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American O Scale: "Portway Terminal Short Line, MN".


F-UnitMad
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On 13/12/2023 at 10:48, F-UnitMad said:

 

 

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On 13/12/2023 at 11:20, Keith Addenbrooke said:

The block weight does look to me to be heavy enough to prevent unwarranted bouncing - but there'll be one way to find out.  I await the video with interest...

 

Keith.

The springs actually go a bit deeper in the holes than I showed in that photo, so that only 2 or 3mm extend below the axle slots. A test with the wheels in place with the keeper plate shows that's enough, so the axles sit in place properly but there's just enough springiness to push the axle down a mm or so to the plate, to maintain rail contact but not so springy as to push the body up against the weight of the block.

I haven't tested it yet with the gear train in place, but as I said there's only 1mm or so of movement, but that was enough with the compensation units I fitted to the 4-wheel Bobber cabooses, and seems to be enough here too.

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A photo of the 'rolling chassis' on the very worst of my track; all wheels in rail contact. 👍

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Also have made a start on the lettering - dry-rub transfers are my weapon of choice, & this is a sheet of very small letters!

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I have had to resort to ebay tonight for black letters for 'PORTWAY TERMINAL' , almost all the lettering I have is white!! 🙄🤦‍♂️

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  • 2 weeks later...

New Year, New Paint, New Power.

 

1st day of 2024 & Northroader Bob enters 'proper' service, first spin with the heritage 4-wheel caboose. Some of the staff show a bit of interest; one is completely indifferent!!

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Using the same decoder as in the other Plymouths has made for easy settings to allow for lashing up. Here the "namers" all trundle around the curve on the main, south of Shortside Industrial Park.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tonight has seen the final paint touching up to Northroader Bob & a bit of weathering.

An Engineer (rather amputated Modelu figure) is currently drying out (from being painted, not inebriated!!) and apart from adding air brake hoses at some point, this little loco is finished....

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😁😁👍👍

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Northroader Bob now has his Engineer in place...

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And I've done a short video reminiscent of the Stewartstown Railroad, of the loco on a heritage caboose hop. Apologies in advance for the bell... 🙄🤦‍♂️😂

 

In fact the sound is a bit of a cheat, it's via an old Model Rectifier Corp. Diesel sound box, & an under-board speaker. Works, though, more or less..... 😁👍

Edit - the 'flickering' rear headlight LED is just a strange video effect. The headlights are steady (and not so bright) in reality. The beacon is programmed for "rotating beacon", like my other Plymouths.

Edited by F-UnitMad
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  • 2 weeks later...

With my user name - which I admit was rather hastily made up on the spot, when I first registered on RMweb 🤦‍♂️ - I suppose that just occasionally I have to support those credentials with some evidence!!

Also as I have got so distracted recently by Atlas Plymouths, today with a bit of free time available, I ran a few of my Soo Line engines, and finished up videoing the last one - with my unique* Atlas FP7 #502A on the point, lashed up with GP35 #724.

Only 9 cars + caboose in the consist, the auto-focus is right up the shute, but in O Scale, and in American terms on a very small layout, that'll have to do.

Enjoy....

 

* I say this F-Unit model is unique, as it's an FP7, which was 4ft longer than a standard F7, to include steam heat equipment for hauling Passenger stock - hence 'P' in FP7.

The model was made (by person unknown) by splicing together two Atlas/Roco F9 shells & frames to get the extra length. I don't know of any other such model in O Scale.

I do know of - and have seen - a "shorty" Atlas/Roco body shell; an F3+1/2..??? No prizes whatsoever for guessing who made that one!!🤔 🤣🤣👍👍

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 13/12/2023 at 10:48, F-UnitMad said:

I might be trying to be far too clever for my own good, here, but as everything was apart for painting the body, I've done a modification to the chassis block that I hope may help the shorty switcher's running.

I've drilled four holes in the block under the axles, to fit springs under them. There isn't much movement for the axles anyway when everything's together, but I'm hoping this will keep all four wheels on the rails, and improve pick-up reliability for the non-insulated wheels that transfer the elektrickery through the block.

Relevant holes highlighted in the first photo, self explanatory in the second!!

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Not too much been happening lately on the layout beyond Playing Trains, a.k.a. having a Good Time, but re-visiting this post above about my 0-4-0 Plymouth...

I had to strip it back down to adjust the rear axle back-to-back, as in one direction it was derailing on one of the switches. While doing that, I removed the springs from the back axle that I'd fitted (above). As this is the driven axle I realised it performs better unsprung. Seasoned chassis builders will know this already I expect. The front axle is still sprung and works well.

On it's own this little loco can handle 5 or 6 cars on the straight. Unfortunately on my layout the straights aren't very long, and linked by very tight curves, which limits it to only 2 or 3 cars. But having an identical drive & decoder as the other Plymouths, lashing them up increases the tractive effort - just like the real thing!! 😁👍 All four of them together can easily handle 10 or 11 cars, which is pretty much line capacity anyway.

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  • 1 month later...
On 17/02/2024 at 22:52, F-UnitMad said:

Not too much been happening lately on the layout beyond Playing Trains, a.k.a. having a Good Time...

I might as well repeat the opening line from my last post on this Thread!! "Northroader Bob" has proved to be a very addictive little loco - I can't stop running Ops with it!! Often it's lashed up with one or two of my other Plymouths, but it always has place of honour on the point! 🤩

However - I have to report that I am not at all well. I seem to have been bitten by a rather contagious bug of some sort 😱. It's highly infectious, and has caused serious itching 😷

No, it's not one of 'those' diseases 😝 .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

....

 

It's one of these......

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I thought 'Northroader Bob' was small...!!!! 

 

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What a character, eh??!! 

Interestingly, the On30 caboose is almost as big as the standard gauge Bobber!!!

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Edited by F-UnitMad
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