowel that issticking out of the module and ream a hole in the same loca-tion of the strip of styrene to be laid down. Test fit the stripover the dowel and if it fits, glue down the styrene. All ofmy “concrete” walls were secured to the foam with WhiteLightning Adhesive Caulk available at Wal-Mart stores inthe paint department.

As you can see from the photographs thisisn’t brain surgery. These modules offer asolution for those who don’t have a lot ofroom, even a spare room can be too small insome cases. It’s my hope that I haveinspired someone out there who is buildingO scale models for that dream layout thatthey will build “someday”. I realize this isonly a temporary solution, but it will allowyou to have trains up and running and notjust sitting on shelves. or in boxes in a clos-et or in the basement.

You will, of course, notice when you look at the photo-graphs that these modules aren’t perfect; not in detail andnot in execution either. But for now, I at least have a way ofrunning my trains when I feel like it, or at least when itisn’t raining.

Until next time. happy railroading. ◆

Floor ModulesFloor Modules

Glue the styrene sides to the foam with a latexbased adhesive.

A finished module with track and scenery added.

Now we’re running trains!

Modules set upto run outside.The module to

the right is onlypartiallyfinished.


Bob Anson recently finished this car#27260 for a client in Texas. It is a Bob Parricement gon in kit form. Bob was fortunate tohave an original Parri car from another client onhand to use as the master instruction sheet tobuild these cars. Says, he could never havedone it without it. The gon is finished inScalecoat LV Cornell red (custom blended) . Alllettering was drawn and printed in Bob’s shopfor both the gon and the canisters.

Another Roland Marx masterpiece. AGilmaur SW1500 wears the paint schemeand markings of the Helm LeasingCompany ( HLCX ). The model is sittingon trucks made from MTH scale trucksideframes with Weaver style P&Dgearboxes. He’s promised us an article.

Mike Culham captures the Great Central’s new 70 tonners at Tara Mills on his layout. Mike hails from Toronto, Ontario.


I read Woody Matthews articleon working InterMountain doors inthe Nov/Dec '02 issue of O ScaleTrains (OST#5) and concur thatworking doors are needed on suchfine models. I also concluded thatthe technique Woody described wasa lot of extra work.

I confronted this problem about10 years ago when these cars werefirst released and present my solu-tion which I feel is much simplerand quicker.

A piece of piano wire! Bend asshown. Install as shown and pop itin the doorway.

Modeler’s TricksModeler’s TricksAnother InterMountain Door SolutionText & Design by Harry Hieke Jr., Illustration by Richard Gardner

FOR SALEall n.i.b. except*

GHB Doodle bug unptd. $495Overland Bascule Bridge $694Overland PRR P5a $749Early Atlas flex track box of 24$120

SUNSETGN S-2, 4-8-4, Glacier Green $995Early U.P. Challenger $1545S.P. AC-6, late cab $1495Early Big Boy * $1450Late Big Boy $1795C44-9w U.P. & Santa Fe [each]$695

Trades of Interest:USH S.P. GS-4 Daylight 1/1USH U.P. FEF black or gray 1/1

Tom Thorpe3768 Foulk Road

Boothwyn Pa. 19061-1802ph: 610 485 1236fax: 610 497 2883

[email protected]

Scale CommandScale CommandTRAINMERICA

S T U D I O Spresents

Train America Studios • 4137 Boardman–Canfield Rd., Ste LL02 • Canfield, Ohio 44406Hours: Mon-Fri, 10AM -6PM • Voice: 330-533-7181 • Fax: 330-533-7208 • email: info@scale command.com • web: www.scale command.com

Are you ready for everything you could ever dream of in a wireless remote operating system and then some? Then 2-rail ScaleCommand is your dream come true! Look at these features: independent control of up to 99 locomotives; wireless control ofswitches; realistic on-board digital sounds; 100% Kadee-compatible operating scale couplers; and more! Scale Command can beadded to any 2-rail O scale locomotive. Scale Command is the most affordable command⁄control system ever offered for O scale.

