TheRustyScupper
Everyone Is Responsible For Everyone.
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COLOR ME IMPRESSED !!!
The DIS Campers Train Thread: From Model Trains Up To The Real Thing
- Thread starter bama_ed
- Start date
team bradfield
Happy Campers
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Not sure if this counts, but it's one of my favorites
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
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bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
- 13,530
Finally got a Christmas poster from DS#1 into a frame. Will hang it in the attic tomorrow with my layout.
The poster is a drawing of the Ps4 Pacific locomotives (4-6-2 wheel arrangements) that hauled the Crescent Limited between New York and New Orleans during the Southern Railway's glory years for passenger service (late 1920s-early 1940s) with their heavyweight Pullman car class.
The poster is special because I have that locomotive and several Pullman cars (coach, observation, diner, combine, Rolling Post Office [RPO], Pullman sleepers) and am only lacking the heavyweight baggage car) that was offered by Aristocraft.
My Pacific locomotive.
Its tender.
And a heavyweight combine car as an example.
Southern was the dominant railroad in my area (also a strong L &N presence) and one of the railroads that Southern bought up, the Alabama Great Southern, which ran from Chattanooga down to Meridian, was the first railroad to come to Title Town where I live in 1873.
Also to add to this thread, I have the framed photo given to me by our dear departed DIS friend, Chris Bowman (@PaHunter) as a gift at the 2020 DISMeet at Fort Wilderness that I chaired. For those that didn't know Chris, photography was a serious hobby for him and he would take hundreds of photos on a Disney or DISMeet trip in high detail (huge digital files). This is his photo of the WDW Railroad locomotive #4, the Roy O. Disney, at the new Fantasyland train station.
At the bottom of the photo is a pin for this locomotive that says "Roy O. Disney" on top and "1916 Baldwin" (the company who made the loco and the year) on bottom. The pin was given to me by @TheRustyScupper .
Can't wait to hang the poster tomorrow. Will pull out the Pacific and the heavyweights for a few circuits around the track.
Bama Ed
PS - the "Ps4" designation referred to the version of the stock Pacific that Southern bought - the extra option package, if you will. Other railroads bought other option packages like the K4 on the Pennsy. If you look at the front of my model loco Pacific (stock version), it does not have the green can over the nose that runs side to side, for example that the front of the loco in the poster does.
More on the Crescent Limited train during its glory days (with photos) here:
http://www.trainweb.org/fredatsf/crescent.htm
And a longer history across its entire timeline:
http://www.hosam.com/srr/clhist.html
If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the trainweb link, you can see the poster in my first pic that I referred DS#1 to on Amazon (24"x36" size), thank-you-very-much.
The poster is a drawing of the Ps4 Pacific locomotives (4-6-2 wheel arrangements) that hauled the Crescent Limited between New York and New Orleans during the Southern Railway's glory years for passenger service (late 1920s-early 1940s) with their heavyweight Pullman car class.
The poster is special because I have that locomotive and several Pullman cars (coach, observation, diner, combine, Rolling Post Office [RPO], Pullman sleepers) and am only lacking the heavyweight baggage car) that was offered by Aristocraft.
My Pacific locomotive.
Its tender.
And a heavyweight combine car as an example.
Southern was the dominant railroad in my area (also a strong L &N presence) and one of the railroads that Southern bought up, the Alabama Great Southern, which ran from Chattanooga down to Meridian, was the first railroad to come to Title Town where I live in 1873.
Also to add to this thread, I have the framed photo given to me by our dear departed DIS friend, Chris Bowman (@PaHunter) as a gift at the 2020 DISMeet at Fort Wilderness that I chaired. For those that didn't know Chris, photography was a serious hobby for him and he would take hundreds of photos on a Disney or DISMeet trip in high detail (huge digital files). This is his photo of the WDW Railroad locomotive #4, the Roy O. Disney, at the new Fantasyland train station.
At the bottom of the photo is a pin for this locomotive that says "Roy O. Disney" on top and "1916 Baldwin" (the company who made the loco and the year) on bottom. The pin was given to me by @TheRustyScupper .
Can't wait to hang the poster tomorrow. Will pull out the Pacific and the heavyweights for a few circuits around the track.
