Quite a few roads kept the Allied full-cushion trucks under express cars and others, especially the troop cars, until the disintegration problems became apparent. There is the story of how 3 of the troop-converted headend cars had the trucks under them collapse at the same time, it was at speed somewhere out near Herington. Kansas. Santa Fe had them under 50-foot PS-01-ish express cars, RI and MKT had them under 40-foot cars with them. Some were on N&W M/W cars in this area long after they took over Wabash, I think Monon even had them on cars used as cabooses. Hopefully there are a few pair of them still in a museum somewhere, you can easily see why they were nicknamed "spider-web" style.
DJE-KCMO ----- Original Message ----- From: Bob Werre To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, April 27, 2012 10:50 AM Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} RE: FNF Peter, I went through the road crossing the tracks thing many years ago. I haven't had a problem in many years except for an occasional Kadee airhose that needs some bending. All this was upset when I purchased a pair of brass trucks designed for the troop sleepers (Allied full Cushion, I think). Seems as though the Rock Island used them on their express cars. So to be true to prototype I installed them and ran the car. Although I didn't derail the car, every road crossing was an experience in roughness. The journals stick out very far and will ride on the scenery beyond the rails. I had to do a fair amount of scenery surgery to get that car to run. Then after running the car for awhile, I decided it wasn't worth the effort and when back to the original ASF type trucks. And you're correct regarding sound at train shows--your expensive decoders just become part of the overall noise. However, during my open house events, I think most people are impressed with how well a larger scale sound system works. Even though my FEF 4-8-4 remains unpainted, I was once asked to run it. When I hit the whistle, a couple of kids cover their ears--just like the real thing, that steamboat whistle is impressive and makes babies cry! I have many of the older DSX and DSD units in diesels, but the tsunami's are set to shut off after a few minutes of idle, so I'm not overwhelmed with engines all over the place. If the wires in the harness are messed up, the whole plug can probably be purchased from SHS or it's not that hard to make your own. I said it before that the wiring contained in the engines or running to the tenders are the weak spots. If your running wires to headlites, marker lites, speakers, roof strobes the inside of the engine likely looks like a drain clog from a balding man! Furthermore if you like to disconnect your tender, those little plugs are going to fail eventually, which is probably why SHS hardwired their 2-8-0 and so did AF in some of their engines. Now if you want to find a good home for those unwanted decoders--we can talk! Bob Werre PhotoTraxx On 4/27/12 10:01 AM, Peter Vanvliet wrote: Tacking on to Bob's message... This week's activities involved mostly doing maintenance on the layout. I have a very small layout, yet maintenance is still an issue. Although I long for a much larger layout, the thought of maintaining it does present a dose of reality! a) I recently completed a two-lane road with wooden crossing boards in between the rails. It turned out that the SHS NW2 has very low clearance, so it would get stuck on them. I'm filing the wood down as needed and testing with the engine. c) I think I have made the decision that sound in engines isn't for me. At home I usually turn the volume way down, or off altogether. At our club shows the ambient noise is too high to be able to hear the sound these engines make, even with the volume maxed out. The complexity and cramped-quarters isn't worth it to me. d) I took some new overall photos of my layout this week, which I posted on my web site: http://pmrr.org/Layouts/Chartiers/index.htm e) I started building the PRS box car kit I e-mailed about before (no web site photos yet). This will be my "hobby time" focus this weekend. I won this item on eBay and it did not include instructions, so it is kind of a puzzle to figure out what part goes where and in what order they should be installed. I'm enjoying the kit, though. I have decided, by the way, to make it a PRR X37. Any inconsistencies will be flagged under "good-enough". I have decals on order from Des Plaines Hobbies. f) Received the Smokey Mountain Model Works stirrups I ordered the other day. They look nice. Have a good weekend! - Peter. O
