Brass South Shore Coach Remotoring Progress

The Nickel Plate Products South Shore modernized coach remotoring project has completed successful initial testing, including integration of a late-generation DCC decoder with 'keep alive' technology.

Adapting the NPP coach for installation of the Stanton drive required some cutting of the main floor and the vestibule floor in the body shell, and installation of a new raised floor section for mounting the drive. The Stanton's profile is 1/8" or so higher than the original NPP power truck. After cutting away enough main floor and vestibule to allow the Stanton to swing, I made a new floor section from 1/16" (.0625") brass strip, and offset it from the main floor using 2-56 screws and nuts and a stack of seven #2 washers. I also drilled new mounting holes in the main floor and and drilled and tapped new mounting holes in the body shell to ensure that the floor attaches securely to the body shell.

Side view of the new raised floor section for the Stanton drive truck. The offset is created by a 2-56 nut and a stack of seven #2 washers. The Stanton drive is in the background.

Bottom view of the main floor showing cut to accommodate truck swing, new body mounting screws holes, and four 2-56 screws.

The remotoring project uses a North West Shortline Stanton drive. During DC-only tests, the Stanton performed fairly well after a break-in of 30 minutes in each direction. The Stanton picks up power on all wheels, but consistently stalled on turnout frogs. One of my next steps is to install pickups on the trailing trucks will get pickups; the materials are enroute.

Meanwhile, I have been seeing increasing references to DCC decoders featuring 'stay alive' or 'keep alive' capabilities. 'Keep Alive' decoders use a capacitor to compensate for interruptions in current caused by dead frogs, dirty track, or otherwise inadequate contact. Several DCC makers are offering variations on this capability. 

In addition to seeing references on the bulletin boards and Yahoo groups, Trevor Marshall mentioned the technology in his blog posts on installing DCC in an S scale doodlebug and then in an Overland S scale RS18. Trevor's motive power features sound, and the Keep Alive decoders also ensure that sound doesn't suffer any 'skips' or unprototypical interuptions.  

Testing ain't pretty: the floor of the model and DCC harness
resplendent in electrical and drafting tape used for temporary
mounting. Once the trailing truck pickups and lights are
installed, I will make permanent splices and neat and
functional harness.

Bernie Kempinski's recent post on the topic discussed how Keep Alive decoders added new enjoyment to his modeling by imparting new reliability on his Civil War-era 4-4-0 steam locos, and removing the tedium and expense of powering frogs either via switch machine/throw contacts or DCC frog juicers.

Keep Alive DCC decoders seemed almost too good to be true, but I wanted to experiment with one for the NPP South Shore coach repowering project. I acquired a Train Control Systems KAT22 decoder for this project and temporarily wired it into the model for a test. Other DCC manufacturers offer comparable DCC decoders. I ensured that my test rig wouldn't short or foul the running gear, and then got it on the track.

The results of my test of the KAT22 decoder in the South Shore car did not disappoint.  The car moved smoothly at low speeds, and straight through dead frogs and patches of dirty track--all without the addition of new pickups on the currently dead trailing truck. Its overall performance on DCC vastly improved on my DC tests, which probably says more about the quality of my DC test controls than anything else.

See for yourself: check out the YouTube video below for the test of the coach under DCC control.

With DCC installation under control, I turned back to cosmetic features of this model. I added styrene mounting pads to the Stanton drive for truck side frames, and mounted new, functional pantographs to the roof. Next steps include fitting pickups to the trailing trucks and working out LED lighting.

Evergreen .060" x .250" strip cut cemented to the Stanton mounting pads with liquid styrene cement. The Stanton case is ABS and thus glue-able.

Functional Model Memories pantographs mounted to the roof with 2mm screws. They sit a little high to my eye and some detailing will be needed for the bases--these pans are intended for a Northeast Corridor prototype that mounted with a bit of standoff from the roof. But better than no pans, or non-functioning pans!

New pans reaching for the sky, just like they're supposed to do.

