Painting the All nation line traction trailer

The weather is excellent for some spray painting in the garden. First the box trailer was primed with a neutral grey paint. Then the roof was spray coated with dull black and the body of the trailer was painted "Maroon". This is a typical American colour which you will not find easily in Europe, but fortunately there is the Japanese brand Tamiya that globalises paint colours and brings American colours to Europe. Well, I am reasonably happy with the result. Just need to dust the car next time I make a picture, because there is too much tree pollen in the air right now.

Lazy sunday afternoon

Spring has finally arrived. This is great news, so I can finally let my steamers smoke with the window open. We played a bit with the trains, recharged the MTH engine batteries by giving some AC current while standing idle. So, we could listen to the various announcements coming from the SW1500 Switcher: "check for foamers on the up yard". Strange language, must be American.
The body work for the All Nation line box trailer is almost finished, just add some more steps and a brake wheel and we can start plastering, sanding and painting. I will need a new brake wheel. I tried to solder a little brass rod to the wheel and I noticed that the wheel was made from cast tin and it melted away faster than I could remove my soldering gun. Pretty daft. Time for a drink!
I am planning to use the decapped MTH PCC streetcar as basis for scratch building a #648 C&LE freight engine. The librian of the trolley museum in Maine was so kind to supply me with the technical drawings, so here comes another project. I am planning to work with tin plate and wood to make the body. Most importantly, I will have to start by making a new, larger base plate, for this engine will be longer than the PCC streetcar. Plenty of things to do, I would think.

The box trailer starts to get shape

After a few more evenings the All Nation Line kit of the box trailer car is starting to get shape. The facia boards were glued on and the door posts were glued in.

This box trailer will get operating doors and hence I fiddled to get two brass U-profiles glued in the right position to make the doors slide. Some wood had to be removed in order to lower the U-profiles in position.

Finally, the roof was shaped and it got a more rounded of appearance with the help of a file, a bit of sanding paper and some persistence.

Progress on the box trailer car

These rainy evenings are good for building the All Nation Line kit of the box trailer car. I read the instructions and the hints of other wooden kit builders on the web and decided to build the undercarriage first. So I started with cutting the wood of the undercarriage and glue the bolsters in place. Then I formed the end filler blocks and glued them on. Then the queen posts and brake cilinder were glued on with epoxy glue. I followed Dan's advise and did not use the brass wire for the truss rods but used Nylon 0,5 mm wire instead, which I glued to the backside with epoxy. Then the turnbuckles were glued on the centre of the wires.
Then it was time to turn the car around and assemble the top parts. Since the undercarriage width was about 3 mm short of what the drawings indicated that it should be and also compared to the size of the other parts, I decided to glue 1.5 mm wooden spacers between the undercarriage and the scribed wooden side panels. The same was done with the blocks on the front and back side of the car. Well, I am happy that it starts to look like a train car now.
The level of the brake rigging and the door handles is not very high and I thinking about fiddling around with some paper and wood to scratch build that a bit better. Then the question is, how did the brake system of such a interurban freight car look like?

MTH in a Dutch model train shop

The European model trains that MTH has announced in scale zero have been noticed in mainland Europe. The French golden arrow Chapelon engine was considered a great success by many, with perhaps a few issues, such as the tender-to-engine distance, but nevertheless a beauty. Now MTH claims to also produce a Bavarian steamer, a Swiss crocodile and a Traxx rectifier engine. The latter will be relative affordable in comparison to what the zero fine scalers are used to pay for their engines at Fulgurex, Lenz, Lemaco, Philotrain, etc. Also a matching gondola and tank car have been announced and the lot made a few heads turn. So, I was not too surprised when the news came out that a local hobby shop named Modeltreinexpress in Vlaardingen has announced to start dealing in MTH trains. Obviously, the far majority that is being announced are the European 2-rail models, but still it is a step in the good direction in my humble opinion. Let's hope that the supply delays will be dealt with and that these models will start to arrive in this shop. Although it is unlikely that this 3 railer will ever buy a 2 rail engine, I still like the fact that MTH is now being sold in a regular model train shop in the Netherlands.
The list of Dutch shops that have announced to start selling MTH in scale zero has grown; also Wentink hobby in Arnhem has placed MTH on their list. I understood that the first MTH Traxx engines in scale zero have arrived in the Netherlands. Good news, I would reacon.

