Seasaltchap,

You mentioned; "Destroyer !!!!! Looks more like the barrel for  the 15" shells of a Battleship!"

You're absolutely right, of course. Shows how far I am from a knowlegable person about things 'naval' ... I did mean 'Battleship' ... those really huge, formidable WWII floating fortresses. I think one, the "Iowan" or the "Missouri" (not sure which one), was refitted for combat action and saw action during one of the Iraq conflicts. Anyway, that barrel sure would be heavy! Amazing to think that it is just one small part of an immense mass of steel that floats on water!

HOplasserm80c,

Sorry that I offended you ... I had no intention of making fun of the UP as a RR. The photo I posted was sent to me by an 'over the road' UP locomotive engineer. I've never seen anything like that, so thought it might be interesting to others.

When I have a moment, I'll post a photo sent to me by the same person, of a CN/IC wreck. Speaking of IC wrecks, I remember seeing a photo of an E7 or E8 years ago, that was on the head end of 'The City of New Orleans' that hit a gas truck tanker trying to beat it across a RR crossing. The crew in the cab of the E unit were killed along with the trucker. That is very sad, and certainly not to be made fun of.

lanny nicolet

Hi Bill,

No, I'm quite positive its not a 'bellpaire' (sp?) smokebox. Also, there is a slight hump in the boiler, but not as pronounced as a USRA would usually be. I think the shadow of the railing against the boiler might give the smoke box on #652 a 'different' look.

The IC Mikado that Orsonroy posted is very typical of ICRR Harimans with straight boilers, sloping in slightly at the cab.

One thing about ICRR late model steam locomotives ... they are pretty much 'plain-jane' boilers with not nearly the piping, and other stuff, etc. that is commonly seen 'hanging' on many USRA locomotives.

lanny nicolet

JM,

Your account of the 2-4-0 rear-ending the feight, 'blowing through' the caboose, makes me feel very sorry for any workmen who might have been inhabiting that caboose when the steamer hit!

Seasaltchap,

Is that one of the barrels of a naval gun used on destroyers?! Wow!, what an immense thing that was! It would be interesting to compare the weight of that Naval gun to the weight of a modern diesel locomotive!

lanny nicolet

I, too, question how the container 'well' car could support the weight of that size diesel ... but being a 'steam era' modeler, I'll have to leave the answser to that to the 'modern diesel experts' on the forum.

I am, however, pretty well convinced that well container car would not have handled a standard or large size Mountain or 2-10-2 that tried to climb up like that for a 'piggy back' ride.  :-)

lanny nicolet

Thanks for posting the photos Orsonroy, and also for the helpful information. Again (sorry Gene, I know this 'kicks' me up to about 405 times :-), I really don't understand mfgs'. reluctance to produce "Harriman" style steam in at least the more common wheel arrangements ... 4-6-2, 2-8-2, 2-10-0 and 4-8-2.

The main 'look'  difference between a 'Harriman' style steam locomotive and a USRA is that the Harriman boiler is basically pretty straight from front to cab, and in many cases (at least on the ICRR) actually slopes in a little as it gets close to the cab. On the other hand, the USRA styles all have the very familiar 'hump' about mid-boiler, with the boiler front looking smaller in diameter than at the cab end (this is my personal impression and there are, no doubt, exceptions).

But the 'Harriman' straight boiler and (for the ICRR at least) the very distinctive Harriman cab (the Spec 2-8-0 has a great ICRR style cab ... would be so nice to be able to buy that 'part' seperately!) are to major visual differences between them and USRA locomotives. I think probably, these two differences would be pretty much the same for any road that used Harriman rather than USRA, or along with USRA.

lanny nicolet

Jon,

You have done an incredible job capturing the feel of 'Industrial Chicago' ... your scenery is superb. (The locomotives are very nice as well :-)

lanny nicolet

Hi all,

Just wondering ('tongue in cheek' wondering :-) if this is what prototypical 'piggyback' freight is all about :-)

Evidently the grain train was going faster than it was supposed to be, and climbed right up on the back of the container train in front of it. The guy who sent it to me titled it 'restricted speed' ... he thinks someone is probably in big trouble.

