Guys Just got back from my local club where I took the welded rail train. It has been a rush job as I have just started two new jobs this month - so modeling has been rather on the back burner. I took the camera and have just edited this short video. However, I hope that this gives a view of how the ribbon rail runs [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5p90_9OCm0&layer_token=627b65315f99c929"]YouTube - Welded Rail Train - N Scale Model[/ame] This was a 'bulk loads meet', so welded rail fitted the bill well and seemed to go down really well. My thanks to my friends at the 'Black Diamonds' for allowing it to run so often - as well as a fair few N Scale Kits intermodals too in amongst the grain and coal consists! Peter Peter Harris N Scale Kits N Scale Kits PS I will respond on the issues raised earlier as soon as I get organized over the weekend.
Peter, Thanks for the video. It helps answer a few question I have been thinking about. It seems like the rail doesn't have any problem going around corners and s-curves. Hopefully you can answer the last question I posted. Thanks, Cody
Thanks for the compliments - Doug's shipment took for ever, and it was the slowest we have ever had, and we have not got to the bottom of why this was. I am afraid that Doug got an early batch. We are now supplying the rail as one long coil of 50' so that you can cut it any way that you want [Doug, please contact me directly if you want a longer length to replace yours.] Possibly a mistake here by us, as the inside supports are designed to be a little wide, and can be shortened to fit the uprights This is fairly easily done as the support bars can be bundled together and filed as a group. This is how we shorted the bunks in the cars in the clip above. OOps - we will try to get the sorting done properly. Again contact us for spares. Ummm - the gaps in the underbars are miscastings. The bars were designed to be open at the top. This has proved the most difficult thing. In HO we would have put a notch into the bars for the rail to slide into, but this was not possible to do in N. The bars onthe top rung are therefore open. This has caused me real problems with the rail sliding. I have, therefore, left the top row of rails off. [see the video above] I tried to glue each rail to each bunk, but this proved not to allow sufficient movement on the tighter curves. In fact, this is not unprototypical, but less common than seeing the whole bunks filled. We have improved the castings and do come back to me if there are miscastings that need to be replaced. I showed a 53' 6" car at the meet today, to general approval. It is all metal and will be fairly cheap. We will do them in packs of 5 cars. It is the rail that we wanted to produce - the bunks were an attempt to make it a little easier for folks to model the train. However, a welded rail train really does make an impact when it is running as you can see. Peter Peter Harris N Scale Kits N Scale Kits
Peter - that is a neat video; you should consider posting it to your site. In fact, it would be great to have videos of some of your other products too - all those long articulated units are hard to photograph in one frame, and there is nothing like a TOFC run-by to sell some more spines. Cheers, Gary
That video is great Peter - really highlights the rail and cars well. I think the 5 packs of the 53' flats will be great too!
OK, I finally got started... I have the side supports attached. It was a challenge to drill the holes and get everything lined up perfectly. I think this is compounded by the inconsistency of the castings...there are at least two different "versions" of the BN/BNSF supports I have (this is VERY evident by looking at the top slot for the crossmembers...one is almost flush with the top, and one sits way up above) and I think the spacing for the posts to mount them also varies some. I'm gonna chalk this up to being a "pioneer" and assuming the future issues of these supports will be cleaner. Some more comments... -I was wrong about the width, for the most part. The extreme width of the side support does stick out some but overall it is not noticeable. -I plan to install the crossmembers upside down. I have started going through and gapping them with a dremel and then cleaning out the inside with a piece of fine modeling sandpaper. (if necessary, most are already open) The rail slides through quite well, but is held in place in the car. I was thinking about using graphite to help the rail to slide as necessary. I may glue brass or styrene strip along the bottom or may just leave it. I think it will be a neat model. I'm trying to capture the look of the BNSF car posted on NSK's website and it seems like it will be a good approximation. I think I will finish out the 8 DI/GHQ cars I have and then buy the NSK flats when they get them done to fill out the rest of the train. I'm planning on 18 cars.
Just seeing if anyone has made progress. I am waiting on my order of cars and other supplies to get here. I am getting help from a club member with building a case for the entire train tomorrow. Then hopefully have most everything minus trucks and couplers by next weekend. Cody
Here's some more proto-photos of the head of a NS rail-train that appeared on railcarphotos recently: http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=54913 http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=54912 http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=54911 http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=54910 http://www.railcarphotos.com/PhotoDetails.php?PhotoID=54909 Some interesting cars for the kit-bashers there! Has anyone made any progress on their models?
My thanks to all, especially to those who posted pics and videos. I had no clue how "ribbon rail" was done prototypically. Amazing. I sure learn a lot here!
