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Trains, not slot cars!...

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Posted by Autobus Prime on Monday, February 4, 2008 10:10 AM
 ICRR1964 wrote:

I rememeber my first layout, and what happened when a freind of mine came over for play time. I had a Lima 0-4-0 tanker switcher, this thing I think could reach 200 mph scale speed.

IC:

Sounds like the same model I have.  What brings this desolating abomination into the realm of neo-dadaist art is that it emulates the oscillation of a short-wheelbase switcher at high speeds, and not only that, displays some bouncing from poor counterweighting.  Ingeeenious.  I wish I'd noticed that spur gear between the drivers before placing the bid.

I think I'm going to paint it blue and call it Thomas.

 

 Currently president of: a slowly upgrading trainset fleet o'doom.
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Posted by SteamFreak on Sunday, February 3, 2008 10:35 PM

The slot cars bring back good memories. Those crossings are actually old Aurora track that used two pins and a plastic lock to hold sections together, as opposed to the AFX track they made later that had built-in plastic locks that broke easily. I had tons of the stuff, mostly from flea markets. I never had a crossing section, though.

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Posted by Packer on Sunday, February 3, 2008 9:22 PM

the kids in the neigbor hood say I run them really slow. I tell then it's about as fast as they could go. (I guesstimate 25-45 mph)

I'll drop the hammer usually to break them in.

As for slot cars, my father had a slot car track that he built on the layout. It's gone now, since the layout grew, and the slot car track got beat up.

I have considered putting a dragstrip on the layout at one point, since I have quite a few muscle cars.

Vincent

Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....

2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.

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Posted by ChrisNH on Sunday, February 3, 2008 9:28 AM
 SteamFreak wrote:

No, I think they're talking about this...

 

Thats the one!

 

Chris 

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Posted by challenger3980 on Sunday, February 3, 2008 5:17 AM

 Nagrom1 wrote:
 I know what you mean. I like to "burn out the carbon" every now and again, but, if I were to max my locos out, it would take about 10 seconds to cover the loop, so I don't do that often. It is too depressing...

 That is one of the nice things about being a member of a large club. The HO club that I am a member of (The Columbia Gorge Model Railroad club) has a large layout, 60x70. I went down on a Saturday and had the layout to myself. I took out one of my passenger trains and running at realistic express speeds, with no station stops, it took a full 18 minutes to cover the entire layout.

                                    Doug

May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails

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Posted by IRONHORSE77 on Sunday, February 3, 2008 12:01 AM

I don't think a Athearn Hustler would stay on the track if it was banked anything less than 90 degrees.

Chuck

 

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Posted by nyc4me on Saturday, February 2, 2008 4:35 PM
remember, also, it just might be an illusion of going too slow. the more telphone poles or spaced trees and the like there are, the more it seems to be hustling right along!
Gary
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Posted by ICRR1964 on Saturday, February 2, 2008 9:56 AM

I rememeber my first layout, and what happened when a freind of mine came over for play time. I had a Lima 0-4-0 tanker switcher, this thing I think could reach 200 mph scale speed. We were running trains, had to main line tracks and he wanted to race under my protest. The Lima was pulling a short coal drag of 10 cars or so, and the throttle I was operating had a small AHM 0-6-0 pulling some freight. My buddy decided to crank up the throttle on his in a starit away, but it grew wings and missed the 22'' radius curve and shot right in front of my loco and cars. Both loco's and cars went over the side and to the concrete, with chunks of plastic flying threw the air. LOL! I was mad, and he decided his mother was calling and went home!

I still everyonce in awhile get some one who thinks that fast is more fun, they never think about it when they see box cars leaning themselves hard to the point of one side of the wheels are coming off the track in curves.

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Saturday, February 2, 2008 9:44 AM

I occasionally crank the speed up, but it's really just to check for derailment-prone spots on the track.  Of course, you need to do this with each engine and car, all the way around the main, to be thorough.  As others have said, it's a bit depressing when the train gets around the loop in a few seconds, especially when the train itself covers a quarter of the length of the loop!

