I agree with the suggestion of the SP Narrow gauge as it did last until 1960 as a common carrier and many pieces of Colorado rolling stock made it there via the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway.

The locomotives are almost a slam-dunk as the wheelbase is almost idientical with the Tweetsie locomotive presently offered. A nice whaleback tender and a shorter smokebox would be close.

Maybe a funky version of a SP caboose would be cool. Almost all of the rooling stock on the SP came from someplace else.  Similar equipment could also be found on the Pacific Coast Railroad in San Luis Obispo.

Thanks to Terry 2foot and EBTnut on the sizes. I use code 83 myself for that oldtime rinky-dink look on my modules. For the layout, code 100 and PECO work very well. 

For those running K-series locomotives, the Rio Grande had to upgrade (as did the EBT) their mainline rail because the Mikados had a much higher axle loading than before.  The Baldwin/Crested Butte  Branch of the D&RGW has 55 pound rail and could only use small C-16s on that branch. Also note that bridges were a limiting factor as well as axle loading on rail.

Towards the end of the Rio Grande narrow gauge, the smaller K-27s were used for switching. On lightly laid sidings they used freight cars to reach so they didn't have to put the locomotive on the spur.

The SP and UP three cylinder engines went their life spans as three cylinder engines. UP did modify some to outside walshearts valve gear with two sets on one side. The Indian Harbor belty used three cylinder 0-8-0s through dieselization.

The French did have some three cylinder compounds but most were converted to four-cylinder compounds.

The biggest user of three cylinder locomotives was in England.

Three cylinders were tried in an effort to smooth the power delivery to the rails. 120 degree crank offsets made power delivery smoother. as opposed to 90 degrees on a conventional locomotive. Alco and Balwin felt that longer rigid wheelbases would be better served with three cylinders. They were correct but simple atriculateds made more sense with their shorter driver wheelbase . big, long locomotives just were not the way to go. As much as people like the Big Boy, it was an operational pain as it was limited to certain mainlines for operation, much the same as the three cylinder 4-12-2. These were not flexible engines like the New Haven or IHB locomotives.

I have an SP 4-10-2 in HO. It plain won't run well on anything less than 30 inch radius.  You don't want to know about the UP4-12-2.  Now, the flying Scotsman would be a good three cylinder model for us....

Henry,

I have used single Malibu solar lights to light individual buildings. Some disassembly is required as you want the solar module and light inside the building with the small solar power panel outside. You can use a larger multiple lamp panel to power multi[ple buildings. Lamps used should be similar to the current and voltage of those used by Malibu.

J. Pasha

Gene,

It wasn't long enough. Cinerama did almost the whole railway fifty years ago. Now, compared to the Virginian Railway, that is an amusement ride.  I hope you model some of those old squareheads on your railroad.

LGB offered a templarte in one of their publications. It has all of the info you need as it was oversize.

Maggie,
Please look at the instructions for your power pack. Look for the rated current at the rated voltage. My guess is that it doesn't put out enough power for the trolley and the reversing unit. Look for a power pack that puts out about 1.5 amps of better at 12-15 volts.

If the brass is anodized, it will stay yellow. Aristo does this to their track.

To EBTBob,

Crank pins were used on many pre 1905 outside frame locomotives. Thesse included D&RGW classes C-21 and C-25, Many export locomotives were also configured this way including Ohau Railway 4-6-0s and smaller 2-8-0s. Outside counterweights meant that the drivers were not counterweighted like the inside frame locomotives.

It was found that the outside counterweights had better reciprocating dynamics because of the drive rod thrust.

All the outside frame 2-8-0s and 2-8-2s I have pictures of were painted black. Reportedly, some of the K-28s used in passenger service just had the main counterweight pained aluminum. Never seen a picture. Not all 2-8-0s had counterweights as shown in the D&RGW c-21 and C-25 classes show. Outside counterweights were used when the drivers were not counterweighted. So much for rivet counting today. Paint them any color your heart desires. That's the fun of model railroading.

Actually International Hobbies
www.interhobmodels.com    (530)268-8715

Look at their website. They are in stock

Woody,

On the older Mantua trucks with the small diameter axle, I have been substituting Intermountain wheelsets successfully. You just have to remember tehy are polarized. The Mantua Old-time cars were usually sold with the General. Passenger and frieght versions.

Don't forget that AHM had a line of old timer cars for their Reno and Genoa 4-4-0 locomotives. These also turn up at swap meets.

Just picked up a GE 25 ton industrial diesel kit. Assembled it last night and it is a gem. Not much pulling power up a grade, just two Bachmann cars but it is cute. The body kit is $29 and the motor is $60 or so with the wheelss attached. Very smooth. It is worth a good look.

It has not problems with PECO turnouts nor my home made Atlas conversions.

It is a natural for kit bashing and the like.

I noted the prices at Tower. Those prices are a bit steeper than US prices, even with VAT.  do the conversion, that's about $40 US each

In addition to Jim Banner's comments I will add that the sum current at 12 volts is the gating factor fr runnning four trains at once. If you have a single DC source that can provide all current and voltage, then individual controllers can be used. Fuse or use circuit breakers on each controller leg to protect the equipment from damage if there is a short. I recall a friend who used a car battery to power his railroad and had the motor short in the locomotive from overload. It did weld the locomotive to a section of track.  He did not use fuses.
I also recommend using a simple volt and amp meter on each leg so you can see what is being drawn by each train. This is a handy tool for operation, real electrci locomotives have them and the engineers use them to keep things under control.

Use good power distribution practices and make sure your power supply is not out in the elements