South Shore, Virtually

This is certainly one way to do it. Not sure I've seen any one model the South Shore in a rail simulator before.



Rail sims are an on-again, off-again interest for me. I wrote an article about the Trainz rail sim for Model Railroader in 2003 (link behind paywall). After the article and since, I've heard from folks around the model railroad press that coverage of train sims tends to meet with vehement objection.

Never mind the haters, I'm still intrigued by the possibilities of testing out layout design and operations concepts using simulations, both the 2- and 3-dimensional kind. And also by the artistry of this modeling medium itself.

Getting Serious About Repowering Seventies-Era Brass

What's in that miter box? Just a rare, sentimental brass train
 from the seventies, soon to be hacked apart in a miter box 

With good progress on catenary and my workbench kinda sorta tamed, I've turned to my most ancient South Shore project, my Nickel Plate Products Modernized 80' Coach and Combine.

I bought both of these models in 1978, when I was still in middle school in Indiana. Naturally, my parents, siblings, neighbors, friends, and parish members were positively horrified that I plunked down fifty bucks for each of these beauties. The impracticality of these models for a brand new model railroader was underscored by their unpaintedness and their poor running. These models would barely make it around my 4x7 layout without stalling or surging, and making a hamster wheel-like cacophony.

Serious remotoring gear: Digital calipers
and Proxxon motor tool with drill press/
milling stand. I figured that if this rig
can be hacked into an actual CNC machine
tool, it might be precise enough for putting
hacking and boring into rare, expensive
brass model trains.

Proud as I was--and still am--of these brass treasures, I was learning then what many experienced model railroaders of a certain age know all to well: expensive brass trains of the seventies and eighties ran very, very poorly. Awful motors, slip-prone drive lines, noisy gears, poor electrical pickup, and inadequate and poorly balanced weight made many brass models beautiful-looking creampuffs. They also are ill-suited to DCC.

These NPP South Shore cars need new power trucks, reliable all-wheel pickup, and significant additional weight to meet modern performance expectations. Up-to-date lighting is also a minimum requirement.

I acquired a couple of Northwest Short Line Stanton drives over the past year or so for these two old cars. Test fits of these drives over the past few days made it clear that some serious cutting and filing and hacking would be necessary to get the Stantons into the NPP cars.

Cutting and filing and hacking my beloved old brass South Shore cars.

Repowering is getting serious.

I've been anticipating this serious moment for a few months, and have been accumulating correspondingly serious accoutrements of repowering. Digital micrometers are a fixture of many repowering articles on the web, and were cheaper than I thought. I wonder now what took me so long to add this miracle tool to my workshop. Amazon, Ebay, and MicroMark have numerous different digital micrometers on offer.

A miniature drill press was another must-have repowering tool, and some milling and grinding capabilities on the side would be a bonus. My workbench space is limited, so having a separate motor tool, drill press, and mill would not be practical. I homed in on the Proxxon motor tool system. This German-made motor tool system is known for it precision and high quality, as well as its standardized collar, which makes it a favorite for the 'maker' community to adapt to homemade computer-controlled machine tools. I'm not planning to start using CNC techniques for my model railroading (not yet anyway) but the Proxxon drill press/milling stand uses this unique collar for to transform the Proxxon motor tool into an extremely stable, precise, and versatile machine tool. It is also extremely quiet. My Proxxon rig came from Amazon.

The micrometer and the Proxxon rig are helping do more precise work, but they still haven't made it any easier to cut, drill, and hack a beloved old brass train.

Posing Under the Completed Catenary at Dunes Junction

Just as catenary was reaching completion, this rare custom painted Nickel Plate Products Sumitomo car joined the Dune Junction roster. It was barely out of the box when I staged this photo, which folks on the Facebook "Traction Model Railroading" and "Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend: the Last Interurban" communities enjoyed. Several Facebook users immediately identified the location as Dune Acres, Indiana--a gratifying modeling moment.

