I've been lurking around here for a while but never had anything useful to say, but this thread has prompted me to respond. Once upon a time the only Northern Pacific anything anyone had in N scale was this: When I used to haunt Ebay I would always bid a little bit on them and accumulated these cars one or two at a time over the years. I actually have three engines, one powered and two dummies, and the cars pictured. I think I have an extra observation car somewhere also, but can't find it at present. Of course the paint jobs were mostly wrong, but I still like them. I've got some other Arnold stuff around here too, including a GG1 Most everything is packed away somewhere though. I have big plans to scrap the partially completed layout pictured and replace it with something more modular as soon as I make some decisions about how to go about that. I hope my pictures show up okay.
Thanks a bunch for your post Bumbazene! Really neat and rare stuff you have there. I have an Arnold GG-1 in PRR Tuscan that's been put away. I need to find it and give it some run time. I've never seen the silver version you have, nor have I ever seen the matching passenger cars like yours.
Yeah the silver GG-1 is beautiful. I almost bought one a couple of weeks ago on eBay but opted for a second Penn Central one, instead. It was quite a bit cheaper than the "Congressional" GG-1. The Northern Pacific set is also beautiful and I have seen various locos and cars for it on eBay, too. Some day... Welcome to TrainBoard. Meanwhile, I have bought some Rapido track. Appearance-wise, it's the best of the early N scale code 80 track, what with the blackening. It's a bit less robust, however, with the rail being easier to bend since it is formed tinplate, ala Lionel or American Flyer, instead of solid, extruded metal. I had to straighten out quite a bit of what I bought. It seems to fit together tightly as Dan mentioned in an earlier post. I sure would have liked to see the machines making that track. Forming those rails from that small sheet metal must have been something. Pretty precise. I bought it to...well...just to have some after all these years. Doug
I still have two old orange Arnold flex track boxes that I keep by stripwood in. My 1980 layout (sized to fit in the back of my new Honda!) was built entirely of Arnold track and those turnout controls are also Arnold. It was a great little layout, all built in my small apartment.
I seem to recall an illustration in Arnold Rapido literature showing dirt being shed from its uniquely shaped railhead. Arnold's staggered rail joints also locked ovals and other shapes together on a table top, unlike all the other brands with even-ended joints which would eventually wiggle apart. I've got a few Arnold track sections around here somewhere, but probably not enough to make a circle with. I'll have to check …...
DKS shows that illustration on his "The Birth of N Scale" site. If you get to the Rapido profile page and scroll down, it's there. I'm pretty sure that's where it is, anyway. I know it's on his site. The other night, I saw a 1977/78 Rapido catalog on ebay and was going to order it but right at the last fraction of a second, I thought I better make sure it had both European models, as that's all it showed on the cover, and American prototype models. I wrote the seller and sure enough, it had only the European models. So, I didn't order it. Not that I don't like the European models, they are gorgeous, like the big steamers and the "Crocodil" Electrics. There was a 1972 catalog on there tonight and they showed the table of contents page and it does, indeed, have the American models in it so I ordered that. I'd like to get a later one where they were still selling the American models but probably had more road names added, like the ConRail GP9, for example, to see how many different ones they eventually had. Doug
Neat. Someday I will get some of the little, old time passenger cars, too. I see, from the 1972 catalog I just received, Arnold made them to go with the UP version of the 0-6-0 I have. Dan, I see you were using an MRC 500N Golden THROTTLEPACK your 1980 layout. I had that same pack back then too. In fact, I bought it in 1967 or 1968 and still have it. I added a pilot lamp to it and a switch so I could turn the AC output on and off so I could turn the lights on and off on the layout I had at the time in the early 1970's . I never took a picture of that layout which I regret now. Unfortunately, I scratched the cabinet up a little bit as all I had to drill the holes was a hand drill, at the time, and the bit slipped a little. It's not too noticeable, though. I also see there are slight variations in Rapido track, construction-wise. Doug
You guys were living the high life My first transformer / power pack was the MRC Trainpack model 100. In the mid 70's, Santa placed a MRC Control Master 1 under the Christmas tree. At that point, I was living the dream. When I got back into N scale in 1989, I needed a new transformer to go along with my new Kato GP38-2, so I picked up the MRC TECH II. It was about 1995 a friend sold me his MRC Command 2000 system. This new DCC seems better than the old CTC-16 system I had in HO scale. Then in 1999, I jumped into DCC with both feet purchasing a Digitrax Empire Builder starter system. Thanks guys for the fun walk down memory lane.
Arnold European prototype rail diesel busses. They were a gift many years back, which is why I have not tried to sell them on FeePay. I did know one NYNH&H modeller who repainted his and hung NYNH&H markings on them. I do not know how many cars there are supposed to be, but I have three. The stock numbers marked are 291, 391 and 392. The powered unit, which I assume is 291, has horns on both ends and lights that go either way. There is one other dummy unit, which I assume goes in the middle and to be 392, that has neither horns nor lights. There is a third dummy, which I assume to be 391, which has a horn on one end, only, that I assume to be the trailer, although you could have the power unit push instead of pull. The headlight lights on both the powered unit and the one that I assume to be 391. The thing sounds like a coffee grinder, but it runs acceptably, for what it is. Even LaBelle #106 would not quiet it significantly.
I did another S-2 - Started as: (I had already changed out the wheel sets) And -- ready for service: Thanks, Wolf
The rail buses are in the 1972 catalog I just got. Neat, unusual, models. The S-2's look great, Wolf. Anyway, my camera started working again and I finally realized it stops once battery voltage gets below a threshold and won't turn back on. I was sure there was a warning in the past before it shut down but I guess I was wrong. So, here are more GP's: I know I already posted one Penn Central GP9 but this one is like new with all the corner steps. I didn't know before I got the 1972 catalog that the PC GP9 and EL GP7 were among the original releases. Doug
As with so much of my stuff, they are heavily kit bashed and modified. The combine and two coaches are old Arnolds. I back dated the roofs to non-clerestory types to resemble pre-Civil War designs.
Since someone posted bashes from Arnolds..........................................(although the work already shown is far superior to this example)........ This is a Father Nature casting. It appears that he cast the coach body from the old Arnold combine. The chassis is from an Arnold combine. I was looking for a chassis to fit the casting. The B-mann did not quite fit. I recognised the window pattern and checked the Arnold combine. The chassis did fit. It appears that he cast the roof out of a RoCo ATSF caboose. The cupola appears to be cast from a MT caboose. The castings were crude and it was difficult to work with them. Sometimes, when I tried to sand or file, chunks would break off the body. I ruined one or two before I managed to get the technique half correct. The roofwalk also appears to be from the RoCo caboose and it is as it was on the casting. If I do another one, I plan to try to remove the roofwalk and replace it with an etched brass or MT. I have some more castings, I just have to hope that I do not destroy the shell when I try to remove the roofwalk. I do not know if the flaws were in the resin, casting method or just that they are old.
Thanks, Dan. It was surprising how many of the geeps showed up on eBay a month or so ago. I remember the criticisms of the Rapido geeps back in the day, that the wheels are too big and the body is too far above the rails and all that but I think they look great. The combine looks fine to me, brokemoto and Russell is pretty much the king of kit bashing around here. Doug
Nice stuff! I've never seen the silver GG1 either. I just sold off the last of my Rapido steam locos on eBay, one of the Pacifics that still ran quite well considering its age. (I need to focus on just a few dozen aspects of the scale ) Unfortunately, the buyer declared it a "piece of junk" after receiving it; fortunately, said buyer had already left positive feedback... phew.
