Proto 2000 curvy handrails

[Mister Mikado]

Any cure for these, or do I just replace them? (On my SW8 and SW9 for example) Also, anybody know how they got that way?  They came curvy when new out of the box.  Thanks all for your help.  -Rob

[mbinsewi]

I like how the new locos from some manufacturers have a piece of foam that tucks neatly between the hand rails and the body shell.

Are the  railings the engineered plastic, like Delrin?  If they are, I don't know if you can straighten them.

Mike.

[tstage]

My guess is that a drilled hole for one of the handrail stanchions is slightly misaligned in the shell.  They all seem to exhibit that same tendency.

If that's the case, you could clip off the end of the stanchion (where it inserts into the offending hole) so that it sits on top of the shell rather that inside the hole.  You could also replace both handrails stanchions with separately applied stanctions and stiff phosphor bronze wire.  You'll need a good pair of flat-nose pliers to bend the wire 90-degrees at one or both ends.

Tom

[j. c.]

this was a common problem with that loco , no fix just replace.

[hon30critter]

Hi Rob,

I use phosphor bronze wire from Tichy to form grab irons. They offer .0125" wire which is very close to scale:

https://www.tichytraingroup.com/Shop/tabid/91/c/ho_wire/p/1106/Default.aspx

Phosphor bronze wire is very easy to bend but stiff enough that it will withstand handling.

Note that the .0125" wire will be much smaller than the hole for the original acetal plastic handrails. You can use gel CA to fill the gap, or you can fill the hole and then re-drill it. One way to fill the hole is to take a piece of plastic sprue, heat it up, and then stretch it to form a thin rod. Once the rod is glued in place and trimmed, you can drill a new smaller hole for the wire. Make sure the glue is dried hard. The closest drill size is a #80 but I prefer to use a #79 because they seem to be much less prone to breaking.  Bend the wire over on the inside and apply the CA from inside the shell. The CA will fill the small gap without showing on the outside.

Dave

[doctorwayne]

Dave, the Tichy .0125" wire is a good size for grabirons, but it's too small for most handrails.

I used .015"piano wire to replace the Delrin railings on this Atlas RS-1, drilling out the plastic stanchions to accommodate it.  Tichy also offers the phosphor bronze wire in .015", which is a little easier with which to work, but not as resilient as piano wire.

 

While ca won't bond to engineering plastics, once the new handrails were installed, I very carefully aligned all of the stanchions vertically, then used the tip of a #11 blade to apply ca to the points where the stanchions were inserted into the walkway sills, and then to the points where the wire passed through the stanchions - touch the blade to one side of the stanchion/railing connection, then immediately to the other side - this draws the ca through the entire joint.  While it won't actually cement the railing to the stanchion, it will provide a nice tight fit, which, barring severe mishandling, will keep the whole shebang straight and looking good.

Wayne

[Harrison]

I have a P2K with warped handrails, should probibly replace.