Starting of with the All Nation line box trailer kit

About one and a half years ago, I purchased an All Nation Line kit #A-110 for a C&LE box trailer. Initially the kit appeared complete, but a closer inspection learned that one of the four scribed wood side panels lacked. The lines of the scribed wood are very fine and roughly only 2 millimeters apart. The side panels are 3 millimeter thick and since this is a standard size in balsa wood, I used a piece of 3 mm balsa wood and tried to engrave fine lines in the balsa with a sharp hobby knive. I could not reach the detail level required; the lines were not straight and 2 mm apart was difficult with 1 mm incisions. So, I left that idea and started with fine paper strips glued with wood glue on a 3 mm balsa panel. Well, that did work. I got a good replicate of a scribed wood panel. After painting the lot with tuscan brown the differences between the original and the self-made panel will be hard to spot. Some photo's show the progress with the task of glueing the fine paper stripes.

Now I can finally start building the kit. Because of the beautiful original American toy-train-lingo, I copied the text of the original instructions underneath.


Instructions for C&LE Box trailer
Kit # A-110
1. Glue filler blocks at end of floor.
2. Shape roof and floor ends as shown, nail and glue end blocks to same.
3. Cut out door openings in scribed sides and glue to car body.
4. Glue scribed wood to end of car.
5. Glue facia boards at eaves to car as shown.
6. Form tinplate and drill holes for nut and washer castings. Pin to car and attach nut and washer castings as shown.
7. Drill 3/16" brass I beam so that it can be pinned to car. Solder Queen posts to beam and attach to car. Add .032 wire for truss rods and solder turnbuckle in place. Glue wood bolsters in place at this time.
8. Make doors from 1/16" scribed wood. Glue doors in place or if you wish, you can make an operating door. Glue 1/8" quarter round to sides as shown in drawing. Threshold is made from 5/32" strip wood.
9. Attach all hardware, such as handgrabs, steps, brake wheel and etc. as shown.
10. Paint car and attach Arch Bar Trucks.

Fortunately for me, there are two helpful internet sites with hints and tips on how to build wooden train car kits. Dan clearly advises to start with the underfloor details: the bolsters, brake rig and queen posts and to use Nylon wire in stead of Brass wire for the truss rods. And George Riley of the Railroad model craftsman also advises to start with the undercarriage and seal the wooden parts.

Lionel 289E running

Although it was already late and the light conditions poor, I did try to make a small video to show the Lionel 289E engine running. One of the last issues I faced with this engine were the smooth and slippery drive wheels. On many 027 curves and slopes the wheels just spun hopelessly. Some friends advised me to roughen the wheels. I tried by scratching the wheels, but still they spun on the track. Then I applied a 3 mm wide strip of duck tape on both the rear drive wheels and that seems to do the job.

The new TCA-MG beer reefer

This week a beautiful beer reefer club car arrived, designed by the TCA member group and produced by Weaver model trains from Northhumberland PA. The beer brand is probably historic "Century beer made by the Schneider brewing company from Trinidad Colorado". The name of the brewing company suggests a traditional beer that is brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot and therefore is likely to be healthy.
Personally I like the pea-green colour, which is a truely old colour for an old reefer. The Weaver Alco FA-2 took it for a ride.

Lumber car

Autumn is well suited for trimming the trees and bushes in the garden. In my garden that yields substantial amounts of leaves and branches. Especially the oak, apricot and ahorn tree render nice straight side branches. I used some of them to fill the 50ft Weaver bulk head flat car. The bark was removed to speed the drying process up and reduce the chance of infestation. I will probably stain them a bit when they are fully dry.