V i s i t o u r w e b s i t e f o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n o n h o w S c a l e C o m m a n d c a n b e n e f i t y o u .


naught, oval/notched ends, unptd, $175;Painted C&O cars all versions $199; Pennsyl-vania Glca hoppers $175; Western Mary-land woodchips, covered hoppers $175.SASE. (727) 391-3135, John Clemens, 527397 Way N, St. Petersburg, FL 33708-3752

FOR SALE: Atlas SW9 #6177-1, C&O#5241, $250; Atlas Coal Hoppers Rd#'s300402, -414, -422, -437, $50 ea.MG/USH C&O Steel Caboose, ptd.,w/trucks, missing one step. $175. Plus ship-ping. Ph: 301-464-0611(eve.) Gil Stimson,4506 Rising Lane, Bowie, MD 20715-3228

WANTED: 2 rail - Anything C&O (exceptbrass)- especially hoppers 1930s-1960s, pas-senger cars, Atlas SW 8/9s, and structures.Email me list, phone no.[[email protected]] NO ADDRESS NedFerguson, 1021 Rooster Run, Middleton, WI53562-3872

FOR SALE: Timber Creek Railroad Supply isoffering the masters and molds for the "O"scale switch stands for sale at this time. Forfurther details call (530) 273-9145. Or write:Timber Creek Railroad Supply c/o GordonBriggs, 13371 Mystic Mine Rd, Nevada City,CA 95959-9023

FOR SALE: PECOS RIVER BRASS factorypainted Clinchfield, AT&SF cabooses, tankers,flats, Greenville boxcars, grains cars, Pullman-Standard, GATX covered hoppers, Airslides:$199. Listings, SASE. Ph: 727-391-3135John Clemens, 5273 97 Way N, St. Peters-

Buy–Sell–TradeBuy-Sell-Trade ads are $5 for 30 words plus your address information. Additional words are $0.25 each. Subscribers are permitted one free ad per sub-scription cycle. All B-S-T ads are prepaid. You may send ads by postal service with a check or money order. Ads sent by email or called in must use a cred-it card. See our contact info on page 2.

FOR SALE: Adirondack Car & Foundry prod-ucts, Weaver, NWSL, Grandt Line, Kadeecouplers, Athearn trucks, Intermountain (whilesupplies last), OSN, OST. Contact Ed Reut-ling, AC&F. PH: 423-477-5790. Email: [email protected] Ed Reutling, 160 Harwood Rd.,Gray, TN 37615-3728

SUNSET MODELS NP A-5 #2681 $989;NKP #845 4-8-2 $979; RF&P #518 4-8-2$979; GN Glacier S-2 4-8-4 #2558 $1079;AT&SF #5011 2-10-4 $989; B&O Early 2-8-8-4 #7615 $1499; B&O late 2-8-8-4 #7624$1499 PENNSYLVANIA Q-2 4-4-6-4 #6184$1499; Pennsylvania P-5a Streamlined Elec-tric $699; AT&SF c-44-9w #654 $699; UP C-44-9w #9734 $699 Ph: 727-391-3135,John Clemens, 5273 97 Way N, St. Peters-burg, FL 33708-3752

FOR SALE: Intermountain Builtup Cars! Largeinventory... Box cars, Reefers, Gondolas,Hoppers, Tankers, $39. If you demand Inter-mountain quality, buy while they are avail-able.Ph: 727-391-3135, John Clemens,5273 97 Way N, St. Petersburg, FL 33708-3752

WANTED: Walthers unbuilt kits - Nos. 5411PRR N5 caboose, 5402 Tool & Water Car(difficult kit to locate), Walthers PassengerPlan book (2nd Ed) No. 949-609, No. 5412Peek-A-Boo gondola. Chris Rossbach c/oRestoration Train Parts, 135 Richwood Dr,Gloversville, NY 12078