I've got one of those old Athearn Hustlers.  Somewhere on the project list is to replace the belt drive with the Ernst gear set.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by Medina1128 on Saturday, February 2, 2008 6:14 AM

Yeah, what's wrong with you? Everyone knows that a bordello is a lumber store in Mexico... Big Smile [:D]

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Posted by steemtrayn on Saturday, February 2, 2008 1:49 AM
How popular would slot cars be if THEY had to operate at scale speeds?
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Posted by SteamFreak on Friday, February 1, 2008 11:44 PM
 loathar wrote:
You mean this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YngIuQoBRIs

With Dare Devil Jump! I love the fact that it has a slot car controller instead of a power pack!

No, I think they're talking about this...

HO slot car and train set all in one FUN

...which looks more like something the Smash Lab team could handle.

 

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Posted by Medina1128 on Friday, February 1, 2008 11:37 PM

Years ago, I remember that the Aurora slot cars had a section of track that had slot car track that crossed with a section of HO train track.

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Posted by dinwitty on Friday, February 1, 2008 11:09 PM

just model the Shinkansen...

 

if you can find an original Athearn Hustler with rubberband drive, they topped at 400smph...

 

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Posted by Paul Milenkovic on Friday, February 1, 2008 6:43 PM

At last Novermber's Milwaukee TrainFest, one group had a layout with tinplate O-gauge set up as "slotcars", and kids lined up to take their turn "drag racing" on that setup.

I think it is great that someone thought to do it because 1) it was a great draw and attention getter, 2) it allowed people to get the racing-steam engines thing out of their system so the rest of the exhibits could operate the normal way.

If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?

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Posted by Paul Milenkovic on Friday, February 1, 2008 6:39 PM
When I invite my wife to an operating session, I sometimes have to figure out how to ask her to slow down.

If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?

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Posted by reklein on Friday, February 1, 2008 6:24 PM
You can go faster with superelevation,and good trackwork.Cool [8D]
In Lewiston Idaho,where they filmed Breakheart pass.
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Posted by AltonFan on Friday, February 1, 2008 5:36 PM
I once had a guy at a train show try to sell me some Minitrix 2-10-0s (the ones with the K-4 shell on a European chassis), by telling me they were some of the fastest N scale engines he owned...

Dan

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Posted by Tilden on Friday, February 1, 2008 5:11 PM

  I run DCC and had a work associate over one night who wanted to run the trains.  It didn't take long to discover what he meant was "I want to see how fast they can go.
  MY girlfriends older boy is also a speed freak with the Thomas locos..
  Needless to say, after a couple eposides I programed all the locos to top out at scale speed.  All new diesels are set to whatever the prototype top speed is.  Mostly that's between 70 and 75 mph.
  If people want speed, I pull out a passenger train like the Zephyr, which is set to 112 smph.  (then I run a freight train and they have to slowdown til a passing siding anyway Evil [}:)])

Tilden

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Posted by Texas Zepher on Friday, February 1, 2008 4:33 PM
I've got the opposite problem my new Proto-2000 F7s for the Empire Builder aren't fast enough.  I can't get them over 69 smph.   It is sort of sad to see the Empire Builder get thrashed by the NCL going by at 105.
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Posted by Bapou on Friday, February 1, 2008 4:18 PM
Hoople, you could try to set some CVs for top mid andlow speed. Your engine should start creeping at spped step 1, and have a scale max speed.
Go NJT, NJ Transit, New Jersey Transit. Whatever you call it its good. See my pictures and videos here: http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff20/Bapouthetrainman/
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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Friday, February 1, 2008 4:18 PM
One layout I built years ago had a race track on it painted gray on which scale size trucks (with trailers) were running at a scale 55 mph. This gave guests a real good comparison between the speed of the trucks and that of the trains.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
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Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
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Posted by saronaterry on Friday, February 1, 2008 4:12 PM
 BCSJ wrote:

When asked the #1 most frequently asked question about my trains "How fast do they go?" the correct answer is "Much faster than they should!".

