Some of you may remember that in exchange for a gifted LV MTH crane car, I took on the task of converting a Lionel Santa Fe tugboat to the Edna-G, a steam powered tugboat owned by the DM&IRR. PS: the steam tug is in pristine condition and afloat in Two Harbors, MN . The conversion is nearing completion but awaiting some miner detail additions and decals. It has been a fun project. Hoping soon to get back to the layout!
Cheers, Dave
A friend of mine gave me his Santa Fe 2-8-8-2 Lionel 6-38030. A bracket broke off the engine frame (die cast) which I then repaired with JP Weld and added a brass support. All is good. But going through the engine, I found that the center rollers were gummed up and would not move, fixed 'em.
All the driving wheels were sticky and needed cleaning and oil. Same for the gear boxes. The head light did not work and the steam generator was loose and bent out of shape. Again, all fixed up. So now it runs good but I might need to do some more adjustments on the rear driver - the front driver turns smoothly.
Next up is a Milwaukee Road Legacy 4-8-4, 6-11229. Not much to do with this one, the engine works and it runs very smooth. So just oiled and greased. Only issue is with the sound system. Can not get any Legacy features to work. No bell, whistle, crew talk, chuffing, etc. I do hear the sound of a pump at start-up. However, when I place the tender with another Legacy engine, all the features work. I wonder if maybe something to do with the IR connection on the engine?
RAY
Pulled an engine off the shelf today that needed work. It's a Lionel MPC era (I think) Deleware and Hudson RS-3. Base model with the motors in the trucks. It has a really bad horn too.
I had re-wired the motors in series a while back and couldn't get the engine to run. I hit the proverbial wall with it so before the engine hit the actual wall....I closed it up to live to see another day.
So I pulled it apart today and started dissecting the wiring. I had a dead short across the power side so I went to the beginning and worked my way up. Dropped a truck and found the problem immediately. The motor leads and power leads are reversed from what I expected. The trucks have 4 wires, red, black, blue, yellow. Typically for all engines I've done before, red/ black are power, and blue/ yellow are the motor.
Well leave it to Lionel to reverse the pairs.......
So with that sorted out, I corrected the splices and put the engine back together. Quite a mess of wire for such a basic engine.
Runs reasonably slow at 8v for a conventional engine.
Bob
Very nice Job on the RS-3 Bob! The D&H paint scheme looks great on any diesel.
@RSJB18 Nice clean wiring job! Big fan of the D&H
Making bridge supports out of ceiling tiles. First two are larger, next 4 are thinner.
@coach joe posted:Moving one or more of those fish fry deals ought to slow her down some. Then again that could trigger some more tendinitis.
........and the Lenten Fish Fry Dinners begin this week Joe 
( If the CEO develops tendinitis again I'll have to suffer and carry the load of steam engines )
@Mark Boyce posted:Very nice Job on the RS-3 Bob! The D&H paint scheme looks great on any diesel.
@T-Bone1214 posted:@RSJB18 Nice clean wiring job! Big fan of the D&H
Thanks guys.
The D&H is a favorite of mine too.
Bob
Bob, could that RS-3 be LTI? I thought the RS-3 was newer production than MPC.
Fish Fry is on so I'll be on the forum Saturday for sure.
@coach joe posted:Bob, could that RS-3 be LTI? I thought the RS-3 was newer production than MPC.
Probably is Joe. It came in the black and white box, not the red MPC era. After I wrote my post it occurred to me that MPC engines had pullmore motors and mechanical e-units.
Bob
Nice job on the RS-3 Bob! I'm a kid that grew up with MPC. The RS-3s came out in the late '80s, LTI for sure. If it's a keeper, you could also think about lowering the fuel tank by inserting a block of wood or styrene between the tank and the chassis, painted to match. A friend did that to my brother's RS-3, and it improved the appearance as much as series wiring improved the operation!
@RSJB18 posted:Pulled an engine off the shelf today that needed work. It's a Lionel MPC era (I think) Deleware and Hudson RS-3. Base model with the motors in the trucks. It has a really bad horn too.
I had re-wired the motors in series a while back and couldn't get the engine to run. I hit the proverbial wall with it so before the engine hit the actual wall....I closed it up to live to see another day.
