Another rare find I just love finding old original Charles Ro trains. I found a Charles Ro stock #R1720 Rio Grande flat car with autos, but no box, so I passed it up thinking maybe another would show up with a box. Well it sure did and the best part I got it for only $25. I wonder why it never got bid up, could be people just stop buying trains , could it be nobody knows enough about Charles Ro trains? or a little of both. You just don't see old Charles Ro trains for sale that often. Anyway, the flatbed with 2 autos is in pretty good shape for as old as it is, the car (coupe) shows age on the plastic in spots, but what else do you except, still a good find and keeper, the pickup is in the best condition. The flatbed shows no signs of being outside at all. I have included a picture. Another fact about Auto Flat cars is that the cars or trucks would vary in different colors than what was posted in a catalog as a picture. Did you know that Charles Ro Sr ran Ro Trains and Charles Ro Jr runs USA Trains, so it's like a father and son buisness.
GovB, Thanx and thanx to your post of older Charles Ro info I knew what I was looking for which is why I started the USA Trains registry to begin with, so everyone didn't have to spend hours researching or years even. With everyone like you pitvhing in information, I think the USA Trains registry has the best and most info than any site on the web. Even Charles Ro of USA Trains doesn't have as much info as we do on his own trains, now thats funny. As he sold out of items and they became out of production, he deleted the items from his computer system not thinking one day they may become collectible.
EMD Trainman to commision custom box car I have decided to commision Shawmut Car Shops to build me a custom box car based on a USA Trains 40ft Ultimate Series box car. Before you say I should build it, I don't have the patience nor the talent for this. Plus I have no way of making the decals I want on it plus Jeffery does a great job at Shawmut, I like his work. The custom box car will be based on SB Rail Lines 10th anniversary. I have attached a picture that I made on a very crude program, but I don't have thousands of dollars for a creative design program, besides you will get the point when you see the picture. I hope it comes out great which I'm sure it will.
I rarely have the paitence for things or the skills. I can't do intense detail graphics. And since I have to finish a hockey stick stripe on my FA, I cannot do that safely w/o damaging the original paint so like you, I have to commission someone to do it. There's no shame in that. And I like the paint scheme idea. I cannot wait to see it finished.
EMD Trainman commisions special SB T shirts I have commisioned special run T shirts from a place that has no base minimum order qauntities. They just arrived today and will give you a first look at the all new SB Rail Lines official logo T shirt. They look very impressive. I also recieved special permission from the upper staff on Train Board to make up T shirts with the officlal new Train Board logo. Will post pictures when they arrive.
Construction continues on the basement of SB Thanx to a nice sum from Uncle Sam, construction has contiued this year in the basement where the trains run. This year the I finished the walls in the sitting area or what I call the living room area of the basement. The walls were finished in a masonite type of paneling. This type of paneling is actually made for using in bathrooms. What better place to use this type of paneling than i a basement which also has the same conditions as a bathroom such as humidity, moisture, heat, steam, ect. I heard horror stories of the Owens Corning basment modules such as shrinkage and warpage. I haven't seen this system advertised in a while. I have some pictures of the project still in works, trimming needs to be done now. What a difference in my basement now.
