A Pennsylvanian Shortline

[shortliner]

Stephen - you have mail and email

[bertiedog]

Stephen - you have mail and email

Acknowledged, thanks

Stephen.

[tebee]

Along the lines of these types of diner, the bottom Diner is coach body based, and the top Diner has good neons!

 

Stephen

 

Surprisingly enough the bottom one is not a coach conversion but a custom building made to look like one. It was built by Stirling in 1939. This is the interior.

[bertiedog]

 

Surprisingly enough the bottom one is not a coach conversion but a custom building made to look like one. It was built by Stirling in 1939. This is the interior.

I did say coach based!

Stephen

[bertiedog]

Maybe a modified Life like Diner?

 

Stephen.

[highpeak]

I did say coach based!

Stephen

I think if you were going to base it on an old passenger car, two mods would make the difference: try to splice some extra width into the car since diners were generally wider, and move the entrance from the ends to the middle.

[thnksno]

Something I've noted throughout the years when I see rail cars reused as diners or other structures... They're almost ALWAYS part of another structure. So widening or changing the car's detailing much may not be necessary if you can attach a small shack or place it next to a brick building, etc. Typically the rail car becomes the presentation/seating area for the patrons, thus becoming the 'scenic draw' to the location... The attached building then houses the kitchen and food storage areas.

 

Incidentally, the last one I ate in was Tutto Italiano in Chicago, off Wells St... The experience was less than pleasurable at first as the dining area had a horrible smell of mold/dankyness, however once the strong garlic filled Italian dishes started coming around and my nose became used to the dankyness, it wasn't all bad. I went back to the restaurant another time, but ate outside, you can see the fenced in street dining area next to the 'do not enter' sign.

 

Here's a few shots of Tutto Italiano:

 

 

 

There's another in Chicago called The Silver Palm, I've never visited but have driven by a time or two...

 

 

 

Here are some rail car eateries in less urban areas showing the attached structures:

 

 

 

[thnksno]

Another thing to note: some leave the trucks on, others are removed.

 

edit... WOW going back to look if it posted ok... My OLD office window is visible on the first picture, see the red brick building on the left? Go straight up its windows on the right, then count three windows up on the building behind it... That was my former perch before RBS, Santandar and Fortis came into the picture!

[bertiedog]

Plenty to think about on the diner, a modified Likelike Diner looks on the cards. opposite the Station at the back, with gas pumps etc., alongside.

Stephen.

[bertiedog]

After buying the Mantua 282 Camelback for under £30....I noticed this...

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mantua-HO-303-20-Shifter-Pennsylvania-Tender_W0QQitemZ220583839330QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Trains_Railway_Models?hash=item335bd24662#ht_2116wt_838

 

Isn't Ebay strange....

Stephen.

[shortliner]

Quite apart from the price (and what is stamped on the box) something looks extreemly wrong about that loco

[bertiedog]

Quite apart from the price (and what is stamped on the box) something looks extreemly wrong about that loco

Er...I hadn't looked that closely, after all the other was post free, and this one is charging..delivery could be by taxi at these prices....I have never seen an RTR without the couplers..any else wrong?

[thnksno]

What is interesting about eBay, everyone becomes an 'expert.'

 

Basically, things go like this... A fella has something 'vintage' to sell, however he has no idea its value. He googles and finds that some hoarder paid 'x' for the item he has and that becomes his selling price. No research goes into the hi/lo sales, he only sees $ signs because he needs the money. It's irrelevant that it may not sell at that price today, someone paid for it previously so it becomes a waiting game searching for the 'right buyer.' This is especially true if the item is new/never used and out of production. The thought being that there is someone out there who doesn't want to futz with items someone may have previously modified/broken/mistreated... I think this shifter fits this case exactly as it can only be purchased using 'buy it now.'