Bama Ed
PS - the "Ps4" designation referred to the version of the stock Pacific that Southern bought - the extra option package, if you will. Other railroads bought other option packages like the K4 on the Pennsy. If you look at the front of my model loco Pacific (stock version), it does not have the green can over the nose that runs side to side, for example that the front of the loco in the poster does.
More on the Crescent Limited train during its glory days (with photos) here:
http://www.trainweb.org/fredatsf/crescent.htm
And a longer history across its entire timeline:
http://www.hosam.com/srr/clhist.html
If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the trainweb link, you can see the poster in my first pic that I referred DS#1 to on Amazon (24"x36" size), thank-you-very-much.
Last edited:
Stratman50th
Loving all things Fort Wilderness!
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Love the posters and photo Ed! Ok, love the train too! I'm a passenger train guy more than freight.
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
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Here is a YT video from The Roaming Railfan on the Orlando/Cocoa East/West line for January and February 2024 which was when DW and I rode the line to WPB and back (12 minutes long). I followed his videos as this line was built.
Also of interest to me during the last few months was his video of the Aerial Overview of the Brightline West Route (Los Angeles area to Las Vegas) 22 minutes long.
Bama Ed
Also of interest to me during the last few months was his video of the Aerial Overview of the Brightline West Route (Los Angeles area to Las Vegas) 22 minutes long.
Bama Ed
Stratman50th
Loving all things Fort Wilderness!
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Latest puzzle..
Stratman50th
Loving all things Fort Wilderness!
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I did most of the locos. And I left the last piece out for her to place like I always do. There are quite a few she does by herself as I'm not interested in the subject matter.
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
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I am copying a post from my Cactus League MLB Spring Training Trip Report from February 2024 from a visit we made to a local train museum in the Phoenix area.
--------------------------------------------
Oh boy. Our last full day in Arizona was jam packed with fun and activity.
After attending morning mass and Stations of the Cross (a Lenten Friday tradition), we went back to the rv park to take down and pack up as much as we could in advance of our departure the next morning. The EZ up, for example. Breaking down the dinette and overhead storage rack. Then I cooked our "dinner for lunch" (since we would be at the 6pm Dodgers game at dinner time) with some pan fried tilapia in bread crumbs, chicken flavored rice, and canned peaches. The fish was excellent.
Then early in the afternoon, we headed ALL the way across downtown Phoenix (full speed Formula 1 training) for our one little bit of local sightseeing.
I want to thank @DL1WDW2 for the suggestion in our TRAIN Thread on this Camping Community Board: we went to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park (actually in Scottsdale, AZ as a division of their city park system).
https://www.therailroadpark.com/
It has a carousel, a miniature (5:12) railroad with sit-on cars to ride in, three local historical depots that were relocated to this park, several old heavyweight baggage and passenger cars to walk through, extensive picnic pavilions, a large model railroad building, a steam loco set, and more. It was excellent at what it set out to do.
When you exit your car in the parking lot, you see engine #106 and tender from the old (real) Magma Arizona Railroad.
And the office/gift shop/ticket window location which serves as a starting point.
It only costs $3 per person (adult) to ride the carousel and same price for the mini sit-on train, the Paradise & Pacific Railroad (Paradise Valley is the town next to ritzy Scottsdale which has a 'Beverly Hills' feel about it). Everything else was free.
We rode the carousel first (it played Disney songs from Mary Poppins, Toy Story, and Lion King).
Then we went over to the ride-on which was pulled by a green diesel today.
We waited for it to pull in with its riders from the trip before ours.
And then into the station to unload them and load us.
ALL ABOARD!
And of we go (I was so excited
).
Past a scale Western Town over in the picnic pavilion area.
Let's roll to the next post.
Bama Ed
--------------------------------------------
Oh boy. Our last full day in Arizona was jam packed with fun and activity.
After attending morning mass and Stations of the Cross (a Lenten Friday tradition), we went back to the rv park to take down and pack up as much as we could in advance of our departure the next morning. The EZ up, for example. Breaking down the dinette and overhead storage rack. Then I cooked our "dinner for lunch" (since we would be at the 6pm Dodgers game at dinner time) with some pan fried tilapia in bread crumbs, chicken flavored rice, and canned peaches. The fish was excellent.
Then early in the afternoon, we headed ALL the way across downtown Phoenix (full speed Formula 1 training) for our one little bit of local sightseeing.