April 2010 updates After alot of caculation, I figured that a couple sections of my layout would fit 10ft diameter curves, but there was no way that I could fit them around the entire layout. I tried shopping around for 10ft diameter curves only to get sticker shock over and over. I went to the East Coast Large Scale train show in York and was having the same disappointing results. Then I stopped in to see USA Trains and found they had 10ft diameter curves on sale for a price I could afford. I asked USA Trains sales person if these tracks would screw onto Aristocraft track because I didn't feel like drilling and threading new holes to get tracks to screw togther nor did I want the expense of buying a 50 pack of Hillmans Rail Clamps which was expensive also. USA Trains said they were a direct bolt up to Aristo track. So $150 later I was going home with a box of 10ft diameter curves. USA Trains was 100% right, the curves did match right up with tthe holes on the Aristocraft track, even the screws and threads were a direct match up. I own Aristocraft track with Euro style ties and the USA Trains looked right at home as the style of ties on the USA curves were just about exact. The quality of brass looks good, but time will tell on that. I have seen LGB and older Aristocraft track go outside for 10 years and still conduct electricity. I was able to take car of a couple of trouble spots on my layout with the 10ft diameter curves. Picture 1 - There is now a nice sweeping 10ft S curve going around my fire place on track #1. Before there was 8ft curves with a 2ft straight in between the S part of the curve which was ok at the time, but hard on the bigger trains to run thru. Picture 2 - Here was the big trouble spot I had. If you remember a while back when there were 8ft diameter curves going thru this area, it was so tight that the bigger locomotives would scrape hand rails once in a while when passing by at the same time. Then I tried changing things around by putting straight tracks in the curve to change the area in which the trains started to curve so they wouldn't rub. Not the best looking or most realistic curves to look at, but I did it to keep trains from rubbing. Now all 3 mainline have been replaced with 10ft diameter curves in this area. Picture 3 - Another trouble spot was the mainlines curving from the laundry room into the shop. All 3 mainlines have been also converted to 10ft diameter curves in this area of my layout. Between the 2 major changes, I noticed the trains do seem to run smoother. Picture 4 - Is the living room part of my basement, I have just finished trimming up this area of the basement. Picture 5 - A new addition to train #3 is this double door Burlington Northern. This one is a little special meaning to me, it reminds me of of the Lionel Burlington Northern Hi Cube box car I had when I was a kid. I also bought roller bearing wheels in 2009 for the rest of the 50ft freight cars on this train. After converting all of the metal wheels over to ball bearing wheels and then converting a couple places on my layout over to 10ft diameter curves, it made a big difference of how smoothly train #3 runs. The 3 USA Trains SD40-2 locomotives now have no problem pulling this train. Before doing all of these upgrades you may remember that I was burning up rubber tires on this particular train. I convetered the 50ft USA Trains reefer cars to roller bearing wheels back in 2008 which helped a little and I only had 2 rubber tire failures compared to 6 prior to tha year in 2007. I just finished converting the entire train over to roller bearing wheels by changing over the 50ft box cars in 2009. Original plans was to add the new 60ft USA Trains box cars, but since these box cars have body mounted couplers, I won't be able to run them. I may just add 3 more 50ft double door box cars this year. For some reason I am on this double door box car kick.
June 2010 Updates With the announcement of USA Trains new line of 29ft and 42ft tank cars coming out, this sorta changed my future plans of SB Rail Liines. If you remembered last, I wanted to buy the all new USA Trains 60ft box cars, but this idea was cancelled out when I discovered thy would only be available with body mounted couplers ih which I can't run on 8ft curves successfully. So plans for purchasing the 60ft box cars was out. I have a "new" 2 year plan for the future. Plan "A" - Will be to purchase 6 new USA Trains 42ft tank cars for Train #3 which is headed by 3 USA Trains SD40-2 locomotives and pulls 9 USA 50ft reefer cars and 6 USA 50ft box cars. The plan also includes reducing the amount of USA 50ft reefer cars. 3 of the 9 50ft mechanical reefer cars will be sold off to make room. The road names to be sold off will all be Union Pacific. This will bring this train up to 18 pieces of rolling stock. Plan "B" - Will be to purchase 6 new USA Trains 2 bay ACF covered hopper cars for train #2 which is headed by 2 USA GP-9 locomotives and pulls 16 USA 70 ton hopper cars. The plan includes reducing the amount of 70 ton hopper cars. 4 of the 16 70 ton hoppers will be sold off. 2 in the Union Pacific name, 1 in the Southern Pacific name and 1 in the Southern Pacific "Black Widow" special run name. Plan "C" - Will be to add 3 more USA Trains 40ft box cars to Train #1, no plans as of yet to reduce rolling stock on this train. To Date I own 112 pieces of rolling stock, 2 F3 AB locomotive sets, 7 other USA locomotives and 1 Aristocraft locomotive. Anyone who may show interest in any above pieces of rolling stock that will be reduced from my collection, please pm me and I'll give you first shot when they come up for sale.
Charles Ro Sr & Jr sign my box car at show I forgot to put this one in my update and may be a double post, but here it goes. I went to the East Coast Large Scale spring show in York, PA March 2010. At the show I met with Charles Ro Jr and asked him to sign my Charles Ro 1st anniversary car and also Charles Ro Sr was on hand to also sign the car. This will not be run and put in a special place.
