Yes, My cabin. Bowser inductive antenna kit. Nice, but a little fragile for the rigors of NTrak use. Only the 2nd outing, and already showing minor damage from another runners shirt sleeve. (I should have used barbed wire...) The CNs are way old, and may be BevBel. I don't have the original boxes. There were Kato F's in sergeant stripes back then, but I could not afford them. These were $40/pair. In the FA/FA foto, there is a tree hiding the fact that I have never gotten around to giving one of them a different number. There is a better shot with a "vesuvian plume" of soot in my webshots album. What always cracked me up about that composition is, when I saw it full size at home for the first time, I noticed that it appears one of the deer is frozen in its tracks with fear, while the other appears to be giving serious consideration to jumping off the cliff to escape these smoky beasts.
The second shot is of course the E-8's I speak so highly of, but I also included pennsy Fa's. Either way you picked an easy railroad for getting prepainted 1st gen diesels in.
I am wondering how someone can actually get so close that they snag your caboose. It seems like you would have to try really hard to snag it, or do Ntrackers like to touch their trains when they run em?
I am wondering why noone recommends the Atlas FM H16-44. IMHO this is one of the best models on the market. Atlas "classic" RS1 and RS3 are also very good runners. The LL FA/FB and FM C-Liners are good runners, too, and very strong pullers. Christoph
Christoph, You're right! The H16-44s are great engines. Absolutely smooth, great speed range. They are not the greatest pullers--that's why I pre-ordered two more. I can't wait to see what four of them will do. Mark, The Atlas Trainmasters (yes, 6-axle) seem to be unfussy beasties, and good pullers.
Some definitions say the cockles (cochleae) are the ventricle valves or the passages around them. Others say cockles refers to the heart-shaped outer shell of bi-valve mussels (not muscles), the interior of which we eat.
LL FA-1s-Excellent, cheap, prototype first appeared 1947 or so. LL FA-2s--get the split frame, again, excellent, cheap, prototype first appeared 1950 or so. LL FM C-liners- excellent, cheap, but not as easy to find as FAs. prototype first appeared 1951 or so. Kato-F-3s, F-7s-prototypes first appeared 1947, 1949, respectively. Excellent, exepensive, VERY selelctive in roadnames, mostly Western. Also Rs-2, RSC-2, excellent, not bad street prices, prototypes first apeared 1947 or so. Not many roads ran them, though. MT -FTs-Excellent, okay street prices, prototype first appeared 1939 or so. IM- FTs- same comments as MTs. Atlas- RS-1, RS-3, GP-7, excellent, good street prices, prototypes first appeared 1940, 1950, 1948, respectively. B-mann- F-7s-prototypes first appeared 1949. Strictly a 'C' grade locomotive but cheap prices, if you MUST have EMDs. E-R, now B-mann- RF-16 (sharknoses) prototypes first appeared 1952. Excellent but not inexpensive. B-mann is re-releasing them. It is further rumoured that B-mann is going to re-Do the F-7 mechanism yet ONE MORE TIME and base it on the Shark mechanism. I do hope that the old shells will fit. IM has announced F-3s. If the FTs are any indication, these ought to be good. No doubt I have omitted a few and may be off by a year or two on a date.
I am wondering how someone can actually get so close that they snag your caboose. It seems like you would have to try really hard to snag it, or do Ntrackers like to touch their trains when they run em? </font>[/QUOTE]Some NTrakkers are wierd. I think some do fondle their trains..... Seriously, it's not rocket science. Not everyone is as tall as me, and the yard is verrrrry wide. All it takes is a short person on a chilly (Geez, it had to have gotten down to 50 degrees) winter night during the Holiday Festival of Lights, and a big, floppy sweat shirt/parka thing, a long reach, and "whack" - snagged on my inductive antenna. Herewith, the scene of the "crime": That's my Big Sky Blue pair of Atlas SDs out front on the Red Yard bypass track. The cabin was on the tail of the train doubled over on two tracks in the middle of the yard, the one with the PRR FM C-Liner AB on the point. The person was reaching for something in the blue yard or up on the green line in front of the gentleman in the picture. Since I'm tall, I can reach them. My mortal sin is knocking them off the Red Yard bypass track out at the front edge with my fat gut. You have to have a sense of humor to run NTrak with the public passing 16" from your train, and nothing but a nylon rope and a few "Please, Do Not Touch" signs as your only protection. You gotta love doing it, and we do. 50 Sundays a year, and 3 weeks of nights during the Holidays. Never had so much fun with trains in my life, and I've had trains for 56 years so far.
Foth dude, Inquiring minds want to know... What diesel is it gonna be? long train, I would never personally admit to train fondling, although I fully admit to oggling.
Geeky- I confess to fondling, as well. Each time I travel to a train station, I have to register as a known offender. I will wait for the Intermountain releases. I already have 3 sets of the LL FA1 and FB1's and the limited usage Kato PA1 and PB1 as well as several E-Bay "bargains" that may run in 5 years or so when I get enough nerve to take them apart successfully.
Mark: Turn the loco's over and remove all the screws. That will get you on the fast track to taking a loco apart. Stay cool and run steam.....
I should have chosen my words more carefully. I KNOW how to take them apart, it is the reassembly that creates problems.
The best early era diesel is the Life Like FA1/FB1 combination. Have eight of these and all run very well, with one exception. One pair came from ebay at a very good price. The A unit had this cyclic grumble and lurching in the drive. Dismantled the unit, shimmed the worms to have less end play. Better, but not good enough. Swapped the worm gears from one end to the other. Runs really quiet and smooth now. I just wonder if the guy I bought it from realised that it was so simple to fix this problem. Four unit ABBA set will easily pull 58 cars on the Sydney N Scale club layout. This layout has some rather steep grades that lead directly into some sharp curves. Great locomotives, great performance for little cost.
