rockershovel Posted October 8, 2019 Author Share Posted October 8, 2019 (edited) Hopper cars, showing the rather elastic American notions of “scale”.. Edited October 8, 2019 by rockershovel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 8, 2019 Author Share Posted October 8, 2019 Boxcar, complete with opening door and wanting only a hobo within! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 Please, please find a milk car with platform in that stash! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 8, 2019 Author Share Posted October 8, 2019 7 minutes ago, Nearholmer said: Please, please find a milk car with platform in that stash! There’s an automatic crossing gate, if that helps... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 Does it make electromagnetic buzzing noises, solenoid clunking sounds, have a loud bell, a man who pops out with a flag, or flashing lights? If so, yes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianusa Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 (edited) Hi rock, don't know if you know of it but there is an even smaller line of rolling stock. Its smaller than the regular O like the small hopper (Lionel size)! in your picture. This was of Lionels most popular era, just after WW2 with so called 'scale size' rolling stock and an intermix of Lionel size and a more. There was a scale line with the Hudson and a freight train to match also. Kevin, I have a Milk Car set and a Gateman which I would sell at a giveaway price which sadly would be more than the postage. Brian Edited October 8, 2019 by brianusa Duplicate post ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 8, 2019 Author Share Posted October 8, 2019 1 hour ago, Nearholmer said: Does it make electromagnetic buzzing noises, solenoid clunking sounds, have a loud bell, a man who pops out with a flag, or flashing lights? If so, yes. Definitely the first three! I haven’t tried it yet, but I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t. Probably the fourth as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 8, 2019 Author Share Posted October 8, 2019 25 minutes ago, brianusa said: Hi rock, don't know if you know of it but there is an even smaller line of rolling stock. Its smaller than the regular O like the small hopper (Lionel size)! in your picture. This was of Lionels most popular era, just after WW2 with so called 'scale size' rolling stock and an intermix of Lionel size and a more. There was a scale line with the Hudson and a freight train to match also. Kevin, I have a Milk Car set and a Gateman which I would sell at a giveaway price which sadly would be more than the postage. Brian I know about the smaller size stock, it turns up on eBay from time to time although it is rare in U.K. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRASinBothell Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 Do I sense a plan for a version of Friar Waddon Milk Platform, Kevin? I've wondered about something like that, perhaps reboding the milk car and using overlays to represent a siphon. Bear in mind that Lionel did both shortie and scale length milk cars. Gordon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted October 9, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 9, 2019 The Sunoco 2-dome tank car and the Lehigh Valley maroon Cornell red hopper were in my first Lionel train set. The hopper has disappeared over the years. The smaller cars were put in the O27 train sets; the Scout sets had some even smaller cars, often with dummy couplers. I just opened up my locomotive and I made a small error above. The E-unit changed the polarity on the armature windings, not the field magnet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 Rummaging around with the tenders, and watching the various videos on YouTube, how much did American drivers (sorry, “engineers”) really use their whistles? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted October 10, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 10, 2019 The commonest whistle was for level crossings, Morse code Q or - - o - The last blast held until the crossing is reached. I think it was also used for stations. In some parts of the country, there could be crossings every mile. The current list I have shows signals under rule 14 going up to section (o) but there are only 9 sections. Most of the other signals now are communicationg with the train crew to set out or return a flagman to protect the train or doing brake tests. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 (edited) Moving along, the transformer/controller seems to have suffered a circuit breaker failure. This might be the actual cause of the occasional hesitancy experienced with all three locos, but especially the Scout 2-4-2. This isn’t a major problem, if so. It’s clearly a common problem and I’ve encountered it before on older Harleys (I carry a couple of spares on any bike of that sort!). Eventually you arrive at the point where they have all been upgraded and the problem goes away. Ok, press on. It now seems to have solved itself, which suggests a possible weak soldered connection. I’ve ordered a modern circuit breaker and I’ll look into the transformer after my trip next week. Edited October 10, 2019 by rockershovel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 (edited) I’ve spent a little time stripping and servicing the brushes and commutator, and oiling the mechanism on the Scout. These are quite simple once you understand the overall design (particularly, that the brushes are mounted on a carrier plate on the main frame - the chassis extends upwards to form the motor frame, and the armature and reduction gear spindles are parallel to the axles). I’m surprised by how free-running the chassis is, now I’ve serviced it. The loco can be pushed easily along the track, with wheels rotating. I can’t check it at present, because of the transformer problem. Still, the Northants and Rutland O Gauge Group Meeting is Saturday, a few miles away, so that sounds like the next port of call (I’m told they run quite happily on 12v DC, so now sounds like the time to find out..) Edited October 10, 2019 by rockershovel 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 Well, THESE are rather splendiferous, if I say so myself.. took my usual approach of waiting till they were nearly over and offering 20% less, £100 plus postage... It was really non-negotiable, that a Vista Dome or similar observation car would be involved, at some point.. they will look rather splendid behind the 4-6-4... