Thanks Dave!
My new garden railway will be ready this year. Just bought this LGB 2155s with its brutish pilot plow to deal with winters wrath on the railway. Constant mineral train traffic keeps the drifts at bay. Just a pic of her from the shop she came from, they are just under a new name/owner. I highly recommend Zionsville Train Depot for anybodys G and O scale needs. I will get pics when the snow returns, right now its wet and muddy at the railway. Mike
Silly NT's....I have Aspergers.
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Chris,
It's still a beautiful model, even if I've seen it before
Mike,
Love your LGB DL535. I've always wanted one of those, but me, my moeny and one for sale have never been in the same room at once. I have built two from PSC kits in HOn3 and your post reminds me I added one of those since last winter, so it's another piece of snowfighting gear, considering they were planned with built-in snow removal capabilities.
#64 in the lead was built this year, trailing #60 was built a couple of years ago.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Well, sorta? with one piece of snow fighting equipment we'll be in a bit of a bind for a bit, thankfully an extra large employee(Godzilla) our trains won't be too late.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
Great angle. Speaking of Godzilla, is that a Japanese plow?
mlehman Great angle. Speaking of Godzilla, is that a Japanese plow?
Cool, gotta know what I'm looking at. I'm clueless about N scale, but know there are some interesting prototypes that can be credibly repurposed as standins which are done in N by various players in the Japanese market, where N is huge vs in the US.
Maybe someone else knows what brand it is, for reference purposes?
The wife speaks fluent Japanese, even her computer runs on a Japanese version OS, and she's somewhat of a railfan. Japanese is a crazy difficult language to learn, more diffcult than English with all its various permutations. So I guess I'm saying I can learn a little Japanese N-scale as I was never a wiz at languages, picking up rudimentary German after living there almost 4 years and Spanish on my own then formally in college when I went back some years back. I can speak neither, but can still sort read them, but am fairly fluent in the RR aspects of things with both, probably because RRs make it interesting enough to make my brain want to learn and retain it.
She's traveling there in the spring to act as an interpreter for her sister and her family when they travel there. I sorta got to know what to ask for in terms of tiny souvenirs (given the limited selection and priciness of HO in Japan, as well as fitting the luggauge full of other stuff), as I'm not going, maybe next time around. We've been planning a rail adventure when we do. The new Shinkansen has just been testing to take the tunnel to Hokkaido, so you can get everywhere pretty fast in the very near future.
I'll take a couple more pictures of it, I'm certain though it's been modified a lot from its base version. "Americanized" I suppose would be the proper term.
When I can some day, I'd love to build the NP Jordan Spreader from Toppenish Wa. that was built right around the turn of the century.
Burlington Northern #24 I'll take a couple more pictures of it, I'm certain though it's been modified a lot from its base version. "Americanized" I suppose would be the proper term.
More pics would be appreciated. It might solve a problem for N scale snowfightin'. Are there plow models available in N? HO is pretty well provided for, although we could always use new variants, too.
I've always planned on getting a Rio Grande Models HOn3 kit of the Rio Grande's narrowgauge Jordan (OU I think, IIRC) and building it. I belatedly realized I needed a standard gauge version, too.
Burlington Northern #24When I can some day, I'd love to build the NP Jordan Spreader from Toppenish Wa. that was built right around the turn of the century.
Yeah, Jordan spreaders are cool. I'm still kicking myself for taking a pass when Walthers brought out their somewhat crude version, which has been mostly unobtanium since. Crude is better than unaffordable brass. Maybe that one is on the update and re-release list?
Did Walthers ever produce a N scale Jordan?
There are rotary plows(I need to get another kit because My first one didn't turnout very good.)
regular spreaders and plows are few and far between, I know someone made an N scale version of the Walthers model(orit was a walthers model)
I also have a heater car, that I'll be pairing with the plow. I have a very plausible reason for the two being together.
Gary,
That's a very plausible plow. Maybe that big ol' Rapido up front could be replaced with a M-T or maybe even a scale dummy is the only thing I'd try to fix, presuming that was easy (and it may not be.)
I don't know when Russell plows were last produced, but if they were built somewhat later, they very well could've reflected what appears to be a somewhat streamlined design. It's not so much for speed, although that can be involved, but to help move snow away from the track rather than building up on the plow or blowing back into the newly cleared track. I suspect the Japanese produced plows somewhat later than in the US, since they get a bunch of snow by being so near the water in lots of places, plus being mountainous also causing lifting that helps it snow.
it's dummy coupler on the front but, I'm not sure how to remove it or swap it out without irreversible damage.
Yeah, looked like it was stuck on there pretty good. It kind of depends on whether it bothers you as I've run into similar situations where something was OK until one day out came the rail nips...then I figured out the followup.
In this case, the most important thing other than the aesthetics is whether you plan on doing a lot of switching. In that case, putting an operational coupler on it could make sense, at least it would make more sense than a non-operational coupler on a piece of rolling stock that often didn't have the front coupler installed even if it was capable of it. Of course, you need an out of the way spot for it if you go couplerless.
If you do that, then the rail nippers could make short work of it. Then dress the wound with files and putty best you can. The tricky part would be paint. Fortunate thing about plows is they looked all pristine like that one in September, but by February, they looked like heck. A beat up paint job on the the face of the plow would do the trick and save a lot of matching paint, etc.
But it's a good looking plow the way it is, no need to change it unless that front coupler is going to cause problems.
Gary:
I have installed front couplers on a couple of HO scale snow plows, and I have also installed a number of N scale knuckle couplers on my HOn30 rolling stock.
My suggestion would be to buy some Red Caboose N scale knuckle coupers like these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Caboose-N-Knuckle-Coupler-Long-Shank-8-pc-Black-RCB51020-/330909734949?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item4d0bc1d825
First, cut the original coupler off leaving enough of the shank in place to allow the new coupler to be positioned properly on the front of the plow.
Then cut the perpendicular flat plate off of the coupler box end of the Red caboose coupler. File the remaining shank round and drill a hole into the original coupler shank the same size as the now rounded shank on the new coupler. The rest is obvious.
I will qualify my suggestions by admitting that I have never done this myself. I am merely suggesting a possible solution. The shape and size of the original coupler shank may preclude what I am suggesting. If so, you can file this post in the waste basket.
Also, I know that the Red Caboose couplers mate successfully with themselves but I don't know how they play with other operating knuckle couplers. If you want to do switching that will require the use of the plow's front coupler obviously you should check that out.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Here's my HO scale Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western Jordan spreader.
... and here is how I staged the photo in my driveway last weekend:
mmathu,
Beautiful spreader and nice action shot! Nice weathering and it's not just the snow. Yeah, I'll bet you had some great material on the set to get that shot.