All --
1. NYC Caboose trucks -- John Picur asked about leaf springs in the NYC
19000-series cabooses. Yes, all had leaf springs -- at least all in the many
photos I have.
Someone on this e-list seems to be telling me that it doesn't help to point out
products whose current availability is unknown. But look -- Billy Wade gave an
immediate answer as to who has the V&T Shops T-section Bettendorfs (Wiseman
Model Services). Seems to me that putting such info on this e-list sometimes
serves a good purpose...
The V&T trucks come with coil springs -- and no wheelsets. NWSL code 88
shouldered-axle wheelsets are required for these trucks -- Code 110 wheelsets
will not fit. If you really want the leaf springs, there are several choices:
1.) Make your own from spring brass or phosphor bronze sheet stock. 2.) Buy
a set of River Raisin tender leaf springs. These are totally stiff, and a bit
large for caboose trucks. (I have used them on tenders.) They will make your
trucks rigid. 3.) It's possible that HO leaf springs will work, but I haven't
researched this alternative. 4.) One could construct a leaf-spring overlay
made from bond paper that covers the coil springs but offers no additional
stiffness of its own. I have not tried this, but it would be my first
alternative.
2. Ken Parson asked about zamac crumbling. The problems with zamac were
caused by lead contamination. Even a trace amount of lead in a molten batch of
zamac will cause decomposition over time. Lionel 700E/700K Hudsons (the scale
ones from 1940 or so) had drivers made of the offending metal. So many
collectors eventually discovered their prized locos sitting on their axles in
little piles of metal dust that a large aftermarket of replacement driver sets
developed.
The cast white-metal Rex S scale kits of the early 1950s (locos, gons, flats)
do not suffer from this problem. But, in addition to the PermaBilt trucks, the
Enhorning streamlined trucks of the early 1960s also decomposed over time, as
did the Enhorning cast-metal F7 truck/motor-mount bolsters.
FYI, zamac is an acronym that denotes the constituent metals in the alloy --
zinc, aluminum, magnesium, antimony, copper. (Some definitions do not contain
antimony; their second "A" is simply the word "and.") If pure, it will last
indefinitely.
Dick Karnes
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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