I want to thank @DL1WDW2 for the suggestion in our TRAIN Thread on this Camping Community Board: we went to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park (actually in Scottsdale, AZ as a division of their city park system).
https://www.therailroadpark.com/
It has a carousel, a miniature (5:12) railroad with sit-on cars to ride in, three local historical depots that were relocated to this park, several old heavyweight baggage and passenger cars to walk through, extensive picnic pavilions, a large model railroad building, a steam loco set, and more. It was excellent at what it set out to do.
When you exit your car in the parking lot, you see engine #106 and tender from the old (real) Magma Arizona Railroad.
And the office/gift shop/ticket window location which serves as a starting point.
It only costs $3 per person (adult) to ride the carousel and same price for the mini sit-on train, the Paradise & Pacific Railroad (Paradise Valley is the town next to ritzy Scottsdale which has a 'Beverly Hills' feel about it). Everything else was free.
We rode the carousel first (it played Disney songs from Mary Poppins, Toy Story, and Lion King).
Then we went over to the ride-on which was pulled by a green diesel today.
We waited for it to pull in with its riders from the trip before ours.
And then into the station to unload them and load us.
ALL ABOARD!
And of we go (I was so excited
).Past a scale Western Town over in the picnic pavilion area.
Let's roll to the next post.
Bama Ed
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
- 13,530
I am copying another post from my Cactus League MLB Spring Training Trip Report from February 2024 from a visit we made to a local train museum in the Phoenix area.
--------------------------------------------
McCormick-Stillman has tracks available for the Live Steamers Club (sadly nothing happening there today). Those are big toys for big boys (1:8 scale). See the Photos/Videos page on their website.
http://www.scottsdalelivesteamers.com/home.html
Riding back to the Paradise & Pacific Station.
And into the station.
After walking through the small Scottsdale Railroad Museum and an old Santa Fe RR heavyweight baggage car and Pullman car, we went into the Model Railroad building. It has YUGE layouts of HO, O, and N scale trains, display cases for the Live Steamers and Z scale (there are separate clubs for these scales that use the park facility) and a G scale display in the entrance area overhead (no club
- that's my scale).
G Scale overhead.
A look at the three big layouts O, HO, N:
I have lots of close-ups but I'll spare you those. This sign, though, I wholeheartedly agree with.
Cool diorama on the far end of the display room.
Also one cool piece of history was the Arizona box car from the Merci Train.
Short story is France was struggling in 1947 to recover after WWII. An American reporter organized Freedom Train(s) that traveled from the West Coast to the East Coast collecting supplies for the French (and Italians). More than 700 box cars of goods were put on cargo ships to cross the Atlantic.
The Italians showed their thanks by sending 3 statues to the United States. The French showed their thanks by sending 49 surplus WWI box cars loaded with typically French goods to each state in the Union (at the time). This Arizona car has been restored and is on covered outdoors display. (The Alabama car is at the North Alabama Railroad Museum in Huntsville).
Go see this Railroad Park if you are in the area.
Bama Ed
--------------------------------------------
McCormick-Stillman has tracks available for the Live Steamers Club (sadly nothing happening there today). Those are big toys for big boys (1:8 scale). See the Photos/Videos page on their website.
http://www.scottsdalelivesteamers.com/home.html
Riding back to the Paradise & Pacific Station.
And into the station.
After walking through the small Scottsdale Railroad Museum and an old Santa Fe RR heavyweight baggage car and Pullman car, we went into the Model Railroad building. It has YUGE layouts of HO, O, and N scale trains, display cases for the Live Steamers and Z scale (there are separate clubs for these scales that use the park facility) and a G scale display in the entrance area overhead (no club
- that's my scale).G Scale overhead.
A look at the three big layouts O, HO, N:
I have lots of close-ups but I'll spare you those. This sign, though, I wholeheartedly agree with.
Cool diorama on the far end of the display room.
Also one cool piece of history was the Arizona box car from the Merci Train.
Short story is France was struggling in 1947 to recover after WWII. An American reporter organized Freedom Train(s) that traveled from the West Coast to the East Coast collecting supplies for the French (and Italians). More than 700 box cars of goods were put on cargo ships to cross the Atlantic.
The Italians showed their thanks by sending 3 statues to the United States. The French showed their thanks by sending 49 surplus WWI box cars loaded with typically French goods to each state in the Union (at the time). This Arizona car has been restored and is on covered outdoors display. (The Alabama car is at the North Alabama Railroad Museum in Huntsville).
Go see this Railroad Park if you are in the area.
Bama Ed
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
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I've actually had a couple hours in the past week to put some time in on the model railroad. I had one "build" job and one "repair" job I wanted to complete and got them finished today.
One thing I've learned is that keeping my locomotives, rolling freight, and other pieces in their boxes, pulling them from the boxes to run them, then returning them to the boxes, does harm sometimes. Too many places to grab and break something. I've learned it's easier and safer to have pieces out on side tracks, and simply lift them up, move them to the running track, and set them down. I have several 8' long straight pieces (and some longer 'mostly straight enough') that I can set out to hold my pieces ready to run (and covered to not get dirty/dusty).
The "build" job was to build a siding that I could easily cut the power off to when I wished. I wanted to use long, straight sidings to build a 'consist' (string of passenger cars or mixed freight cars) that will usually be run together and not have to be coupled or uncoupled constantly - just put a locomotive on the front and a caboose on the back (if freight) and run it.
I had installed switches (to nowhere) when I initially built the layout 'just in case' so time to pull out track and clean/prepare them to lay them in.
At our prior home, I had track outside in the back yard that I pulled up when we moved to our current home and the track had mud, dirt, ballast stones, etc still attached. It's on the attic floor now and needs to be cleaned before using. There are 3 8' straights, one straight about 4', one slightly curved piece, and a small straight (all had been custom made/cut/curved for the outdoor layout).
Here are the pieces laid into the left side of the wire rack shelf to connect to the 'switch to nowhere' at the bottom of the pic (manual throw).
I laid in the curve off the switch, the 4' and the short straights beyond those to connect to the existing pieces with covered cars on the far end. So besides physically joining the track together (easy enough), I had to add a simple throw switch to cut power if desired.
I used a simple "scissor" switch (manual throw) in conjunction with a plastic isolation joint (orange plastic).
When power is on and the switch is lifted up/open, the rail with the plastic joiner will have power on the main line (left side of joiner) but not the right - and when the scissor switch is down/closed, it will provide power to the right hand side of the joiner. The rail across from it will always have power but needs power on both rails to move a loco if desired.
So I used some scraps and parts/pieces I had to wire track-to-scissor-switch-to track.
#1 shows the wire to the track on the LEFT side of the joiner (always powered) and screwed it down to the orange terminal on the switch #2. If the scissor switch is pushed down and connected/closed #4, power flows to the black terminal #3 to the other side of the orange joiner #5 and connects to the new track at #6. Again, the other rail is always powered so I only have to worry about interrupting or continuing power on the other (far side) rail.
It works fine and I may do it in other places on the layout.
The three long straights are laid out parallel to the main line (but not connected) just to put more rolling stock on.
This mod will let me pull a train with loco and cars past the switch, reverse it onto the new long siding (with the switch closed), and park it to be able to run it again later (lifting the switch). Then I can run a second loco and consist on the mainline and the power will not affect the first loco.
Next to the "repair" job.
Bama Ed
One thing I've learned is that keeping my locomotives, rolling freight, and other pieces in their boxes, pulling them from the boxes to run them, then returning them to the boxes, does harm sometimes. Too many places to grab and break something. I've learned it's easier and safer to have pieces out on side tracks, and simply lift them up, move them to the running track, and set them down. I have several 8' long straight pieces (and some longer 'mostly straight enough') that I can set out to hold my pieces ready to run (and covered to not get dirty/dusty).
The "build" job was to build a siding that I could easily cut the power off to when I wished. I wanted to use long, straight sidings to build a 'consist' (string of passenger cars or mixed freight cars) that will usually be run together and not have to be coupled or uncoupled constantly - just put a locomotive on the front and a caboose on the back (if freight) and run it.
I had installed switches (to nowhere) when I initially built the layout 'just in case' so time to pull out track and clean/prepare them to lay them in.
At our prior home, I had track outside in the back yard that I pulled up when we moved to our current home and the track had mud, dirt, ballast stones, etc still attached. It's on the attic floor now and needs to be cleaned before using. There are 3 8' straights, one straight about 4', one slightly curved piece, and a small straight (all had been custom made/cut/curved for the outdoor layout).
Here are the pieces laid into the left side of the wire rack shelf to connect to the 'switch to nowhere' at the bottom of the pic (manual throw).
I laid in the curve off the switch, the 4' and the short straights beyond those to connect to the existing pieces with covered cars on the far end. So besides physically joining the track together (easy enough), I had to add a simple throw switch to cut power if desired.
I used a simple "scissor" switch (manual throw) in conjunction with a plastic isolation joint (orange plastic).
When power is on and the switch is lifted up/open, the rail with the plastic joiner will have power on the main line (left side of joiner) but not the right - and when the scissor switch is down/closed, it will provide power to the right hand side of the joiner. The rail across from it will always have power but needs power on both rails to move a loco if desired.
So I used some scraps and parts/pieces I had to wire track-to-scissor-switch-to track.
#1 shows the wire to the track on the LEFT side of the joiner (always powered) and screwed it down to the orange terminal on the switch #2. If the scissor switch is pushed down and connected/closed #4, power flows to the black terminal #3 to the other side of the orange joiner #5 and connects to the new track at #6. Again, the other rail is always powered so I only have to worry about interrupting or continuing power on the other (far side) rail.
It works fine and I may do it in other places on the layout.
The three long straights are laid out parallel to the main line (but not connected) just to put more rolling stock on.
This mod will let me pull a train with loco and cars past the switch, reverse it onto the new long siding (with the switch closed), and park it to be able to run it again later (lifting the switch). Then I can run a second loco and consist on the mainline and the power will not affect the first loco.
Next to the "repair" job.
Bama Ed
Love this Az trip report!
So fun to visit for Halloween and the Holidays too cause of extra theming and decorations for family fun !
When you look at the overall photo …imagine yourself walking and following a path design for the guest and a different interior design pathway for the guys that volunteer and belong to these train enthusiasts Clubs …They will be available to answer questions occasionally and make sure the trains are operating without problems .
Next time anybody is watching the Trains Display at Epcot , watch for the guys that show up to keep things operating outdoors ! They are Magic!
Wouldn’t you love a backstage tour of their “repairs and supplies “ ?
Bet you were inspired to make some changes to your “Train Space “ when you returned to your home ! But I expect many of those guys in Az would love to hang out in your space cause You have a lot of Trains and train stuff TOO!
So fun to visit for Halloween and the Holidays too cause of extra theming and decorations for family fun !
When you look at the overall photo …imagine yourself walking and following a path design for the guest and a different interior design pathway for the guys that volunteer and belong to these train enthusiasts Clubs …They will be available to answer questions occasionally and make sure the trains are operating without problems .
Next time anybody is watching the Trains Display at Epcot , watch for the guys that show up to keep things operating outdoors ! They are Magic!
Wouldn’t you love a backstage tour of their “repairs and supplies “ ?
Bet you were inspired to make some changes to your “Train Space “ when you returned to your home ! But I expect many of those guys in Az would love to hang out in your space cause You have a lot of Trains and train stuff TOO!
Last edited:
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
- 13,530
The next job this week is a repair.
First I have to back up and say that I have/had most of my rolling stock in the Aristo-Craft brand which starting making G Scale trains in 1988. They focused on American rolling stock (the pioneer in that size, LGB, is a German company that initially focused on European rolling stock). AC made beautiful stuff when I started around the year 2000. But they got into a bind with cash flow during the market crash of 2008 and eventually went bankrupt in 2013 or so.
All that to say that there is no AC company I can contact, no spare parts catalog, few people or forums to ask for help, and the such like there is when @Stratman50th needed a Lionel piece (still hard to find but at least there were resources to check and look for the part).
So my approach has been to strip parts I need off broken cars that are offered for sale cheap on the secondary market. Or if I see a broken car that I don't have but want, I have to come up with a replacement part (off another broken or cheap similar piece) to use to put it back into rolling, decent condition.
One piece I wanted was the AC Rail Cleaning Car. I also have been looking to get pieces with the AC name on the side - not Pennsylvania RR (no) or Southern RR (ok) road names but the AC name. AC made those only for Club Members annually (who paid up for them) and labelled them as "Aristocraft Track Maintenance Service" in bland gray color).
