196
General Discussion / Re: What to do?
« on: July 22, 2021, 04:12:20 AM »
The dwarfs look cool, can't wait to see when painted. Dwarfs for Standard Gauge.
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197
General Discussion / Re: Train Buying Stories and Rants.
« on: July 17, 2021, 04:32:44 AM »
It is difficult buying from someone who has done no research, or too much research.
When I open ebay, a featured item continues to show-up on the left side of the page.
It is a 262 loco that looks like it was dragged behind a car, but he calls it heavy duty metal and wants $759. for it.
My guess is that he has done no research.
He has the loco posed on his bathroom sink for his pictures, to further add to his credibility.
Long ago I bought a 226E freight set from a guy who posed the train on his kitchen stove.
When it came, all the drive wheels had broken flanges. He had placed the loco in the bottom of the box with no cushion or reinforcement under it, the rest of the set on top, then loads of packing material on top of everything. I guess that I am overly critical because of the thousands of orders I have packed since the mid 1970's, with a negligible amount of shipping damage.
When I open ebay, a featured item continues to show-up on the left side of the page.
It is a 262 loco that looks like it was dragged behind a car, but he calls it heavy duty metal and wants $759. for it.
My guess is that he has done no research.
He has the loco posed on his bathroom sink for his pictures, to further add to his credibility.
Long ago I bought a 226E freight set from a guy who posed the train on his kitchen stove.
When it came, all the drive wheels had broken flanges. He had placed the loco in the bottom of the box with no cushion or reinforcement under it, the rest of the set on top, then loads of packing material on top of everything. I guess that I am overly critical because of the thousands of orders I have packed since the mid 1970's, with a negligible amount of shipping damage.
198
General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items
« on: July 17, 2021, 04:16:02 AM »
Interesting the items marketed in "the old days" for kids, such as this current reducer and the wet-cell power supply shown in an earlier photo.
199
General Discussion / Re: Locomotive wheels
« on: July 16, 2021, 04:19:50 AM »
If you mean prewar diecast wheels, it is because of the nature of diecast metal.
Diecast was a cheap metal that most companies switched to from cast iron, during the 1920's and early 30's.
Diecast metal typically has impurities in it that when subjected to temperature and humidity changes over time, expands and contracts.
This expansion/contraction is what causes the cracks, pimpling, warp and eventual failure of the metal.
Weather or not companies knew of this eminent failure is unknown, but it was known that economy was a primary concern. Also diecasting allowed for better details to be produced.
And after all, they were just making toys, not what we would eventually call collector's items.
I recall seeing ads in 1940's vintage Model Builder magazine for replacement belly pans for Lionel 072 streamliners, so diecast failure happened sooner than we may have guessed.
Lionel must have suspected problems with diecast, yet they still trusted this material for their most important Loco, the 5344 / 700E Hudson.
Postwar locos continued to be diecast, yet I do not recall ever seeing a postwar loco that has diecast fatigue. They must have refined the process during WWII.
The main reason Lionel wheels changed to iron, starting 1950, is because it was required to work with Magne-Traction.
Diecast was a cheap metal that most companies switched to from cast iron, during the 1920's and early 30's.
Diecast metal typically has impurities in it that when subjected to temperature and humidity changes over time, expands and contracts.
This expansion/contraction is what causes the cracks, pimpling, warp and eventual failure of the metal.
Weather or not companies knew of this eminent failure is unknown, but it was known that economy was a primary concern. Also diecasting allowed for better details to be produced.
And after all, they were just making toys, not what we would eventually call collector's items.
I recall seeing ads in 1940's vintage Model Builder magazine for replacement belly pans for Lionel 072 streamliners, so diecast failure happened sooner than we may have guessed.
Lionel must have suspected problems with diecast, yet they still trusted this material for their most important Loco, the 5344 / 700E Hudson.
Postwar locos continued to be diecast, yet I do not recall ever seeing a postwar loco that has diecast fatigue. They must have refined the process during WWII.
The main reason Lionel wheels changed to iron, starting 1950, is because it was required to work with Magne-Traction.
200
General Discussion / Re: Home made turntable
« on: July 16, 2021, 04:02:34 AM »
It is true that modern locos with all the electronics are available at lower prices on the secondary market.
201
General Discussion / Re: Home made turntable
« on: July 15, 2021, 02:18:42 PM »
He does have some honkin-big locos, and plenty of room for very wide radius track.
I like the turntable, but I don't have the room. It takes up too much real-estate with the feeder tracks and roundhouse.
Nice to see on someone else's layout.
I like the turntable, but I don't have the room. It takes up too much real-estate with the feeder tracks and roundhouse.
Nice to see on someone else's layout.
202
General Discussion / Re: ALL BRANDS
« on: July 14, 2021, 03:39:53 AM »
The music would be a problem. I can only use music that I compose myself or music selected from Youtube's library. Any published music like you show would be protected by copyright, and Youtube would not allow it.
Part of the uploading process is a check they do for such music.
Part of the uploading process is a check they do for such music.
203
General Discussion / Re: ALL BRANDS
« on: July 13, 2021, 05:30:57 PM »
I have several topics that I am working on now, makes for quite a mess in the train room as I organize items for shooting. It gets confusing when several topics are proceeding at the same time.
In answer to your question about requests, I may take suggestions, but it has to work with the trains that I have.