SB Rail Lines restored Mallet caught at idle SB Rail Lines newly restored Mallet is waiting to be steam up after coupling to a train of restored woodside reefer and box cars. The steam up marks a special occasion as another steamer has be put into service after the last one failed 4 years ago.
Drastic Change of Plans Some of us change our minds or just make little changes to our layouts. After much consideration I will be making drastic change of plans to my layout. Plan A Is to not sell any of the 50ft mechanical reefer cars I originally listed which were in Train Store. I will be keeping the 50ft mechanical reefer cars and 70 ton hopper cars. Plan B is to go with the purchase of 6 USA Trains 42ft hopper cars and 6 USA Trains 2 bay ACF hopper cars. Plan C is to reduce the amount of 1:24 scale ratio trains I have and concentrate on 1:29 scale ratio. This would NOT include selling any 1:24 rolling stock from my Aristocraft Mallet which pulls 22 1:24 scale ratio freight cars which goes perfect for that era. I will also be keeping my 1:24 scale ratio work series train which my NW-2 pulls Plan D is to actually sell off the 1:24 scale ratio trains from my "Flat Service" train which is pulled by 2 of my USA Trains GP-30 locomotives. The Flat Service train was fun while it lasted, but I have too many comodities going, so the 6 42ft tank cars and 6 ACF centerflow hopper cars will be pulled by my 2 GP-30 locomotives instead. The Charles Ro rare flat cars will remain in my permanant shelf queen collection. Making this move reduces the amount of commodities being pulled by my trains and I can concentrate on scenery for tank cars, hopper cars, box cars and reefer cars plus the addition to my 1:29 scale ratio collection.
I will wait until after the Fall Large Scale Train Show in York to make a decision and cordinate the sale of the 1:24 scale ratio USA Trains from my collection in order to buy the 42ft tank cars and 2 bay ACF hopper cars. This was a hard decision to make, but I just don't have all this room for the trains I want plus keep the ones I have, so I will concetrate only on buying 1:29 scale ratio trains from this point forward.
I have made proper changes to my SB Rail Lines USA Trains for sale items preview post. If you have read it before, I changed my mind on what will be for sale later, so when you get time read it over and you may find something you like. All funds go toward the purchase of USA Trains 42ft tank cars and 2 bay ACF hopper cars which will be pulled by my 2 GP-30 locomotives
A little off topic You may have noticed I have not been as interactive with the G scale section recently. I do check on the section daily as I am the moderator, but have not participated into the section. This is mainly due to the fact that I am taking online training for 4 types of diesel engines in trucks. I work as a diesel tech for a Kenworth truck dealership and it is very important that I get certified for the new 2010 emissions diesel engines, other equipment such as locomotives, cranes, bulldozers and anything else that use a diesel engine will eventually have to follow new stricter emissions, EPA is just hitting trucks harder first. This requires me to pass around 100 different test for 4 engine models. Being a diesel tech is getting harder, it seems like you need a degree in computer and electronics just to follow along with all of this new electronic crap they put on these poor engines that were never meant to have such restrictions. I should finish up in a projected time of next week hopefully and can contribute more to the G scale thread. I hope others will interact with the G scale section.
