Hobo Jungle

[AG]

egg sandwich will be delicious!!
AG.

[rogruth]

Andre,

I don't remember seeing it but how about posting a larger version of your present avatar?
Looks nice.

[AG]

Here is the picture.
All Nation F unit and brass boxcar made by me.

Andre.

[rogruth]

Andre,

VERY nice.
More please.

Thank you.
I can't see small stuff very well.

[sarge]

One wonders how many (and in what condition) vintage ('50's ?) cars will be available from Cuba in the sort-of near future.
Murph

Some American collectors are certainly looking for that opportunity. It will be interesting when they discover many many of those lovely old American classics are in skin only, as the mechanics have been replaced with Soviet GAZ and UAZ parts since original bits were embargoed.

In that, these old battleaxes are incredibly creative vehicles that really should be respected for what they are, amazing examples of survival by adaptation.

[webenda]

Andre,

Great Boxcar. I see your brake hose design and what looks like your turned wheels in commercial trucks. Looks like you made the ladders (they look too good to be commercial products). What about the pressed steel (dreadnought) ends. Commercial or home made?

[AG]

Andre,

Great Boxcar. I see your brake hose design and what looks like your turned wheels in commercial trucks. Looks like you made the ladders (they look too good to be commercial products). What about the pressed steel (dreadnought) ends. Commercial or home made?

Wayne, the ends are commercial. I have some skills but not that much!!
The truck is a modify Atlas truck, I made it narrow than the original set up, wheels are IM.
I made some wheels for me, but the cost and time jump like a sky rocket so I prefer to buy them.
here is the sample.
I retire an Athearn plastic wheel.

Andre.

[webenda]

I like the wheels that come with Atlas trucks. What motivated you to exchange them for Intermountain?

[AG]

The truck was a 3 rails converted to 2 rails.
So the 3 rail wheels was not long necessary.
AG

[webenda]

I only have one two rail car, which I used for the photo above. I have been thinking new trucks would be required to convert a few scale 3-rail cars I have. Intermountain does not list any O-Scale items on their website, but I see a few dealers offer IM O Wheelsets. Thank you for the information Andre.

[AG]

I only have one two rail car, which I used for the photo above. I have been thinking new trucks would be required to convert a few scale 3-rail cars I have. Intermountain does not list any O-Scale items on their website, but I see a few dealers offer IM O Wheelsets. Thank you for the information Andre.

Inter mountain axel point is narrow than the atlas truck, this is why I remade the trucks and finally I start using athearn or Jerry snow (hard to find) trucks.
Andre.

[sarge]

Wayne:

The Atlas truck itself is visually very wide to be able to interchange their two and three rail wheelset, indeed the truck was as wide as some of the cars. That distance between journals is also too wide for the IM and Northwest Short Line wheelsets which were engineered to drop into the Athearn and Intermountain truck, almost a defacto standard.

Depending on the era and type of car (we can help by debating the merits of all to death for you-Grin!), a choice of Athearn, IM, some of the plastic San Juan (their new ones are very nice), &c make a good reasonably inexpensive substitution for the overwide Atlas so the truck appears to tuck in under the car in a pleasing (and obvious) manner. The expensive option for the same glory gives you the absolutely stellar detail and fidelity of Rich Yoder's and American Scale Models trucks at $40-50 a pair.

To Tom Haedrich's great credit, Atlas showed a truck of more scale width at the O Scale National in Parsippany in 2012, for all through the Jim Weaver era this jarring problem was mentioned and ignored (Jim was notoriously unreceptive to comment, constructive or otherwise, so as to build a solid reputation of non-receptiveness for Atlas-O). I really don't know whether the new one has become easily available or pervasive yet, but a check with Atlas could be your first stop on the way if an easy "screwdriver-only" option is most important.

The upshot is, you would do very well to not only change wheels but change trucks on the vast majority of Atlas stock.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Depending on the era and type of car (we can help by debating the merits of all to death for you-Grin!), a choice of Athearn, IM, some of the plastic San Juan (their new ones are very nice), &c make a good reasonably inexpensive substitution for the overwide Atlas so the truck appears to tuck in under the car in a pleasing (and obvious) manner. The expensive option for the same glory gives you the absolutely stellar detail and fidelity of Rich Yoder's and American Scale Models trucks at $40-50 a pair.

Sounds right.

[AG]

Wayne,
here is a pair of Athearn trucks.
I decide to use them for few reasons:
- they are very accurate and look right (Andrew trucks not that much)
-Plastic, so mounted on brass cars isolate the body and there is not more coupler shot circuit and fried coupler spring.
-sprung.
-IM, NWSL wheels fit perfect.
-Painted and weatherized look fine for me.



AG.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

January 15 is . . . . Hat Day