DFW Portable Layouts -- Mainline and Traction

[R.K. Maroon]

Dave, it is true that using a bridge rectifier on a wound-field motor for direction control will reduce the performance limit of any locomotive and throttle combination. However, it has been my experience that the voltage drop across a silicon bridge at load is less than the drop across a selenium bridge, especially an old and high-capacity selenium bridge (if you can find one that is good). Is there something about transient behavior (which would affect startup) that I am unaware of? As a side note, I would argue that these were actually designed for a reversing switch instead of a bridge rectifier, but of course many manufacturers offered the bridge rectifier as an extra-cost option, and yes, in 1950 that would have been a selenium device.

Up next for a test run, a pair of Baldwin F3s. The A-unit was up first:



It tooled around nicely so the B-unit was added:



These two together performed about the same as the single E7, which makes some sense as they both have a pair of K&D #2 motors (two in the E7 and one each in the F3s):



These don't have the prime mover engine weight in them but per-motor are carrying about the same weight. Nice running set

Jim

[ScaleCraft]

Dave, it is true that using a bridge rectifier on a wound-field motor for direction control will reduce the performance limit of any locomotive and throttle combination. However, it has been my experience that the voltage drop across a silicon bridge at load is less than the drop across a selenium bridge, especially an old and high-capacity selenium bridge (if you can find one that is good). Is there something about transient behavior (which would affect startup) that I am unaware of? As a side note, I would argue that these were actually designed for a reversing switch instead of a bridge rectifier, but of course many manufacturers offered the bridge rectifier as an extra-cost option, and yes, in 1950 that would have been a selenium device.


Jim

THAT was a joke. Insignificant electrical difference between selenium (wafer) rectumjfrier and silicon.

VINTAGE......

[De Bruin]

Rough as they are, those Baldwins do have enough proportionality to bring to life albeit you'd have to decide whether to make it a "restoration" in which case not really that much work, paint and decals aside
or
"polish the turd" in which case need a new set of K&S small files (then you have that mill too) and about $100 for detail parts from P&D
and that of course is totally aside from the drive train, harness etc.
8^)
(I vote the later as its the kind of pain I apparently home in on like a heat seeking missile)

[J. S. Bach]

Hmmm, if I had those, they would get a quick and dirty paint job and, probably, a much less amp-eating can motor.

[E7]

I would just leave them as is. They aren't a very exact likeness of "the prototype", but they are an excellent example of a doorstop, which I think is what Maroon is really after. Whatever Jim does with them works for me. I think their simplicity is their charm. My 2 cents.

Rich

They look like they were conceived by someone who knew most of the stuff that should be represented, but did not have the "artistic" ability to carry it off. The latter is NOT an meant to be derogatory, just an attempt at an accurate description. Better trucks and a more accurate looking headlight would take it a long way.

[R.K. Maroon]

Rich, I think your assessment of the Baldwins is pretty close. The large headlight is found on a lot of old steam and diesels, a compromise made to accommodate the flashlight bulbs available at the time. As to sideframes, one sees two different styles on Baldwin F-units. The other style has more detail, and as such I assume they were an upgrade introduced as some point in the sales life of the units. I may have enough of those sideframes in the parts bins to replace the ones on these two units. As to what becomes of these, I have a friend with a matched ABBA set that he is willing to part with, so I am thinking of selling these and the E-unit as well to pay for the ABBA set. That would put that 10-amp supply to the test!

Here is the last locomotive that went for a run during the Friday night test session of the show:


This is a Lobaugh USRA Light Pacific. I think I have posted this one before. It has been a good runner in the past, but at the last show I hooked it up to a string of heavyweights and it ran balky. I did not have time to troubleshoot, so back in the box it went. I later gave it the inspect, clean, and lube treatment on the bench but didn't find anything obvious. Fortunately, it was back to running like a watch when tested:


I am not sure what was going on during its troubles, but I will have to give it another try as time allows.
JIm

[bob turner]

Dirty wheels, dirty commutator, and possibly dirty tender connector. Try a drop of Wahl's on the commutator.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I am not sure what was going on during its troubles, but I will have to give it another try as time allows.

Bobbin was wound up too tight,

[bob turner]

Baldwin doorstops are outside my area of interest, but I am glad you are preserving them.

