Hello everyone

[Les Coleman]

Thank you Ian. It's good to know Jim's layouts have gone to a new home. I do DCC as well - only cheapy Laisdcc decoders but they don't let me down. The catenary sounds interesting. It adds an extra dimension. Wonder if he'd forward some photos to post?

 

[Les Coleman]

Northroader, what's that 6-wheel diesel please? I could do with building something like that in O. Re boxcars, I'm going to start by cutting down an ancient wooden boxcar which I bought from eBay as part of a job lot and which I think was built from a kit.

Ian, thank you for your welcome. It's good to know that Jim's micro-layouts are in good hands. The catenary sounds interesting.

 

[Jordan]

Northroader, what's that 6-wheel diesel please? I could do with building something like that in O.

If I can answer on Mr Northroader's behalf, it's a cunning combination of the body of one of these...
.....with the chassis of one of these.....


The body is by a U.S. firm RMT, marketed as a "GP9 Beep" & is made for 3-rail, Lionel etc toy trains (yuck, "3-rail"!! - just pausing to wash my mouth out!! )
Bob's conversion & photos were in his RMweb layout thread, but I think the photos got lost in that great server crash they had last year or so.

 

[Northroader]

Sorry, I only just woke up. As Jordan says, an RMT top on an Atlas chassis. You can find the tops on eBay, but only in the USofA, RMT themselves seem to be losing interest in making stuff.But then there’s the postage, which makes the whole thing a bit silly. So use the proportions and make your own in plastikard. Atlas Plymouths are easier to find this side of the pond, thankfully, and go very well, if a bit noisy.
yes, my thread on the other place has suffered in the great picture crash, whenever we finally move house I intend to put some pictures back, particularly the Easter Parade ones.

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/104716-“route-of-the-shortys”/

 

[40057]

Impressive and looks "right". Come to think about it, I do have a bobber caboose...

There’s a long history of shortening to meet the practical requirements of modelling railways. Even post-WW2, Hornby Dublo Mk1s are considerably shorter than scale length. Pre-WW1, with 1’ radius curves in general use on ‘0’ gauge railways, coaches were invariably short as they had to be. I have long admired the clever design work and artistry used to produce good looking vehicles with either too few compartments, or too narrow compartments, or both. Yet these models (and Bassett-Lowke, for instance, definitely sold models, not toys) convey the character and overall look of the prototype amazingly well, despite being nowhere near scale dimensions in length. Finding how to shorten (compression of features versus omission) yet preserve convincing appearance is a real art.

 

[Northroader]

There was a thread going a while back discussing such things…

Oh Jack, what have you started...

www.rmweb.co.uk

 

[Jordan]

Not sure if it got posted in that Thread, but we did find a very short caboose...

 

[Northroader]

But this is a serious responsible thread, Jordan, we have to remember that, so nothing below 28’:

 

[Les Coleman]

Thank you gentlemen! That loco may be freelance but it certainly looks the part. Shame about RMT models this side of the pond but that's life. It's a pity so many desirable American models on eBay are far outweighed by their postage costs. Concerning Lionel etc., a year or two ago I bought at a toy fair a (I think) beautiful MTH O scale boxcar. It needed re-wheeling as the original wheels were very coarse scale, but it's nice and heavy, with a lot of metal in it. One of my best runners.

 

[Jordan]

Yes it's not all bad. I have several MTH 'Premier' HiCube boxcars, fitted with Atlas 2-rail roller bearing trucks, and a Lionel covered hopper (PS2 I think) similarly re-equipped. They are excellent models.