Postby bob turner » Mon Jun 16, 2025 2:58 pm
Bump. Six months of operation on my four-track test loops, and not really many problems. I did have a couple rail joiners decide not to conduct in critical locations, but a shot of graphite laced oil seemed to cure that, along with some scraping and sliding.
Yesterday, as my trusty back up Mallet was pulling a string of nice orange ice cars, I had a derailment. Nothing serious, just the train separated and a couple of cars went onto the ties.
This really nice brass PFE ice car had plastic trucks - not my usual operating preference, but it was the right color of orange, so it got inserted amongst the Lobaugh. I noticed that it was sitting on a pair of wheels, no truck sideframe at all!
A short search found a half of the truck - it had split in half at the kingpin, with both halves exiting outboard. Still haven't found the other half. It had to be a casting flaw.
Car now has nice Lobaugh double insulated trucks, as God and Lobaugh intended for freight cars.
Understand, these plastics make far more realistic models than do the older brass, tin, zamac, wood, etc. Just not my hobby.