Loving the look of the weathering on your layout. Except for that soda machine. It looks like something found under a pile of junk in the back of a barn on the "American Pickers" TV show. Not something actually in use in the era represented.

That style, with the vertical window stack on the right, was manufactured by Vendco. It came out in 1951, when Coke-Cola finally lifted the 'nickle a bottle' price cap. Prior to that the window stack was on the left. Both styles, with minor differences, were also offered to other drink makers.

The problem is, by contract, the location where the machine was placed had responsibility for maintaining the outside of the machine in good condition. Or at least wiped down of extranious dirt, etc. Some places went so far as to actually wax the outside, as if it were a car. At any rate, if the outside paint was damaged in any way, a replacement machine was supposed to be requested. Unless the distributor had gone out of business, in which case there would be no product available for it, the machine would never be allowed to get into that condition for use by customers.

I don't count rivets, but I did work in a vintage vending machine restoration shop a few years ago. And your "machine' just struck me as wrong. But then, it's your layout. So whatever.

Also, if it's a Coke machine the top should be white:


A Royal Crown (RC) machine of that era would be overall yellow and a Dr. Pepper machine would be a light lime green.

Len

A chunk cut out of one of those cheap sponge type paint brushes should work. The cell structure is tighter than a regular kitchen sponge, so should work better at getting any dirt off.

Len

This is what's on the TCS site for installing a decoder in the light mountain:
https://drupal.tcsdcc.com/installation/ho-scale/1243

Len

The GS-2 and a GS-3 each had a single headlight in the nose. The 2s had smaller drivers, while the 3s had 80" drivers. Driver size is the primary difference for the most part between 2s and 3s. There was a GS-5 but they looked almost exactly like the 4s, but with roller bearings. They only made two of them. The GS-4s had the big drivers, enclosed cabs, more streamlined looking tenders. The GS-6 was a hybrid between the 2s and 4s in a way.

Len

The Williams #5600 and #6600 are both brass models of the GS4. The #5600 is the 3-rail version, with a reverse unit and pickup rollers for AC power pickup from the center rail of 3-rail track. The #6600 is the 2-rail version designed to operate on DC power, with direction determined by the polarity of the DC applied to the tracks.

Len

You'll probably have to use flex-track to get a circle that tight these days.

For a train that will do curves that tight, I would go with one of the 4-wheel locomotives in Bachmann's 'Thomas' line, either Percy, Ben or Bill. Any of the 4-wheel 'Thomas' freight cars should work. They can be painted if you need colors other than those available from the factory.

Len

The instruction sheet says, "12v DC Train Controller (0.7amp power output)". So really intended to just run one locomotive, with possibly a couple of lighted cars.

Len

Bachmann N-scale curve tracks come in the following radii:

11.25"
12.50"
14.00"
17.50"
19.00"

Which makes four equally spaced tracks a bit of a problem. If you absolutely have to have evenly spaced curves, your best bet would be Kato Uni-Track. Coming off the curves you could use their Uni-Track to other track adapter to connect with EZ-Track you have on hand.

Len

18" or 24" diameter, compared to 20 years ago, finding HO track that tight today will not be easy. That's why I'd suggest just going with a 15" radius/30" diameter circle with track that's easy to obtain today. I don't think the track diameter is actually all that important to what the experiment is trying to do. It was probably what was handy at the time.

Len

47.5cm diameter would be a bit more than 18" in diameter, or 9" radius. That would be hard to duplicate using sectional HO track, which generally has a minimum radius of 15", or 30" diameter.

On average, and most adults are somewhere near 18" across the shoulders. So, looking at the pictures, the circle of track appears to be larger than an 18" diameter. Some years ago, there were a few 'toy' HO sets that came with a 24" diameter circle of track. But they've pretty much disappeared from the market.

I would suggest using a 15" radius/30" diameter circle of track. Pretty much any 4-wheel diesel loco and 36 or 40 scale foot freight cars should work just fine.

Len

16.5mm track used for OO gauge comes out to 4ft 1.5in, rather than 4ft 8.5in standard guage. Making it a narrower gauge, but not any recognizable narrow gauge.

Len

You can also make your own using acetate or thin styrene. Shape the ends as shown in the pic and place between ties so it bows up slightly above the rail height.



To use, drive the train over the plastic strip and stop the train ensuring that the couplings are positioned above the strip. Slightly back up the train to release the tension on the hooks. The curved strip will lift up the coupling hooks to release them. Finally, draw the train away from the stationary wagon or coach to complete the uncoupling.

Len

It sort of looks like the piece just above the second driver from the front in the exploded diagram.
https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/HOBaldwin2-8-0DCCSoundValue(1of2).pdf

Len

Quote from: trainman203 on October 11, 2023, 05:26:52 PMA 1935 Lionel train? And it still runs? I'm surprised that thing isn't in the hands of a collector.

One thing I learned fairly quickly when my repair shop was open, in spite of what some eBay sellers claim, not all pre-war Lionel trains are all that valuable. Some things are common enough you'll see them at just about any train show you go to. Others really do belong in a museum. Hard to say without specifics.

Len

In 1935 Lionel had to sizes of tubular 3-rail track. There was "Standard Gauge", with the outside rails 2-1/8" apart, and "O-gauge" with outside rails 1-1/4" apart.

If you need "Standard Gauge", MTH did some a while back. You can still find it at some on-line retailers and on eBay. You can also find use 'Standard Gauge" track on eBay. If you go the used route, be sure to check the insulators on the center 'hot' rail. If torn, or missing, it will create a short to the outside rails. It's fairly simple to replace missing or damaged insulators with new ones cut from file folder card stock.

If you need regular "O-gauge" track, any of the modern 3-rail tracks will work. If you want tubular track for the nostalgia factor, again many on-line retailers still have it available.

Len