Lionel 289E ready to shine

After three coats of Tamiya TS38 gun metal the Lionel 289E engine shell was ready and beautiful. The two side number plates were too rusted to mount back on, so I used replacements from George Tebolt. The front L-symbol was kept original and also the the driving rods were polished and kept original. They are a slightly corroded, but then this lady is from 1937. The two red classification lights also came from George Tebolt. It is the first time in seventy years that this grey lady wears her classification lights again and they do look good.
Now it is time to sit back and enjoy the grey grace and let her run. Welcome back!

Lionel 289E finally clean

The Lionel 289E is a heirloom item and so I waited a few years more than normal to remove the paint and get it repainted. The various paint layers where more difficult to remove than I previously had experienced. The top-layer was a hand-brushed thick layer of alkyd paint and underneath was the original gun-metal coating. I started with the conventional cooking pot method with old-fashioned near boiling soap-water. That removed most, but not all. Especially from the inside of the engine shell, hardly any paint was lost. People on internet-fora advised me not to sand-blast the item because of the fragile nature of die cast iron. So, I continued with carpet-glue-remover. This produced a thick gray gel of swollen paint that could be scraped off. Then I used the dremel and a brash brush attachment the remove the last paint residues. The cast iron shines and turns a bit dull in a few hours time. It behaves so different than tin-plate. Here is small picture of the shell ready for primer.

Veteranbanen

In the Eastern part of mainland Denmark runs an old steamer on old tracks. It is called veteranbanen (the veteran railroad) and runs between the villages of Bryrup and Vrads. The tracks run through a nice part of Denmark: lakes, hills and forest. On several days during the year a small steamer pulls the three wooden passenger-cars of an old motorised unit named Triangel back and forth between the two villages. The steamer runs very smooth and it is really a pleasure to make the trip.

S.T.A.R.

In the north of the Netherlands lies the longest stretch of rail that is being served by a museum railroad named S.T.A.R. short for Stadskanaal rail. One of the steam engines that runs most regularly is a Russified German steamer, the TE-5933. Built in 1943 in Germany and "left behind in Russia" and for some strange twist in history now in the north of the Netherlands. It is lovely restored and well running steamer and it was a joy to see it running.


It is a bit bizarre to see such a 'Russian' steamer in this part of the Netherlands with a long rooted communistic tradition. The red star kind of blend in nicely with the scenery. Fortunately that is all for the show now. This steam engine must have witnessed some of the blacker chapters of European recent history and that makes it even more bizarre to see it running by so smoothly.

Kusan gondola kit

Yesterday, a KMT (Kris Model Trains) electric train kit for a Reading gondola arrived. Although clearly branded as KMT, the producing company is still listed as Kusan-Auburn in Nashville (TN). It was KMT # 0305:1.69. Although the kit is not dated, I think it should be from the early sixties of last century. A special advertisement was added for an "Atomic Train", which dates it before the seventies and makes it completely non-European.
The artwork of the box and of the instruction sheet is nice to see and hence I have added them. A memory of an old toy train brand and the cold war time gone by, when "atomic" was considered positive.
The gondola itself is fairly dirty and will need a wash. Especially the plastic wheels have picked up a thick layer of black stuff that will need to be removed. The scale of the gondola car is also surprising: it is larger than the underscaled 027 gondola's of Lionel, but also smaller than the zero scale gondola's of Lionel. Also interesting is the fact that the kit box is too small to accommodate the assembled gondola. So, that makes me double lucky to have find a complete gondola car with the original box and paperware.

Lionel 259T finished

Well it took me 2 slow years, but I got it done. The Lionel 259T tender is finished and it is time for a test ride with the 259E engine. The tender was purchased in October 2007 and when it arrived the corroded nature was obvious. Additionally, the handrails and two journal boxes missed. I completed the disassembly, rust removal and painting process already a year ago, but I struggled with the handrails. I wanted a freestyle restoration project with some self made handrails. Initially I choose brass 2-3 mm diameter brass pipes to solder these into the handrails. But they turned out to be too sturdy and nearly impossible to assemble correctly through both holes. I understood late that some flexibility would yield a better solution. It took a while before I saw the linchpins lying about at home and I got the idea. I drilled 1 mm holes through the linchpins head and stuck 1 mm pre-bended brass wire through it, soldered it and polished it. Well I am happy to have finished a pre-war car again. There are still too many neglected toy train cars waiting for some attention and care and I not sure yet which one will be next.

