mcfunkeymonkey You've almost convinced me to tender-drive my 2-6-0 when I finally get around to building it.Tender-drive looks so ugly, though (guess I could put some drapes and a fireman to help mask it) But a moving mogul is better than a motionless mass of metal. Thanks for showing!
You've almost convinced me to tender-drive my 2-6-0 when I finally get around to building it.Tender-drive looks so ugly, though (guess I could put some drapes and a fireman to help mask it)
But a moving mogul is better than a motionless mass of metal.
Thanks for showing!
Yep, a visible drive shaft is really small price to pay for an excellent performing loco.
I should add that the Gizmozone gearhead comes attached to a 3v motor identical in size to the (supposidly 12v) motor that comes with Kato Power Chassis. In the video I'm using the 3v motor as I don't have proper tools to trim and notch the motor shaft on the Kato motor, otherwise that would be the way to go. Additionally, the universal used for the drive shaft is also modified from the Kato power chassis.. AND the worm gear.
Yes, the Kato power chassis is one glorious thing of beauty with nearly an infinite number of uses (hint KatoUSA.. import these again!).
-Mark
www.MarkWatson3D.com
Yes I have two of them. Found luckily at a hobby shop where a guy was putting up some things for consignment still in kit form in the box. I have the NYC version in NYC green and run it with my Bachmann 2-6-0 in transfer service. I just got the tool car and supply caboose given to me by a guy at our train club who was getting rid of old stuff. Both are in MofW orange. I plan to repaint both of them into Seaboard Air Line MofW colors. When running my NYC caboose I always get asked about it. I wish somebody still made these.
By the way there is a prototype for an offset bay window caboose, although a more modern one.
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ble/ble1955dsa.jpg
Rick J
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Here's a caboose made from a boxcar, with a small bay window and round portholes(!)...
Here's a WP caboose w/bay window, made from a boxcar:
Of course, both of those have the bay windows centered, not off-set.
Resurrecting an old thread for sure! But an interestring one. I wasn't aware of it until now.
Nobody ever answered the original question, which was whether there was a prototype for this kit. Lucius Beebe & Charles Clegg's "Mixed Train Daily" (originally published 1947) has a photo on page 333 which sort of answers the question. The photo shows Missouri Pacific car 1014, which looks about the same except for two windows behind the bay window, and open platforms on both ends. Beebe says it was borrowed by the shortline Doniphan, Kensett, & Searcy in Arkansas. I suppose it is possible that MoPac may have had cars that were an exact, or closer, match.
It is fairly certain that the first bay window cabooses were built in the shops of the Akron Canton & Youngstown Railroad between September, 1921 and August, 1923. Eleven cars were rebuilt from old wood boxcars, seven with bays and four with cupolas, under the direction of AC&Y Superintendent of Motive Power H. F. Grewe, following an idea first presented by AC&Y General Superintendent J. M. Hood. The original cars had vertical wood siding, and small off-center bay windows that provided for viewing forward and back, but NOT to the side. Side windows were later added to the bays. The side bays extended about 8" beyond the side wall, increasing the car's total width by about 16". The floor of the bay was higher than the floor of the car because this provided extra clearance for workers on the ground between tracks. I have never understood why so many later bay window designs had full-height bays, in light of this safety issue. The AC&Y rebuilds were featured in the August 11, 1923 issue of Railway Age, and it was claimed that they were an unprecedented design. I have never seen this claim successfully refuted.
These cars are described in the current Morning Sun book on the AC&Y, and in a more in-depth article in the AC&Y Historical Society News, Vol.VI, No. 3, Fall, 1999. Full disclosure: I wrote the article.
BTW: Mixed Train Daily should be in the collection of everybody with an affection for vintage shortlines.
Tom
(edited)
Also, reading through this old thread, I feel obligated to make a small correction. The original car pictured is not, in fact, a Tru-Scale, Train-Miniature, or Walthers car--or even the original Silver Streak kit. It appears to be a combination of two Silver Streak kits, the original bay-window-boxcar kit and a caboose. The end platform railings have the wiggly s-curve pattern on the side facing the end steps, a feature found only on Silver Streak caboose kits. The platforms match as well. Likely, the work car kit was built with a longer wooden stick through the center of the bottom to allow for the installation of caboose platforms.
This type of car, whether wood or steel side was used in MOW service.
I mentioned a photo of a similar MoPac car, the only comparable prototype that has been mentioned in this thread at all. In that photo, it was obviously in use as a caboose, and the sliding door was probably for L.C.L. in its original form. Later use in M-O-W service makes sense. The plastic model versions were sold as part of a M-O-W set, but that might have more to do with marketing than prototype practice.