[shortliner]

I know "The Shifter" was an 0-4-0, but that body has SO much empty space between the rear drivers and the back of the cab, that it looks all out of proportion to me ,as though there should be another set of drivers, making it an 0-6-0, or a rear pony truck making it an 0-4-2. It simply doesn't look "right" as it stands.

[highpeak]

To be honest, it doesn't look much better proportioned as the Big Six.

Keith Willis took a look at freelanced manufactures in the February and March Railroad Model Craftsman this year.

[bertiedog]

The Mantua Shifter was badly proportioned, I think Mantua did use an 060 body, but then Mantua were not exactly the most prototypical maker, the Yard Goat 040 was better proportioned for instance.

 

 

Mantua did make scale locos, but as usual with Varney et al, they altered the designs with the lettering, and assorted tenders, to suit the multitude of lines and variants in the States. They picked nondescript designs and tailored them to get as much mileage out of them as possible.

 

The Camelback 280 is one that is accurate within Mantua's standards, governed more by cost at times, with odd material wheels on the same axle, common bogies rather than scale etc.

 

Actually the basics of a really good loco are there, but often needs attention to the chassis assembly, and bearings, and then a good super detailing session with the old Kemtron 1950's Catalogues as a good guide.(The help pages outlining piping and fittings, a mine of information.)

 

Mantua motors are a bit patchy, the quality varied, but they can be rescued with skimming the commutator, removing excessive end play on the armature, and carefully setting the gear clearances. Some were supplied with Pitman motors, and can motors are available as replacements if you want the simple route! Once set up the motors are as reliable as the Zenith types, lasts forever!

 

Finally a good re-spray, and light weathering, painted wheels, tight tender coupling and you have a decent locomotive, but perhaps not at £125 for a shifter 040......

 

Stephen.

[bertiedog]

Well, we have a US roadside diner, a Life Like kit, made in Denmark,.. Heljan? quite good exterior, with interior seating etc, but odd interior layout, no bar counter, no kitchen area, no stools! but quite easy to add, along with moving the seating to along the windows run to leave in view when interior lighting is fitted. Needs bill board neon signs, and window pull out sunshades and slat blinds, again will look fine when lights on inside.

 

LED lighting, with "glow" rod acrylic plastic for the neons, fed from light guides, the LED's can be grouped on a pc board underneath the flooring pad.

 

Individual table lamps could be added as well, LED again, with floodlight sign and forecourt by super bright LED bulbs.

 

The whole lot could be controlled by a CS cell, as lighting around the layout goes down the lights would come up automatically.

 

As lighting is featured heavily the parts will all need a good undercoat of dead black to light proof all the surfaces, before normal undercoating and top colour coats.

 

Stephen.

[bertiedog]

A few thoughts on the neon lighting, neon advertising displays, and neon signage, these were along the lines of using LED's, and glow rod acrylic light guides.

 

But it seems the fluorescent glow rod is not made now, or different to the stuff I used before in the 1980's.

 

The EMA fluorescent light guide rod material that gathers light and illuminates the end seems the same type, it works in reverse by putting the light in the end, and the rod glows. I will order some samples to test it out.

 

Ordinary light guide is no good, it just transmits light from the end, to the other end, useful for light distribution from a central point, and round corners.

 

Flat acrylic sheet can be used, with lettering engraved into the surface, which pickup the light from lamps on the edge of the sheet, making a floating neon like sign. However I have no access to a TTH engraver any more.....and doing the engraving by hand would be difficult to say the least.

 

The other approach is electroluminescent surfaces, used commercially in the United States for model sized Neon like displays, it produces white light from a flexible sheet of the material, which is masked to make the pattern, and filtered for the colours.

 

They do sell plain DIY kits, as well as complete ready to use signs, but for this type the cost is really quite high.

 

Another approach is the use of LCD picture display frames, now getting cheaper, these make good animated billboards if the memory has a picture show function. The back light provides illumination.

 

I also wondered about using a scrapped camera LCD display, assuming the memory and display still work.

