Author Archives: Geren

Isn’t She Lovely?

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On30 version of the Victors Scale Models SR&RL #19 kit. Photo from Victors Scale Models web site.

On30 version of the Victors Scale Models SR&RL #19 kit. Photo from Victors Scale Models web site.

Stumbling around the internet this evening, I found this — an On30 brass kit to make Sandy River & Rangely Lakes 2-6-2 #19. I’m very seriously considering ordering one of these, even though I need another locomotive like I need another hole in my head. The kit looks beautifully designed, and it’s set-up for sound from the start. I can see only one detail I would change — the headlight (and of course, that would mean having to add a generator).

More info can be found on the Victors Scale Models web site [UPDATE: web site no longer active. Link has been removed]. At £245 (post paid), it ain’t cheap. But wow! What a beautiful model it makes….

The New Arrival

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John, the train pusher, dropped off my OF 4-4-0 at lunchtime today. What a thing of beauty! It shipped with the straight stack installed, and, while I had originally planned to put the balloon stack on, I think now that it will have a better “family” look to the Forneys with the straight stack. I’m also going to keep the more modern disc wheels on the pony truck and the “switcher” pilot. Again, more of a familial look to match my other locos.

Bachmann have made some definite improvements in other areas of this model. The tender truck pickups look as if they’ll actually work, there’s an actually floating foot-plate and the two cables between the tender and loco get neatly concealed in a snap-in firebox cover. The tender floor is pre-cut for a speaker and, according to the drawing, the grill can actually be removed to leave a big, gaping hole in the bottom, which will leave much more room for speaker excursion if a flat speaker is used.

Unfortunately, this model doesn’t have sound installed, so I’ll need to put another one of those wonderful Soundtraxx Tsunami sound decoder on my shopping list…

Kimberton Report

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Well, it’s Monday morning. Kimberton has passed. And, we survived…

In reality, things, I think, went really, really well. Especially well, when you consider that the modules present had never been connected together before. Two sets (mine and Charlie’s) had never even been to a public display before!

You can view pictures or a slide show from the weekend.

So, here’s where I get to brag a little. Using the IKEA Ivar shelving system for module supports worked perfectly. Setup was blazingly fast — I was in, up and leveled in a little over an hour! We had a great time running trains (at least I did), and if I’d had time to get the yard switcher built, the yard would have functioned exactly as it was planned to.  In any case, we were able to make-up trains, send them down the line, come back to the yard and break them down again. And, locos could be turned for the next trip.

David’s Bachmann-bash outside-frame 2-8-0 was a hit of the show, drawing comments from everyone who saw it. In this shot, it’s just coming off the bridge on his return-loop module set.

One issue that we did have was leveling at several of the module joints. While all of the joints on my modules worked very well, in a couple of cases, we’re going to have to go in and perform some surgery on the modules.

I ended up buying a lot of toys — more than I had really planned, actually. I picked up a few things specifically for the modules: A Banta Alna Center station kit, and some parts for the engine house. I also bought another one of those lovely Bachmann outside-frame 2-4-4 Forneys, as well as two throttles for my DCC system, and a really nice looking side-door caboose body to ride on a Bachmann caboose frame.

Last, but not least, there was a great laying-on of hands by the assembled baronship, and John (Unca Weigley) Weigel was anointed as the newest Rail Baron. John is now known as the Rail Baron of Green Boxes.

So, that’s the report for the weekend. Today, I get to clean up the basement some, and bring the modules back inside. I’ll begin the process of tying them into the layout over the next few days, and then get back to work on them — there’s still so much to do! Our next planned outing for the modules will be at the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium in October. By then, I should be well on my way to completing this module set, and have at least one of the 45° curve modules built. If everyone who committed to building one gets it done, along well as the other modules people are planning, we’ll have a really nice setup going.

Down to the Wire

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Last night, with Donna’s help, I designed a rack to carry the three modules in the van. I originally wanted to build what would amount to a rolling cabinet, but the thought of storing the thing had me scratching my head. What we came up with was a rack that will be built out of 1 1/4″ PVC piping, with a whole bunch of “T” fittings. It will be built in such a way that, when not being used, it can be stored nearly flat. Tonight, I’ll try to build it, and we’ll see how well it actually works…