So I pulled it apart today and started dissecting the wiring. I had a dead short across the power side so I went to the beginning and worked my way up. Dropped a truck and found the problem immediately. The motor leads and power leads are reversed from what I expected. The trucks have 4 wires, red, black, blue, yellow. Typically for all engines I've done before, red/ black are power, and blue/ yellow are the motor.
Well leave it to Lionel to reverse the pairs.......
So with that sorted out, I corrected the splices and put the engine back together. Quite a mess of wire for such a basic engine.
Runs reasonably slow at 8v for a conventional engine.
Bob
As usual, excellent problem solving Bob. Thank for sharing your experience because it provides insights for the rest of us to look at things differently. That’s an ability that is very unique. Reward yourself with a malted beverage.
Jay
Bob, Had a similar problem with my MTH E6. Would startup but any movement would create sparks flying at the lead truck pickup. Thought there might be a loose wire. Ended up rotating the power pickup lead 45 degrees to increase the clearance from the frame common lead. Very little gap between the two as wired but at least the wiring was correct.
@franktrain posted:Working on rewiring American Flyer wide gauge motors. The biggest problem are the wheels especially when removing without distorting them.
Great job, I am working on an American Flyer 1218, very similar design, but no screws to splat the case.
I normally wouldn't post the addition of a single detail to engine here but I wanted to add Lionel 8041-T13 water scoops to my fleet of NYC Hudsons and a sole Pacific I have. I had added one to a MTH Rail King Mohawk that I converted from ATSF to NYC and it was pretty straight forward and relatively easy, add some double sided Gorilla tape position between the tender trucks and apply some pressure. Slotted to get the scoops, a Lionel 785 Hudson, a MTH Rail King Commodore Vanderbilt, A MTH Rail King Empire State Express, a K-Line Dreyfuss 20th Century Limited and a K-Line 3010 4-6-2. I had forgotten about the locating tabs on the scoop so they had to be filed off and paint needed touchup. For one scoop no big deal, for 5, that's a lot of cleaning the file. So 5 scoops filed, painted, taped and ready to be applied. The 785 and the K-line Dreyfuss, no problems. The K-line 4-6-2 not so much. Being a much shorter tender and having openings for the air whistle the base of the water scoop was too long and would cover part of the whistle openings so one scoop would need surgery. So on to the two MTH Rail King models. The ESE installation was straight forward, however I'm so glad I did a test fit on each tender before applying the Gorilla tape. The trucks of the CV tender were hitting the base of the scoop limiting the turning radius of each truck. A second surgery candidate.
Out to the garage for Dremel work and magnification lamp because I didn't want to get into the scoop itself. The first one took several cut-off wheels because I snapped some re-entering my cut or changing the angle of attack. Smoothing and rounding edgers was done with a flat grinding bit. The second scoop must have been from a different batch made with a different alloy. Material would accumulate on cut-off wheels as if the alloy was melting, even when using a slower s speed resulting in changing cut-off wheels frequently. When the flat grinding wheel was used for final smoothing and rounding it was quickly clogged and final smoothing was done with a coarser cylindrical grinding wheel. Finally the last two scoops were ready for paint and application.
The as purchased water scoop attached to the K-Line Dreyfus and the shortened base needed for the Pacific.
You can see how much shorter the base had to be.
As can bee seen in the following pictures the two MTH Rail King Hudson tenders were dramatically different. The Commodore Vanderbilt tender appears more massive then the similar 6 axle Empire State Express tender it is 1/4" wider and it is taller. The trucks are longer than the ESE trucks, the side frames are thicker and the leading truck is set back further than the ESE's leading trucks decreasing the space between trucks for the water scoop. This differences would be understandable if these were from different mfrs but from the same manufacturer and the same trim line was totally unexpected.
Looks great Joe! I can feel your pain when it comes to doing more than 1 or 2 cars. I know when I have a new layout up I will have about 6-7 Amtrak cats to work on the couplers!
Like anything else, it not the time, its deciding to allocate the time to do something. While I am sure this will got through several iterations, I wanted to make a dual track tunnel portal for a portion of the layout which will be very visible and a spot for photos and videos.
This is a first iteration of the portal cut out of 2 inch foam. I used a couple of different methods for scribing the stone blocks - a fine tip soldering iron on low heat and a sharp razor - each has its +/- .
At the far right I wanted to have a column type seam to cover the joint and allow for the removal of the arched sides which provide track access.
