I am about to start building a brick cotton mill with Micromark Brick sheets and Grandt line windows. One effect I want to create is the "arch pattern" of bricks above the windows, but I have no idea how to do this with either paper bricks or styrene for that matter.

Anybody have any ideas how to achieve this effect?

Thanks

Matt

Does anyone out there have a spare "steel-style" Forney cab, like the one on the #208 stock model? It does NOT have to be undecorated.

Or, would someone be willing to trade their steel one for a wood one (like the #209 stock number)

Thanks

Matt

Mr. Bachmann.

I wanted to thank you for coming out with the Lawndale ventilated boxcar.

The Alexander Chapter-NRHS recently obtained a Lawndale boxcar for restoration and it was moved to our location today. Check out

http://www.shelbystar.com/video/county_24631___video.html/dummy_lawndale.html

Our car is a little more "ventilated" at the moment than yours, but thanks for raising awareness of the little line!

Matt Bumgarner

-Ridden too many times to count

-Last steam ride- Behind WP&Y #190, or ET&WNC #12 at Tweetsie RR, or Rachel thru the Doe River Gorge.

-Favorite all-time loco- Tough question- Tie- existing engines ET&WNC #12, SR #4501. Scrapped would be Carolina & North-Western #150 or #167.

Our local NRHS chapter was donated a pretty nice N-gauge layout that is just the right size to be portable. It is already scenic'd and ballasted, so I don't want to do some major reworking.

However, the layout has a pretty severe curve at the top of a very steep grade, and the front trucks of my Atlas Alco RS-3's will derail every single time if they run short hood forward in either direction (and that is the lightest end of the engine. No cars derail on this curve, nor does the second truck of the engine.

I think I can solve the problem by adding a third rail inside the gauge of the track for a guard rail, but apart from pre-bending the rail and using CA glue, I can think of no other way to attach the rail. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Matt

Dusten,

There is no single master RR list that has the roster of every loco of every railroad. You'll get some responses from folk's favorite lines that they know about, but it won't be comprehensive or unabridged by any stretch of the imagination.

Matt

Though a significant part of the Southern Railway did come out of the ETV&G, most of its infrastructure and financial worth came from the Richmond & Danville. These two companies, along with literally dozens of others, were reorganized into the Southern Railway in 1894 by JP Morgan.

Check out the book "The Great Richmond Terminal" by Maury Klein at www.tarheelpress.com

Dusten, the ET&WNC as a company lasted until the early 1980s', when it was renamed simply the East Tennessee Railway. The line then ran from Johnson City, TN to Elizabethton. In the past 18 months, the line to Elizabethton has been abandoned (not yet torn up), but the company is seeemingly doing well as a switching operation between CSX (old Clinchfield) and NS (old Southern ) around Johnson City. The grand old enginehouse still stands at their headquarters.

I am getting ready to bash a Spectrum 4-6-0 into a specific model and have a few questions, as this is my first attempt at working with a steam model.
Any help is appreciated:

a) Do the details such as running boards/air pumps/bell merely pull out of the shell or are they glued and need to be loosened from within the shell?

b) Any suggestions for removing the current headlight and replacing it with a different version with a visor (Precision Scale?)

c) The smaller tender from the 52" driver version looks much more appropriate to my prototype than the larger one that comes with the 63" Spectrum model. The problem is that this smaller tender is much lower than the cab floor of the higher-drivered model. Can anyone suggest a manufacturer of larger diameter metal wheelsets? I know I will need to lower the coupler for this mod, but I don't have a better idea of how to do it.

Thanks in advance!

Matt

Ernie,

Slow down and take the time to actually read the post rather than reading something into it that is not there.

I am not re-iterating anything. I merely stated that you were wrong- terribly wrong- in quoting Sheldon.

