BR60103

Have I posted this here before? Taken last October in Pomona. This is the current state of the beast.

We were there last fall and rode the train. There's a picture from track level in the Eagle Book of Trains where the bridge is a mere line across. Haven't been able to find out how much was destroyed in the fires recently -- I think a park at the top was burned.

I have broken knuckles on Kadees but usually by dropping them on the floor. Normal operation, including hard shunting, doesn't faze them at all. Transpoting them loose in a box can cause problems but usually involving the mounting.

There seems to be a great reluctance on the part of regulators to actually force railways to do certain things. In Red for Danger, Rolt mentions the perpetual refrain in inquiries of "Block, lock, and brake" which was delayed as long as possible. It was in my lifetime (well, I am a bit older than BR) that unbraked waggons were eliminated in Britain (they have been, haven't they?) Please remember that all the operations at the top of the hill were performed by one man -- engineer, conductor, brakeman and signalman if he'd had to put the train in the siding.

It would be interesting to watch a brake test performed by a one man crew.

This is probably tricky and I haven't done it yet. The Kadee NEM shank should be at the same height as the top of the loop in the tension lock. (note: all NEM couplers). It might be possible to trip the Bachmann coupler level with the top of the loop and then add the Kadee shank (or Marklin, or..) under it. It may work with a good glue or a delicate screw or there may be enough room to add a padding and fasten it a bit farther back. Or take a standard NEM tension lock and mount the Kadee shank below it (with any required shims).

Dibber25: I can't think of any catch/trap points on North American railways. All the derails I've seen are the cast block type. There may be some that used to be sidings and have been cut back.

When I was doing N gauge, Kadee (as they were then) supplied little springs to go on the axle ends of cabooses to provide some drag.

Having tried to uncouple coaches with gangways, I'd leave the pins on and use the stick to pull them sideways.

Some of our coffee shops have the warning, "Unaccompanied children will be given an espresso and a small puppy". The Science fiction bookstore used to have a sign with a drawing of a dragon and the waning "Smokers will be eaten". The subway has the warning "Trespassers may be electrocuted".

Kadee make non-magnetic axles because of this. Don't know of any non-magnetic weights. This factor may also cause accidental uncoupling. Kadee's wheelsets, unfortunately, are 33" and 36" in HO -- 9.625 and 10,5 mm

On my just dismantled layout I had a rather severe vertical curve obtuse angle at the top of a grade. I often found that carriages would disconnect when the leading car reached the flat position while the trailer was still on the grade. I think that NMRA specs for OO should be ignored as OO has had no American presence since WW 2. I don't believe that there are any commercial products available -- certainly less than British HO.

If I remember from umpty-dump decades ago when RP25 first came out, one of the main features/requirements was a lot of curved transitions -- between the tread and flange and then on the flange itself. The idea was that the curves would let the wheel roll off some of the worst irregularities in the track, unlike the rather sharp flanges that were often provided (codename: pizza cutter) which would catch in rail joints.

How do you learn the route when the tracks aren't in yet?

Should we mention that Kadee operaation can also be affected by slop caused by undergauge wheels? (That's most of the RTR ones). The couplings may not meet up in the right place if the two vehicles are offset the wrong way.

Kadee came out with that variety of couplings because there was no standard. Interestingly, when there was the most possibility of variation - pre-1960 - they only had 6 variations -- 4/5, 6, 7, 8 and 10. 4 and 5 were the same couplinh but 5 had a box; it's noe the 4. 10 becake the 5&10 and is now 5. Either the 7 or the 8 had 2 different heights in the same package. The 4 has an odd springing arrangement that used to be common but has all but disappeared. I wonder what happened to 1, 2,and 3.

That may have been me. The height of the top of the tension lock matches the top of the NEM standard shank. This allows you to replace a screwed-on tension lock (even a sheet metal one) with an NEM shank with a hole drilled in it (if the screw comes up from below).

Part of the upgrade was to provide a train which could keep pace with the scheduled trains. I believe that there were some experimental or prototype coaches which were converted.

One feature to ease the modelling burden: the coal loads are all identical and look like cast plastic ones. My wife noticed this when we were out there last fall.

Interesting: Some goods stock have white roofs; none of the passenger stock does. Edit: Sorry, I missed the whole right side of the photo! You have to scroll it over. There seems to be one silvery-coloured coach roof there.

I read an article about sculptures (the artistic ones) where more bronzes had been cast from the original moulds/patterns after the artist (was it Ridin?) had died. There was question about the authenticity/legitimacy/legality of these statues. Would the works have cast extra nameplates for those directors honoured with a namesake?

Is there any reason that Hornby couldn't do a limited release of "what might have been" or even "what should have been" with a P2 in nationalization livery (~ies)? As long as it is carefully labelled as fanciful.

Photos taken in October.

At one ladies' tea it was reported that the Pope had raised the urinals in the Vatican. He wanted to keep the Cardinals on their toes. All the ladies laughed except one. She was asked if possibly she didn't know what a urinal was. "Oh, no, I'm not Catholic."

Another anniversary. One of the biggest railway wrecks with no injuries and minimal damage beyond the train itself.