Our real dogs are always either running 90mph or sleeping, so might be hard to get them in a video.
In answer to your question about requests, I may take suggestions, but it has to work with the trains that I have.
Our real dogs are always either running 90mph or sleeping, so might be hard to get them in a video.
204
General Discussion / Re: Recent Additions
« on: July 13, 2021, 05:25:50 PM »
The chrome one is fairly scarce.
205
General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items
« on: July 13, 2021, 05:24:14 PM »
I guess that there are more out there to be had.
206
Classifieds / Re: Rules for Posting Classifieds
« on: July 12, 2021, 04:44:56 AM »
Terry if you want me to start including a flyer in our packages again, let me know.
207
General Discussion / Re: Next O Gauge train project
« on: July 12, 2021, 04:42:15 AM »
It really is best to have the heavy cars up-front. If on the rear, it can pull the lighter cars ahead of it over on curves and derail.
I have several problems with coil couplers. First, is having them opening when the shoe contacts a switch frog. It seems to be worse on 072 (T-rail) switches as the frog rail is longer and often humps slightly. If the frog rail is too high or a shoe is too low, ZAP, the coupler opens. Another problem is that vertical play in the coupler drawbar can cause one coupler to climb over another, especially with heavy loads.
I have some control over the problem with Prewar couplers. I try to make-up trains with alternate 2800 and 800-series cars, so if the auto coupler hood opens, the manual hood still holds.
The quantity of modifications I have seen over the years to pre and postwar coil couplers, wired-shut, glued-shut, tape on sliding shoes or parts just removed, makes me think this was a known issue way before us collectors inherited the problem.
I also like to run Marx and have a problem with metal auto tilt-type couplers on scale-series cars and on the cars we made as Marx Trains. The tab that hangs-down also contacts the frog-rail on switches, causes a temporary short that is enough to trip the reverse unit. Modern Marx motors have a neutral cycle between forward and reverse, but vintage Marx motors have 2-position reversers. This causes a speeding train to suddenly want to change directions, often not a pretty sight. If I bend the tab slightly this solves the problem, as I will never be switching trains on Marx uncouplers.
I have several problems with coil couplers. First, is having them opening when the shoe contacts a switch frog. It seems to be worse on 072 (T-rail) switches as the frog rail is longer and often humps slightly. If the frog rail is too high or a shoe is too low, ZAP, the coupler opens. Another problem is that vertical play in the coupler drawbar can cause one coupler to climb over another, especially with heavy loads.
I have some control over the problem with Prewar couplers. I try to make-up trains with alternate 2800 and 800-series cars, so if the auto coupler hood opens, the manual hood still holds.
The quantity of modifications I have seen over the years to pre and postwar coil couplers, wired-shut, glued-shut, tape on sliding shoes or parts just removed, makes me think this was a known issue way before us collectors inherited the problem.
I also like to run Marx and have a problem with metal auto tilt-type couplers on scale-series cars and on the cars we made as Marx Trains. The tab that hangs-down also contacts the frog-rail on switches, causes a temporary short that is enough to trip the reverse unit. Modern Marx motors have a neutral cycle between forward and reverse, but vintage Marx motors have 2-position reversers. This causes a speeding train to suddenly want to change directions, often not a pretty sight. If I bend the tab slightly this solves the problem, as I will never be switching trains on Marx uncouplers.
208
General Discussion / Re: ALL BRANDS
« on: July 11, 2021, 11:30:28 AM »
Thanks, appreciate your comments. J
209
General Discussion / Re: Interesting Auction Items
« on: July 07, 2021, 08:44:24 AM »
I looked at all the black-painted-litho cars under a bright light.
Since the litho process has colors layered one at a time, I thought there should be a faint image of the details visible, but not so. Therefore, all I have to go on is visible color where there are scratches in the black. I could not detect any scratches or blems under the black. The tank car has the most wear and dirt, so makes that one more-difficult.
Tank car....I see evidence of red where diamond would be so it is a late Sunoco with diamond to the right.
Boxcar......maroon under black at roof edges, so a late Baby Ruth
2677 Gondola.... evidence of dark orange at edges
2717 gondola.....Orange/brown at edges
So all that proves is that all these cars were litho to start and the paint is thick-enough to hide any images underneath.
Also proves that a Lionel dealer could do a better job cleaning cars to prep for painting, than Ives did. No flaking of black is visible on the slick litho finish.
Since the litho process has colors layered one at a time, I thought there should be a faint image of the details visible, but not so. Therefore, all I have to go on is visible color where there are scratches in the black. I could not detect any scratches or blems under the black. The tank car has the most wear and dirt, so makes that one more-difficult.
Tank car....I see evidence of red where diamond would be so it is a late Sunoco with diamond to the right.
Boxcar......maroon under black at roof edges, so a late Baby Ruth
2677 Gondola.... evidence of dark orange at edges
2717 gondola.....Orange/brown at edges
So all that proves is that all these cars were litho to start and the paint is thick-enough to hide any images underneath.
Also proves that a Lionel dealer could do a better job cleaning cars to prep for painting, than Ives did. No flaking of black is visible on the slick litho finish.
210
General Discussion / Re: We're burning up !!
« on: July 06, 2021, 06:16:29 AM »
Right, the Forum is no place for politics.