Interurban end of the line

[marknewton]

No worries Nick, I'll have them ready for whenever you need them.

 

Repowering my Suydam interurbans has been an interesting exercise so far. I have five of the cars altogether. Two of them have had Hollywood Foundry BullAnt drives fitted, two have NWSL Stanton drives, and the last will have a Steam Era Models Black Beetle.

 

The reason I've used different drives is to compare their ease of fitting, and their performance once fitted, using an old Tenshodo SPUD as the benchmark.

 

The BullAnt has been the easiest to fit. All I had to do was enlarge the original hole in the floor for clearance, and screw the BullAnt into the existing holes that once secured the original Suydam drive. It's a very quick and easy job. One BullAnt is geared, and the other is belt driven.

 

The Stanton drive is fitted using the bracket that was part of the original Suydam drive. It's slightly modified to lower it. It takes longer to do than the BullAnt mounting but it's very solid.

 

I haven't used the Black Beetle yet, but it will be mounted in the same manner as the Stanton.

 

Performance wise there's little difference between the two maker's products. All three run well throughout their speed range and are very responsive to a basic DC controller. The belt drive Bullant is the quietest, followed by the geared version, then the Stanton. But none are particularly loud or intrusive, and I suspect that they'll be a lot quieter when the carbodies have been detailed and finished. At the moment they're just empty brass shells which amplify the sound of the drives.

 

Oregon Electric car with Stanton drive

 

Sacramento Northern car with BullAnt drive.

 

Excuse the ugly temporary wiring and weights, they'll be replaced later. Once the rest of the work is completed I'll fit the cars with decoders, but for test running I'll stick with DC.

 

I fitted the Oregon Electric car with new Standard C80P trucks I had in my parts collection, just to give the car a slightly different look. What do you think?

 

I'm also thinking about a colour scheme. The base colour will be the classic traction orange with a red oxide roof. But I'm undecided whether to use maroon as the trim colour or a lighter shade such as cream.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

Edited March 19, 2015 by marknewton

[marknewton]

I'm also building another GE steeplecab loco using the MRR Warehouse plastic kit. It has a larger cab and a longer frame, inspired by an article written by Andy Gautry that appeared in Model Railroader magazine. He kit bashed a model of Yakima Valley Transit No. 298 using the MRR kit and a Bachmann 44-toner mechanism. When I get up tomorrow afternoon I'll take a photo and post it.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[Nick_Burman]

I fitted the Oregon Electric car with new Standard C80P trucks I had in my parts collection, just to give the car a slightly different look. What do you think?

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

They look fine, give the car a "Big Foot" look...one can imagine the traction motor inside, a serious delay catcher.

 

 

Cheers NB

[SantaFe1970]

dabbling with Latin American HOn30 narrow gauge

 

 

Interesting. Years ago I had a daydream project of building a what-if 1920s version of the railroad that features in Joseph Conrad's classic novel "Nostromo." Yes, a very eccentric idea. If I remember my attraction, I think it was the combination of Latin American scenery, rickety narrow gauge, mostly mining action, and an eclectic mix of US and European outline influences. It would have to have been almost entirely scratchbuilt or kitbashed (which was a huge attraction at the time). And, of course, there would be the inside joke -- would anyone ever see it? -- of a link to a 1904 novel, a freelance RR in Conrad's freelance country of "Costaguana." 

 

Anyways. I know this interesting thread went other directions, but would like to hear more about your "Latin American HOn30"projects...

[marknewton]

I mentioned earlier in this thread that had dug out my Suydam interurban cars and done some work on them. I also found the three steeplecab locos that I had started building, and worked on them as well.

 

The problem with doing all this is that it's made me realise that I'm still quite fascinated by US interurban railroads, and that I need to build something to run these models on. I'm thinking of something quite simple and basic, such as a station of one of the Iowa interurbans like the Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Northern.

 

A typical station would consist of the single track main line, a passing siding and a team track serving local industries such as grain elevators, stock yards and lumber sheds. There would also be a combination depot and substation.

 

As far as rollingstock and structures go I have most of what I need already built, left over from my previous forays into modelling US railroads. But whereas in the past I became so focused on the research I needed to ensure 100% prototypical accuracy that I didn't make any worthwhile progress with the actual model building, these day I'm much more sensible and relaxed about prototypical accuracy. I'm going to sketch out a few layout ideas which I'll post, either here or in a new thread.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.