scaro

I like the look of 21mm gauge when I've seen layouts using it. So it's just to see whether OO Victorian Railways is feasible.

Once swapmeets start up again, I will give one of the Hornbys a closer look. But I have heard that while they are over-long for HO, they don't scale to 4mm/ft when it comes to width & height.

Hi , to see if an OO scale Victorian Railways (Australian) B or S unit could be kitbashed.

I can only find a Fleischmann FA2 and Baldwin switcher, no F unit. The Triang 'Transcontinental' is a bit too primitive, after something kitbash-able. If it is even there, that is. Fred Schorr (?) did OO cast metal F3s but they've got to be rare, unless anyone is selling moldings of them.

2.7mm/ft on 14.2mm for Victorian (Australian) 5'3" gauge. 1:112.89 or TT-113? As many things work on it as with any weird gauge/scale combo. And the three wagon bodies I made looked okay. They all orbit around one gauge working out to be 90% of another, or is it 11.11% bigger? And Victorian trains being either 10% larger than British, or 10% smaller than American. It gets complicated. Trust me. Ben

Am wondering if any manufacturer ever made an 'HO' scaled American F or E unit that was over-scale in height and width. As in, inching up closer to 4mm scale. I'd be thinking of something ancient & toylike, eg, Tyco, Lima or Bachmann, I imagine. Told Fleischmann were notorious for this, but unsure they did an F or E unit. Cheers, Ben

Thank you , yes I have seen the Spookshow site. I think tho that the overall wheelbase (of the real thing) would be 45' 6" , 36' 2" between truck centres and 9' 4" to the outer axles. How do you get to 47' 2" ? Ben

Interested in the chassis for scratchbuilding. I am wondering if anyone who has one can say what the measurement is - from outer axle of front truck to outer axle rear truck. (not interested in the Atlas China one, just the Japan made KATO one, the China ones have a different chassis I think.) Regards, Ben

I am wondering if anyone have a drawing of the New York Central Despatch shop boxcar roof they might share? It is also called a DSI roof. It has two crosswise pressings between the 'blades' that run across the car. Quite different to the Stanray (diagonal panel) or P-S roofs common at the time. It was used I think from the late 1950s on boxcars built for NYC and subsidiaries, PC, LV and probably Conrail. I need to build it (not available in my scale.) Branchline make an HO Despatch roof, a shot of that might be handy, provided it's reasonably accurate. Regards, Ben

It indicates to me that there's not much checking going on and therefore the chances of wrong information getting repeated are high. I found the other day for example that SD40-2s are really 43'3" rather than 43'6" between mid axles. Surprised me as I'd seen the 43'6" figure for nigh on thirty years; it's in a lot of publications, so I assumed it was right. Not a huge difference, but the 43'6" figure is between bolsters. The figure that's more important for modelling is the mid axle measurement, I 'd think . Ben

Hi, the Utahrails I had not seen, thanks for that. The Dieselshop I'm wary of as it actually indicates some of the problems. Note that for an SD35 it tells us : Distance between Truck Centers 48'-07 I think I understand how he got that error, but it kind of illustrates the problem. Regards, Ben

I have seen a few diagrams for SD35s. All give 35' between what looks to be the two truck centres, which on an SD35 is the centre axle position, as from what I understand on an SD35, the axles are evenly spaced. That is : 6'9 1/2" + 6'9 1/2". However, diagrams drawn by RRs and model magazines are not always right. A couple of the diagrams say the 35' measurement is 'between bolsters'. Since on many locos the bolster position is NOT the same as the truck centre, I wanted to check if anyone knows whether an SD35 is really 35' between truck centres? Cheers, Ben S.

Know that site well. The likelihood of a model conforming to that site's data is better than it used to be. But still the only way to know is to have a caliper measurement of an actual model.

That's something else I'd considerered. What is the wheelbase of the Farish 40 or 45 - between the powered axles ?

Hi Ancient Poole Farish 0-6-0 GP tank (?) chassis, which in theory might make a good power bogie for a C-C 3mm scale loco (10.5mm gauge.) Wheelbase (31.75mm), and wheel diameter (8.9mm) just right. Sturdy looking, with metal worm and gear on centre axle. Problem - need to remove the drive rods, which power the inboard and outboard axles. Once you do that, chassis is only powered on the centre axle, which would be pulling one axle and pushing the other. Doesn't sound ideal. Looks hard to modify, without a lot of surgery plus a new motor with new shafts, and I'd have to harvest another geared axle from another loco. I also wonder whether the worm is a special design as it is inclined, as you can see motor and shaft are tilted down at an angle. Maybe someone out there has done it? Wondering if anyone's ever tried to use a pair of them as power trucks as they are, and how they performed? Two axles powered on a C-C loco is not unknown in older N scale. But usually that would be powered front & centre axles on one truck, with the other free truck rolling. In this case there would be two swivelling trucks with centre axle powered on each. Loco would not be expected to move faster than a scale 40mph or pull more than ten bogie wagons. Hmmm, work or not work ? Ben

I'm trying to find out about Frateschi G8/ G12 locomotives. I can find listings for one Swiss dealer (the only Frateschi dealer in Europe) and he lists 10.25mm NEM wheels. Is that the normal wheel diameter for Frateschi diesels ? Ben

No space for HO here. And I've always liked TT. Looks like 10mm wheels are available for 'Lomacs' in the UK. Wonder if the P4 bunch do a finescale version? https://www.petersspares.com/peters-spares-ps33-Hornby-replacement-container-lomac-10mm-plain-wagon-wheels-x1-pair.ir

It's an Alco DL531, a common export design but built locally in Australia by Alco's franchiser there, with over 200 in use on three gauges.

A good side shot. https://tinyurl.com/ya7n3rhk Looking at this I wonder if smaller wheels would be easily hidden anyway. And the other design of loco used (there were only 3 used on the railway) which it would have to couple to, will also have wheels lower by approx 0.3mm or so itself. If erring on the side of smaller wheels is sensible then I'll go that route.

Locomotives. Specifically an Alco export hood locomotive. It has 10mm wheels exactly in the scale - which is 3mm/ft ; loco has 40" wheels. I do have 10mm wheels but they are tender wheels, plastic centred with only a thin metal tyre. A wheel with a metal back would be easier to pick up power from. Hence why metal HO wagon wheels are of interest. The loco truck is three axle 5'6" + 6'6" truck in 3mm scale that's spaced 16.5mm + 19.5mm There is no available truck of that wheelbase and spacing. Options are using a B-B loco as donor, from TT or N scale, which have either the 16.5mm or 19.5 mm spacing, and using a dummy or idler inboard or outboard axle.

Thanks Clive How thick is the wheel profile? I'm guessing it is not exactly finescale ;-)

Thank you. I heard additionally that Lima's original HO scale 33 uses 10mm wheels (same truck as the DMU.)

Thank you, I may order a few sets of each to compare.

Thanks. Do you know the axle or bushing the smaller wheels would have been bored for? Regards, Ben

So I'm confused now ... smaller or larger? Or did they change over at some point? Also, what diameter axle were the smaller wheels designed for?