YODER Chesapeake & Ohio hoppers, dread-

burg, FL 33708-3752

FOR SALE: decals for NYC HW passengercars. $11 set. WANTED Intermountain NYChopper and MDT reefer kits Sam Shumaker32575 Pettibone Rd. Solon, OH 44139Email [email protected] [DELETED EXTRAADDRESS] 20th Century Models, 32575Pettibone Rd, Solon, OH 44139-5454

FOR SALE: Weaver Pennsy N-5C caboose,Tuscan Red w/ Yellow Cupola; Focal Orangew/Black Roof; Orig. 3-rail, 2-rail conversionw/ scale wheels, scale couplers, truck bolstersand underframe $250.00 ea. WeaverPennsy NE (similar to N-5D) caboose; FocalOrange w/Black Roof; Orig. 3-rail, 2-rail con-version w/ scale wheels, scale couplers, truckbolsters and underframe $50.00. Plus ship-ping. Phone: (301) 464-0611 eve. Gil Stim-son, 4506 Rising Lane, Bowie, MD20715-3228

FOR SALE: New Sunset B&O EM-1, 2-8-8-4,and UP Big Boy, $1500 each; AT&SF 2-10-4,$1000; AT&SF 2-8-0, $750. All 2 rail. I takeVisa, Mastercard, and Discover. Ph: 505-898-6956. Marius Vallecorsa, 4704 Sandpoint RdNW, Albuquerque, NM 87114-4533

FOR SALE: Very rare MG ATSF 4-6-4 w/Ickendrive, beautiful new paint job. USH ATSF 4-6-2, custom painted. USH SP MT-3 mint OB.Sunset ATSF 2-8-0 new OB. Complete details:SSAE or email [email protected]. GarySchrader, 4201 Kingspark Dr, San Jose CA95136, 408-227-9491.

ErrataIn Tom Houle’s Pickle Car construction

article (OST#9) we inadvertently left out the

Bill of Materials. We apologize and present

it here: The crossmembers were coded A. B,

C, D, and E.

A - 3⁄32" x 1⁄8"

B - 3⁄32" x 5⁄32"

C - 7⁄32" x 1⁄4"

D - 5⁄32" x 7⁄32"

E - 5⁄32" sqr.

The side sills are 1⁄8" x 3⁄16". Use bass, pine,

cedar, redwood... whatever.

Hatch hinges, Keil Line p/n 48-397

Tub skins - Evergreen 2067 car siding

Grandt Line, turnbuckles and brake wheel

Body details, IM p/n ODBR0100

••••

In Roland Marx’s Secrets of Lost Wax

Casting (OST#9) we wrote: “This is a spe-

cial oven which is micro-porous , just

enough that the air can pass but holding the

the plaster in place.” It should have read:

“The plaster is micro-porous, just enough

that the air can pass but holding the liquid

brass in place.”

••••

In Jon Heller’s review of the Sunset/3rd

Rail NP Z5 (OST#9) he wrote: “This was

the ultimate design for NP Steam for freight.

After these, the only new design NP took

delivery of Diesel units dedicated to freight.”

Mr. Heller says it should read: “This was the

ultimate power design for NP Steam for

freight. After these, the only new design NP

took delivery of were the Challengers, Z6-8,

as high speed Steam and then Diesel units

dedicated to freight.”

••••

Some Traction manufacturers were left

off of Rogers Jenkins’s initial column

(OST#8) . These are:

Right-Of-Way, 23682 Road 153⁄4, Chow-

chilla CA, 93610, 209-665-1001, maker of

nickel-silver single point trolley switches in

125 rail size, left or right for $18.

Bowser, PO Box 322, Montoursville PA

17754, 570-368-2379, makes former

Pittman passenger trolley cars in 4 wheel

and 8 wheeled versions with varying color

schemes. Powered cars are listed at $179,

specify 2 rail.

Doylestown Car Co., 508 North St.,

Doylestown Pa 18901, 215-489-7818,

importers of St. Petersburg trams and trolley

cars in O scale, approx. cost $250-$350,

many models available unpowered.


