Dear GG,

LOL. . . excellent response.   Perhaps the Bachman will forward it to H. Lee...

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Those 2" straights are critical for HO EZ-Track layout building.   Just try to make a double ended siding without them.  Bachmann should make them available separate sale (without the short 90 degree crossing). 

FT2"S
(Free the 2" straights!)

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

   

Thanks, Hunt, for your quick reply.

Hope things are going well. 

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear All,

Anyone had any luck sending messages to other Bachmann board members?

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear All,

[/quote]

Quote from: Santa Fe buff on May 01, 2008, 02:56:27 PM
Well, looks like you got your wish,
go to www.uprr.com and follow the links to find pics of the real thing!

Once there, click on "General Public", "History and Photos", and "Our Heritage".

For a UP 8309 prototype photo:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=146298

All 7 locos are EMD SD70ACe units.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_SD70M

I'm guessing that the WBB 3 rail O-gauge Heritage models will use the "SD90 Scale Diesel" molds as seen in the Williams "Winter 2004-2005 Contemporary Line" fold up poster catalog.  (Wow... almost 18" long, yet still navigates O-31 curves !.... Thats 14.25" radius, folks.  Can you say "Overhang"?)

I'm not an EMD specialist, but there may not be too many visual differences between the two prototypes (SD90 and SD70ACe) ....

Great looking paint schemes, though.... they should sell a ton of 'em.

Hope this helps. 

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear Bob and Leth (and any other veterans reading this reply),

Thank you for your service to our country.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Should we start a Memorial Day thread?

Dear All,

Another link:

http://www.richyodermodels.com/rym_owens_bd.htm

Scroll down for historical SP #1 photos. 

I am surprised how good the color is in the old photos.  I am used to seeing faded color in shots from that era. 

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

Hmm.  Interesting thread. 

Here is a wiki link for the U50-B:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_U50

It is definitely a standard gauge prototype, so if you need F (1:20.3) standard gauge track products (70.64 mm) you would want to visit Don Nidday's site:

http://crofutandironcreek.com/

The model would be huge and require long, long radius curves.  It's unlikely that Bachmann would build it.  If you look at the original poster's profile, he registered just before April Fool's day.

If I may quote myself: "If it's too heavy to lift, you'd better be able to ride on or behind it."

http://www.stcroixrr.org/doc/scrr.information.html

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

Hey, Guys.

Have you noticed that the original poster has yet to reply back?  Don't know if we have overwhelmed him or not. 

About 5 x 9 layouts...

You can sometimes get a used ping pong table 'cheap' by looking through the "thrifties" ads in your local newspaper or an advertising weekly. 

If you think you have room for a 4' wide table, but not 5' wide, think about putting your table on casters.  Position it against the wall until you need to access the far side, then just roll it out......

The formula for the width of a circle of track is twice radius plus a track bed width. (2R+TBW) 

For example:  28"R and 2" (HO) track bed width, 2 x 28" + 2" = 58", which is 2" shy of a 5' (=60") table width.  This leaves 1" on either side for overhang.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear Brian,

Beautiful work.  Thanks for the pics.

Dear All,

For those not familiar with 7/8 ths scale, here's how the math works out:

7/8" to the foot = 7/8" to 12" = 1:13.7

This is the correct scale for 2 foot gauge prototypes to run on 45 mm gauge (gauge 1) track, a.k.a. "large scale" track.

(You would need to convert ft. to mm to prove the track math.)

This would be good for modeling the "Maine 2 Footers" using large scale drive mechanisms. 

Hope this helps. 

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear All, 

Boarders in a previous threads seem to be struggling to achieve satisfactory sounding chuffs at all speeds and loads.  Recently, it was theorized that faster triggers were interpreted by sound modules as "noise", and  thus ignored.   

Perhaps we need a new approach.  Up to now, we seem to have one trigger for both cylinders. 

Why not two triggers and two voices, one for each cylinder?  The "stereo" signals could then be mixed down to a mono output to the speaker. 

Think about it.  This would cut the chuff trigger rate in half, allowing for longer "decay" of the hissing sound for each cylinder.

Perhaps overkill: Have 4 triggers, one for each stroke (forward/backward) X 2 cylinders. 

Is there a difference between the sound of a cylinder's forward stroke and its backward stroke?  Is there a significant sound difference between cylinder action/chuff from the left side of the engine vs. the right side of  the engine if you are standing on one side?       

The live steam people are probably chuckling over our struggles to achieve "live steam sound"...

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

Dear Paul,

Thanks for the kind words.  Glad I could help. 

Now, if you really wanted to make things interesting, put sidings on all four sides of the room.  Controlling 4 or 5  trains at once, in and out of the sidings, would be a challenge.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

Dear Kybaugh,

I found that setting up concentric ovals with Bachmann track you need 1 and 1/2 straights more on each of the 4 sides of the outer oval.  1 straight would cause overhang crashes, and 2 straights made the outside oval look way too large. 

I cut two straights in half to get the needed four half straights, using rubber bands around the end ties to hold the track sections together. 

Terry Toenges bought a 90 degree crossing to get the four included "uncut" half straights for this purpose. (No track cutting or rubber bands needed.)

It is possible to build a siding without "S" curves.

Three 30 degree curves in a row make a 90 degree "corner".   

Instead of a regular curve, make the last (third) curve of your corner the curved portion of your turnout, with the points end of the turnout connected to curve 2.    This curved route will be the "inside mainline".   

The "outside siding" is built off the straight route of the turnout.   Add a curve to the straight route in the same direction as your curved route.  You may need to add straight length between the straight route and the added curve to gain enough centerline spacing between the main and siding to avoid overhang crashes.

I will attempt to show this with ascii characters.   Straight route top, curved route bottom.   
_________
/----------\ 

Hope this helps.

Feel free to e-mail or call.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

 

Is it a wireless keyboard?

Joe

Dear Bill,

Is this set in your "master list"?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bachman-G-Scale-Big-Haulers-Weil-McLain-Boilers-set_W0QQitemZ180196759125QQihZ008QQcategoryZ19152QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

Thought I'd give you a heads up if not.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik