In my view, the lengthy Canpotex hopper trains from Saskatchewan to Vancouver and return are almost as iconic of the Canadian railway scene as the much modelled grain car trains.

Yet no-one seems to model the currrent style of Canpotex hopper as built by National Steel Car.  Three bays but a somewhat shorter wheel base than, say, Trinity or ACF 3 bay hoppers.

To create a Canpotex train, one has to resort to cylindrical hopper with round hatches, which seem to have been sold off by Canpotex over the last few years in favour of the more modern standard type covered hopper.  This creates an anachronism as it means that the "older" cylindricals don't belong behind the more modern traction units.  The cylindricals having been scrapped or sold on before some of the more powerful units used to haul the current  Canpotex trains were introduced (Am I right in this?).

In order to create something approaching a convincing "block" train, the modeller would have to buy sufficient numbers of Canpotex hoppers that  looking at the more "budget end " of the market may be necessary.

It depends of course on the modellers choice of the extent of detail. Other manufacturers may be able to produce a highly detailed model but at a price that some may find prohibitive. Other modellers may be satisfied with a reasonable  representation at an affordable price, especially if they intend to buy that particular vehicle in  numbers.

Bachmann's Cylindrical Grain Car fleet, almost all in Canadian liveries, have stood up well against competition from more expensive producers making the same vehicle.

Canpotex three bay NSC hoppers?

Over to you Bachmann.

Armchair

Hello Jim, thanks for the response. Sadly my Grain Train will not be hauling wheat from Saskatchewan, whether it is hard spring or winter wheat. Remember my query of 8th July and your response of 18th July about PCRS/Intermountain Sask. hopper livery? Furthermore  I have seen elsewhere some comments about PCRS wheels being very good scale wheels but not suitable for "indifferent" track work. The PCRS are more expensive than the Bach. product and as you pointed out, there is also the "exclusive" agreement between the Sask. provincial government and PCRS re the use/licensing of the livery. I would really like the Sask. livery hoppers but I am not sure my modelling standards are good enough to run them.

I take your point about tracking/insurance cost for the customer, but as I said it provides  benefits to the supplier by proveably ensuring the correct goods go to the correct customer. Where goods are "lost" it can be established where.

Re. Signature, my favourite Groucho Marx quote. "Remember men, we are fighting for this woman's honour, which is probably more than she ever did" Rufus T Firefly. Duck Soup.

Regards
Armchair 

Hello again, just thought I'd pop my head in for a moment before I get zapped again by the Admin/Moderator. 

The 6 grain cars I ordered back in July have arrived. The parcel was a "re-send" which was posted on 1st September and arrived with me 12th September. 11 days US to UK. Pretty good.

I e-mailed the supplier and shopatron to confirm I had them.

It begs the question as to where the first consignment went. Because there was no tracking number the supplier, the post office (US and UK) and myself have no idea where it is but it must be somewhere.

Surely it must be to the benefit of both the supplier and the customer for parcels to be tracked. It proves where the parcel was last, and when and if it was delivered. This protects the customer and protects the supplier from fraudulent customers. I do not need to draw a picture I am sure you all know what I mean. 

Anyway, now a happy bunny, and thank you to all who joined the debate with advice and comment before I was declared persona non grata probably through my own fault. Mea Culpa

Must go now I've got grain to deliver and flour to mill.

Armchair

Quote from: jonathan on September 04, 2011, 07:39:10 AM
When I manage to plan ahead, I like to solder feeder wires to every rail joiner.  
Regards,

Jonathan

Soldering to the joiners is good, but only where tracks are physically joined. If you have a "lift out "section or "fold up" section joiners are not an option. The method used by Jonathon in his initial post or the one suggested by RAM and myself would be better.

armchair

I agree with jward. Soldering on the inside of a running rail is asking for trouble. Jonathon's method is effective and cannot interfere with the wheel flanges. Provided the solder is not "proud" of the running surface of the rail it will not interfere with the wheel treads either. Jonathon has done a pretty good job of blending the wire to the track by use of colour and/or weathering. Furthermore it would be a pretty good eye to spot the join with so much other scenic activity going on. His is a good way of dealing with track "in situ", without having to lift it.

If you know you will need a "jumper" or additional supply, another method I would suggest takes a little more forward planning.  Take a section of track and turn it upside down. Remove some of the webbing that connects the sleepers (ties) to expose the underside of the track. Solder  short(ish) sections of wire on the underside of the running rail. A couple of small holes, just wide enough to feed the wires, drilled through the base board. Feed the "drop wires" through the board  and position the track, with running surface upward.  The "drop wires" then appear beneath the base board and can be connected to the supply by whichever method you choose. The beauty of this method is that the wires are invisible.
The problen with this method is that it is difficult to get at once the track is fixed in place.
I am sure this method will be described elsewhere, in a more informative way, on this or other forums with illustrations. The trick with soldering is to have clean surfaces and get in and out fast.

