And by O scale, I mean 2 rail O scale and a couple are brass at that. Building a small O scale coal hauling branch line this winter. While the NKP S2 Berk is an impulse buy, the SD9 is not. The HO club that I belonged to for many many years was based on the old Clinchfield RR to some extant but was its own RR otherwise. Called the Clinchfield Cumberland & Western, the line's primary diesel power was a fleet of Athearn blue box SD9's. I am recreating that but in O scale. The units had Southern green carbodys, yellow sills and pilot faces/step wells and black trucks and tanks. In the one pic, taken in the oven as they bake, shows the frame upside down in black, carbody in primer and yellow. The truck side frames are on the lower shelf in primer. Once this all cures, I will mask and finish the body with Southern Green and paint the truck side frames black. I will be tracking down older US hobbies coal hoppers in the coming months and watching for an small O scale coal tipple to place at the end of my branch line. The SD and the Berkshire are both old Max Gray/KTM imports from the mid 1950's The junction signal is also a Max Gray import. Mike the Aspie.
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Nice! Will you put decoders in them or stick to DC?
Simon
Hi Mike:
Neat project!
I have a couple of HO brass S series switchers by Alco that I need to paint at some point. Your thread is very encouraging. Please keep us posted.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Just plain old DC for now. Both would need remotored to take advantage of DCC, along with the adding the cost of a high amp DCC system for what will be a single or 2 engine layout here at home.
Mike is that a All Nation NW2 behind the SD in the second photo?
My Dad was in O Scale in the Mid 50s and I remember his well since I did a lot of switching with it.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Great looking models, Mike!
My dad used to take me to Mack Lowry's Railways of America layout in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. What a spread!
RR_Postcards_0018 by Edmund, on Flickr
RR_Postcards_0017 by Edmund, on Flickr
RR_Postcards_0016 by Edmund, on Flickr
Ah, the memories. Like so many things, Mack retired and sold off the collection. It was moved to Quaker Square retail development in Akron, Ohio where the whole deal went belly-up after a few years. I guess a lot of the equipment was donated to Akron University and it was auctioned off for cash.
From what I understand, some of the locomotives were custom built by Bill Lenoir and passenger cars by Joe Fischer.
I guess there were articles in the Sept. 1955 and Aug. 1974 issues of M-R But I CAN NOT ACCESS the all time archive to see.
Thanks for sharing your modeling work Mike!
Regards, Ed
Woke up at my normal work day time on my day off and couldn't get back to sleep, so coffee in hand, off to the train room. Got the chassis back together. Transfer case is cleaned of old hard greaase and refilled with fresh high temp bearing grease, new rubber tube between motor and transfer case(to be replaced in future by a proper drive shaft). Trucks are fully sprung on this model but are only A1A in the drive(center axle is undriven). But as heavy as this model is, no problems with traction. I am actually looking for the MRC throttle I want for the new layout. Looking for a pristine Throttlemaster 550 with the twin meters and the copper colored case, but must be pristine/like new. Mike the Aspie
If you do decide to try converting them to DCC try tracking down articles by James EuDaly who has one of the great O scale scale layouts (C&O) with many scratchbuilt steam locomotives. He has written about the challenge of finding and installing decoders that withstand the 5 amp + demands of these locomotives. It was a real challenge.
Dave Nelson
I believe its a bit easier to find 5 amp decoders these days than it used to be. Right now, with a single engine working the branchline and the NW2 as the tipple switcher, I have no real need for DCC or its extra expence. Maybe in the future. The only reason I might consider it in the future is to put sound in. But I have yet to find a decoder that dublicates the sound of an SD9 in Run 8 with the govonor loading and unloading the main generator. The older EMDs would just not sit at a steady RPM when in max power and on thier knees pushing or pulling. That came with the -2 line and different engine management controls. When you have been in the real ones, if the model's sound isnt correct, it bugs me. So for now, they will remain silent. Here is a new pic of the SD9, fresh out of the paint shop and curing while I wait for the decals to arrive. Still need to reinstall all the lenses and window glass. Below the pics is link to an SD9 M, ex DM&IR on her knees shoving a coal drag for IBCX, she needs injector work but the loading and unloading of the main generator by the govonor is very well heard as she struggles to keep the train moving, no she was not slipping out, just doing what that generation of EMD's do best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0b8ANibYW8