The Rail Cleaning Car (also available in different road names) was basically a caboose with a scrub pad dragged 'underneath' that cleaned the "gunk" off the tracks. I saw one the secondary marketplace that had a broken set of wheels - but it was cheap so I got it.
One problem was the 'floor' of the Cleaning Car had some broken steps missing off the left side.
They were also missing on the left side that was against the table (not in pic).
But - lucky me - I already had a spare caboose (basically the same frame but different body colors) I had bought for $18 and already scavanged parts from. But the base/floor was mine for the taking.
Notice that this spare Pennsy caboose had the steps left/right on both sides.
One difference between the Rail Cleaning Car and the Caboose was the pad attachment at the bottom/middle of the RCC. It had a weight on the backside but would track up/down on the identical under-carriage. I noticed that 2 pegs held the pad piece in the under center.
But one side had two screws showing.
And one side had cast plastic parts showing.
I guessed (correctly) that the side with 2 screws meant they could be removed to insert/take out the floating pad attachment.
Also underneath the bottom of the RC Car and caboose I noticed 2 brown tabs that snapped the floor of either piece to the body above. Here is a pic on one end:
See the brown tabs underneath? There was a pair on the other end. Just flex them back and separate floor from cab.
Sure enough, the pad attachment came off.
So I pulled the floor apart from the cab on each vehicle and moved the hand rail piece on both ends of both vehicles (Pennsy caboose had brown rails and RC Car had black).
The RC Car had a window missing that had been pushed into the cab and was rattling around the inside which I pulled out and glued back in place.
I reassembled both pieces (the springs in the axle trucks are HARD to hold onto - they launch out if let go of and are hard to find on the floor).
The Rail Cleaning Car now has 4 steps and all its windows, got the dust cleaned off the roof, and has the black hand rails on both ends. Looks okay for a repair job.
The boneyard Pennsy caboose still has some useful parts but fewer than yesterday. So for a low price and a little elbow grease, I have an AC Rail Cleaning Car that is good as new.
Bama Ed
First I have to back up and say that I have/had most of my rolling stock in the Aristo-Craft brand which starting making G Scale trains in 1988. They focused on American rolling stock (the pioneer in that size, LGB, is a German company that initially focused on European rolling stock). AC made beautiful stuff when I started around the year 2000. But they got into a bind with cash flow during the market crash of 2008 and eventually went bankrupt in 2013 or so.
All that to say that there is no AC company I can contact, no spare parts catalog, few people or forums to ask for help, and the such like there is when @Stratman50th needed a Lionel piece (still hard to find but at least there were resources to check and look for the part).
So my approach has been to strip parts I need off broken cars that are offered for sale cheap on the secondary market. Or if I see a broken car that I don't have but want, I have to come up with a replacement part (off another broken or cheap similar piece) to use to put it back into rolling, decent condition.
One piece I wanted was the AC Rail Cleaning Car. I also have been looking to get pieces with the AC name on the side - not Pennsylvania RR (no) or Southern RR (ok) road names but the AC name. AC made those only for Club Members annually (who paid up for them) and labelled them as "Aristocraft Track Maintenance Service" in bland gray color).
The Rail Cleaning Car (also available in different road names) was basically a caboose with a scrub pad dragged 'underneath' that cleaned the "gunk" off the tracks. I saw one the secondary marketplace that had a broken set of wheels - but it was cheap so I got it.
One problem was the 'floor' of the Cleaning Car had some broken steps missing off the left side.
They were also missing on the left side that was against the table (not in pic).
But - lucky me - I already had a spare caboose (basically the same frame but different body colors) I had bought for $18 and already scavanged parts from. But the base/floor was mine for the taking.
Notice that this spare Pennsy caboose had the steps left/right on both sides.
One difference between the Rail Cleaning Car and the Caboose was the pad attachment at the bottom/middle of the RCC. It had a weight on the backside but would track up/down on the identical under-carriage. I noticed that 2 pegs held the pad piece in the under center.
But one side had two screws showing.
And one side had cast plastic parts showing.
I guessed (correctly) that the side with 2 screws meant they could be removed to insert/take out the floating pad attachment.