January 200410 & 11, Albany, GeorgiaFlint River Model RR Club of Albany, Ga., 13thAnnual Model Train Show. Open to the public.Sat 9am - 5 pm, Sun 11am - 4pm. Adults $3,12-18yo $1, Under 12 free w/adult. For infoor table rental contact Jimmie Swann duringevenings at 229-883-3517, or write to FRMR-RC, PO Box 884, Albany, GA 31702-0884.

July 200422-25, Washington, D.C.2004 O Scale National Convention atthe Hyatt Regency, Crystal City, Vir-ginia at Reagan National Airport. Conven-tion and Dealer registration info is availablefrom the Capital Area O Scalers, 2004 OScale National Convention, 10401 GrandinRd, Silver Spring, MD 20902, or email [email protected].

11 & 12, Timonium, MarylandThe Great Scale Model Train Show & The All-American High-Rail & Collectors Show at theMaryland State Fairgrounds. Admission: $6,children under 12 free, family max $12. Ven-dor costs: 8’ tables $55 (includes 2 worker’spasses for the first table and 1 for each add’ltable), free electricity if you bring your own50’ cord. Info: ECSMRA, 5236 Thunder HillRd, Columbia, MD 21045; Howard Zane,(410) 730-1036; [email:[email protected]] [web:http:⁄⁄www.gsmts.com⁄]

11 & 12, Sequim, WashingtonNorth Olympic Peninsula Railroaders ALLSCALES show. GreyWolf Elementary School,171 Carlsborg Road, Carlsborg, Washington98382. Admission: FREE. Dealer tables: $25.Contact: Bob Nelson (360) 681-7538, email[[email protected]].

17 & 18, Orlando, FloridaFlorida O Scalers 4th Annual O Scale Meet.Holiday Inn Orlando International Airportlocated at 5750 T. G. Lee Blvd. Phone numberis 407-851-6400 and the room rate there is$75 per night. Registration will be $20.00 perperson. Wives, Kids, Mothers-in law, free.Tables will be $5.00 each. Contact info -- Snailmail: Ron Dettmer, 2756 Connie Circle,Orange Park, FL, 32065-7229, Email:[email protected]; Web -http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridaOScalers

November 20031, Wind Gap, PennsylvaniaEastern “O” Scalers O Scale 2-Rail O ScaleSwap Meet - Plainfield Fire Hall, 6480 SullivanTrail. From 9 am to 1 pm. Admission $5 ($1discount on admission is given if you bring anindex card with your name and address). Ven-dors: table $16 (includes 1 admission), addi-tional tables $12. Info: EOS, PO Box 1781,Bensalem, PA 19020; (215) 639-3864; [web:http:⁄⁄www.EasternOScalers.com]

1,2,8,9,15,16 Youngstown, OhioYoungstown Model RR Assoc OPEN HOUSE,located at the corner of Raccoon and FourMile Run Rd., Open 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm all 6days $2.00 per person under 12 free. Info:Dean DeMain, [email protected] orcall 330-799-8691.

15, Strongsville, Ohio (Cleveland area)Annual Western Reserve O Scale Meet at theHoliday Inn Select in Strongsville. From 9 amto 3 pm. Admission: $5; tables $20. Info: BobBoeddener, 32165 Hickory Ln, Avon Lake, OH44012. Phone: 440-933-7169.

December 200320-21, Greensboro, MarylandCaroline County Public Library Toy Train &Model Railroad Exhibit. North County Libraryat 101 Cedar St. From 10 am to 3 pm. FreeAdmission. For more info contact Richard OSmith, Branch Manager, 410-482-2173.