When I was growing up, in my family Trains around the Christmas Tree was always tradition and the trains of choice was always Lionel 0 or 027 scale. My Dad was given a 027 Lionel Train set from his Uncle when he was a kid and run it under a tree for years in which my Aunts (his sisters) enjoyed for years. Unfortunately like anything else that gets played with, it wore out. I begged for a train set and finally on Chrsitmas in 1973 under the tree was a 027 Lionel Rock Island flyer train set under the tree. It featured a 0-4-0 Rock Island steam switcher which had a manual foward, nuetral, reverse switch in the cab which I loved for hands on operation. It also had a Penn Central gondolla, Uinon Pacific flat bed and a Rock Island bobber caboose. Every year I could either add a pack of track or a freight car. I was only allowed to have it out from the day after Thanksgiving til December 31, then I had to pack it all up and it was put into the attic, so as family tradition it became a Christmas train. In 1982 I made it a permanent layout in my room which was built in the basement of my family home, me and my Dad worked on the room until it was done and then the train set was alloed to be permanent. In 1984 bad news happened, the 0-4-0 switcher could no longer handle the freight cars I added to it over the years and came to a slow smoking halt. That was the end of that locmotive. That year my Mom and Dad gave me a Lionel F-3 locomotive which had one motor, but pulled the train with no problem. In 1986 I graduated high school and went on to a technical school, but also had a part time job, so I moved on my own now collecting Lionel trains. By 1988 I was working full time and I had bought the Lionel 0 scale F3 A-B-A Union Pacific locomotive set with sounds in the B unit, I bought a Lionel 0 scale SD-45 in the Chessie system and a Pennsylvania 2-4-2 Steamer with smoke out of another set at a dealer. I found a Lionel Conrail train set with centerflow hopper cars I wanted real bad, but could not afford it. Near the end of 1988 I was looking for new Lionel train shops in new areas.I stumbled across a Lionel train shop that had 2 stores, but one side was by appointment only. So I made a appointment and fell in love with these big trains that were much bigger than 0 scale. I asked what scale and what kind of train it was, I was told it was LGB G scale trains. I said to my freind, one day I will own those trains, he said yeah right, they are too big for inside. By 1989 I lost interest in trains altogether and sold off my entire Lionel collection which did not make my family happy, but I felt it was mine to sell. At the time I sold everything, I had 75 freight cars, a F-3 locomotive, a F3 A-B-A locomotive set, a SD-45 locomotive and a 2-4-2 steamer and all of it was Lionel. I bought a 1970 Dodge Challeger R/T and restored it, then went to car shows with it and I also was involved into NHRA pro stock drag racing. 10 years later, 1999 my Dad got sick and passed away from cancer. I hung up the keys to my car and lost interest in car shows. Trains again entered my mind and how much fun they were at Christmas. In 1999 I bought my family home from the estate and Christmas was coming and the memories of having trains around the tree. Then as fate would have it a show called QVC was having a special on showing and selling trains. They featured a G scale Bachmann Rio Grande set called the Silverton Flyer. I remembered those G scale trains from 10 years earlier so I bought it. Eventually I went all out hog wild with it. In 1999 I added freight cars and built a wall shelf system in my old room in the basement and ran them in there. However disaster would hit, the train derailed which caused the locomotive to come off the track and fall 6ft to a crashing end. Seriously upset, I dismantled the entire train set in disgust. All of the G scale Bachmann freight cars and Bachmann G scale track was sold off on auction. In 2000, the urge for G scale was even bigger than ever and I was not to be defeated. I want G scale trains and that was my goal. I once started out for my indoor G scale layout this time making plans for a floor layout, but the basement at that time was a disaster, when my Dad got sick, the basement got termites in it and the walls and everything wood had to be torn out and removed. The cause of the termites was due to my Da improperly instally paneling on top of cement cinder brick walls which trapped moisture. So the plan was to rebuild the basement and the train set on the floor together at the same time. Today, 2010 it was a rough 10 years, but the basement is just about done, the cinder block walls were sealed and then a moisture barrier put up and then studed walls were put up with insulation, so moisture will not be a issue, especially since I have a dehumiditfier running down there to make sure. I started out with all Aristocraft G scale trains in 2000, but I had problems with the locomotives and started to switch over to USA Trains G scale trains. By 2005 everything was mainly USA Trains freight cars and locomotives. Today I only own 1 Aristocraft freight car and 1 LGB freight car which is funny since LGB G scale was what got me hooked on G scale in the first place. What is my total G scale roster you ask??? Well lets just say I have alot more in G scale than I ever did in 0 or 027 Lionel. I own 15 Locomotives, 110 freight cars, 3 cabooses and have 6 different trains made up of which 3 I can run inside at one time indoors since I have 3 seperate mainline tracks in the basement. Because of money, the basement is still a project in the works, but is closer to being done than ever. Right now I need a new train shelf to store trains on. I already made a huge one about 3 years ago, but ran out of storage room. My plans are to stick with G scale trains and never look back.