 

I have however found a nice multi colour sequencer for LED's, with several colours one after each other, a novelty necklace LED display for a £ (pound).

 

 

Shot taken without flash on 1 second exposure to show the flashing lights.(one yellow LED appears off due to the time exposure!)

 

Consists of 6 LED's as per shot, a lot of wiring in a 7mm PVC pipe, and each LED feeding into another piece of 4mm PVC rod within the tube. It comes complete with batteries, on/off switch, and a sequencing chip that flashes the multi coloured LED's one after each other in a cascade of sequenced flashes..

 

It's got to be worth stripping and experimenting with, now I have seen one operating, I will get some more if it all works well out of the protective PVC tubing. The batteries can be replaced with a wall wart power feed of 3volts DC.

 

The Life Like Diner kit has one problem, it is made from ABS, not polystyrene, as it resists polystyrene solvents completely, so I have bought EMA plastruct type which will handle ABS without problems. I think toluene solvents would work, but these are off the UK market now. The diner has instructions printed in Denmark, so maybe Life Like get them made by Heljan, the ABS must come from scrapped Lego!!

 

Stephen.

[bertiedog]

Whilst sorting out Vehicles today, I noticed the US Woodland Scenics cast metal kit for a Federal 1.5ton Dump truck. On offer at £4.99, not at all bad for such a finely detailed kit.

 

 

 

Appears to be cast in pewter, white metal, solderable or to be glued, fairly clean castings, just a bit of cleaning, and filing to get the best fit. Supplied with thread and wires etc, for the dump back.

 

The wheels portray solid tyres, on cast or pressed steel rims so pre-first war, (Federal started in 1910), although this type of truck remained in use for work well into the 1940's or later. Federal were heavily built and reliable trucks.

 

I will fit wire axles through drilled holes for accuracy and strength, and a sand load, to stand in the works yard near the station.

 

Stephen.

[JWB]

The Woodland Scenics metal items, structures, vehicles, and details, are unacknowledged bargains, especially since equivalent metal or resin items can go for US$30 and more. The downside is they do require a fair amount of filing and fitting.

[bertiedog]

The Woodland Scenics metal items, structures, vehicles, and details, are unacknowledged bargains, especially since equivalent metal or resin items can go for US$30 and more. The downside is they do require a fair amount of filing and fitting.

 

No worse than a K's loco kit, in fact a whole lot better, and about Kings Cross Sentinel steam wagon level. The seams from the silicon moulds show in places, but can be scraped and filed away easily. A good scalpel blade will needed and very fine drill if the threads are properly fitted.

 

Stephen

[bertiedog]

Just noticed the price of the Langley metal 4mm vehicles, some nearly four times more, making the all metal WS truck an incredible bargain.

[bertiedog]

The Life Like Diner kit has gone together with the EMA glue, it melts the surface correctly.

 

The instructions don't match the parts, very minor to put right, there are alterations to do as the inside is very odd as designed, no kitchen, bar counter, stools, all the seats all in the middle.

 

Also the floor is very odd, you walk up steps.....to a level floor same as outside, in other words the floor needs raising, but if raised the seats are too high, so I have put the seats on the base and raising the floor around them.

 

The seats are in the more usual position along the windows, and a new inner wall will deal with the kitchen, along with a new counter.

 

The lighting will be assorted LED's, with the light chaser altered to feed banks of light guides to make one animated main diner sign, quite a bit of design required. The sequencer light necklace is perfect for the job, fantastic value, and I'll get a couple more tomorrow, as the road sign may be possible to rig the same way.

 

The final addition for the diner will be a magnetic roof, neodymium magnets to hold it on firmly without screws etc,

 

Stephen.

[bertiedog]

Suitable interior, matches windows and seats in the kit, just needs the counter.

[bertiedog]

My apologies for the image size, the software issues have struck again on posting images, seeming to take a small image and up size it at the moment