John, no worries....my comment was meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, (I forgot the smiley) although this is the third or fourth time now I've been accused of "making stuff up" that I'm holding in my grubby little hands. Had I made the comment you made to someone else on this board, I would get blasted by the 500 "moderators" we have here. But that's a double-standard that I realized long ago that I'm gonna have to deal with....mainly due to my history of "bad choice of words." (in their opinion, but I stand by my words as they were written) I will say that it's quite amazing some of the product out there that just nobody knows about...I come across stuff at train shows that are just head-scratchers...."Who knew THIS even existed?" The NWSL site has apparently been redone at least once since they announced these (around 2003 I think) so I'm not sure where the info is. If you search for "NWSL 2676-6" in Google you can see small-ish previews of the PDF announcements that were previously on the site. (A copy of which was also in the package...if you really want to see it I can scan it.) There are 4 part numbers in the 2676 series...one each for standard vs. semi-scale flange combined with 40" vs 42" wheel size. The 25xx series is the one for the LL GP18, et al.
I guess that's a no to the S13. Oh well. Guess I'll have to make it myself. Thanks for all of your other toys!
You can do a lot with thw switchers available today in N. The Arnold S2 can be made into a great model with some time and effort. New NWSL wheels, gears and a coreless motor do wonders! I am working on my seccond SW1500, created from a cut down MP15 shell and a milled Con-Cor/Kato chassis. This is a fairly easy kit bash, and the results are good: I think Walthers said they will be doing another run of the SW1200, and it would include a DCC socket. To be honest, I don't expect to see many new engines anounced for a while. The China problem seems to have all the manufacturers spooked, and engines are much more expensive to design and produce than cars.
I would be very interested in knowing more about this option. I have been discounting the Arnold switchers but if there is a way to re-power them that makes sense I would be willing to give it a shot. I have certainly done some really picky surgery on other motive power. Adam
I have 5 of the Arnold S-2s that I wold LOVE to make run on my code 40 code 55 track. Sadly I put them in a box and wrote them off as unusable..New Hope ?? Randy
Does anyone just use two powered files to do the flange reduction? Has anyone rebuilt an old Arnold FM Switcher?
The Minitrix Fairbanks ?? I've seen a few articles , I have a few I'd like to rebuild as well ...I dont recall where I read the articles. Has anyone seen a microtrains coupler conversion for the Arnold S-2 to get rid of the big hole in the ends? Randy
What about using one of the conversion plates for the older larger locos I used a set on a BL2. The other thing would be sheet plastic pieced in to fill the space and recreate the surrounding shape.
On anything with a Kato-style split axle (where the plastic gear is in the middle and there are two outboard wheels on separate metal axles) its pretty easy to tear that apart and chuck them in a motor tool and file down the flanges. As long as you have a micrometer handy and have a target diameter (wheel at fillet + target flange + target flange) to check against it's not that hard. I've done several of the Kato 11-105 chassis (27" wheels) that way.
"I went back and looked at the NWSL catalog again, and I swear all I see there is 2576 (wheels for the GP18's) and the Arnold S-2 replacements. Where the heck are these things? Am I blind? Is there another catalog I'm not getting via the web site?" Doing a search (CTRL+F) on the Part 3: Wheelsets page brings up the part number on page 22. It is listed, though, as a 42" wheel...
I love NWSL but I find their site baffling to navigate. It seems like I should be able to select scale, select make, select locomotive, and then have a list of products to choose from, but it's not built that way. I am thinking of picking up one or two of these and re-motoring them but I don't want to have to reinvent the wheel to do so. If NWSL still has their kits that would make the decision of whether or not to proceed with this. Adam