Advertisers Index

EventsSeptember 2003

6, Merchantville, New Jersey2-rail, "O" Scale Swap Meet Held at theGrace Episcopal Church, 7 Maple Avenue,Merchantville NJ 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Admis-sion is $4.00; there is no charge for yourspouse or children under 12 years of age.There are only 36 tables available, a checkmust be enclosed with your reservation. Tablesare $16 for the first table (includes one admis-sion) and $12 for each additional table(helpers are $4 each). For additional informa-tion contact Chuck Jacobs (856-234-1898) orDave Richter (215-639-7290) [email protected]. Make checks payable toCherry Valley Model Railroad Club (CVMRC)P.O. Box 192, Maple Shade, NJ 08052

19 & 20, Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis Midwest “O” Scale Fall Meet, atthe Sheraton Inn, 7701 E 42nd St., 317-897-4000. O Scale, Proto:48, On3, On2, O Trol-ley⁄Traction displays and sale, 5,000 squarefeet, manufacturers and importers. INFO: JimCanter, 1203 Rotherham Ln, Beech Grove, IN46107-3323, Ph: 317-782-3322, [email:[email protected]]

20, St. Paul, MinnesotaTwin City Model Railroad Museum, Inc., ModelRR & Hobby Sale, 9 am to 3 pm.EducationBuilding at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.Admission $4, under 5 free (includes admis-sion to the RR Museum at Bandana Square onthe day of sale if you get your hand stamped).Info: 651-647-9628, www.tcmrm.org

20 & 21, Dothan, AlabamaWiregrass Annual Model Railroad Show andSale, Sponsored by the Wiregrass HeritageChapter of the National Railway HistoricalSociety. Admission: $4 adults, under 12 free.Open 9 am – 5 pm Saturday, 10am – 4 pmSunday. For more info contact Danny Lewis(334) 792-4979, or email[[email protected]].

October 20033 - 4, Abilene, Texas19th Annual Southwest O Scale (2 & 3 rail)Show. Regency Inn & Suites, 3450 S Clack St,Abilene, TX (800-676-7262 ask for "Trains" toget show rate.) Contact Denis Mashburn forregistration info, 325-695-5584, email:[[email protected]]. Registration is $15.00each (but includes spouse) Tables are $ 10each for the 1st & 2nd tables and additionaltables are $ 5 each. Registration includes BBQwhich will be on Friday night.

11, Gardner, MassachusettsSouthern New England Model Railroad ClubO Scale Show & Open House. Chestnut StreetUnited Methodist Church, 161 Chestnut St.9:30 Am - 4:00 PM. Admission $5; familymax $8. Contact Bob Jones PO Box 272, Bal-louville CT 06233; 860-774-8622;[[email protected]] [web :http/www.snemrr.org

Accurate O Scale 14Andersen’s Train Station 30AtlasO IBCBTS 52California Roadbed Co. 9Central Locomotive Works 30Chicagoland 25Get Real Productions 53Jim Hackworth Model Trains 25Harry Hieke, Jr. 53House of Duddy 43JV Models 9Keil-Line Products 37NCE Corp 52Norm’s O Scale 24, 30O Scale Realty 9O Scale Signals 21Old Pullman 19Overland Models 36P&D Hobby Shop 21Pecos River Brass BCPrecision Scale Models IFCPRR Brass 37Public Delivery Track 54Old Pullman Models 42Rons Books 37Russian River RR Co. 9RY Models 21Stevenson Preservation Lines 9Sunset⁄3rd Rail 10, 22T Bone Models 9Tom Thorpe 58Train America Studios 58Weaver 43Whitehall Models 53


OST Dealer ListArkansasHobby Shack1200 John Harden DrJacksonville, AR 72076501-982-6836

Mickey’s Model Works611 Court St, Ste 4Conway,AR 72032-5417501-450-9423

ArizonaCoronado Scale Models1544 E Cypress StPhoenix,AZ 85006602-254-9650

CaliforniaAll Aboard Model RREmporium3867 Pacific Coast HwyTorrance,CA 90505310-791-2637