Not sure if a meet like this ever took place, as the 800s (Little Joes) were pretty much focused on switching East Chicago and Gary industries like Harbison Walker Refractory when stainless steel Sumitomo cars took over in the early 80s. Road freight duties east of Gary were in the hands of GP38-2s and GP7s. But I thought it would make a good image anyways. 

Another view of the all-electric meet, with a good view of the crossover catenary--my own little web of complicated wire.  The front of layout looks frightful--these photos might cause me to get some fascia in place sooner rather than later. 

A Web of O Scale Catenary Over at Jay's O Scale Layout Blog

Click through for the very large original
image! / Photo by Jay Beckham

Click through this link to Jay's O Scale Layout Blog or the photo at left to see an impressive web of catenary over multiple tracks at the O scale Cherry Hill model railroad club in New Jersey.

Thanks to Jay Beckham for sharing.

Catenary Crossover in Action!

The mainline crossover at Dunes Junction is now under wire! Check out South Shore 802 and a MARC toaster slithering through the crossover! Woo hoo!

Aesthetics comes next: trimming excess wire, cutting in insulators, and painting and weathering the wires and poles.

What I've Been Reading: Model Railroads Go To War by Bernard Kempinski

Kalmbach's new offering, Model Railroads Go To War, by Bernard Kempinski, caught my eye when I first read that Bernard was penning it over at his US Military Railroad-Virginia 1863 blog.

Bernie is a familiar quantity to long time denizens of the Kalmbach Books/Model Railroader magazine universe, and also to Washington DC-area model railroaders. I first became familiar with him and his work when he was working in N scale and his well-executed NTrak modules were part of the the local NTrak groups Washington exhibitions in the 90s. His N scale work also graced the pages of Model Railroader and its annuals during this period. Bernie since made a radical switch to O scale 1860s modeling, and his aforementioned blog features his unusual Civil War-themed layout.

Many model railroaders either get their starts or otherwise are involved with the other model building hobbies, and I certainly have done quite a bit of military and science fiction modeling. I have always thought about combining my model railroading with my military vehicle modeling, perhaps with an armored vehicle load on a flat car or a convoy of Army trucks and light vehicles on a road on my layout. Bernie's new book covers the topic of military flat car loads in detail, but also goes much further to explain the role of railroads in in modern warfare.

The story of railroads in modern warfare turns out to be one of those intriguing 'hidden histories' that has never been a secret, but hadn't lent itself to the popularized dramatic storytelling that animates the narratives of the American Civil War and the World Wars. Even though I have a graduate degree in history (ahem!) I learned much from this book. I had known, for example, that America's railroads were a key ingredient to US logistics and manufacturing might during World War II, and Bernie added to my knowledge with his presentation of how to model WWII on America's railroads, complete with photos of others' layouts and a track plan featuring a busy WWII harbor loading cargo ship headed to the theaters of war.

However, Bernie's chapters on how railroads played roles in the actual battles of the Civil War and World War I were particularly intriguing to me, and he presents excellent modeling examples and ideas of how to model specific periods of each war. In his WWI chapters, he even explains how to combine various model railroad track gauges with prevailing military modeling scales to create believable models of the narrow gauge railroads that sprung up to supply the networks of trenches that formed that war's battle lines.

The chapters on post-WWII military use of America's railroads will have the most relevance to steam/diesel transition- to contemporary-era model railroaders.  Bernie uses his professional knowledge as defense industry professional to give a very thorough explanation of how the US Department of Defense ships military vehicles via rail. I have actually tied armored personnel carriers and five ton trucks to a flat car or two in my day, so I can attest to the accuracy of this particular section. Something I expected to see but wasn't included were aircraft component loads, such as completed wings or fuselages--though there is a great section on NASA's Cape Canaveral railroad.

Nonetheless, the book delivers on its promise and is lavishly illustrated with drawings and excellent photos, in addition to Bernie's well-written text.  I recommend it to modelers who are thinking about adding a little military to their layouts, or are considering going whole hog on a military-themed layout, or who just want to know more about the role of rail in wider world.

