1941 City of Los Angeles

[R.K. Maroon]

I found an old Cameron press here in town for a good price. I use it all the time, such as to drill that hole in the broken screw as related in a recent post. Here's a photo I took not long after I bought it. That is a lead truck from an OMI P5A on the deck, which tells me that was four years ago:


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/itrl6tcee8gppv2kbex9o/Cameron-Micro-Drill-Press.JPG?rlkey=0o7x9y7u401t6xsma1tsf3563

Great machine!
Jim

[brasman]

R K looks good but you need another B unit.

[R.K. Maroon]

You need another B unit.

Agreed --- the UP ran the E6 in ABB sets for the City of Los Angeles (and San Francisco too, I believe). I have an uncommitted B-unit on the roster:


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/lor6r6x25e45ohnxv5hs0/Adams_E6B_01.JPG?rlkey=r413a9g20wm94yy9olcrhm3w8

I think this one came from Dave ScaleCraft. It's a long way from being track ready. I would prefer to power it, as I philosophically view locomotives and people the same (no dummies). We'll see.

Jim

Edited to repair photo link

[sarge]

Jim:

I'm also interested in how you find the Taig mill. I have one of the lathes and its OK, one of those things I use maybe once a year but I'm dam glad to have when I need it. I need a compound slide for it one day when I get to ordering one.

I just got handed an old friends SL1000 Unimat with a milling column, but we couldn't find the tooling for it so I'm on the hunt for a quill-handle, a three-jaw, a drillchuck, and a milling table at least. These are not good machines for steel parts, but I can make some nice little brass gubbins with one; quick whip up a bearing or a detail part...

I'm an old fool when it comes to modelling machines-Grin!

[R.K. Maroon]

Here we have Nortonville Phil taking the first cut on the Taig mill:


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/a7hcyxhkpzakj4nse8m5e/First-Cut-Phil.jpg?rlkey=ykp2lz46racw7fhvz4vwez5fa

Phil is a machinist by profession for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system, which runs the light rail and one of the street car lines here, so I asked him to help me get this setup and running (it has been 36 years since I last used a mill). Phil may want to add his own comments, but the mill seemed very solid, though we were only taking light cuts on aluminum. We'll cut some bronze and steel sometime soon just as a test, but so far, so good.

Jim

[aterry11]

Looking Forward to buying parts from you soon?
All the photos are intriguing !!!

[aterry11]

Any word or progress on the locos or passenger cars ? UPdate please

[R.K. Maroon]

There's been no recent progress report because there has been no recent progress. I am at the point in the rebuilding of the drives where I have to build-up and then drill and ream the axle journals. I decided to work on a few other milling-machine projects first to get my skills and confidence up a bit more before tackling that task. One such project I am just now finishing up is the upgrade of an OMI drive. In the factory setup, the input shaft to the tower has very small sleeve bearing (really just a bushing) on the motor side and no bearing on the back side (just a sheet brass cover with a through hole):


https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/oukbhw85266fvusr7affn/Gear-Tower-01.jpg?rlkey=54wjj6dt865x4j3k2twfoy65t


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mejnwweg7zgdma2odxd7l/Gear-Tower-02.jpg?rlkey=6p5rdxswurhm4cmbf4r1550ta

So I removed the shafts, gears and bushings from the tower and set it up in my mill to pick up the center of the input shaft. I then bored a clean hole through the front of the tower and through the backplate. I turned new sleeve bearings that had shoulders on them to better support whatever moment load these would carry. Here is the result:


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wv6fq5j86fig7sniyqiec/Gear-Tower-03.jpg?rlkey=07hb9a00ekau24m1ayxeqx27o


https://dl.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pfp687363in0b87lw4jd9/Gear-Tower-04.jpg?rlkey=0h2r0rpm9a6vvd2ugxlmhurx7

Before launching into this I contacted Jay to see if he had a spare set of towers in his box of parts. He didn't but wound up giving me some much needed practical advice and encouragement. Not a huge project but a confidence builder for sure.

I have two more similar projects lined up and then I think I will be ready to tackle the rebuilding of the Adams and Son drives on the COLA E6 AB set.

Jim

Edited to repair photo links

[aterry11]

Anything new with this? have you been randy and done the drives?

[R.K. Maroon]

Terry, you are really asking two questions:

Have I been randy? Every chance I get
Have I done the drives? No

But I have been busy with the mill and lathe doing the other repairs in my queue:

Parts is Parts.jpg (333.3 KiB) Viewed 9556 times

But keep harassing me, Terry -- Nothing like a little social pressure to inch a project forward (eventually).

Jim

[Erik C Lindgren]

Such a wildly fantastic project mr Maroon.

[R.K. Maroon]

Another bump -- This project has been stalled a while but I have not given up on it.

[jwmathews]

Maybe a thicker vertical portion of motor mount? Also possibly a mount for the rear end of the motor? This is going to keep you off the streets & out of trouble for a long time, but I'm sure it will be fun for you.

I once read of someone in the old days who set up a 3-unit diesel with a K&D #4 motor in the middle unit driving the trucks on the end units via driveshaft U-joints. I do think that a motor in each unit is the better way to go if they can run together fairly well. Even with identical gearing, I think motors tend to vary enough that units will vary in speed if tested uncoupled.

As to passenger car trucks, I think that Kratville published a book on the UP streamliners. I'm not familiar with it so I don't know if it has detail close-up side view pix/drawings of the truck design as used on that HO model pictured above. Maybe a CAR BUILDERS CYCLOPEDIA from 1940 or '43 might have info on that.

Anyway, best of luck with the project & keep us informed!

[big bad jim]

I have the UP Streamliners book. I can try and dig it out in the next day or two if you want.

[R.K. Maroon]

This is going to keep you off the streets & out of trouble for a long time

Hey Woody -- Good to hear from you. I started this project some time back but it bogged down over my desire to use original drives for the units. I am rethinking that. I still plan to restore at least one Adams/Sieber E6 with an original drive, but I have other units that I could be used for that goal. That would allow me to proceed with a CLW retrofit and get the ball rolling again. Either way you are correct -- I'll be at this one a while yet.

BBJ -- I will call you soon to discuss the UP Streamliner book and to get your thoughts on the trucks for this project.

Jim