The Prarie was very popular with shortlines and logging companies that wanted to use rod locomotives on their longer runs to the mills. Long Bell comes to mind. Almost all of these locomotives for the short lines were straight from the Baldwin or Alco catalogs. Quite a few are still in existance. 

The present 2-6-2 was made from a USRA model which in itself is pretty good considering I can get one for under $50 with Walsheart's valve gear. Painted it is rather nice, no NMRA contest model but a reasonable runner. I have a pair of PFM Long Bell 2-6-2s and they are nice, small runners ideal for 18" radius and all.


2-6-2s were made in many gauges besides standard. They were really intended for light work and tight radius. The large Santa Fe Praries were the exception rather than the rule. The Southern Pacific only built two to the Harriamn standard before just going to Pacifics.

Royce, I have the Abdill book. I built a 1:22.5 Petersburg seige cannon for a Civil War buff friend of mine. I was tempted to make it an operating cannon in that scale.

There's a bunch of great info in both books, historical and engineering wise.

Royce, that's an excellent suggestion. There's a book by Edwin Alexander, a model rail pioneer, on the subject with some excellent reference material for rolling stock and locomotives. It's called "Civil War Railroads and Models" and has a lot of good pictures and scale drawings. I know Lee Riley has a copy.

The offerings at $1500 each are a bit pricey for a small O scale layout. The Lionel General is a little too toy like and not even close to scale.

Being a veteran of the computer industry I see that the allegories about the computer standards  is mis interpeted. The actual bus was designed by IBM for their own expansion as well as the slot backplane. This allowed users to reconfigure to their own needs.

As I see this, all that is needed is a plug for power from track, power to motor and perhaps another for lights. The R/C would plug into the two power connectors and the lights would be directly from battery or track power. That's all that's needed . The rest is a real waster of time. Think about it: the motor needs power from sopmeplace, leads to the wheels for track power are needed. Wires from a plug to the lights are needed. the power from a battery and controller, R/C in this case, is all that's needed there. If you want to run track ower, then you plug the track power leads into the motor power lines. This is the system many of us have used for 25 years on our garden railways and it works very well.

DCC was a bad concept from the start. I really don't want it and could care less.  R/C has been reliable and can handle a lot of current, up to five amps thanks to the boys running cars and off-road vehicles. 

I use automotive type pins and connectors which can be expanded if I like.

Let me figure out what I want to use. Let other people do what they want but don't add cost where it isn't needed. 

If you contact me directly I can show you how to modifiy the caboose and then modify the Grandt C&S caboose for On30 couplers. Even the San Juan Car Company D&RGW shorty caboose can be converted to On30 and wqill operate on 22 inch radius.

Jim Pasha
japasha@aol.com

O those models the motor is installed to fit in that fuel tank. While this is some work, replacing the motor with one that could be turned on it's side or is a small enough diameter to fit under the hood would be the  ticket. One must remember to keep the drive shafts level.

It can be done. I'd buy a used Athearn to practice on. A Northwest Shortline replacement motor would work, don't forget the flywheels.

Actually, A Florence and Cripple Creek shorty woud be closer to the size of the rolling stock now offered.  I have built a couple based on the Bachmann On30 caboose. Requires new sides and cupola.

The acquisition of Williams by Bachmann is actually welcome news. I have older Williams steamers, brass, and they run well but I was wondering if any of those older models may be revived by Bachmann. Will Bachmann extend it's EZ track to O-gauge?  The Williams Passenger cars were very nice. Will those be continued? All questions of which direction Bachmann will go.

Now Mr. Bachmann will have to build another display layout to go with the Thomas and G-scale.

Nice to hear from you. Keep thinking about the next projecct and try to do as much as you can. I'm finally at a point where I can expand my outdoor layout. Just didn't have the energy for a couple of years. . The On30 layout and HO modules did help a lot but my main interest is 1:20.3. I have a few log cars in the works now.

Just pick something you want to do and do a little at a time. Won't be long before it's done.

Jim

Gene,

It depends on where you live and the level of traffic on the crossing. Most of the wood crossings started to disappear in the 70s on the west coast. The State of California started on the rubber pieces on state highways in that period.  Other areas varied as we didn't see too many metal crossings out here. Quite a few crossings had asphalt.

Roger,

Nice adaptation. If you do post more, please add what it took for electrical installation and how well the unbit works for you. Some of us with the olde Walthers kit version had a lot of problems with operation.

Thanks, Jim

Back when I was fanatically involved in On3, I built a number of frameless tank cars from Grandt line kits. Not cheap but really beautiful in groups of six in a train. I don't know if they are still available but using one of those as an example, I just built a sinailar car for On30. 

If you can't wait, try one of those kits if you can find one.

Shayman,

Good luck to you. I am afflicted with kidney failure and am being treated for it. I've been doing one project at a time and I'm continuing to fight it. I hope you can as well.
Keep writing and being involved. I know all of us on the board enjoy your comments and things you're doing.

Jim

Gene,

I use these on my portable module. The ywork fine and really don't care thether you use them directly to the throw bar or offset to pull the bar from the end. You will have to experiment a bit to make sure you get correct throw. I used Atlas swtich machines by sticking them in bulidings and under scenery with long rods through tubes to throw the switches. I'm talking the code 100 switch machines here which are what the undertable units are based on. If your frogs need power, you will need a seperate  relay to correctly switch the power. I use the Atlas snap relay wired in parallel to control power to the frog.

I've used these for over 20 years and they are very reliable once adjusted

I recently inherited a very large amount of three rail O-gauge stock from my uncle. In the years he was acquiring this collection we learned a lot about the marketing practices of MTH. The owner tends to go after what he thinks collectors would want. Large status-eeking locomotives  that there were few of originally. He broke into the O-scale market by offering a UP Challenger back 20 years ago.

I would be cautious about anything indicating limited run as MTH has many time exceeded the number they claim to rake additional profits. The electronics normally used is a pain as the batteries frequently go bad and the sound and control system is incompatible with DCC unless they made a change.

I'm sure the locomotives run well, almost all I have do. Detail is usually minimal or cast-on. Die-cast is not what I'm looking for. Bachmann is using a combination of materials carefully applied to produce a fine running product (Spectrum and some newer standard). Bachmann handles warranty directly, MTH usually wants you to go to a repair station.

I would avoid MTH based on my O-gauge experience. I had to spend far too much time bringing the collection up to running status. My Lionel and Bachman just need to be put on the track and have power applied.