Neat! I'd sure be curious to know of any on-line history for the prototype! Here's a poor, low res of my critter, lapping the Christmas tree: http://www.train-orders.com/VID/TreeTrn.AVI Boxcab E50
Did a little searching. It was manufactured in 1908-1914, and used by the Royal Bavarian State Railways for light freight and passenger traffic on small local rail lines, and had a top speed of about 30 mph. It was called the glass box because of the large center cab. The water tank was located under the boiler which allowed for ample walkways front and rear. They had a unique semi automatic coal feeder on the back which allowed the engine to be operated by just one person... Found a pic of a real one painted in German Railway colors. It was in operation until 1963... Even though it violates every prototypical rule, I'm using it for a logging train...
Couldn't find an exact match, but did find something pretty dang close... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fMcMaAk49E&feature=channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwnx063NYRQ&feature=fvsr They're CHARMING videos! Oh, and catch this shunting maneuver... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjPON-OIAw&feature=related And this real MANUALLY OPERATED turntable! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik_E60r_DeE&NR=1 Greg
I recall back in my time working on freight cars, we have some which had loops welded on each corner. They were known as "roping staples." Installed just to accomodate such a maneuver. Boxcab E50
Great loco. I have one also in N scale. Could you walk through the steps in putting in the new couplers. I've been afraid to start with this.
Hi Brown, Wow... the HO engine is only 3 1/8" buffer to buffer. So your N gauge must be really small. Can you post a pic of it, I'd love to see it. I simply popped out the European couplers from their boxes, and popped in knuckle Kadees specifically made to convert European couplers. Sorry, I don't know anything about N gauge couplers. Do they pop in to pockets or are they held in with a screw? Just now checked... Kadee does not make N scale couplers. Perhaps you can do a search to see what company specializes in US type N couplers. Maybe they have a conversion. Greg
Not the real one... just a crappy video of the little loco crawling around some track thrown down on the carpet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeiLQzyNDO0
That is cool! Haven't seen you post in about a month. Hope you've just been busy model railroading! Boxcab E50
When Kadee split into Kadee and Micro-Trains, Micro-Trains got (roughly) everything smaller than HO. If the N scale coupler is a rapido and you don't want to do hands-off coupling and uncoupling, Unimates are a direct replacement for rapido couplers. Micro-Trains (MT) makes lots of different couplers. Here is a link to their database. Micro-Trains Coupler Conversion Database Andy Tetsu Uma
Yikes! What a project! Only a model railroader would take on such a task! You've got to keep us posted on how this turns out... Boxcab E50
Sure will, Box... I use John Allen as my inspiration even though I'll never do anything like he accomplished. It's positively dumbfounding to witness his work of art... (from John Allen's biography...) "In December 1952, he bought a larger home on a Monterey hillside. There he excavated a basement that contained his largest and finest layout, which he continued to build and detail until his death. After all of this personal experience with digging, my amateur micro layout will certainly include a mining theme. Greg
