A couple of years ago, Liliput released a model of the Gemeinder B-B HOn30 (HOe) modern diesel locomotive. The prototype went into service on the Zillerthalbahn in Austria in 2004.The Liliput stock number is 142101. This model is DCC/sound-ready, although I chose to install a Lenz Silver21+ silent decoder. This pic shows it installed.
As you can see, the mechanism is very straightforward and would make a good base for bashing other locos or railcars. Attachment of the shell is via 4 long screws from under the chassis. I was already looking forward to the possibility of converting this model to operate on HOn3 track. I have a number of other HOn3 conversions of diesel locos that supplement my steam locos. I was happy to hear that Liliput was also releasing a conversion kit to allow the model to run on HOm track. So the loco comes as HOn30 (750mm gauge on N scale track, 9mm gauge), the conversion kit provides for operation on HOm (meter gauge on TT gauge track, 12mm gauge), and HOn3 is 10.5mm gauge -- right in between the two supplied gauges. I was pretty sure I could make this work, but the proof is in the pudding. I ordered the loco, decoder and conversion kit and after waiting about a year fro the next run of these locos to arrive, mine did. Here are a couple of pics showing the various pieces of the HOm wheelsets. I converted the European couplers to Kadee 714. The original used a pivoting mount to negotiate the sharp curves used overseas. I took those out, use a small piece of styrene for a mounting pad to get mounting height right. The pilots slide on and off the ends of the chassis and I carefully notched them a little more to install the 714s. The truck sideframe pops off and reveals the cast metal truck. Here, you can see where I sliced the plastic spacers in half to accommodate the distance I will be pressing the wheel inward on the axle. You can see the extra slack of the narrowed spacer in this view of the wheelset narrowed to HOn3. The conversion kit has a new set of brass wipers and there's the set that came with the loco. Doesn't really matter which ones you use; save the extra set. You can see a wiper installed in this shot -- and a bit of a problem. See how the axle stuff sticks out? Yeah, that'll short the wiper! What to do? Carefully hold the modified wheelset and use a cut-off wheel to grind down the end of the axle so it's flush. Do them all like this. On this one, you can see an alternative to slicing the plastic spacer -- just use a slice of white styrene tube instead. Assemble all, being careful to not snag any wires as you put the shell on. Check again on Programming track to be sure everything is still copacetic and not shorting, then you're good to go with a compact 1000 hp loco. The Lenz decoder is fabulous and the loco just creeps along . Cost? Very reasonable for HOn3 motive power. The Liliput 142101 loco is available on this side of the Atlantic for about $155, the Lenz decoder was another ~$40, and the conversion kit (42100-250-9) is ~$22. The paint? Not available from the factory! I'm not the world's greatest painter, but I didn't do too bad on this one. The shell has some separator slots that represent the flexible joints of the different body sections. These are painted black to represent the rubber gaskets. I masked them as best I could (a very narrow slice of tape) then used an artist's fine point paint pen to make them look really good. Be glad to answer any questions.
As you can see, the mechanism is very straightforward and would make a good base for bashing other locos or railcars. Attachment of the shell is via 4 long screws from under the chassis.
I was already looking forward to the possibility of converting this model to operate on HOn3 track. I have a number of other HOn3 conversions of diesel locos that supplement my steam locos. I was happy to hear that Liliput was also releasing a conversion kit to allow the model to run on HOm track. So the loco comes as HOn30 (750mm gauge on N scale track, 9mm gauge), the conversion kit provides for operation on HOm (meter gauge on TT gauge track, 12mm gauge), and HOn3 is 10.5mm gauge -- right in between the two supplied gauges.
I was pretty sure I could make this work, but the proof is in the pudding. I ordered the loco, decoder and conversion kit and after waiting about a year fro the next run of these locos to arrive, mine did. Here are a couple of pics showing the various pieces of the HOm wheelsets.
