Here's my method for turning down flanges for your minitrix pennsy engines or other pizza cutter flanges. I've never actually needed to do so, but here's now I would do it, anyway: 1) Hook up power to electrical contacts and hold it in a jig that allows the wheels to be exposed as it turns its wheels while the engine itself is stationary on your workbench . 2) As the train runs, use a dremel with the cylindrical sanding head, held so that the driver axles are parallel with the dremel drive, to file down the flanges of the drivers evenly while it runs. Having the engine right-side up while it runs should keep the flying bits from falling in the mechanism. This method shouldn't require deconstruction of your engines' mechanisms. 3) Use the dremel on the other wheels; the spinning of the dremel head will spin the wheels to ensure even filing.
I'm hoping to get one of these engines, too. What are you going to kitbash? I myself am planning an SD&AE T-58 #26. Or #27, I'm not sure yet... (I'm trying to keep equal amounts of odd and even numbered engines for some reason. I don't know why. Since I already have SD&AE 104 & 2353, and I plan on making 102 after this one, #27 just seems to be the one I'm leaning to...)
Filing the spikes shoulden't cause the rail to go out of gage if you are careful. Just go slowly and test a piece of track not glued to the layout first. Remember you may still have some issues with turnouts. I would love to see code 35 and 50 rail. I have wanted to do a banchline scene and even code 40 can look too big sometimes. Code 50 is probably the smallest rail you can make with factory turnouts that are reliable and durable enough for heavy use. Using older equipment can limmit your choices if you are not willing to do some work. MTL large flange wheel can (and should in my opinion) be replaced by metal wheels fromBLMA and Fox Vally Models. These wheels are as reliable, look better and add weight where its needed. If you want the good looks of small rail, you don't want to ruin it with ugly wheelsets. Older engines are a problem. I can not think of a single diesel engine that was available in the 60's or 70's that does not have a more realistic and better running counterpart today. Steam is a different animal, and I wish there was a K4 from Bachmann, or MTH, or BLI... You can send the wheelsets out to Trainworks and have them milled professionally.
"I'm hoping to get one of these engines, too. What are you going to kitbash?" I want to see about creating a bit more modern Ten Wheeler and also using the Bachmann shell and applying it to a Kato JNR 6900 2-8-0 chassis. Hopefully this will lead to two additional types of engines on my lines, a third if you consider that my line will follow the lead of some others which turned 2-8-0s into 0-8-0s (the Santa Fe had some very interesting ones... a few had two different types of domes since no real effort was made to match them up). The research has already been done, in as far as prototypes go. A number of lines had Ten Wheelers and early Consolidations that shared the same boiler above the drivers and I am hoping that such will be possible to do. This would add an older 2-8-0 type to my roster for lines with light rail and bridges... the same lines that would benefit from the Bachmann 4-6-0 in passenger service. Already have some of the items needed for the 4-6-0 project though the first I can get my hands on will probably stay in its original form for the most part (details to be added since the engine would be operating in the late-40s).
I personally prefer code 40 in places that its needed. I know alot of modelers, especially ones that are modern era with heavier rail, dont need the effect that us steam and transition era guys need. Like otto and a few others, i prefer for things to look as close to proto as possible, especially with a steam locomotive on them. Maybe otto can post a pic of an FEF or ATSF northern on code 40 rail compared to code 80. The look is just right plain and simple. I look at it this way, if im going to go through all the work of bashing steam like my UP 9000 class 4-12-2, i might as well carry the work over to the rest of the layout right? I mean, why just do one fascet of modeling?