Interesting post-script, featuring Bernie Kempinski and linking model railroading to other seemingly unrelated modeling interests: he announced on his blog recently that he completed a manuscript for an all-new track plan book for Kalmbach, and one of his designs will feature an ore carrying railroad on Mars! Science fiction is one of my other great passions (see the bit about sci fi models above, and the sci fi references that appear on this blog and even in its name, for crying out loud). I will be awaiting Bernie's new book with great anticipation.

Buy it direct from Kalmbach here, or from Amazon here.

Catenary Update: Learning from Mistakes, Advice from Wire Jedi, and Test Run Video

Catenary is mostly installed and finally resulting in successful test runs on the Dunes Junction, as seen in the quick-and-dirty YouTube video above.

There's been quite a bit of experimenting to get to get to this point, but I've got the hang of hanging catenary now. Translation: I hung, tore down, and re-planted poles and re-hung and adjusted catenary.  Others call it failing, but I call it learning, and it has been a rewarding process. And still no burnt fingers!

I actually got catenary up over the entire main line, and initial testing wasn't pretty. My MTH 800 (Little Joe) dewired regularly, and some of my other test models--a Bachmann E33 and and Atlas AEM7--fared somehat better.

Insufficient tension and too long of wire runs were the culprits. My pole distances were wrong--spaced too far apart, and not uniform. I removed and repositioned poles to achieve a uniform 19" spacing for the 20" stock Model Memories catenary sections, and also made a hidden anchor bridge from heavy brass stock that is neatly tucked behind the US 12/20 overpass to address the tension problem.

At first, the respaced poles and rehung sections worked only marginally better for the 800, with dewirements continuing. I admit, I was disheartened. So I reached out to two people I who know a thing or two about model catenary: Don Silberbauer of Model Memories, the maker of catenary components I use; and Rick Abramson, New Haven modeler extraordinaire and HO heavy electric expert who has been blogged about here previously.

Thanks are due to Don and Rick, whose heavy electric Jedi abilities include sensing a distressed fellow heavy electric modeler across vast distances.  Both of these generous gentlemen promptly got back to me with advice and encouragement.  Most importantly, Don and Rick affirmed that trial and error and an embrace of momentary failure are an essential part of the model catenary experience.

Both pointed out that the pantographs on most commercially available HO models are for show only, too tightly sprung or otherwise barely functional.  "The manufacturers never figure on the pans actually running under wire," Don wrote me via email. The excess upward force caused by the tight springs on the MTH model was at least contributing to dewirements.

Rick echoed that observation during a telephone 'pep talk' that ultimately inspired me to go back and double check my wire work. He also mentioned wire "flapping in the wind"--without appropriate tension or rigidity--as a possible problem.

I went back to my wire work and discovered that not only did I need more tension, I also needed to be more conscientious about gauging, or centering the wire over the rails. The angle and direction of my work on the wire is dictated by the fact my layout is on a shelf and is at shoulder height. Unless I take extreme care, the wire ends up to the inside of the gauge because I see the gauge blocks from the side rather than directly above, and thus I discovered a consistent bias to my wire gauging. The comparatively narrow shoe surface on the 800 pans didn't react well to the inside-leaning wire. But my recheck and fixes of the wire gauge appear to be working well with the 800 now.

So now my main line has working wire, as seen in the YouTube video above. Woo hoo! My next step is wire over the crossover, about which I am nervous. A final touch will be painting and weathering the catenary. Look for future posts on my wire progress!

More Catenary Construction

Quick iPhone snapshot of wire hanging progress at Dunes Junction. The upside down plastic cups are protecting cross bucks and other scenery details.  Wood wire height/centering gauge blocks, per Model Memories' instructions, are in the background. Other accoutrements in include solder, extra hands, emery board, alligator clips and a Viessmann catenary wire gauge.

Catenary construction is progressing faster than expected. I'm more or less following the instructions included with Model Memories catenary parts, with some deviations here and there.

My soldering skills have improved with each successive joint and splice, so anyone undertaking a project like this might want to practice--I wish I had!

