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Elsewhere, folks are discussing small steeple cabs.  I figured that things are slow here today, so I will show you mine, and maybe a few other electric locomotives if this gets any response.  These are among the best IMP models - I know that is not saying much, but they are satisfactory for my purposes, and darn near free.

DSC02404Steeplecab trucksSteeplecab

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interesting. What are the drives?  Are they one of those early 50s food mixer-type things?

Stock IMP ones are as you colorfully describe - early 50s food mixer-type.  The trucks one the one are not stock IMP; probably an improvement. The white metal bearing blocks tend to not be in very good condition on these and prone to fragmenting....

Here are the Y1/FF2 Electrics.  I admit I am using the designations from memory . . .

The one on the left is Sunset - they did a superb job, except for only powering four axles.  Takes two of them to haul six of my Empire Builder cars.  The one on the right was cobbled together using castings from Stevenson Preservation Models.  How he finds the time to produce small production runs of such varied models baffles me - but it is a great thing for that part of the hobby that likes to build stuff.

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@mwb posted:

Here's one of my prizes from the Strasburg show several years ago; scratchbuilt from produce or lubricant can brass; remains of the label are on the inside.  After cleaning, tidying up the wiring, and straightening the poles, it runs nicely.

Warrior River Railway,eh? I have two boxcars lettered for the Rat River Railway; I can think of some interesting merger names!

Anyway, on to the real reason for this post. TBill Robbins built this box motor out of metal oil cans (remember them?) many years ago, the other side (no photos) is not painted and the brand of the oil (Esso? on this one) is visible:

100_5676

Here are two more of his creations; he did build with an assembly-line method; the box motor is mine, a friend owns the combine and somewhere I have a matching coach:

100_6181

One final comment; whatever brand of oil can that Bill used for the white box motor was what he used for all of his many builds.

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Last edited by PRRMP54

Please don't repeat my photos in your quotes.  I already post them too many times.

Here are a few GG1 photos - first, the awesome Sunset import (photos are mine):

New GG1 003New GG1 005

If one wanted a fairly accurate GG1, this and it's sister "rivets" would be a really good choice.  the only flaw I could find was that only four axles are powered, which is not good for 2-rail pulling.

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By the way, this photo was for a Lionel project involving deteriorating zinc castings.  The lower frame is the Wolfer/Duddy/Stevenson frame (still available) and the upper is the Lionel.  As far as I can tell, the Wolfer frame is the most accurate ever done in O Scale, and I would bet that includes Kohs.  Three of my GG1s are equipped with these frames, and only a couple have the earlier Alexander trucks.

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@bob2 posted:


If one wanted a fairly accurate GG1, this and it's sister "rivets" would be a really good choice. the only flaw I could find was that only four axles are powered, which is not good for 2-rail pulling.

Actually you just need to change the weight distribution.  I have four of these 2 rail Sunsets in regular use, and once you take care of that and unload the 4 wheel trucks they run and pull just fine.

Saying you need all six axles powered (meaning a  4-6-6-4) would imply a Northern, Hudson, Pacific, or even an Atlantic have pulling problems

Last edited by John Sethian
@bob2 posted:

As far as I can tell, the Wolfer frame is the most accurate ever done in O Scale, and I would bet that includes Kohs.

DSC02769

Suggest you take another look at those Kohs trucks (your photo repeated to allow an A-B comparison):

4530

The Kohs side frames are not just a single casting as in other models, but are an assembly of multiple components (including both an inner and outer sideframe) with hollow cavities to house all the suspension components.  Note the three springs, speed recorder, sanding lines, etc.  Just as the prototype.   

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Last edited by John Sethian

What a genuine treasure trove!  I need to go back and study those.

On the Kohs truck - I concede, but also offer that there are lots of add-ons for the Wolfer truck, including slack adjusters, speed cables, and the like.  I doubt those three springs are there, though, and these puppies are substantial, unlike a totally accurate hollow casting.   If we scale things down exactly, we wind up with beautiful, delicate, and very fragile models.  Case in point: say a box car has 1/8" steel plate siding.  1/8" in 1/4" scale is less than .003" - thinner than tin foil.

That, of course, is the problem with truly accurate locomotive beds, especially the cast type.  I use 1/4"x 5/8" brass bar, which is way more than twice the size of a truly scaled down frame.  But again, I concede.

Back to GG1s:

GG1 003GG1 002

Top is what I believe to be a "Baldwin" GG1.  I finished and painted it, but it is essentially the actual kit, except for the pans.

Lower is a bronze Duddy casting, mounted on Wolfer trucks, again without the supplied slack adjusters and speed cables.  Pans are imports, which are a lot better looking than the lost wax kind on "Baldwin" up there.

For Martin, the larger pans are roughly 4" when retracted.  I have a spare set of smaller ones, which I still need to measure - I think they are under 3 1/2"

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