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I just scored a Lionel Pedestrian Walk Over, Silver in color, and need to make modifications to it.
In my layout, I only need, and have room for, one stairway at each end.
one side will go to one direction, and the other side will go the opposite direction.

This means that I need to cut off the unneeded stairways, and I am looking for any pointers. on how to go about doing this, from those of you who may have modified these in the past.

My plan, at the moment, is as follows:
1. Use my Dremel tool with a cut off disk to remove the unneeded stairways:
-   A. Remove the railings right at the columns at the landings.
-   B. Remove the steps up to the landing, but leaving the entire landing intact.
2. Cut out the straight sections of railing, at the landings, of the removed stairways.
3. Fit them into the open sides, of the remaining stairways.
-   NOTE: Not sure that these cut outs are long enough to fill the open area between the columns.
4. Glue these pieces into place.

Any comments regarding this plan would be most welcome.
Mostly, I am curious as to what type of glue to use.
I have considered using airplane glue, but I have tried that on one of my model railroad buildings, and it did not weld the parts together as it would for the styrene parts of a model car or airplane.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions with this,
Roger

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@Artie-DL&W posted:

Hi Roger, for plastic models, I use “Same Stuff” from Micro-Mark, which is similar to Tanex 7R,  or ACC, like Zap-a-Gap. If I don’t want an instant bond, I use Testor’s.
Artie

Are the Lionel walk overs made of Styrene?

Do Tanex 7R,  or ACC, like Zap-a-Gap provide an instant bond?

I believe that Testor's is what I referred to as airplane glue.
The type of glue that welds styrene parts together.
Is that correct?

Last edited by RWL

Yes, the thin liquid cements form a fast bond on almost all plastics. When I hear “airplane glue”, I think of the older, thick cement that comes in a tube. The Testor’s that I mentioned is a clear thin cement, just not as fast-acting. I like to use that to assemble building walls that can be clamped together with clamps, weights, or rubber bands until dry. The others just require a touch of a small brush to the parts held together, and the glue penetrates the joint, and “welds” them by partially melting the plastic.

@Artie-DL&W posted:

Yes, the thin liquid cements form a fast bond on almost all plastics. When I hear “airplane glue”, I think of the older, thick cement that comes in a tube. The Testor’s that I mentioned is a clear thin cement, just not as fast-acting. I like to use that to assemble building walls that can be clamped together with clamps, weights, or rubber bands until dry. The others just require a touch of a small brush to the parts held together, and the glue penetrates the joint, and “welds” them by partially melting the plastic.

Thanks for the clarification.

I cut two of them down to work on my depot. We have a 4 track main and needed to span two sets of tracks each. I cut the one side off as it was too big to have both sides of the stairs. I had an Atlas O pedestrian walkover that had warped so I was able to cut out fence pieces from it to block the open side. I also notched them out so I can fit the two together using just one center staircase.

I want to paint them but I can't decide on rusty red or green.

Still might use the Atlas pieces to put legs under the middle landings.

Here are some pics so you can see what I am talking about better.

Depot and walkover at Temple 2018 croppedDown by the depot - TempleDepot and bridge at Temple 2Depot and bridge at Temple

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Images (4)
  • Depot and walkover at Temple 2018 cropped
  • Down by the depot - Temple
  • Depot and bridge at Temple 2
  • Depot and bridge at Temple

I cut two of them down to work on my depot. We have a 4 track main and needed to span two sets of tracks each. I cut the one side off as it was too big to have both sides of the stairs. I had an Atlas O pedestrian walkover that had warped so I was able to cut out fence pieces from it to block the open side. I also notched them out so I can fit the two together using just one center staircase.

I want to paint them but I can't decide on rusty red or green.

Still might use the Atlas pieces to put legs under the middle landings.

Here are some pics so you can see what I am talking about better.



Very clever way to get those in and across all of those tracks.
That looks awesome.

Last edited by RWL

My Glowforge 45w laser cutter.

Acrylic is nice because the color is uniform and it does not need painting. OR IT COULD be cut in MDF like material but that would require painting.

The stairs could be laser cut  as well but a lot of work making the treads so the stairs  would be done on a 3D laser printer.



Need dimensions,  no cost to you.  You would be building them.

Not that he needs my defense but, first, I think that AlanNH was simply showing examples of how the walkway could be modified using laser printed stairways and to show the OP examples of the quality of his work, if the OP was interested.

Second, have we got to the point on the Forum where, when someone posts a question, that alternative (and potentially better) solutions can't be mentioned ?

I was not saying other options are bad. I was just trying to steer things back to the original question asked by the author of the post. It seemed to me that his basic questions had gotten lost in the weeds.

Design and build from scratch are great but sometimes you have to work with what ya got.

So...

I did mine about 10 years ago so just going from memory.

I used a dremel for cutting the base. I used a fine tooth coping saw to cut the fence sections out and then a fine file for smoothing things out.

I then used CA glue to glue in the sections used from the Atlas crossover.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Happy Railroading! Trains are supposed to be fun!

Last edited by Texas Eagle 77

I was not saying other options are bad. I was just trying to steer things back to the original question asked by the author of the post. It seemed to me that his basic questions had gotten lost in the weeds.

Design and build from scratch are great but sometimes you have to work with what ya got.

So...

I did mine about 10 years ago so just going from memory.

I used a dremel for cutting the base. I used a fine tooth coping saw to cut the fence sections out and then a fine file for smoothing things out.

I then used CA glue to glue in the sections used from the Atlas crossover.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Happy Railroading! Trains are supposed to be fun!

Thanks, that is very helpful.

Tom



give me some dimensions and I'll make you the escalator(s) {you need at least two; one up and one down]

I will  lasercut the clear sides, the black hand rail and 3D resin print the stairs.; I need floor to floor dimensions and the overall stair opening width.

The parts for each stair; 2- sides, 2-handrails and the stair; The stair with have grooves for sides to fit; paint the stair silver before assembly, remove the protective paper after gluing; snap on the handrails; insert in to stair opening.



let me know by email.



Alan

@AlanRail posted:

Tom



give me some dimensions and I'll make you the escalator(s) {you need at least two; one up and one down]

I will  lasercut the clear sides, the black hand rail and 3D resin print the stairs.; I need floor to floor dimensions and the overall stair opening width.

The parts for each stair; 2- sides, 2-handrails and the stair; The stair with have grooves for sides to fit; paint the stair silver before assembly, remove the protective paper after gluing; snap on the handrails; insert in to stair opening.



let me know by email.



Alan

Thank you very much for the offer, but I already have a cross over that I am going to modify.

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