Nice looking V&T#13 Mark! The Atlas moguls seem to run better with the more weight you put behind them. I got around to finishing up this trestle on my V&T Layout this week. I built it to look like a curved version of the Crown Point Trestle using a Black Bear Construction Co. kit. Getting the layout ready for the anticipated B-Man 4-6-0 for the V&T's 26 and 27. Before the gap was bridged by just the strength of Peco flex track, which worked well.
Wedding weekend for eldest daughter, so I am late getting posting. This is a B&W image of a C&) Allegheny roaring up Seneca Hill.
NICE!!! I always loved the V&T, but not enough to sway me from my SD&AE adventures. Those moguls look great (BUT HOW DID YOU DOUBLEHEAD THEM???), and with some new paint and smokestacks, you can model a fleet of V&T 4-4-0's from bachmann's Jupiter 4-4-0 (BE SURE YOU GET A NEWER VERSION OF THIS MODEL. THE OLDER RUNS ARE TERRIBLE BUT THE NEW ONES ARE MUCH SMOOTHER) Reno #11 had a diamond stack at some point I think, and Genoa #12 had a sunflower stack. #8 had a straight stack. Inyo #22 can keep the stock balloon stack. Also the Bachmann 4-6-0 will make great V&T tenwheelers. I hope to get a couple for some SD&AE T-58's.
Thanks Curn. Strange, I was pulling 3 B'man "Old Timers" + caboose and the Mogul was going along with a hesitation here and there, but each time able to overcome it and keep on chugging. Then I put on 7 Old Timers and the Mogul just ran away without hesitating anymore! I've got one turnout where the guard rail pinches the loco, but other than that its starting to smooth out. I'm also going to see if I can get a flywheel added to the drive shaft between the motor and worm gear. It will be really small, but maybe if I can use tungsten it will be just enough to smooth out even more of the hesitation. The tiny fly wheel seems to work great in the Athearn/MDC 2-8-0s, so I dont see why they cant work here.
The athearn/mdc moguls & connies also have large, well-built motors and gear reduction, helping with their performance. 400th post!
OK, it's apparent that these critters run better with heavy loads. Can they run better without cars behind them if you fill the tender with lead and cover it with a tall wood load???
How I did the Pilot: I ordered one pilot from Republic Locomotive Works for their DRGW C-16 2-8-0 kit. It comes as a pilot and steam chests. I removed the steam chests and made the coupler opening wider to accommodate a micro trains Z scale coupler. Then I cut a new top for the pilot, including the screw hole tab thats on the stock part, from sheet styrene. I think I had to make it a little longer so that the pilot truck would clear the coupler pocket the the stock pilot deck couldn't be used. Glued it all together and painted it. Working on those 4-4-0s. I'll a address what I think I know about power pickup in the Atlas 2-6-0 Tender thread that was recently started.
With the impending white death today, I retreated to the basement and got back to work on my N scale layout, or at least some parts to help it come together. Time to work on things for myself instead of projects for everybody else. I am custom building these bridges, as well as the truss bridges that used to stand with them. There is a third span to the left of the photo that crosses a road. You can also see where the truss bridge used to be. Here are some of the parts... It is based on Micro Engineering bridge trusses, lengthened one panel at a time to match the odd panel sizes on the ends of the prototype bridge. Here is the first of three almost complete. I still need to finish the diagonal bracing. The bridge is compressed about 15% from the original to match the length of my shortened Kato truss bridges. If there were a matching length through truss and girder bridge, I probably would not have gone through all of this. And a closeup One down (almost), two more to go. The remaing two need to have one end rounded to match the real bridge.