Also underneath the bottom of the RC Car and caboose I noticed 2 brown tabs that snapped the floor of either piece to the body above. Here is a pic on one end:
See the brown tabs underneath? There was a pair on the other end. Just flex them back and separate floor from cab.
Sure enough, the pad attachment came off.
So I pulled the floor apart from the cab on each vehicle and moved the hand rail piece on both ends of both vehicles (Pennsy caboose had brown rails and RC Car had black).
The RC Car had a window missing that had been pushed into the cab and was rattling around the inside which I pulled out and glued back in place.
I reassembled both pieces (the springs in the axle trucks are HARD to hold onto - they launch out if let go of and are hard to find on the floor).
The Rail Cleaning Car now has 4 steps and all its windows, got the dust cleaned off the roof, and has the black hand rails on both ends. Looks okay for a repair job.
The boneyard Pennsy caboose still has some useful parts but fewer than yesterday. So for a low price and a little elbow grease, I have an AC Rail Cleaning Car that is good as new.
Bama Ed
Last edited:
Stratman50th
Loving all things Fort Wilderness!
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2019
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Glad you got it back to where you're happy with it Ed. I was never able to run down that part. Also couldn't find a donor locomotive. They just didn't make that many. I removed the broken piece and just don't call attention to it. It runs fine without it, but obviously I'd love to have it back right again.
Okay I didn’t realize I was nerdy enough to actually read your repair report!
Just as I was thinking Dang he must have good eyesight …you described trying to find the springs on the floor and Sorry I laughed out loud .
Reading this thread brings back memories of starting to collect LGB trains when my son was young . I had the LGB mountain that went over the train and the part that went under the track to make the train crossing signals work automatically making the crossing arms go up & down .
My son had the mini plastic GI Joe toy figures and the sniper was always hiding on top of the mountain to shoot at the soldiers onboard the train track .
Eventually the trains might come out to go round the Xmas Tree and now my daughter has all the pieces . It always is a great surprise to see the next generation enjoying the train at Xmas time .
Thanks for the memories. Be sure to post your next adventure . Maybe another poster has a great suggestion . I hope to get on that Brightline soon in Orlando area . In the meantime that cheap Gatorland Annual Pass expires soon . Guess I need to add that to my list of things to do.
My WDW AP expires soon and I am thinking I won’t renew after a lifetime of always having a Disney Pass in my pocket . Not an easy decision to make cause I planned to use my pass to enter Disney Heaven to see what Walt has built ….
Just as I was thinking Dang he must have good eyesight …you described trying to find the springs on the floor and Sorry I laughed out loud .
Reading this thread brings back memories of starting to collect LGB trains when my son was young . I had the LGB mountain that went over the train and the part that went under the track to make the train crossing signals work automatically making the crossing arms go up & down .
My son had the mini plastic GI Joe toy figures and the sniper was always hiding on top of the mountain to shoot at the soldiers onboard the train track .
Eventually the trains might come out to go round the Xmas Tree and now my daughter has all the pieces . It always is a great surprise to see the next generation enjoying the train at Xmas time .
Thanks for the memories. Be sure to post your next adventure . Maybe another poster has a great suggestion . I hope to get on that Brightline soon in Orlando area . In the meantime that cheap Gatorland Annual Pass expires soon . Guess I need to add that to my list of things to do.
My WDW AP expires soon and I am thinking I won’t renew after a lifetime of always having a Disney Pass in my pocket . Not an easy decision to make cause I planned to use my pass to enter Disney Heaven to see what Walt has built ….
bama_ed
It's kind of fun to do the impossible-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2004
- Messages
- 13,530
Yeah, @DL1WDW2, I feel pretty stupid down on my hands and knees crawling around looking for a tiny silver wire coil.
In fact, one of the reasons I had bought that Pennsy caboose for spare parts was because I had lost a wheel spring (I was swapping out the plastic wheels/axles with metal ones) on a caboose I already had and needed to replace it to get my caboose running on the line. A quick online search found replacement G Scale springs but of different diameters and length. Easier to just buy an old AC caboose.
That's cool about you and your son's LGB trains. And they did eventually make a few American locomotives for this market but they charge a price for their quality product (it's like a Mercedes of the toy train space).
One other tidbit of news I heard in the last two weeks is that Brightline has picked its second new station location of late to add to their Florida line.