Here are a few insights and tips:

• Clean and prep everything on the joint or splice you are about to solder. Emery boards, needle files, and wire brushes are useful for this essential task.
• Use alligator clips and self-closing tweezers to positing everything BEFORE applying heat and solder.
• Position alligator clips and self-closing tweezers as heat sinks to protect nearby solder joints and to focus heat on the joint you are working on.
• A good soldering iron is worth the extra money. I'm using a Weller WPS18MP High-Performance Soldering Iron (got mine at Amazon), which was worth the money and the slight wait. Its ergonomic grip also keeps the hot tip from touching surfaces on which it is resting, and it uses a wall-wart power supply, which keeps that grip light.  An on/off switch and ready light are also extremely handy and useful. There's also a an LED light that illuminates the tip.

And still no burned fingers!

Best Fake News Ever, Model Railroad Edition

Image by The Onion

Hat tip to the sharp-eyed geniuses at the Fast Tracks Facebook feed. Someone on The Onion staff knows enough about model railroading to write comedy about it.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/magazine-announces-plans-for-special-sex-issue,78/

Posted with Blogsy

Go Look at Video of a Rarely Modeled Utah Copper Steeple Cab in HO

Tim Schwartz built this HO model of a rarely-modeled 85-ton copper-hauling GE steeple cab using 3D printing techniques. The steeple cab gets a workout with side-dump ore cars in this video. Tim's modeling can be seen on his blog on the Model Railroad Hobbyist web site, and he has made print-on-demand parts for the model available for purchase via the Shapeways 3D printing service. The ability to share a lone modeler's labor of love with lots of other model railroaders? Call that a welcome side-benefit of 21st century craftsmanship.

These locomotives were a staple of a forgotten, or at least especially neglected, category of North American electric railroads. The electric lines that serviced the gigantic copper pits of Utah operated into the eighties with a fleet of brawny GE steeple cabs. A few examples survive in museums and as monuments.

Wire Construction Begins!

Puttin' in catenary. It's a mess. No burnt fingers . . . yet. 

It's a New Year at Dunes Junction

All around the model railroading blog-o-verse, new year's resolutions seem to be in fashion. Folks are committing to making regular progress on their layouts and/or posting to their model railroad blogs. Here at Dunes Junction, we'll be adopting this strategy ourselves with an eye to making 2015 a productive year.

I've had an excellent professional year, but that's meant a lot of time on the road away from the layout and Up Dunes Junction.  My plan for my modeling and the blog is to make the blog as much a part of my model railroading the hobby as the models and the layout, and to step up progress with with my modeling.

How will this work? By doing what bloggers like Trevor Marshal at Port Rowan in 1:64 and Mike Cougill at the OST Blog do: by linking, commenting, and reflecting on other blogs and developments in the hobby, as well as their own modeling projects and ideas. Wherever I go in my professional travels, I do end up with significant free time in the evenings and an internet connection--a post or more per week shouldn't be too difficult, and it's a good way for me to stay engaged with the hobby.

But the model railroading community doesn't need another Model Railroader magazine 'Trains of Thought'-style commentary, so Up Dunes Junction will still be focused on my progress on the layout and modeling the South Shore.  Here are 2015's priority projects:

• Workbench Remediation. To pick up the pace of my progress, I first need to to do something about my workbench.  It tends to become cluttered, and thus discouraging, to progress for short stints of work when I am home from my travels.  Ken Patterson's What's Neat This Week video on Model Railroad Hobbyist's YouTube channel recently covered Ken's workbench. Ken points out that the workbench is the 'nerve center' of his model railroading, allowing us a look at the features that make for productive and enjoyable modeling. Two big points I picked up from Ken: handy vertical tool storage a short reach from the 'main stage' of his building, and smart use of high, back wall storage. I'm workin' on all of this now.