I converted the European couplers to Kadee 714. The original used a pivoting mount to negotiate the sharp curves used overseas. I took those out, use a small piece of styrene for a mounting pad to get mounting height right. The pilots slide on and off the ends of the chassis and I carefully notched them a little more to install the 714s. The truck sideframe pops off and reveals the cast metal truck. Here, you can see where I sliced the plastic spacers in half to accommodate the distance I will be pressing the wheel inward on the axle. You can see the extra slack of the narrowed spacer in this view of the wheelset narrowed to HOn3. The conversion kit has a new set of brass wipers and there's the set that came with the loco. Doesn't really matter which ones you use; save the extra set. You can see a wiper installed in this shot -- and a bit of a problem. See how the axle stuff sticks out? Yeah, that'll short the wiper! What to do? Carefully hold the modified wheelset and use a cut-off wheel to grind down the end of the axle so it's flush. Do them all like this. On this one, you can see an alternative to slicing the plastic spacer -- just use a slice of white styrene tube instead. Assemble all, being careful to not snag any wires as you put the shell on. Check again on Programming track to be sure everything is still copacetic and not shorting, then you're good to go with a compact 1000 hp loco. The Lenz decoder is fabulous and the loco just creeps along . Cost? Very reasonable for HOn3 motive power. The Liliput 142101 loco is available on this side of the Atlantic for about $155, the Lenz decoder was another ~$40, and the conversion kit (42100-250-9) is ~$22. The paint? Not available from the factory! I'm not the world's greatest painter, but I didn't do too bad on this one. The shell has some separator slots that represent the flexible joints of the different body sections. These are painted black to represent the rubber gaskets. I masked them as best I could (a very narrow slice of tape) then used an artist's fine point paint pen to make them look really good. Be glad to answer any questions.
I converted the European couplers to Kadee 714. The original used a pivoting mount to negotiate the sharp curves used overseas. I took those out, use a small piece of styrene for a mounting pad to get mounting height right. The pilots slide on and off the ends of the chassis and I carefully notched them a little more to install the 714s.
The truck sideframe pops off and reveals the cast metal truck. Here, you can see where I sliced the plastic spacers in half to accommodate the distance I will be pressing the wheel inward on the axle.
You can see the extra slack of the narrowed spacer in this view of the wheelset narrowed to HOn3.
The conversion kit has a new set of brass wipers and there's the set that came with the loco. Doesn't really matter which ones you use; save the extra set. You can see a wiper installed in this shot -- and a bit of a problem. See how the axle stuff sticks out? Yeah, that'll short the wiper! What to do? Carefully hold the modified wheelset and use a cut-off wheel to grind down the end of the axle so it's flush. Do them all like this. On this one, you can see an alternative to slicing the plastic spacer -- just use a slice of white styrene tube instead. Assemble all, being careful to not snag any wires as you put the shell on. Check again on Programming track to be sure everything is still copacetic and not shorting, then you're good to go with a compact 1000 hp loco. The Lenz decoder is fabulous and the loco just creeps along . Cost? Very reasonable for HOn3 motive power. The Liliput 142101 loco is available on this side of the Atlantic for about $155, the Lenz decoder was another ~$40, and the conversion kit (42100-250-9) is ~$22. The paint? Not available from the factory! I'm not the world's greatest painter, but I didn't do too bad on this one. The shell has some separator slots that represent the flexible joints of the different body sections. These are painted black to represent the rubber gaskets. I masked them as best I could (a very narrow slice of tape) then used an artist's fine point paint pen to make them look really good. Be glad to answer any questions.
The conversion kit has a new set of brass wipers and there's the set that came with the loco. Doesn't really matter which ones you use; save the extra set. You can see a wiper installed in this shot -- and a bit of a problem. See how the axle stuff sticks out? Yeah, that'll short the wiper!
What to do? Carefully hold the modified wheelset and use a cut-off wheel to grind down the end of the axle so it's flush. Do them all like this. On this one, you can see an alternative to slicing the plastic spacer -- just use a slice of white styrene tube instead.
Assemble all, being careful to not snag any wires as you put the shell on. Check again on Programming track to be sure everything is still copacetic and not shorting, then you're good to go with a compact 1000 hp loco. The Lenz decoder is fabulous and the loco just creeps along .
Cost? Very reasonable for HOn3 motive power. The Liliput 142101 loco is available on this side of the Atlantic for about $155, the Lenz decoder was another ~$40, and the conversion kit (42100-250-9) is ~$22. The paint? Not available from the factory! I'm not the world's greatest painter, but I didn't do too bad on this one. The shell has some separator slots that represent the flexible joints of the different body sections. These are painted black to represent the rubber gaskets. I masked them as best I could (a very narrow slice of tape) then used an artist's fine point paint pen to make them look really good. Be glad to answer any questions.
Cost? Very reasonable for HOn3 motive power. The Liliput 142101 loco is available on this side of the Atlantic for about $155, the Lenz decoder was another ~$40, and the conversion kit (42100-250-9) is ~$22.
The paint? Not available from the factory! I'm not the world's greatest painter, but I didn't do too bad on this one. The shell has some separator slots that represent the flexible joints of the different body sections. These are painted black to represent the rubber gaskets. I masked them as best I could (a very narrow slice of tape) then used an artist's fine point paint pen to make them look really good.
