Joe,

For your info an auto's regulator will normally charge in the 13.4 volt to 14.9 volt range and be considered perfectly safe for automotive work, sometimes due to an extreme load on the alternator it could be as low as 13.2 volts. New car batteries should be 12.6 volts when fully charged.
Most 12 volt bulbs can handle 18 volts for short periods of time.
A lower volt bulb will heat up faster than a higher volt bulb and can melt some softer plastics.

Lee F.

I would say to use 031 curves as a minimum curve. If they feel very light or are made of plastic with non-operating couplers you will need to add some weight to keep the passenger cars on the track, they may have weights inside but they are not heavy enough for those passenger cars. If the second wheel is plastic in the six wheel set-up that may spell shelf kings!
There is one other thing you can do and that is to replace the old truck assemblies wioth heavier ones.

Unfortunately some of the starter set passenger cars from about 12 years ago are not of good track handling quality. I have the Reading Company "King Coal" passenger cars that won't stay on the track, it is a set of six passenger cars with non-operating couplers.

Lee F.

The Radio Shack light bulbs come in either 14.4 volt or 18.4 volt in the bayonette style for that size.
Don't use automotive bulbs as they are rated for 12 volt DC.
You can use less voltage to make a bulb dimmer but don't go over the voltage rating as that will shorten the life of the bulb.

Lee F.

Have you considered using a tubing bender to bend the rails with? It is a flexible spring looking device that you put over a copper pipe to keep it from kinking when bending it.

I tried to re-insert tubular track into the metal crossplates that Lionel uses and it can be very difficult to get the center rail and the insulater inserted properly.

Lee F.

Earl,

You must be referring to the GP-9's, as they can get away from you very quickly with little voltage.  The SD-45's I have take a little more voltage to go as fast as you said.

Lee F.

One of the reasons I mentioned about using flex trac and Ross switches is that you don't need to go thru all the hassles of hand laid track. I watched a video on how to lay H.O. track and it is very time consuming and requires lots of expensive tools to get the job done, also need a track gauge tool to keep alignment straight to prevent derailments even on straight tracks.

If you are really determined to hand lay track go over to O Gauge trains magazine and they may have an article on how to hand lay track.
Count the cost before doing something that involved!!

Lee F.

I know of one company that sells flex track in 027 or similar radius, Gargraves makes flex track in 36.25 inches sections and all you need to mate with 027 track is adapter pins.
I am not into making any of my own switches or handlaying of track.
Ross Custom Switches makes a variety of switches for all needs, so I would see what they have before making anything of my own.

Lee F.

Some companies make stuff to a scale of 1:48, which is closer to true scale for O gauge, other companies make stuff between 1:43 and 1:54 scale or off scale. 
Semi scale(usually means below scale) and can have different meanings with different companies.
Some of the larger offerings like the UP big boy(6-8-8-6) and the articulated steam or tri-plex are closer to 1:52 scale to make the engine run on O gauge track. If you had the UP big boy at scale it would need about 096 curves to operate.

I hope this helps.

Lee F.

Hello 3rail,

What you are saying is that basically the trucks and the way a motor mounts to a frame have not changed since Jerry W sold the company, correct?
With my F-7 diesel unit I had to almost give it full throttle from a postwar Lionel ZW transformer for it to pull all 6 Santa Fe "el Capitan" passenger cars and 2 unpowered F-7's around the track. I bought a second set of F-7's and used the 2 powered A units to run the train, looked odd because one A unit was a Santa Fe and the other was a Pennsy. That was before I put another set of motors in the second Santa Fe A unit.

Lee F.

From what I have seen in the Williams diesel engines that I have; four F-7 A units and two F-7 B units, three GP-9's, three SD-45's, the mounting unit fits directly to the frame. Take out the wheelsets with just a phillips head screw underneath and remove one wire on the top side if it has a light, have to remove the top first.
I have re-wired a pair of F-7's to run in one direction only(one forward and one reverse) with the use of a bridge rectifier, as the circuit boards wouldn't act right for me.

Lee F.

Hello 3rail,

The question I have for you about your set of 7 cars and only one powered unit, is a this a new set by Williams/Bachmann or is it an older set by Williams?  As I noticed that the new motors run a lot faster than the old Williams motors.

JP of Acton,

I just added a motor set to an unpowered F-7 diesel and what I had to do was remove the truck assemblies and change over the couplers and the plastic steps and bracket plates from the unpower version. I had NO drilling involved to mount the new motors. One of the bracket plates needed to have a hole drilled out just a little but otherwise no drilling or using of a dremel tool.

Lee F.

Another thing left out on some diesel sets is a second powered unit, like an example is the F7 AA set of diesels. Would it be possible to offer a set of two powered A units or a set of powered A & B units?
It looks nice to have two or three engines at the front of a train, but you can't pull many cars when only one engine has power. I had to buy a power upgrade kit to add power to an F-7 set of Santa Fe diesel engines, now I can pull 10 passenger cars with the ABA set of F-7's.

Lee F.

Try to run your diesel engine on the track at about 10 to 12 volts and that should get the horn feature to work, or without a voltmeter try going to about half of full speed or better.

Lee F.

Quote from: ABC on April 03, 2010, 02:24:18 PM
O is 1:48, S is 1:64, and HO is 1:87, so your about halfway between HO and S. What I would do is buy an S scale building and not a building intended for O & S because it's going to be larger than 1:64. 1:72 scale is primarily only model aircraft and other military related things. If you can't find an S gauge hangar, buy the S/O Plasticville one.
OO scale is 1:76 and in an ideal situation would be the closest match.

Plasticville seems to be a little smaller than the scale sizes for O & S. And their H.O. is closer to 1/90th scale.
Maybe Historic Rail or Historic Aircraft has some stuff in one of their catalogs.

Lee F.

What about SD-70's in FEC(Florida East Coast) roadname? FEC is only  freight service & runs down Florida's east coast and into parts of southern Georgia.

Lee F.