Lets see your Arnold N scale!

oldrk Jan 6, 2011

  1. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Those are all really neat Doug. I've never seen any pre-Rapido coupler Arnold, so the B&O F is all new to me. My friend across the street had the depressed center car with the bridge load and I agree with you -- it's still a cool car 50 years later.
     
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  2. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks. On the B&O and bridge load car, the camera had a hard time focusing on them so they are not very good. I went for years without knowing what the load is on that car until I finally decided maybe it was upside down on the flat.

    I also didn't know what the pins sticking up on the couplers were for back in the sixties when I got the brochure in about 1965. I think I confused those with what Arnold called a "switching coupler" I thought maybe you pushed down on the pin to push the coupler down to uncouple. not knowing yet that Rapido couplers don't push down. And, I didn't know about the bent metal hook on the earlier trains.

    The actual switching coupler has a device attached to it so, as long as the loco is backing up, the coupler stays down but, as soon as you go forward a metal blade gets stuck on the base/ties and lifts the coupler up. At least that's how I see it working. I've never actually had any.

    Doug
     
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  3. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Well, my sometimes scatterbrainedness reared its head again. I mentioned that the eccentric crank pin was broken on the fireman's side of the Southern 4-6-2 I just got and that I was going to have to figure out a way to fix it, completely forgetting that there were two included in Dan's last shipment of Rapido parts. So, it's all fixed now and runs great. Thanks again, Dan.

    As far as the cab roof, I looked close and saw there was green showing on some of the edges. I thought, Aha! If I can get the black paint off maybe all of the green paint is under there. 90% IPA removed it and most of the paint was green but it was a repaint and one corner of the overhang had been repaired so there was white filler present. So, I ended up painting it Tuscan and it looks good.

    Doug
     
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  4. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I was wrong, the other day, re 0179 being a switch pair. Those are the switch machines, 0179L for left and 0179R for right.

    Doug
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2019
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  5. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I decided that, as long as I'm buying all those Rapido locomotives, I better get an official Rapido power pack to run them.So:

    P1030658.JPG

    A like new 0409, factory wired for 110 VAC instead of the normal 220 VAC. It has little round jacks to receive plugs, typical for European equipment of that era instead of the screw terminals typical of US packs. I noticed the jacks looked like the same diameter as Treble-O-Lectric plugs on the terminal wires going into the power feed terminal to the track and, lo and behold, they are exactly right so I used a pair to go from the Rapido pack to the track.

    Doug
     
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  6. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    So far, I have been rescued five times (that I remember) by the gift Rapido parts from Hardcoaler:

    1. A weight for a GP7 or GP9.

    2. A motor for the same locomotives.

    3. An eccentric crank for a Rapido Pacific.

    4. A side rod screw for my Minitrix K4. The original is hex head and the Rapido is slotted head but the threads are the same and it works perfectly.

    5. A motor for a Rapido Pacific. The original in the UP version I recently obtained is shorted between two windings.

    So, I humbly thank Dan again.

    Doug
     
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  7. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I'm happy to be of help Doug and am so glad that you were able to make use of my parts. I greatly enjoy seeing your photos and have learned a lot about Arnold's production history through your posts. If I come across anything else that might be of interest to you, I'll send 'em on. (y)
     
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  8. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I forget if anyone posted these Revell Rapido catalog covers. I'm thinking that Russell posted the 1970 cover seen here. I found these in my stuff today. The top cover is from 1967.

    Revell Rapido 1967 Catalog - for upload.jpg
    Revell Rapido 1970 Catalog - for upload.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2019
  9. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    In our discussion on Arnold turnouts, I forgot that Arnold also offered double slip switches. I never owned these. Note that the 1968 catalog page here offers only a drawing of them; they must have been a new product at the time. I remember that Arnold power pack. It stood up vertically, courtesy of four metal legs that that turned out on the bottom of the pack and were a brief source of puzzlement for me as a kid.

    Revell Rapido Turnouts.jpg
     
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  10. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    This is Minitrix' 1971 Catalog cover for the North American market. At a cost of 75 Cents, it included full isometric assembly drawings and parts lists for the 0-6-0T, 0-6-0, 4-6-2, FM, F-9 and U-28 locomotives, a number of track plans, sets, all available equipment and track items, and a Dealer listing, and all in color on high quality pebble-grained paper.