Bruce’s Train Shop2752 Marconi AveSacramento,CA 95821916-485-5288

Fulton Station454 Larkfield Shop CntrSanta Rosa CA 95439707-523-3522

Just Trains5650-H Imhoff DrConcord,CA 94520925-685-6566

Original Whistle Stop 2490 E Colorado BlvdPasadena,CA 91107626-796-7791

Railroad Hobbies119 Vernon StRoseville CA 95678916-782-6067

Reed’s Hobbies LLC8039 La Mesa Blvd.La Mesa,CA 91941619-464-1672

Train Shop1829 Pruneridge AveSanta Clara,CA 95050408-296-1050

ColoradoCaboose Hobbies, Inc.500 S. BroadwayDenver,CO 80209303-777-6766

DelawareMitchells’2303 Concord PikeWilmington, DE 19803302-652-3258

Trains & Hobbies313 Newark Shopping Cntr.Newark,DE 19711302-266-8063

FloridaKirkland Hobbies187 Concord CirclePanama City FL 32405850-215-1973

GeorgiaRiverdale Station6632 Hwy 85Riverdale,GA 30045770-991-6085

IowaCaboose Stop Hobbies301 Main StCedar Falls,IA 50613800-642-7012

IllinoisChicagoland Hobbies 6017 Northwest HwyChicago,IL 60631773-775-4848

Des Plaines Hobbies1468 Lee StDes Plaines,IL 60018847-297-2118

Hill’s Hobby Shop10 Prairie AvePark Ridge,IL 60068847-823-4464

Mike’s Scale Rails3008 N SterlingPeoria,IL 61604309-689-0656

Rails Unlimited126 Will ScarletElgin,IL 60120847-697-5353

IndianaBig Four Hobbies1005 E Main StPlainfield IN 46168317-837-1024

Mishawaka Railyard Inc410 S Spring StMishawaka IN 46545574-252-7245

KansasJ’s Hobby Haven5303 Johnson DrMission,KS 66205913-432-8820

MaineNorm’s O ScalePO Box 147S Casco,ME 04077207-655-2550

MassachusettsModeler’s Junction88 Lowell StMethuen,MA 01844978-683-0885

Tucker’s Hobbies29 Bacon StWarren,MA 01083413-436-5318

MichiganEureka Trains1219 Eureka RdWyandotte,MI 48192734-284-0521

P&D Hobby Shop31280 Groesbeck HwyFraser,MI 48026586-296-6116

Rider’s Hobby Shop2055 28th St SEGrand Rapids MI616-247-9933

MinnesotaSecond Ave Shops173 2nd Ave SENew Brighton,MN 55112651-633-5722

MissouriMarty’s Model Railroads9622 Gravois RdSt Louis,MO 63123-4345314-638-8250

North CarolinaDry Bridge Station236 N Main StMount Airy,NC 27030336-786-9811

NevadaHigh Sierra Models4020 Kietzke LnReno,NV 89502775-825-5557

New HampshireCustom TrainsPO Box 48Bath,NH 03740603-747-3492

New JerseyBig Little Railroad Shop206 W Main StSomerville,NJ 08876908-429-0220

New MexicoTrains West Inc.3351A Candelaria Rd NEAlbuquerque,NM 87107505-881-2322New YorkK-Val Hobbies277 Hinman AveBuffalo,NY 14216716-875-2837