ACM

Good work Jonathan and a good tip to overcome electrical supply problems. Electrical bonding between sections of rail is very common on the prototype here in the UK, to assist with track circuit and train detection systems, so it is ususal to see a "jumper" cable bolted or welded to the outsides of the running rail, so your method to improve conductivity and over come voltage drop has a precedent in the real thing.

Good Tip that I'm sure will help many less experienced modellers.

Armchair

Derek

I do not know if this will work for you.

Go to the parts and service section of this site. Have a look at product info and choose from the product menu. I think the loco you refer to is in the Williams section right at the bottom  of the page. There is an exploded diagram of a loco which if you examine it may reveal the answer you seek.

Good luck

Armchair

Thank you for the replies and guidance on terminology. Because I was not putting the "right" question in the search field I was not getting the answer I needed. The replies posted have cleared this up and I now know how to go about it, especially as Richg has given me such a usefull link.

Quote from: richg on August 09, 2011, 09:55:57 PM
http://tinyurl.com/3suuqxo

I have found by experience that how to ask the question can make a big difference.

Rich

You are certainly correct in this.

"Will you shift your fat carcass, you great clumsy bus horse?" and "Excuse me sir, do you realise you are standing on my foot?" brought totally different reactions. 

Regards
ACM

Do any members know who produces an HO scale  "Nodding Donkey" oil pump? The type seen in the fields in parts of Alberta. They look like good subjects to model and motorise in HO scale.

I have had a look on the internet and have failed to come up with a model kit for this type of oil pump in HO (3.5mm/ft)but there are the occassional ones in O (7mm/ft). I may be looking in the wrong place. A kit would be so much easier to construct than to try to fabricate one myself, hey, my title is Armchair Modeller

ACM

Yes thank you, Smokey valley does seem to be the answer. I have sent them an e-mail, just waiting for a reply.

Thanks again

A/C

I have recently been fortunate to be given a Bachmann "Spectrum" EMD GP30 loco. It is the one decorated as a "Demonstrator" loco.

The plastic handrails are broken and I would like to replace them with brass wire handrails.

Does anyone make a kit or built up set of brass stanchions and handrails to relpace Bachmann's plastic effort.

The whole thing is going to get a repaint, probably to CSX livery.

Any advice please?

Armchair Modeller
Liverpool, England.

Many thanks for the responses to my query. Yes it does seem that the Seskatchewan provincial government has given exclusive licence to PWRS to use the livery on models.

I am aware that the coupling mechanisms on North American models are different from U.K. couplers. The U.K. ones are quite ugly hook and bar arrangements that are a legacy of the toy train market from the 1950 and a firm called Tri-ang.
Tri-ang were later bought out by Hornby. The original Hornby trains, known as Hornby Dublo, were made by the Meccano company in Binns Road Liverpool (my home city) and they had couplers that were more discrete and similar in appearance to the U.S. type. The adoption of the "tension lock" hook and bar arrangement seems to have come about simply because of "critical mass". There were more hook and bar type than others and that sadly became the U.K. standard. End of psuedo history lesson. A lot of serious U.K. modellers use Kaydee products or make their own couplers.
I am not in the serious modeller catergory (hence the name Armchair) but I will not be running British railways stock with my "Canadian cameo"   "Cor blimey gov'nor, you have to draw the line somewhere.

Thank you again for taking the time to respond.

Armchair Modeller

The diner rolled but stopped upright.                                                                             -- D

[/quote]

I trust that the soup service had been completed and tidied away.

Thanks Jward. As I am English, living in England the American/Canadian ways of doing things are a mystery to me, so thanks for the info. Most mainline British diesels are "double ended" so they can work in either direction. They have a No.1 end and a No.2 end driving cab. Only the smaller shunting engines ( yard switchers?) tend to have a single cab.

Some earlier diesels had a shape reminicent of the US locos. Have a look at BR "Claytons" which often worked in tandem as they were not powerfull enough alone. Having said that our trains are nowhere near as heavy and lengthy as yours.

Armchair

I am a stranger in these parts, but my recent observations tend to suggest that although the locomotives run equally well in either direction, the preferred method seems to be with cab leading. This is probably as it gives a clearer view for the driver rather than having to look past the length of the loco. When two or more are coupled together, double-heading in English, consist in North American, they tend to be "push me pull you" formation so that which ever direction they are running the cab leads.

I have tried and failed  to attach some photos of some GP9s which I hoped would illustrate the point but I cannot get my pictures to attach.

As a substitute have a look at Canadian Pacific Railway Locomotive Roster and Photo Archives where they have picture of various classes of locos to refer to.

Armchair