Matt

I like Bachmann because:

a) Their Spectrum steam line (HO) is unrivaled for performance, detail, cost, and value.

b) In addition to these qualities, the offering is unusual and diverse. The 4-6-0, the 4-4-0, the Santa Fe's, are just out-freaking-standing.

c) Diesel-wise, I have the 44-tonner. I admittedly have more of other manufactures of the diesel era, but that is because Bachmann does not offer a match of my specific shortline prototypes. If they did, my choice would be Bachmann.

d) I admire Bachmann's guts for trailblazing. They gambled on  G-scale and ignited interest in the ET&WNC with their set. Their gamble in On30 with the Forney is attracting me to that scale as well. (Now if only they will come out with that On30 ET&WNC set, right Dusten??  :>)  )

e) I appreciate the way Bachmann listens to reasonable requests (eg- putting parts diagrams on this site to aid in project feasibility and repair) and the way they tolerate others as well. I find some of the complaints to be elementary and ludicrious, and more often than not you will hear posts that **** and moan about this or that; however, I have found this organization to be quality from top to bottom.

Now about that On30 ET&WNC stuff...    :>)

Matt Bumgarner

Don't overlook Norfolk Southern if you are counting current railroad companies by virtue of their "Fallen Flags". If you are counting latter day fallen flags like the B&O, then I nominate the Southern Railway. -a) A predecessor, the South Carolina Railroad & Canal Company rivaled the B&O for early history by 1)Running the first USA revenue passenger train with the Best Friend of Charleston 2) First fatal boiler explosion on a RR with BFofC, 3) Briefly the longest RR in the country, 4) First railroad junction in the country near Branchville, SC; b) Predecessor Richmond Terminal Company was the first "holding company" in US history, c) Saluda grade was the steepest mainline grade in the US, e) Wreck of Ol' 97, considered the first modern country & western song based on SR mail train, 7) Southern/NS steam excursion program was king from 60's-mid 90's and attracted untold thousands to the hobby; f) SR was the industry leader from the 40's to 80's in terms of profit, efficiency, and innovation- Silverside Hoppers, Big John Hoppers- infrared hotbox detectors, and fought the ICC and government regulations with more vigor to protect and enhance customer service than any other company, g) Was the first major American line to completely dieselize, and h) Was the last major line to join Amtrak, running the Southern Crescent until 1978.

Read it again Ernie- slowly. Sheldon does NOT say what you said he says.

His words were-in fact the opposite-  " I do not accept stereotypes like stuff made in China is junk."

That means, clearly, that some stuff made in China is in fact, not junk. I wish it were, as my manufacturing company competes with them on a daily basis. By the same token, we also buy from China, as I can get the same quality part from the Chinese at nearly HALF the price of my former USA supplier. As much as I want to buy American 100% of the time, my competition harbors no such sentiment, and I would be out of business very quickly if I did not adapt.

I am soon going to begin my project of bashing an On30 Forney 2-4-4T into the Lawndale #1, an 0-4-4T. For project highlights, I need to a) drop the pilot truck, b) shorten the frame and smokebox just a bit c) modify the tender, and d) modify the steel cab to include a wood panel below the cab windows (the Spectrum wood cab is vastly different than the Lawndale's, but the steel cab is a dead nuts match for window and door pattern.)

My initial project concerns are first, the cost. With the current offering of the two undecorated models, I basically could

a) buy one of each and swap the boiler and cab from the outside frame to inside frame models. Easiest option, but most expensive. From the looks of the online PDF parts diagrams (Thanks for acting on that suggestion Mr. B), this definitely can be done. And definitely expensive!

b) buy the inside frame SR&RL model and hope Bachmann will sell me a steel cab. But I have heard they don't do that? Can anyone confirm?

c) Do the same as (b) above, but hope one of you out there in On30 land have a steel cab you want to trade?

Of course, I could scratchbuild a cab, but I really don't have the talent or time or most importantly, the desire to do so. Not real sure on how easy it is to remove the yellow lettering from the lettered models either.

Anyway, any thoughts on this project before the hacking begins? And yes, I have looked at Grandt Line for additional detail parts, etc, but right now I want to concentrate on the highlights mentioned above.

Thanks in advance for offering your advice.

Matt

The entire series of emails that went back and forth between the RyPN administrator and Mr. Rowland can be seen at the narrow gauge discussion group www.ngdiscussion.net.

RyPN was by far the best website for railroad preservation I have ever come across, and this sorry episode has cost us this forum, and in my view, terribly soiled the reputation of Ross Rowland, one of the most accomplished, albeit contraversial, rail preservationists out there. As one poster noted, the biggest enemy of railroad preservation is the railroad preservationists ourselves.

A sad day indeed.

Mr B-

email me at stealthnfo@aol.com-

Thanks,

Matt Bumgarner