lanny nicolet

'OrsonRoy'

Thanks! (I got your eMail, too).  I'm checking on locations to purchase the 63" Bachmann Spec 4-6-0 undec as we speak (write)  :-)

lanny nicolet

Tony,

Gene's advice is the best if you want really nice rolling quality for your freight cars. If, however, you are just looking to replace the original plastic wheel/axel sets with new plastic/wheel axel sets, contact me off line. No doubt, as with many others on the forum, I have lots and lots of 'never used' plastic wheel/plastic axel sets and would be glad to send you some free.

lanny nicolet

Alex is correct ... the Proto GP38-2 must have the couplers carefully removed, and then you will find at least two other screws near the fuel tank (hard to see) that must be removed. Really look over everything carefully to make sure all screws have been removed ... that puppy is a 'pain' to find and remove all the screws, but once you have, the body comes off quite easily. "Very gently" is the word when removing anything on a Proto 2K.

lanny nicolet

Hi Rod,

I also only run DC/analog. My understanding, gleaned from the experts that answered a 'similar' question I asked recently on this forum is as follows:

(1) If the 2-8-0 DCC ready is the ONLY locomotive you will be running on your layout, you can run it as is. It will require more power from your DC power pak, but it will run fine.

(2) If you want to 'double-head' the DCC ready 2-8-0 with another DC locomotive, it would be best to do something with some plugs ... but wait until one of the DCC experts answers your question about that.

Summary ... if you are going to run it alone, just careful plug in the plugs from the locomotive to the tender, and off you go. Have fun!

lanny nicolet

Virginian's point about the large variety of 'differing' 4-6-2s that we all would like to see mfg is well taken. It would be hard for a company to be 'road specific' ... but how about 'road generic'?

It seems to me that a 'generic' Harriman style steam model in 4-6-2 and 2-8-2 (mainly thinking of the boiler shape and the cab) would allow very many modelers of many different railroads, a wonderful starting point. Over the time I've been on this forum, I've seen repeated requests for "Harriman" style steam locomotives.

I would think (just my personal opinion, of course) that a 'generic Harriman' mfg in 'Spectrum' quality (both 2-8-2 as well as 4-6-2), would be a wonderful seller for many HO modelers.

(and for you N&W modelers, sounds like great news coming from Nigel!)

lanny nicolet

Jon,

Hello again. I do have one request regarding one 'closeup' photo I sure would appreciate seeing ... I would be very interested in a good 'close up' photo of the pilot mounted airpumps, piping and brackets on your #908. Those airpumps look to be 'styrene'? or are they brass painted black? Only 'if' and 'when' you have time, though.

Thanks very much.

lanny nicolet

Ozzie,

I can't help you with your DCC headlight question since I use only DC/Analog. However, as to the boiler front, though I don't own a Spectrum 2-10-2, on all the other Spectrum steam locomotives I have, the boiler front is just 'press-fit' to the boiler.

But, some boiler fronts are much easier to remove (pry?) off than others. I think, with very careful work and patience, you should be able to gentle get the boiler front off. However, please understand, I am suggesting this as the owner of several Spectrum steam locomotives, but their 2-10-2 is not one of them.

best wishes on getting your problem fixed.

lanny nicolet

Jon,

Beautiful work! You created a very, very nice ICRR #908 kit-bash model. Thanks for all those great and very helpful photos! I too would like to see your series permanently placed in Mr. Bach Man's "Consolidation" photo archive area.

Your photos of the tender are specially helpful, Jon. It's the tender that has been holding me back from starting the very same project. I've been scared to cut into the tender. Ray Breyer has sent me some hints about shortening the tender as well. All this is great info for ICRR modelers!

Again, congratulations on a beautiful job of modeling and thanks for sharing all the photos. If you have more photos of the process you went through, and have time, I would love to receive them via private eMail (editortcs@aol.com) if you prefer.

One other thing ... again only if you have time; could you either post or send privately the dimensions (in inches, please :-) you used to create the Paducah style sand dome?

Keep up the great work!

lanny nicolet