Ohio20th Century Models32575 Pettibone RdSolon,OH 44139-5454440-248-3055

M&S Trains4157 W Broad St.Columbus OH 43228614-274-1178

Terminal Hobby Supply10200 Springfield PikeCincinnati,OH 45215513-326-3613

Western Hills Photo &Hobby6319 Glenway AveCincinnati,OH 45211513-661-2141

OregonWhistle Stop Trains11724 SE Division StPortland,OR 97266503-761-1822

PennsylvaniaC&E Branchline RR Shop102 W. Grove St.Dunmore, PA 18509570-347-7909

English’s Model RR Supply21 Howard StMontoursville,PA 17754570-368-2516

G&K Hobbies720 Gordon StReading,PA 19601-2312610-374-8598

Lin’s Junction128 S Line StLansdale,PA 19446215-412-7711

Mainline Hobby Supply15066 Buchanan Trail EBlue Ridge Summit,PA17214717-794-2860

Strasburg Train ShopRte 741 E, Box 130Strasburg,PA 17579717-687-0464

TennesseeAdirondack Car & Foundry160 Harwood Rd.Gray TN 37615423-477-5790

Hobbytown USA, 8901Town & Country Circle,Knoxville, TN, 37923, 865-690-1099

Smoky Mountain ModelTrains Ltd1933 Pittman Center RdSevierville TN37876 865-428-8595

TexasPecos River Brass560 E Church StLewisville,TX 75057972-219-0202

VirginiaGranddad’s Hobby Shop5260-A Port Royal RdSpringfield,VA 22151703-426-0700

Railyard Hobby Shop7547 Williamson RdRoanoke,VA 24019540-362-1714

Walt's Hobby Shop, PO Box 1805,Petersburg, VA, 23805,804-861-1333

WashingtonCentral Hobbies1574 Gulf Rd #1136Point Roberts WA 98281604-431-0771

The Inside Gateway14725 Northeast 20thBellevue, WA 98007425-747-2016

WisconsinDepot Drygoods220 W Wisconsin AveNeenah,WI 54956920-725-8854

Greenfield News & Hobby6815 W Layton StGreenfield,WI 53220414-281-1800

Non-US Dealers

CanadaGeorge’s Trains510 Mt Pleasant RdToronto Ontario M4S 2M2416-489-9783

SwitzerlandTrainmaster3 Hochweidstr. KilchbergCH-8802 011-411-715-3666

United KingdomQuince Valley Designs17 West StreetWeedon,Northants NN7 4QU044-132-734-1374


ObservationsJoe Giannovario, Editor⁄Publisher

YEEEHA! Boy did we have fun at the O Scale National inDallas, Texas. Pecos John Smith and his crew did it up rightand they should be proud. Everything about the conventionwas top notch, the venue, the vendor space, the clinics, theentertainment, the food. About the only thing missing was areal crowd of O scalers. That was most likely due to the unusu-al Sunday to Wednesday schedule. And the economy had a bitto do with it, too, I’m sure.

But, we were happy and so were several other vendors wespoke with. We sold all our back issues, got cleaned out ofevery OST tee shirt we took and came home with a pocketfulof new subscribers. You can’t really expect much better.

Several O scale vendors were conspicuous by their absenceand I don’t understand that. If you are a supplier of O scaleproducts, then you should be showing those products at theNational, if nowhere else. Why? Because at a National you geta more diverse crowd than at a regional (maybe the Mid-WestMarch Meet comes close) and that gets you more exposureand more feedback. It also means that the two O scale maga-zines get a chance to see your stuff, too.

I can’t speak for our colleagues at O Scale News (who werepresent at the National), but we here at OST can’t make it toevery regional meet. But, the one place we will always be at isthe National convention. So, if we’re there and you’re showingO scale products, then there’s a really good chance you’ll get amention in the magazine.

For example, Richmond Controls handed me some sampleGolden LEDs. I gave them to Ted Byrne and sent him over toinvestigate more fully. The result is the nice review Ted wrotefor this issue. Likewise, Charlie Morrill saw the Aristo Craftradio control system at the National, bought one and liked it somuch he wrote up a review for us. So, if Charlie hadn’t beenthere in Dallas, nor Ted, nor OST, you guys wouldn’t be get-ting the real scoop on these products.

I didn’t get to sit in on any clinics but I heard they were allsuperb. I did, however, get to check out all the great contestentries most all of which are shown in this issue. It seemed tome (and several others more experienced than I) that the levelof skill and quality of models in this year’s National was wayabove average. I beamed with some pride when Tom Mix’sCB&Q Ten Wheeler won First prize in the Steam category. Iwas beaming because I knew a photo spread of that locomo-tive was about to hit the street in OST#9. I know a great loco-motive when I see one!

