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jasond

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    jd15feb

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  • Location
    Westbury, Wilts UK
  • Interests
    North American O-scale mostly 70s and 80s
    Delaware & Hudson RR; Vermont Rwy; etc
    North American O-scale from my trader days still available

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  1. Bought my first bit of Nth Am from Victor's of Islington ... HO Athearn Geep 9. Then I saw an O-scale scratch-built CP boxcar in W&H's window for Β£2.50 (early 70s!), but the label that must have said 'Danger - Slippery Slope' had fallen off. Then Beatties had Atlas(Roco) On (ridiculous) Sale, a shop over in the City had Rivarossi(AHM) at good prices and Bernie Victor quickly had an old biscuit tin full of O-scale parts ... Kadees, Athearn trucks, All-Nation kits, US Hobbies, you know. Jason
  2. You're right Mike, the Gilmaur O-scale S2 kit and its contemporary, the Alco RS1, shared some etching artwork and casting masters and we were lucky enough to have an easy supply of Weaver gearboxes, etc for power. The late Mike Calvert and I started Gilmaur way back in the 20th century and Mike stuck with etch kit creation whereas I got sidetracked importing RTR. I wonder if anyone's still tempted by kits, I certainly lost interest in importing Nth American stuff as prices escalated. I'm hoping that 3D printing can inject more modelling back into my O-scale and one of my sons has given me his 3D printer now he has moved to Topeka, KS reassuring me he can buy a better one cheaper in the US. Don't forget the Winchester Meet, I've got some O-scale tables there: https://alan49.x10.mx/index1w.htm Jason
  3. In the early 70s my holiday plan included travelling from my two aunts in New York up to see my cousin in Montreal. I found the schedule of The Adirondack, rode behind PC E8s from NY Grand Central up to Albany where I was told that the first two rebuilt PAs were on the way down from Montreal which was why we only had an RS3 and RS36 set on our northbound πŸ˜’ but both in the blue/gray Lightning Stripe 🀩 The RS3 was one of two swapped with the Boston & Maine 'cos they had steam-heating boilers. Had a good meal in the leased CP Rail Buffet Dome Car. Don't worry, I managed to save up to go back and see PA4s in 1981. I ought to look out a pic. Jason
  4. Thanks you two, it must have been '76 but ... but .... I was young enough to think my memory would last forever and now I'm making notes as I go. Just need to make sure I can understand my scribble years later.
  5. OK, get your tissues ready. 15 or so years ago I imported a pair of 2-rail, Atlas O Alco C628s in D&H Lightning Stripe, pow'd and unpow'd. I was persuaded to sell the unpow'd loco to a regular O-scaler who sadly died later. England being such a huge country it took a while for the sad news to reach me and when I followed it up the loco had disappeared. If any of you knows where loco might be now, I'll happily do a swap maybe for a powered model from my collection ... whatever. Memory: I was enjoying a holiday looking at the D&H in1981, eyeing up a train down in the valley from the NY State freeway. Got ahead of it turned off and took a random steep dirt track up to ... yes!! ... a railroad track. Days before internet, etc but there was the train with 4 Geeps on another track down the hill. How did I miss that track, so cross with myself, but then ... there's another train coming up the hill in the opposite direction on my track ... 2xC628s leading. Great memories. Jason
  6. Luckily here in the UK, no model train manufacturer had such O-power as Lionel did/does in the US. Hornby might have, they even stuck with 3-rail when they went to OO! Triang, bless 'em, discovered plastic for their train sets and answered the question "how do you save money by doing away with that middle rail and make it look more realistic with plastic moulding?" Or was it the other way round? I was only aware of one Lionel retailer over here ... long gone. Anyway Atlas have forced the US RTR market to take 'O-scale'' more seriously than 'O-gauge', still occasionally a clue as to what you're buying, but even they've had to admit 3-rail was a marketing triumph, not a modelling win ... OK, OK I've got some 3-rail stock with 2-rail wheels and KDs Jason
  7. I wouldn't buy an old MTH diesel without seeing it or a good selection of pics. They were forced to upgrade models bit-by-bit by the quality of the Atlas offerings. Fred's MTH catalogue entry is a 3-rail model and as well as the list of what's moulded on I'd like to measure the truck wheelbase - looked a bit short to me and the same design would be on the 2-rail version and it's gearing was for 3-railers. If price, not choice of prototype is more important (just the immense satisfaction of O-scale 😎) I'd go for an older Weaver 2-rail GP38-2 or Alco RS3. Jason
  8. jawtooth goes with breakfast on a Sunday ... but wait there's more always is ... but wait I have to get another slice of toast ... what's this? Oh OK, Delay In Block ... weathered Penn Central (!) cov'd hopper RFMX reporting marks, hmmm What favourites you been watching? Gotta go, get the O-scale stuff ready for the WWGOG afternoon in Trowbridge, WI no, no, my mistake ... Trowbridge, Wilts Jason
  9. Truly 'heritage' lines will have a web site with a timetable of course. Shortlines, industry-related lines won't be as precious as our 'private' railways can be and calls to the phone number on their websites using your best British accent may succeed in getting useful info. You'll probably be lucky with local/yard offices of the larger railroads. I stopped off at a Providence and Worcester yard office on a business trip a few years ago and the pleasant guy I spoke to said they didn't do yard passes for enthusiasts, but since the yard office was some way from the entrance he would see me safely off the site - slow walk and some pics including some FB-2 trucks they'd acquired to replace an old U23B's AAR Type-Bs. Then there was the small Conrail yard I stopped off at in Albany, NY confident they'd know where the D&H yard was, only to be asked "It's down thataway ... Are you from England? Patrick'll wanna say hello, he's from Ireland." Big smile and English accent, works for me. Have a great time, pancakes with Maple Syrple for breakfast and Chicken Mole (Mexican) for lunch and OK, OK, I'll stop now. Jason
  10. Jordan, do a search for Silhouette cutter and you'll get an evening's-worth of UK sites to visit. Like all these interesting tools ... tempting! Son of mine just moved to the US so I've saved him money by not shipping his 3D printer, but will I ever use it? Jason
  11. Martin, 99% certain Rivarossi had the boxes updated with pics of the coaches (HO or O-scale prototypes), but no O-scale production run! Jason
  12. Completely irrelevant, sorry, but in my first Christmas at a computer data centre I was taken down into the basement where an old 7094 computer's tape drives (yes, free standing cabinets) were able to play Carols, etc using their drive speeds. Anyway, West Wilts O Gauge Group's Christmas get together today, so I'm off to get some choccies like Quality Street to go in the gondolas .... Hey Jason, what about the log car??
  13. Hi Colin The original chassis etch for the U33C was a simple 40 thou 2 x chassis beams joined by 2 x rectangular floor plates to locate truck mounting screws and etched cab base mounts. Was there a replacement chassis in thinner brass that made up into a boxier frame - maybe based on an S-scale etch? I haven't seen any etches, but I'll have a search on the data disks. Jason
  14. Hi Ian, welcome to the group. The U33C was Gilmaur's first kit. Mike Calvert and I joined up for the early kits and I have his remaining stock following his passing last year. Send me a note about what you suspect may be missing and I'll have a rummage. ATB Jason Dickie
  15. But, but, where does the exhaust come out?? What's that? Oh, the parrot says will it get a bell like he's got...?
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