I recently received a walthers protoline caboose. Unfortunately the smoke jack has broken off along with one of the supports. The base however is still there. How would I go about finding a new smoke jack, most every part I find is sold out. I have no issue fore say with building it, I just don't know what size styrene to use. This is the caboose https://www.walthers.com/30-gtw-style-wood-caboose-with-offset-coupola-ready-to-run-grand-trunk-western-77948
Hi Brennan:
I'm guessing that you don't have the part of the smoke stack that is broken off or you would have just used some CA to re-attach it.
I use 1/16" brass tube (about .060") when I am building my own stacks. In your case, you will also want something about 3/32" ( about .100") to make the rain cap. The stays can be made out of .010 music wire or phosphor bronze wire. You can use brass wire but because it is soft you can expect that it will get bent at some point.
Phosphor bronze wire is available from Tichy in a variety of sizes. I prefer it to music wire because it is much easier to cut and bend.
https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_wire/Default.aspx
Brass tube is available from most hobby suppliers.
Of course, you can use styrene tube or rod too. Personally I like seeing the holes in the stacks. The ones I make are in the 'H' pattern so the holes are readily visible.
Nice caboose by the way!
I will make one suggestion. That is to check that the trucks can swivel properly. Walthers had a problem with their cabooses in that the trucks hit the stairs before they could pivot far enough for tight curves. I had to shave a bit of material off of the backs of the stairs to make space, but the adjustment can't be seen when the cabooses are on the tracks.
Regards,
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your help. Also my trucks don't seem to have that problem. I'll make a mini project out of it. Would be a nice piece to run at he club.
Brennan:
Glad to help.
One thought occurred to me. You might have a bit of a time matching the orange paint. Why not just paint the stack black? You would certainly want to add some soot to the top of the stack in any case.
One more question, do you have clue if it would be prototypical for a parent company to run with the caboose a subsidiary company. I ask because i would like to run my cn rs3 and gtw caboose in the same consist.
I can't answer your question specifically as to whether or not that caboose would have run with that engine, but certainly lots of railroad equipment was leased and used without it being repainted.
Always remember the cardinal rule: "It's your railroad, you can do what you want!".
Both the Grand Trunk and Grand Trunk Western were CNR roads, so it's possible that a GTW caboose could be on a CN train. Over the years, a lot of locomotives went back and forth over the border, but there were, in steam days at least, time limits on how long a foreign unit could remain in the country. The CNR also transferred locomotives, either trading or simply buying or selling to- or from the subsidiary roads.
As for the trucks not rotating properly on some of those Walthers cabooses, the simplest solution is to cut the frame on either side of the bolsters, leaving the couplers where they are. The portion between the bolster and coupler is too short (that's why the trucks strike the steps), so make the other cuts (toward the centre of the car) so that the portion of the centresill left attached to the bolsters is suitably longer. Rotate the cut-out bolster/frame sections 180° and cement them back onto the underbody.
Wayne
Hi,
Yes, the trucks do have a limited swing. My current layout has 18" r and they don't swing enough. I'm not sure about 22".
There are a couple of tutorials on youtube. The kind folks here on the forums pointed two out to me. One involves filing the steps, the other reversing a section of the frame. I don't have the info handy. If you can't find it, PM me and I will look it up for you.
Good luck,
Richard
Wayne's method of relocating the bolsters towards the center of the car is much more professional than shaving the backs of the steps like I did.