Decapped MTH PCC Streetcar

A decapped MTH PCC streetcar was available locally for a sweet price. Since, this is unusual for MTH engines in Europe, I could not resist. The former owner wanted the cap only, to make his own Dutch 2-rail PCC streetcar. I tested the beheaded streetcar and all functions performed as they should do (bing bing and a lot of street car drivers small talk). Perhaps the battery is a bit low, so I will replace it with a freshly charged 9V Nimh. What to do with it? Hmmm. I still have the All Nation trailer box car kit, so it could be an idea to make an interurban traction engine out of it. A C&LE Red devil would be nice, with the only mishap that it did not pull trailers. Well, I will spend some time on finding an nice looking interurban engine that is suited.

A few weeks ago a nice looking Weaver NYRX reefer arrived here. Unfortunately the 702 coupler was broken. The reefer could move freely in the Weaver box and probably during rough handling it smashed into the sides and broke its coupler. The seller said that it sends me a replacement coupler, well probably by boat mail, so I glued the coupler for the time being.

Additionally, I finished painting my first railroad house. At first it was intended as a cover for some electrics, I think it worked out great. And it is good to have something finished again.

TCA MG Club car 2009 and a roof finished

The TCA-MG club car was late in 2009. But it did arrive in the holiday season and here is it. It is a brown cattle car with nice detail. The doors can not be opened. But then again who wants steers running loose on the layout. The high resolution print details are remarkable and in general more then I can observe myself with my glasses.
During the last months I spend most of my time glueing slates on the roof of the house that I am scratch building. It was a tedious and rewarding process. In the summer we bought a binder with plastic clamp rings. Basically, you put a whole bunch of papers in, it perforates the papers and presses a plastic clamp through. Since, you do not have to feed the perforator with a clamp and it yields more then 20 pieces of paper of roughly 2 x 7 mm (about 1 x 3 milli-inch) it is an easy way of getting lots of roof slates in one stroke. I used fairly thick brown cardboard to get more 3D-structure in the roof and personally, I like the result. The house is one step further to completion. Now, I still have to get drainage pipes, a veranda roof and start painting. Yes, the roof will need a slate grey colour as well, but that is for later concern. Several visitors told me that they liked the result, but that I should better focus on other restoring the many railroad cars that are still waiting. Well, honestly, I liked this monk work. Not so much that I will ever turn into a rivet counter, but it yields a positive feeling reward. What else do we want in this "crisus".

Hoppers

This week a really nice "Golden loaf" flour hopper arrived. So, it is time for a test ride and a line up with all the other hoppers. This PS-2 Weaver hopper was available local and for some reason most European zero-scale modellers still do not appreciate the quality of Weaver cars, so I got it for a bargain. And because hoppers seldomly ride single, it is nice to have it here.
On the web, there is even a photo of the original hopper and although the original was shaped a bit differently, I do not mind Weaver to have improved the overall appearrance. Furthermore, this hopper was the Weaver club car of 2008. So without being an official member, the hopper is here to stay.

MTH Camelback running

This weekend I succeeded in making some good shots from the new MTH Camelback. Moreover, I also managed to blow the whistle button this time. In order to prevent the fire alarm from kicking in, the total time smoking was kept minimal, nevertheless it did smoke!

MTH Camelback

Today, a beautiful present arrived: a MTH Camelback engine with Protosound 1, #30-1142-1 from Reading railroad. Just look at it. Soon you will be able to hear its puffing and chuffing as well. The battery was a bit low, so the engine is now powered in neutral to charge itself and meanwhile it blows off steam. The green classification lights are lit as well.
Camelbacks are truely American hazardous steam engines, a unique design in many ways.
I choose this engine, since it very close to scale, has the protosound options that also function with European (230 V, 50 Hz) current, is a Reading engine and negociates the curves of 027 layout without issues.
The engine was purchased at Grzyboski trains. Just want to thank them for their service, charging realistic shipping costs and friendly assistance.