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 11, 2019 Author Share Posted October 11, 2019 Couldn’t resist this coal loader, on eBay. One for Nearholmer, fully provided with rattles, clunks and clicks! https://www.dropbox.com/s/1to9q99xyqnv82i/Video 11-10-2019%2C 14 30 22.mov?dl=0 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRASinBothell Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Interesting positioning of the Lionel coal loader. It'll dump the coal onto the floor! Gordon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 NAROGG, being not a minor Tolkien character, but the Northants and Rutland O Gauge Group, met today at Wansford. A fine upstanding body they seem to be! I’m not going to attempt a full write up of this, there were people there with proper cameras and at least one other RMWeb member (Nearholmer sending word of his unfortunate indisposition) so I’ll leave THAT to them. I loaded the Skoda and set off on the 7-mile trek, arriving to find that all was in place and running at the due time (10:30). Various learning curves followed and a good time was had by your humble narrator. - Lionel locos do, indeed, run quite happily on 12v DC (or a bit more, to get them going) although the power consumption is astonishing! The Scout 2-4-2 drew almost 5 amps with whistle tender and three lighted coaches.. - lots of pulling power all round, presumably due to cast bodies and little thought given to weight saving in the general construction - whistling tenders are actuated continuously, but actually dip in and out with fluctuating track voltage, creating a pleasing effect as the trains circulate - the whistle on the Berkshire runs fine, WITHOUT the phosphor bronze axle strips... - the little Scout 2-4-2 was running like a champ, after some initial hesitation. It’s definitely a good thing to be able to give these locos plenty of juice without worrying about where they will end up.... - for reasons which are probably not a mystery to those with more notion of these things than me, it is definitely necessary to pick the right controller for 12v DC running. - the lighted coaches look very gran in service - an American serviceman appeared from Mildenhall (pronounced Millnawl, whatever they might think to the contrary) bearing a 1950s or 1960s loco belonging to his father. After various applications of screwdrivers, oil and solvents, waggling of the reversing lever and push-starting, it rose to the occasion, fairly tore around, whistled stridently and sent him on his way rejoicing. a good time had by all. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Glad you enjoyed it, and pity I couldn't get along to say hello (I notice a few of the usual suspects putting the world to rights there!). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium BR60103 Posted October 13, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 13, 2019 (edited) The transformer that came with my set (1033) is rated as 90 watts. I assume that is the draw at the wall. I just checked a 1960 Lionel catalog and they had ransformers ranging from 45 watts to 275 watts (the mighty ZW -- controls for 4 trains). 90 W is 6 amps at 15 V; 5 amps at 18 V. The Lionel instruction book used to have a list of the current required for various locos, lighted cars, switches, and accessories. It looks like a fine day. Edited October 13, 2019 by BR60103 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 This seems the best explanation of this issue (from O Gauge Railroaders forum) “I'll make this general observation: all "AC" motored Lionel engines will run quite nicely on DC. This because the familiar Lionel motors are NOT AC motors at all but rather series wound universal motors. At one time I operated a Lionel GP7 using a DC momentum throttle by substituting a bridge rectifier for the standard E-Unit. A bridge rectifier can be wired in such a way as to reverse the polarity of the armature (with respect to the field) when the DC track polarity is reversed. It works quite nicely. “ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 11 minutes ago, rockershovel said: This seems the best explanation of this issue (from O Gauge Railroaders forum) “I'll make this general observation: all "AC" motored Lionel engines will run quite nicely on DC. This because the familiar Lionel motors are NOT AC motors at all but rather series wound universal motors. At one time I operated a Lionel GP7 using a DC momentum throttle by substituting a bridge rectifier for the standard E-Unit. A bridge rectifier can be wired in such a way as to reverse the polarity of the armature (with respect to the field) when the DC track polarity is reversed. It works quite nicely. “ Quite. I also suspect they will be quieter on DC, although I've no way of doing a direct comparison. Certainly, the motor of the 44-Tonner is near silent on DC, the wheels and pickups providing most of the sound effects., especially at moderate speeds. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 Power consumption for O gauge locos etc, according to a website I found.. POWER REQUIREMENTS The following table lists the power in watts used by various model railroad components: "027" locomotive - 25 to 35* "O" locomotive - 30 to 40* Smoke generator - 5 Operating accessories - 10 to 40 Automatic track signals - 10 to 15 Each 6-volt lamp - 1.5 Each 14-volt lamp (small) - 2 Each 14-volt lamp (large) - 3 Each 18-volt lamp - 5 * These wattages are drawn by locomotives when pulling the regular number of cars and include the power used by the whistle. However, you must add the wattage used by lamps in illuminated cars. ..this suggests that the Berkshire should be drawing 3 watts plus, drawing 3 lighted coaches and with the whistle and smoke generator running. That seems about right, on yesterday’s observations (the controller was showing total power output) the Scout was drawing almost 5 Watts with three lighted cars, 2.5 plus on its own, which is a bit on the high side but it’s old ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted October 13, 2019 Author Share Posted October 13, 2019 1 minute ago, PatB said: Quite. I also suspect they will be quieter on DC, although I've no way of doing a direct comparison. Certainly, the motor of the 44-Tonner is near silent on DC, the wheels and pickups providing most of the sound effects., especially at moderate speeds. The Berkshire was all but silent yesterday, as far as could be told under the circumstances. The older locos (my Scout and the 2-6-2 visitor) were conspicuously noisy by comparison. Track was Fastrack on a light cushion table covering, ambient noise quite high. The Berkshire and 4-6-4 are both quite quiet on my workbench, which is tinplate track on a steel bench. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 If the scout has a wound-field motor, which I suspect it has, there isn’t much to go wrong, so any high consumption is likely to be caused by dirt in the mech, which if cleaned off should lower consumption. I suppose it could have short-circuited turns in the coils, due to insulation breakdown, but I doubt it. its old (im)permanent magnets that tend to be trouble-makers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now