All John Astin (played Gomez Addams in the TV show The Addams Family) impersonators will be asked to leave the train dungeon forthwith.

Regards,

Charlie Comstock 

Laugh [(-D]Laugh [(-D]Laugh [(-D]I get the Gomez question all the time !! "do ya crash'm inta each other?" AAHHH no, do you drive your Big boat directly up on shore?

Terry

Terry in NW Wisconsin

Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel

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Posted by Autobus Prime on Friday, February 1, 2008 4:11 PM
 alfadawg01 wrote:

 TA462 wrote:
I run mine basically at prototypical speeds but I like to run just the locomotives at full speed after I've serviced them to shake out the cobwebs.  

Do you have them tow a track cleaner to pick up the cobwebs?Whistling [:-^]

a:

I do that! Not for cobwebs, but dust.   I let a Lifelike F7 run for an half-hour or so at breakneck speed, towing the cleaning car.

Another amusing game I sometimes play out of madness is to take a couple of warp-driven switchers (a Lima 0-4-0 and an old Tyco Plymouth) and then run both on the same pack at maximum speed.  The trick, since they have slightly different speeds (antimatter vs. interphase, I suppose) is to select one or the other of two different-length routes in the double-track section (half is single).  Good way to polish the track adn blow off steam.

 

 Currently president of: a slowly upgrading trainset fleet o'doom.
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Posted by BCSJ on Friday, February 1, 2008 3:40 PM

When asked the #1 most frequently asked question about my trains "How fast do they go?" the correct answer is "Much faster than they should!".

All John Astin (played Gomez Addams in the TV show The Addams Family) impersonators will be asked to leave the train dungeon forthwith.

Regards,

Charlie Comstock 

Superintendent of Nearly Everything The Bear Creek & South Jackson Railway Co. Hillsboro, OR http://www.bcsjrr.com
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Posted by loathar on Friday, February 1, 2008 3:39 PM

You mean this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YngIuQoBRIs

With Dare Devil Jump! I love the fact that it has a slot car controller instead of a power pack!

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Posted by Tracklayer on Friday, February 1, 2008 3:33 PM
 ChrisNH wrote:

When I was a kid I always wanted the Tyco slot car track section that was also an HO railroad crossing. Then you could loop an HO train around and your slot car could try to beat the train.. what awesome racing! Probably not a good lesson in crossing grade safety. I never did get it.

 

Chris 

It seems like I remember those. I also recall a car and track set where in the commercial they show cars jumping an HO train, one from each direction.

Tracklayer

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Posted by ChrisNH on Friday, February 1, 2008 3:23 PM

When I was a kid I always wanted the Tyco slot car track section that was also an HO railroad crossing. Then you could loop an HO train around and your slot car could try to beat the train.. what awesome racing! Probably not a good lesson in crossing grade safety. I never did get it.

 

Chris 

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Posted by Nagrom1 on Friday, February 1, 2008 3:01 PM
 I know what you mean. I like to "burn out the carbon" every now and again, but, if I were to max my locos out, it would take about 10 seconds to cover the loop, so I don't do that often. It is too depressing...
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Posted by tomikawaTT on Friday, February 1, 2008 2:37 PM

Back in the day, the NYC and PRR did have informal drag races on their parallel mains eastbound from Chicago.  IIRC, the PRR K-4 could out-accelerate a NYC Hudson, but the Hudson would win out with a higher top speed.  (Yes, Matilda, a bigger firebox does make a difference!)

Of course, Art Arfons (or a ten year old on a bicycle) could whup both their butts in 1/4 mile from a standing start.

As for my layout, the JNR has a 70kph speed limit, plus permanent speed restrictions on some of its curves - and the area I model has more curves than a Hawaiian Tropic competition.  Anyone who doesn't like that is welcome to model the Shinkansen, TGV, maglev or a NHRA drag strip in their own garage.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - at prototype speed)

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