Kenh Hough et al --
The Nord 2-8-2 is a USRA light Mike. Good luck with it!
The chassis is a work of art -- Very well designed and nicely sprung. The rest
of the kit is just awful. And you'll have trouble with the drivers. They are
gauged for the "old" NMRA track gauge, which is .008" narrower than the current
standard, and the back-to-back dimension is too narrow to squeeze through
NASG-standard guard-rail flangeways.
And the drive train is terrible. The geared driver floats (is sprung), but the
motor is rigidly mounted. Gears come out of mesh.
I have a Nord that I've almost finished over the years. I ground off all the
stuff on the boiler -- running boards, domes, stack -- and replaced them with S
Scale Loco & Supply parts. Cab is scratchbuilt as is the tender. I milled off
the closed bottom of the firebox and mounted a Pittman DC-91 motor on the frame
rear. It drives the regeared driver via a Kemtron gearbox that floats with the
driver axle.
If this were ten years ago, I'd say contact S Scale Loco & Supply and buy
everything they have for the USRA Mike (including the boiler), and have them
mount the Nord journals on SSL&S drivers. But alas, SSL&S is now dormant, and
I know they're out of drivers.
>From time to time SSL&S loco kits appear on eBay. I'd suggest hanging out
>there to look for a Mike kit. You'd still have to regauge the drivers, but
>with brass centers that's not difficult. The problem with regauging the Nord
>drivers is that the driver centers are zamac, which permanently distorts under
>stress. The axle holes are cast D-shaped for automatic quartering. Loosening
>these (to spread the wheels apart) will loosen the driver fit on the axle,
>resulting in wobbling and perhaps the driver falling off. SSL&S drivers have
>machined round holes and splined axles. Spreading them out a tad will not
>loosen them.
Dick Karnes
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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