To set the stage, remember when BL currently leaves its Orlando Station at MCO, the first station on its way to Miami is all the way down at West Palm Beach.
It wants to add stations between MCO and WPB.
Already this year BL announced a future station in Cocoa, FL at the eastern end of its high speed run from MCO. It will be located in the SW corner of the US 1/Hwy 528 intersection along its current line (of course). Here is a great YT video (8 min) from Roaming Railfan about it:
It's only 7 miles as the crow flies from the future station location to the Port Canaveral cruise ships.
Also recently named is a location in Stuart, FL which is about 35 miles north of WPB. Here another RR YT video (10 min) on that announcement.
So now a large portion of the SE FL population will be within 15-20 miles of a BL station.
Now if BL would only knock out the Tampa extension in the next year or two.
Bama Ed
Sjm9911
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2019
- Messages
- 3,227
Ed, its all about inovation, and ingenuity! They did it to atually run trains in the past. You are inventing stuff to make it run now. They had freight to haul or passangers. We dont. While its not the same, not even close, it feels like it is fixing it!The next job this week is a repair.
First I have to back up and say that I have/had most of my rolling stock in the Aristo-Craft brand which starting making G Scale trains in 1988. They focused on American rolling stock (the pioneer in that size, LGB, is a German company that initially focused on European rolling stock). AC made beautiful stuff when I started around the year 2000. But they got into a bind with cash flow during the market crash of 2008 and eventually went bankrupt in 2013 or so.
All that to say that there is no AC company I can contact, no spare parts catalog, few people or forums to ask for help, and the such like there is when @Stratman50th needed a Lionel piece (still hard to find but at least there were resources to check and look for the part).
So my approach has been to strip parts I need off broken cars that are offered for sale cheap on the secondary market. Or if I see a broken car that I don't have but want, I have to come up with a replacement part (off another broken or cheap similar piece) to use to put it back into rolling, decent condition.
One piece I wanted was the AC Rail Cleaning Car. I also have been looking to get pieces with the AC name on the side - not Pennsylvania RR (no) or Southern RR (ok) road names but the AC name. AC made those only for Club Members annually (who paid up for them) and labelled them as "Aristocraft Track Maintenance Service" in bland gray color).
The Rail Cleaning Car (also available in different road names) was basically a caboose with a scrub pad dragged 'underneath' that cleaned the "gunk" off the tracks. I saw one the secondary marketplace that had a broken set of wheels - but it was cheap so I got it.
One problem was the 'floor' of the Cleaning Car had some broken steps missing off the left side.
They were also missing on the left side that was against the table (not in pic).
But - lucky me - I already had a spare caboose (basically the same frame but different body colors) I had bought for $18 and already scavanged parts from. But the base/floor was mine for the taking.
Notice that this spare Pennsy caboose had the steps left/right on both sides.
One difference between the Rail Cleaning Car and the Caboose was the pad attachment at the bottom/middle of the RCC. It had a weight on the backside but would track up/down on the identical under-carriage. I noticed that 2 pegs held the pad piece in the under center.
But one side had two screws showing.
And one side had cast plastic parts showing.
I guessed (correctly) that the side with 2 screws meant they could be removed to insert/take out the floating pad attachment.
Also underneath the bottom of the RC Car and caboose I noticed 2 brown tabs that snapped the floor of either piece to the body above. Here is a pic on one end:
See the brown tabs underneath? There was a pair on the other end. Just flex them back and separate floor from cab.
Sure enough, the pad attachment came off.
So I pulled the floor apart from the cab on each vehicle and moved the hand rail piece on both ends of both vehicles (Pennsy caboose had brown rails and RC Car had black).
The RC Car had a window missing that had been pushed into the cab and was rattling around the inside which I pulled out and glued back in place.
I reassembled both pieces (the springs in the axle trucks are HARD to hold onto - they launch out if let go of and are hard to find on the floor).
The Rail Cleaning Car now has 4 steps and all its windows, got the dust cleaned off the roof, and has the black hand rails on both ends. Looks okay for a repair job.
The boneyard Pennsy caboose still has some useful parts but fewer than yesterday. So for a low price and a little elbow grease, I have an AC Rail Cleaning Car that is good as new.
Bama Ed
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