    Minitrix 1971 Catalog.jpg
     
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  11. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    Interesting that Ravell/Rapido was using MicroTRAINS in their marketing. I guess they never copyrighted it.
    Screen Shot 2019-02-03 at 7.44.07 PM.png
     
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  12. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Nice catalog pictures. The ones I have are similar with more than one version released in 1967 - 68.

    Here is a picture of the 0176, right hand, double slip switch I just got recently along with some other switches.The way it works is the single switch machine throws both those long V-shaped side pieces at the center either both against the outer rails or away from the outer rails. When both pieces are against the outer rails, the switch acts as a 30 degree crossover. When both pieces are away from the outer rails, it acts like two regular switches back-to-back, routed to the diverging routes. Very efficient. P1030661.JPG

    DKS has indicated the actual three uses of "Micro Trains". Our company today, derived from Kadee, Uses Micro-Trains. AHM, years ago, used Microtrains, And as Russell shows above, Revell used MicroTRAINS.

    BTW, the catalog number of the power pack, the photo of which I posted above, is 0708 (0709 is the 220 VAC version), not 0409.

    Doug
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2019
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  13. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    Well, here's another couple of errors or misconceptions I had about Rapido equipment to which I confess. Above, concerning the switching coupler, I stated that as long as the train was backing up, the cars would stay coupled and pulling forward would uncouple them. It's the opposite. As long as the train is going forward, the train/cars stay coupled. Backing up causes the loco coupler to raise and then, pulling forward again, leaves the desired car(s) behind.

    I have always thought the switch version with the snap-in switch machine was the earliest version and the more enclosed version was later and that is the opposite of reality, too.

    I gleaned this information from the catalog images Alain Le Marchand kindly posted on the Trovestar site.

    Doug
     
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  14. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I sent Alain two pdf files of the complete Revell Rapido catalogs I posted the covers of above. He posted them on Trovestar today.

    http://www.trovestar.com/Assets/Collections/4/Catalogs/Revell/

    The Minitrix catalog is about 30 Pages, which will be quite the endeavor to scan. I'll tackle that someday soon.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2019
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  15. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I keep making mistakes. The double slip switch makes a 15 degree crossing, not a 30 degree crossing. I have a Minitrix catalog too and it sounds like mine is similar to yours with exploded views and parts lists of the locos of the time. It has a 1973 copyright date.

    EDIT: I have a couple of 1967 Arnold Rapido catalogs that are identical. I mistakenly said one had the diagrams of the double slip switches and the other one had actual pictures of the switches. The catalog with the pictures is actually a 1968 one I have. I am posting an image of the 1968 catalog below.

    Doug
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2019
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  16. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I mentioned to Alain that the Revell Rapido 1970 catalog as a number of HO scale stand ins for photography, but I now notice that the 1967 catalog sports some HO models too. Evidently Arnold's N Scale marketing enthusiasm was running a few paces ahead of the production department.
     
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  17. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I noticed the substitution of HO models in the early catalogs, too. Arnold wasn't the only company to do that.

    Anyway. here's the image from the 1968 Revell Rapido catalog with actual pictures of the double slip switches instead of diagrams:

    scan Rapido 1968 page.jpg

    Doug
     
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  18. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I located my Arnold Turntable and Controller today and took a few snaps of each. Somewhere I have the specialized sections to fill in those blank areas around the perimeter and to create more spoke tracks. This was a fine turntable. Mine still works well, though it's been boxed for nearly 40 years now because I've not since had the layout space to make room for it. :( I painted the handrails.

    2019-02-04 Arnold Rapido Turntable Box.jpg
    2019-02-04 Arnold Rapido Turntable Itself.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2019
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  19. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    The Turntable Controller was not one of Arnold's greatest achievements. Using solenoid technology of the day, it would get out of sequence with the turntable. Perhaps with some adjustment and TLC, mine could be made to operate more reliably. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the table could also be operated with a simple DPDT switch with the automatic track alignment feature retained. I somehow spattered green paint on the box ...

    2019-02-04 Arnold Rapido Turntable Controller Box.jpg
    2019-02-04 Arnold Rapido Controller IItself.jpg
     
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  20. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I still think the indexing on the Arnold turn table was better than anything available lately. Just wish it was longer so it would handle my long locomotives.
     
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