Hi guys.
I'm planning an addition to my layout in the form of a six foot module. Double main line dead straight. I'm thinking that this would be a perfect opportunity to model track pans for my thirsty steamers. I have enough information on the construction and operation of them. Steam heat lines, laid on masonry instead of ballast, pump houses and whatnot. Has anyone ever modeled them in HO? Any ideas for the masonry roadbed? I'm thinking of styrene chanel for the pans and styrene rod for the steam heat lines. Any other ideas?
Thanks.
Pete.
A friend of mine -now deceased- was a custom layout builder. One his customers wanted pans for his PRR layout. My friend used the styrene channel and rod as you described. The customer loved it and it was an easy detail to add.
Mark B.
There are some wonderful still photos, and a few videos, showing those track pans in action (I can't recall if Pennsy or NYC; the Brits used them too of course) and the thing that is so neat is the huge spray of water that explodes under the tender at speed, even though speed was reduced for the track pans. I wonder if a Suethe smoke unit would convincingly replicate that spray of water?
At the very least I have to think that the sound of a tender taking on water at a track pan must have been dramatic. I wonder if anybody offers that sound (or one like it -- a waterfall?) for a sound-only decoder that could be added to a tender.
Not entirely on topic, but I recall an article either in Trains or Railroad & Railfan about a crew that took water using the track plans on a super cold night one winter. There was a venting system in the tender so that the tender tank would not accidentally explode from the sudden intake of large quantities of water, and the excess water would be vented out to the top of the tender. What the crew found later was that evidently a hobo had been riding on the back of the tender - his [dead] body was found totally encased in ice at the back of the tender.
I also recall a story, and again I cannot recall which magazine had it, of a crew which found that somehow a turtle had made its way into the track pan and somehow got lodged in the retractable mechanism that raised and lowered for the pans and jammed it. So one detail to add might be a turtle!
Dave Nelson
The railroad museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg PA has them on the display layout. My opinion is they look toy like when everything else looks great. You just can't give them the length needed for real trains to scoop water. It would make more sense to have a sign saying track pan ahead and have the pan off railroad
ndbprr The railroad museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg PA has them on the display layout. My opinion is they look toy like when everything else looks great. You just can't give them the length needed for real trains to scoop water. It would make more sense to have a sign saying track pan ahead and have the pan off railroad
In my opinion we don't have the milage of the prototype either. The six foot length is a start for now. Until I can get my space returned back to me when the grandkids moved in, I'm stuck with what I have. Thank you for the opinion. Some type of clever view block would have to suffice for now.
Thanks guys.
I don't know about the smoke unit. The sound would be cool. A digital recording/ playback unit with a detector would work. Gloss clear coat would give the illusion of being wet. I have seen a drawing in an issue of the Keystone magazine quite a few years ago. They used steel ties instead of wood fastened to the masonry roadbed. I could hand lay rail on styrene strips. It's the masonry roadbed that is the key thing that's stumping me. Block pattern styrene or card stock would probably work. I don't feel like it would be too hard except for hiding the joints and coloring it.
I could model it dry with a whole bunch of track gang guys and a stack of trough laying next to the mainline like it was under construction. A Burro crane on a temporary siding would add some story along with a camp kitchen car and other MOW equipment.
Got my mind going now.