I had several cast urethane walls and columns but none close to the 10 inch height I needed for the area. In addition the fellow who made these columns and walls shut down during covid. So what the heck, I tried my hand at making a latex mold for a suitably tall column. The mold master is two sections glued together. The finished mold is 8 layers of heavy latex molding rubber with 2 layers of cheese cloth added to strengthen the mold. That took about 3 days to build accounting for drying time. The as cast column is modeling plaster - raw unfinished. The mold held up nicely when removing the casting. Now for finishing the plaster casting. The copy is not 100% but is way better than I could do by hand. Stone relief is deeper than it appears.
Jeff that looks great and I would have never thought of making my own mold! I have been throwing around the idea of buying a 3D printer and have been studying them all day! I first thought I wanted one type now I have changed my mind 3 times! LOL
I think I have settled on the Bambu Lab A1 3D printer combo. It looks easy to set up and easy enough for someone like me to operate! LOL
I was thinking the same thing for a retaining wall I have. Could you make multiple columns with that rubber mold?
Next run of the UP Trackside Warehouse, this time the 3-story version. Had put out an APB about the run and asked for any preferences of overall length. With no replies we went with two at 12", two at 24" and one at 36". They are primed now and ready for cast stone color tomorrow.
@mike g. As long as you have a object you want to replicate creating a mold is relatively easy. In this case since the guy was out of business I thought I would be fine to use his column as a template. Keep looking at 3d printers. I keep looking but since I never learned any CAD well enough I did not think it was a reasonable buy. But need to keep on learning to keep the grey matter functioning - so maybe.
@TrainWatcher The mold released the casting in great shape. I do not know how many you could get out of one, but at this point I could see making at least 10 with no issues. I presume the details would gradually be lost over multiple castings. I have heard the latex molds age so that after 6 to 12 months of storage they can get brittle, then you are done.
@ScoutingDad posted:@mike g. As long as you have a object you want to replicate creating a mold is relatively easy. In this case since the guy was out of business I thought I would be fine to use his column as a template. Keep looking at 3d printers. I keep looking but since I never learned any CAD well enough I did not think it was a reasonable buy. But need to keep on learning to keep the grey matter functioning - so maybe.
@TrainWatcher The mold released the casting in great shape. I do not know how many you could get out of one, but at this point I could see making at least 10 with no issues. I presume the details would gradually be lost over multiple castings. I have heard the latex molds age so that after 6 to 12 months of storage they can get brittle, then you are done.
Jeff thank you sir! I did cad back in high school and that was it. But looking around there are plenty of places to get free plans for printing things. They even have a 3D library here on OGR that I think would have most of what a person would need to print for a layout. I also learned today that there are people out there willing to do the hard work around the world for around $5 and up. Once you pay for the file its yours to do whatever you want with it!
We used to make molds using liquid latex as kids, then plaster to make the object.
Smooth On has dozen of mold making compounds and just as many resins to fill those molds. Resolution is nearly perfect to the original. And than can make dozens of reproductions.
Pete
I have a target signal that stopped working. Before I pulled it out I wanted to check for loose wiring under the table.
So I put my Blink camera on the layout. With everything powered up I sat under the table checking for loose connections. As I pressed on each connection I looked at the camera view from my phone to see if the target lit up.
Alas no luck so I will put in a new target signal.
Blink camera facing the block target.
View from my phone under the layout.
Good idea to be in two places at once!
@mike g. posted:Jeff thank you sir! I did cad back in high school and that was it. But looking around there are plenty of places to get free plans for printing things. They even have a 3D library here on OGR that I think would have most of what a person would need to print for a layout. I also learned today that there are people out there willing to do the hard work around the world for around $5 and up. Once you pay for the file its yours to do whatever you want with it!
Mike, you learned some CAD in High School!!! 
We didn't even have any computer classes and we learned to type on manual typewriters! I must be older than I thought!! While the above is true, I'll stop poking fun and get on a serious note. I would go for the OGR and other libraries and forgo trying to learn CAD at this point.
@Norton posted:We used to make molds using liquid latex as kids, then plaster to make the object.
Smooth On has dozen of mold making compounds and just as many resins to fill those molds. Resolution is nearly perfect to the original. And than can make dozens of reproductions.
Pete
Pete, SmoothOn is who our artist daughter has used when buying mold compounds. She discussed it almost ad nauseum on trips back and forth to college. I don't remember why, but she tried to mix dissimilar products for molds or the parts she was pouring. Now it's been 10 years since she was using what is now my train room as her mad scientist laboratory! 