Be glad to answer any questions.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Mike,
Interesting project... You did a great job on that...By the way,my second wife was born in Austria, beautiful country.. The town was Vocklabruck, Austria.
Cheers,
Frank
Nice job,Mike. Neat little engine,and the paint job looks terrific!
Mike
Great Work Mike!!!
Nice job
Here is a pic of the pototype:
Frank, Mike, Chad, and Ulrich,
Thanks for your comments. It's a bit of a weird model, given that narrowgaugers generally like old, crusty, steamy locos. And I do. But I also like the idea that narrowgauge can be modern, efficient and sharp-looking. What next? Containers? Maybe.
Frank,
Austria is a beautiful country. I visited it twice when my dad was stationed in Germany. The first time was a visit by train to Innsbruck when we visited Garmisch. Unfortunately, the only narrowgauge I saw was from the highway out across some fields maybe a mile away when we passed through the second time going to Italy in 1972.
Very nice locomotive, Mike. Now tell us about the combination car behind it.
Hello,
Brilliant modeling!
I am interested in the other diesel HOn3 locomotive conversions that you have. Any pictures?
Thanks, narrow gauge diesels are an interest of mine (see avatar).
mlehmanWhat next? Containers?
Actually, the White Pass and Yukon was one of the first railroads to ship containers...
Regards,
NW
Graham Line,
The RPO/Express is a D + R HOm model converted to HOn3 by the dealer, Doug's Toys, Trains & Hobbies. It's down toward the bottom of this page:
http://www.trainstoysandhobbies.com/bemo_3.htm
I body mounted the couplers, painted and decaled it. Behind it are D + R coaches that are available from Doug's TT&H already painted and lettered for the Rio Grande, seen here.
http://www.trainstoysandhobbies.com/exclusive_products.htm
NorthWest,
A compilation of my HOn3 diesels is at this link.
http://www.nexusboard.net/showthread.php?siteid=2408&threadid=326600
It's in German first, then in English lower down.
There's some recent pics in this thread:
http://atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/1594/hon3-narrowgauge-diesels-background-layout
You may have seen this thread, but will be interested in it if you haven't.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/p/210285/2305410.aspx#2305410
Thank You!
Very interesting-I like the Australian one. May add one to my roster...If I ever get a layout built.
(The first link doesn't work, it redirects me to the home page, but I got to the thread by going to the second link, and when there, clicking on the fourth link).
Thanks again,
Sorry about the bad link. It's fixed, I think, even though it reads the same as the first one???
Here's the background on the Australian diesel. The shell is from a Powerline model of a standard gauge DL-531, IIRC. The HOn3 chassis on this one is from the defunct outfit K&M Engineering Party Ltd. Probably can't find one of those these days (I built it about a decade back) but Bull Ant makes what I've heard is a similar, but better, quieter chassis -- but not cheap.
I added steam generator detail to the short hood.
The fellow I purchased the original package from threw in resin castings that filled the giant coupler gap in the end plates. These may be available, but I have no idea who made them. Definitely made getting the couplers mounted right easy. I suppose something else could be bashed to fill this need, but those parts were a slick way to do it.
Here's a few more pics of her.
Hi Mike,
About the link, no problem! It's fixed. I added the instructions to help those looking before you fixed it.
The 28 looks a lot like the ALCO DL537s delivered to Greece's meter gauge lines. That's what I was thinking of. She's beautiful! Also, the instructions on how to 'bash her are great! Thanks.
My concept railroad is the Haines and Chilkat Pass, which would run from Haines to Whitehorse and Dawson City, in competition with the White Pass and Yukon. Interestingly, from elevation maps I've seen, the Chilkat Pass is much less steep than White Pass, allowing a ruling grade of 2.2%!
Another locomotive I am considering is a 3'0 variation of the GMD NF210. A combination of switcher cab, GP7 long hood, and an HOn3 chassis should come close...although I think I'll make mine with dynamic brakes...
NW,
I personally think every Alco is beautiful, but that's just me.
Your concept sounds great. If I wasn't already so enamored of Colorado, it would be hard to stay away from inspiration from the White Pass...as if that DL535 isn't evidence already.
Please post up when you get going on something like a NF210. I'm still kicking myself for not getting to Newfoundland before it quit (or should I say, the gov't quit on it )
You do know about the Newfie Yahoo group? They'd also be excited about such goings on.
BTW, a clarification on the alternative I mentioned to the K&M chassis I used. Bull Ant is one of their products, but the company is actually Hollywood Foundry. They will make a diesel chassis to your spec, including gauge, a very handy thing to keep in mind if you wander off the beaten path like we do.
http://www.hollywoodfoundry.com/shopdisplaycategories.asp