OK, thats probably not how you spell it but you know what I mean. Anybody made one in N scale? :tb-tongue:
I put a small operating spring scale on MT trucks - that has NOTHING to do with a prototype but does 'operate' exactly as a dynamometer does- measuring tractive effort and drag on grades and curves...
I think you pretty much have to bash one from a passenger car or scratch one of your own. I couldn't find one, especially similar to the one I wanted. So...
I just Googled "dynamometer car" adn found a bunch of interresting stuff about them including this video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcMWdnnNvfU"]YouTube - Milwaukee Road Dynamometer Car Video[/ame] I think most of these cars were built by the road that owned them back in the old days, not sure if they still do it now or if they have them built. Here is the GE dynamometer car GECX 90 as seen in Honeyville Utah a few years ago with some big new GE UP Power. To me it looks like passenger car retasked to dynamometer car. .
"I think most of these cars were built by the road that owned them back in the old days, not sure if they still do it now or if they have them built." Actually a lot of DynAmometer cars were built by steam locomotive manufacturers. I know ALCO did a fair number of them for customers. Today it all depends on what sort of term you are wanting to use. Many large roads have cars that can test everything that the old dynamometer cars could as well as evaluate track aligment, measure the gauge and check for horizontal or vertical variances within the track. Some have specific cars set up for use as a dynamometer (though they don't look like the old beasts, being rebuilt from business cars) while a few can do track geometry and diagnostics as well as what a dynamometer did. They are state of the art cars which rely on electronic readings and not mechanical measurements and are often referred to simply as "Research Cars", though their speciality is a seller known commodity. That GECX 90 is an interesting critter, capable of doing the work of a dynamometer as well as diagnostics on the locomotives it is usually hooked up to. This helps GE engineers get the most out of various tests. The car is a former U.S. Army Hospital Ward car built by St. Louis Car Co. around 1953. GE also has a former sleeper - lounge car that they use, numbered 100... http://rrpicturearchives.net/rspicture.aspx?id=76958 EMD is the real winner hear, fielding several more cars than GE does (or rather did), though finding either on the road can be quite difficult. One EMD car ended up coming from Southern Pacific (the famous Pullman sleeper - lounge observation American Milemaster, which later went to serve well on Conrail), while two rebuilt Budd cars continue the tradition for the builder.
C&O dynamometer car. I was wondering if a Bachmann doodlebug would make a good kitbash project for one of these.
I have seen people write about wanting to bash together something. But never a followup or follow-through. Boxcab E50
Found the Walthers link from 2001: www.walthers.com -- press/2001/dynamometer page A design similar to many used in the 1920s onward I guess. As it was similar to many used by various roads maybe it would be a good choice for a model in N (resin or plastic) N&W had a silmilar one, which at some point had a second "cupola" added: http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/full/ns1739.jpeg Mark
I have tried to do two of them, finished one and screwed-up the other. The finished one is for my FCN, FCN #100 a Kato post office car that has been shorten. I used the car's door placements to my advantage. And detailed the unit with some grillework from Atlas engine parts and styrene pieces. The roof was done out of styrene square and quarterround stock, to make it look different. And American Limited's detail parts were used extentsively.... The Dyno car coupled to one of my Leaser engines, FCL #300. The other is General Electric's GE #90 and #100. I am trying to do the #100 since it was the first one I had seen and it has a more interesting body outline. It has/had a cupola and some venting on it's roof. The #90 has a more standard, less obtrusive roof. I started with a Kato Sleeper (664) body. I know the window placement would be off a little. But, after modifing the roof, I realized my orientation was wrong. The cupola being on the wrong end. And since I was trying to keep the roof taps intact to make reassembly easier. I will have to do the roof over again.... I did have the opportunity to get inside the MILW's #5000 about five years ago. It was being pulled out along the Illinois Railway Museum's trackage. I did not get to ride the unit since the line was long. This trip did inspired me to build a copy of my own for my FCN Railway. Jerry Gunderson
Scratch built yes. Factory issue no. Built one back about 10 years ago, loosely based on an NP design using a Bachmann 65 foot combine. [/url][/IMG]
For some reason the little Bmann 65 footers have become harder to find, particularly the combines. That may be because Bmann hasn't run them for awhile. Quite a few of them have interior lighting. The next choice is the RR 70 foot combine, or possibly the RPO/Combine. Quite a few of these had crew quarters. They may have been on the back of a new or rebuilt locomotive for 600 to 1000 miles, especially in the case of NP. The doors served the purpose of removing equipment for maintenance and on the crew served long runs, loading supplies. On the subject of using a doodlebug I do not think it would be the best candidate because you would have to get rid of the whole engine compartment, be faced with chopping and redoing the roof line, and coming up with a standard car end for the now missing one on the doodlebug. Then there is the frame cutting and truck relocation. Plus scrapping an expensive, or couple of good running doodlebugs. Now if you happen to have one that is DOA without chance of life again go for it.
There is a brass one on the market for a little over $100 if I remember correctly. I was all hot to get one about a year ago, went looking, but then gave up after I saw the price. Kitbashing one is on my "to do" list. Resp, John B