• Catenary Completion. Dunes Junction needs to start looking' electric, with a web of catenary overhead. The poles are in, all wire and solder supplies are handy--so 2015 will be the year that wire goes up over Dunes Junction.
• Island Model Works Nippon Sharyo Car(s). One car is nearing construction completion, and another kit and RDC has been procured. Much learned during that first build, but my intention is to have both cars done and ready for paint by the end of 2015.
• Nickel Plate Products Orange Pullman Heavyweights. This 37-year-old project is where it all began for my South Shore modeling. Now these venerable brass models will be brought into the 21st century, with new power trucks, lighting, DCC, and functional pantographs. Hopefully, these two models will also be ready for paint by the end of the year.
• Atlas and Bachmann GP7s. The Atlas C&O-based GP7 turned up a couple times here a few years ago, but these models are rare and crazy expensive birds. An alternative approach emerged in the form of Bachmann's B&O GP7, which apparently shares some tooling with the Atlas model. The dudes at Action Hobbies in Ontario show how to turn the B&O geep into a C&O geep, and from there it's just a stone's throw to some South Shore geeps that will put Dunes Junction squarely in the late-70s/early 80s.
• Freight car construction and weathering. I keep buying freight cars; my strategy is to simply buy the cars I see in reference photos (and my memories) of the late-70s/early 80s South Shore and Northern Indiana roads. Thrall coal gondolas, plug door box cars, coil cars, and covered hoppers are piling up, plus cabooses. Most are re-wheeled and re-couplered but all need weathering, so I plan to figure out how use all these new-fangled and awesome weathering techniques that the kids are into these days.

Ambitious? Yes, sir! But I'm looking forward to a great year for Dunes Junction, and I'm looking forward to sharing it right here on this blog.

Oh, the (Grab) Irony: Island Model Works South Shore Car Project Update

Another busy Autumn with lots of work and fun travel slowed--but didn't stop!--progress on the IMW South Shore car build. Check out some grab iron and railings that recently went on the car:

The end grabs and entrance door railings are press fittted in
for easy removal, as this car will get some serious manhandling
 when the lenses and glazing are installed.

I used a 2mm detail removal chisel from Micro Mark to remove the original molded-on grab iron and railing detail. While there was still a shadow of the original details remaining on the model, I marked the holes for drilling with an awl to eliminate any guesswork about where to drill and mount the new railings. Sanding sticks were used to finish and smooth out locations. Masking tap over the corrugations/flutes on the side protected those details from getting scraped or sanded off

For the end grabs, I could have used some pre-formed wire grabs but I wanted to try something new and craftsmanlike, so bent  I my own end grabs and railings using .015 brass wire and Micro Mark's Grab Iron Bending Gauge. (Yeah, I went on a little Micro Mark buying frenzy, which is easy to do when you're out on the road, late at night in a hotel thinking about model railroading and you have a good, reliable Internet connection . . .) Takes a little practice, but that gauge let's you make uniformly shaped grab irons of pretty much any size.

Expensive but worth it: Micro Mark wire bending gauge (top)
and 2mm chisel

The grabs and railings are press-fitted in for the moment, because there will be some more rough handling as I fit the window glazing, drill out and fit lenses for the headlights and marker lights, and I add final details such as windshield wipers and ditch lights. I also anticipate employing a plastic modeling technique to prep this model for final painting, which is to use a special primer called surfacer to find, fill, and sand any flaws--thus my avoidance of actually attaching many of the smaller details such as horns, bells, grabs, etc.

Meanwhile, another one of these IMW South Shore kits has found its way on to my workbench, along with another Walthers RDC drive. The second time around ought to be easier (and better).

From Bluford Shops, the Most Calumet Region-y Caboose Ever

So ugly, it's beautiful: Bluford Shops' new IHB Transfer Caboose. It came in while I was out on the road with work, thanks to Engine House Hobbies in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Definitely needs some appropriate enfilthening.

IHB 9211 squires the new caboose around Dunes Junction. These cabooses were painted New York Central jade green when I first got to know them back in the early 70s. And that was another thing about my home town railroads that was just weird in those kindergarten years--my picture books told me cabooses were supposed to red with cupolas and smiley faces on the ends, not big ol' porches.