Oh, I almost forgot to compliment Jeff @ScoutingDad for the nice job on the portal and the column made from your mold. Your first attempts are looking good!
The CB&Q built 60 of this type baggage car in their Havelock shops. #990-1009 were assigned to Zephyr service and were painted aluminum. The other 40 cars were dark green.
This car was part of an MTH two car (RPO and baggage) set with beautiful paint and details. The boxes are long-gone so I do not know the set number.
I am boxing up a lot of cars to sell in the upcoming Grapevine Train-a-Palooza show, and this car was supposed to be included…the RPO will be for sale, but this baggage car is just too nice to let go. It was originally AT&SF and was part of a very nice Fast Mail train. The Fast Mail is leaving to make room for all the Ft Worth & Denver projects I have going.
Off the workbench and back home with the owner is the Santa Fe Lionel tugboat I converted to the EDNA G.
Built in 1896 by the Cleveland Ship Building Company, the EDNA G. was the last steam driven tugboat in operation on the Great Lakes when it was retired in 1981. She currently is owned by the City of Two Harbors and is moored in the harbor.
Named after the daughter, Edna Greatsinger, of the President of the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad, this tugboat is still in operating condition. Operating with a crew of four, the EDNA G. was used around the clock to help bring boats to the ore docks, move boats around from dock to dock and to assist in life saving efforts. Since the early ore docks were constructed of wood, a water gun was mounted on the upper back deck to fight fires.
The boat is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The EDNA G. resting in Two Harbors - June 1, 2017. Picture taken by my friend. He is also the one who requested the repaint.
The conversion was a promise to him in exchange for a LV MTH Big Hook rail car which I recently converted to the DM&IR Big Hooke - 7. Both were fun project!
It came in the box as a Lionel Santa Fe Tugboat and went home as the EDNA G.
Cheers, Dave
The Edna G. Looks great, Dave. Thank you for the history.
Over the last couple of months I finished assembling the White Tower restaurant kit from Twin Whistle Sign & Kit Company and detailed it with gooseneck lamps and an LED interior light from Woodland Scenics. My local hobby shop helped me solve the "light leak" problem in the tower by gluing a piece of black styrene to the underside of the tower's roof piece. Here's a "night photo" I took on my workbench during the kit's assembly.
I furnished the interior with the items that Twin Whistle included with the kit as well as additional items purchased on Etsy, namely a bar and stools, two tables and stools and a commercial stove. The people came from Woodland Scenics except the cook, waiter and waitress that were purchased from Model Tech Studios. Here's how the interior looked before I installed the building's shell over it.
Here are some up close photos after I completed assembling everything.
Memo to model railroad manufacturers:
Pat, your White Tower looks great inside and out. The interior details make me want to stop in for a burger and shake!
Wrapping up my PS/2 Test-Set project. 
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Wrapping up my PS/2 Test-Set project.
Hello gunrunnerjohn,
Sounds interesting - is it for testing/troubleshooting PS2/3 electronics?
@FortyFivePalms posted:Sounds interesting - is it for testing/troubleshooting PS2/3 electronics?
Yep, you can see it all here. With the unavailability of the factory test-sets, I decided to see if I could fill the void.
@Donnie Kennedy posted:Thanks to the assistance of the great @RSJB18 I found a better fuel tank from a Lionel nw-2 that fit perfectly on my k-line mp-15. Part provided by Trainz.
It takes a Village.......Happy to help out.
A really great looking PW GG 1 number 2460. A friend passed, this was in their attic for who knows how long. His wife asked me to help dispose of it. Lubed and placed on track, it dragged itself along. One motor wasn't turning. Reset it in the mount, there was no grease of any kind. Now it runs but the offending motor requires a few more volts before it starts turning. Got sick so left it alone, will go back to it this weekend.
More GARX insulated boxcars.
Upgraded my MTH PS1 SP AC-6 to PS2. Detailing consisted of blackening the cut bar, handrails and drivers. Also added real glass to the front windows, swapped out the red class lights for green and added lenses to the housings.
Pete
@Norton posted:Upgraded my MTH PS1 SP AC-6 to PS2. Detailing consisted of blackening the cut bar, handrails and drivers. Also added real glass to the front windows, swapped out the red class lights for green and added lenses to the housings.
Pete
WOW...I'm a diesel guy but that loco is gorgeous! Nice work!
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