My older Lobaugh with open frame ACDC motors take about three laps to loosen up, if they sit for more than a half year. Also do not discount the idea that maybe you have an ever so slight short in one of the cars. Happens here all the time - insulated wheel comes within .0001 of a bronze side frame only on certain curves, then a very momentary "zzzt."

[R.K. Maroon]

The DFW club is taking their two layouts to the Rail Expo train show in Oklahoma City this weekend. The local O-scale guys are going to join us and it's a three-day show, so we expect there will be a nice assortment of equipment operating. I will post photos after the show.

As an aside, we started building travel cases for our new modules last year. We used to transport them just by stacking them up in the back of a van (not a great situation). The first one is seen loaded on the left, and the second one, with frame complete but no panels, is on the right:


That photo was taken just the weekend before, and with an all-weekend effort we got the second case finished in time for the trip to the show. The layout was designed to be transportable in one 6x10 trailer, and here it is loaded up:


The case on the right is a legacy case from the original layout. It is made of pine and cheap plywood -- it's a wavy crooked mess that leaves a lot to be desired. For the new cases, which are much bigger, we used oak for the frames and 5'x5' 1/4" plywood, sold locally at a specialty wood supply for cabinet and furniture making. This is the way to do it. The cases run about $300 a piece by the time you get good casters on them, but we feel it is worth every penny.

Jim

[E7]

Jim,

They look very substantial! Any idea of the weight?

Rich

[R.K. Maroon]

Good question, Rich. I don't have an easy way to weigh the completed cases (and of course they are currently loaded and packed in the trailer), but we have material to make another case. The approximate material weights are as follows:

Oak for frames: 42 lb
Plywood for panels 84 lb
Shelving 40 lb
Casters 10 lb
Total 176 lb

I would have guessed 200 lb, so that's about right. The weight varies depending on case size and shelving arrangement. Right now all eight of our end-loop modules fit into the one case we just built:



The only reason this works is because we have no permanent scenery on these modules. We are going to build a second case so that we can put in shelves and space the modules out to accommodate scenery. We hope to have the second case built not long (a month?) after we get back from the show.

Jim

[R.K. Maroon]

Just back last night from the three-day show in OKC. A good time was had by all. The show opened at 3:00 pm on Friday. We arrrived at 12:45 but had both layouts up and running by show time. We always start with a couple of Atlas SWs on the main layout just to verify operation. Here is a still from a video:


The mixed freight is a string of mostly doorstop-era cars recently obtained from a friend in Houston. I just blew the dust off them and took them straight to the show for use as the "house train".

Next up was a Berlyn models Rio Grande 4-8-4, owned by one of the OKC O-scalers:


This is a DCC-equipped model. Our DCC/DC quick change setup is really great. Dennis Mashburn set us up with this last fall. The club is not converting to DCC en masse just yet, but it's really cool to be able run DCC models when somebody brings one.

More later!
Jim

[R.K. Maroon]

The Milwaukee Road was my first modeling interest. While other more prosperous railroads were loading up on second-generation diesels, the Milwaukee's finances forced them not only to keep their first-gen units but also to lash them up in MU strings and pull long drag freights of mostly company equipment. OK, works for me:



The units are the two USH models featured in their own thread:
http://www.modeltrainjournal.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=15890

Here we see the string at speed. The gear towers on these are the stock KTM. No sound card required. They growl, hum, and grind their way down the track, which makes me think they are not long for this world. I have NOS spares, but I would also be tempted to replace them with belt drives when they finally go,



The string of cars is a combination of Athearn and Lobaugh metal-side cars (note single and double-doors):



and Walthers and All Nation wood-sided cars:




The caboose is Weaver:



Traction next

[R.K. Maroon]

So the OKC shows was the first all-scales, general public show for the traction layout. It traveled well and set up quickly, which was great:



I will have to ask Phil to identify these models if he gets a chance. The PCC is one of our more reliable models, running for well over an hour at one point with no de-wire events:



Everybody seems to love trolleys, and as expected this layout attracted a lot of attention. The organizer for the much bigger December OKC came by on Sunday afternoon and asked us if we might be willing to bring this layout to the show later this year. We might. I hear it's a pretty good show for an all-scales show. Most of the guys in our club have attended at least once and many often, but I have never gone.

Powhatan Arrow next.

Jim