Before I get too far afield, let me mention the most recent

inductees into the O Scale Hall of Fame: Alan Armitage, oftencalled the “father of styrene modeling”; Stu Kleinschmidt,remanufacturer of locomotive drive systems (some feel theyare the Rolls Royce of O scale); and Richard Wagner pioneertraction modeler and owner of the Wagner car Company andpublisher of Trolley Talk.

Another reason to attend the National is the relationshipsyou develop with fellow (and sister) O scalers from parts of thecountry you are not from and wouldn’t meet in any other way.I managed to make a C&O for N&W 0-8-0 swap with JimCantner from Indianapolis that wouldn’t have happened if weboth weren’t at the National.

George Kohs was one of the several importers who didattend the National and I spent a little time chatting with him.George is a remarkable guy who keeps raising the bar for Oscale brass models (and the price!). His latest “innovation” isto include performance data with every locomotive shipped.Here’s how he put it: “With all of our future locomotive mod-els our clients will receive documentation that states the indi-vidually tested performance of the model they are takingdelivery of. Included in the information will be the scale oper-ating speed range and also the pulling power measured to thenearest 100th of an ounce. The data should prove useful toensure that our models are performing to their maximum oneach clients home road and if not where the problem may lie.”Now it will be interesting to see who follows suit.

George also told me he will be doing more N&W steam.We already know about the Y6a. And, yes, he’s been asked todo the J and the A. But, I think a few people will be surprisedto see what he has in mind when it comes time to announce.

I had several conversations with readers in past weeks aboutO scale suppliers and the Internet. They all said basically thesame thing: if you tell me to go look it up on your website,you’ve lost a customer. One gentleman said, “If I write to [avendor] with pen on paper, that ought to be a clue I don’t owna computer. Without a computer, I have no net access.” The netis a great tool for sales and marketing, but we have to remem-ber that there is still 40% of the population unwired to the net.Many more still have dial-up lines and web surfing to them ispainful. We can’t give up our traditional paper sales info andhope the net does all the work for us.

As always, send us your comments, remarks, feedback,ideas and articles. We always respond as quickly as we can.And remember to spread the word about OST.

Meanwhile, keep high ballin’! ◆


ATLAS O, LLC • 378 Florence Avenue • Hillside, NJ • 07205 • www.atlasO.com

ITEM # ITEM # 3-RAIL DESCRIPTION 2-RAIL

O 36' WOOD REEFER8000 Undecorated 90008008 Kingan's 90088009 Krey's 90098010 Nuckolls 90108011 Selecto 90118012 Swift (Red) 9012

Two road numbers are available per road nameexcept for Swift, which has four road numbers.

O 50 TON WAR EMERGENCY HOPPER6420 Undecorated 7420

NEW ROAD NUMBERS!6421 Baltimore & Ohio 74216423 Chesapeake & Ohio 7423

NEW ROAD NAMES!6427 Central of Georgia 74276428 L&N 7428

Four road numbers are available per road name.

To get your "Official Member" of the Atlas O Forum Pin shownat right, please send $3 to the address shown below.

NEW!

NEW!

(Item #8008)

(Item #6428)

Features Include:• Highly detailed ABS body• Separately-applied grab irons, ladders and stirrups• Opening hatches and doors • Die-cast chassis and detailed braking system• 40-ton Bettendorf-style die-cast sprung trucks• Minimum diameter curve (3-rail): O-31 • Minimum radius curve (2-rail): 24"• And More...

Features Include:• Unique construction in die-cast and ABS• Full interior details • Accurate trainline details and brake system details• Separately-applied grab irons and ladders • Sprung hopper doors• Removable coal load • 50 ton Bettendorf die-cast sprung trucks• Minimum diameter curve (3-rail): O-27 • Minimum radius curve (2-rail): 24"• And More...

Scale Trains

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Transcript of Scale Trains