I know them and they recognize me (at the Timonium shows). The wife and I were at the Cherry Blossom festival street fair and it was off the heezy crowded. They had to keep the trains way back because there were so many kids trying to reach in. While surfing Swiss Crocodiles, I ran across this little number. It is apparently Swiss and is Arnold model 2013 with a retail of about $161. It is a neat looking little motor and I bet it could handle some tight radii. Does anyone know more about the prototype?
You mean something like this(no, it's not mine)? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1juxfPwy2tg"]YouTube - Revolving N scale layout.[/ame]
201 Series Chuo Line & Mitaka Station Yep, something like that. A good idea is universal. Since today is Halloween, I thougth I would go with something orange. This is a 201 Series suburban train for the JR Chuo line. It is Kato set 10-230. We would take the Chuo line from Mitaka to Tokyo when we visited in 1999. Mitaka Station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitaka_Station
That is a Swiss electric switcher, class Ee 3/3. I think they were used to switch the larger stations, but don't know for sure. I also run European (mostly German) trains, but decided not to use electric engines because building catenary in N is almost impossible, and running US diesels under a European catenary would look silly, too. The point is also that every railroad has their own system, Swiss SBB is different from Deutsche Bundesbahn or even the French SNCF, or Pennsylvania Railroad.
Please post your photos because I, for one, like to see different things. I don't run much European rolling stock but I want to feature things that are different and learn a little bit about them myself. I dig siderods on electrics, too. In my case, ignoring the lack of catenary is one of the few areas where I can suspend disbelief. (Another area involves films that feature Aston Martins and vodka martinis.) I've been a member of the Illinois Railway Museum for a long time and I appreciate what you mean by different types of systems (voltage, cycles, AC or DC, etc.). There are some pieces in the collection that they will never be able to run due to conflicting electrical requirements. The Japanese use a different system in the north (AC) and have dual type locomotives for long distance trains.
Last June I spent five nights at the small town of Erstfeld on the north side of Gotthard Pass in Switzerland. As well as helpers coming on and off the numerous freight trains, every evening a passenger train would drop the last four cars at the platform during its stop. One of these switchers would then couple onto the cars and shove them into a siding, I didn't see it myself, but I assume the reverse move happened in the morning to cater for inbound commuters. The other photo of what looks like one with an end cut off was taken at Oensingen on the Oensingen-Balsthal Bahn, this shortline's yard looked like some of our model collections as they seem to have accumulated second hand equipment from all over Switzerland, much like the Oigawa Railway in Japan. While I was travelling around Europe one way I could tell, as a railroader, that I was in a different country was the different style of catenary masts, they were a giveaway even when other things didn't change much.
That's the truth about the masts. I ride the commuter train in and out of the L'Enfant Plaza train station in SW Washington D.C. and the old Pennsylvania masts for the line across the river and over to the former Potomac Yards in Alexandria are still in place. No wire, but they make a good place for the security cameras. (Also, there are tie plates with a "1934" date on them as well.) Still, way different from the Illinois Central or South Shore I'm used to around Chicago. By the way, are there any N scale models of those CL and GM class locomotives available? Thanks.
The little green loco reminds me of the D&RGW's narrow gauge diesel #50. I had (or have still) a HO scale brass model of it. I rode behind it when it was used on the Roaring Camp and Big Trees while it was still in Grande colors.
A company called WEICO made a cast [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]polyurethane[/FONT] body shell a while back that fitted a LL SD7 mechanism, I'm not sure what they are like. Aust-N-Rail has them listed for $53, but that would be undecorated and minus mechanism. Other Oddly enough I've never been that interested in modeling Australian prototype myself.
I don't know if the history of Australian railways is as well documented as it is in other countries and the different regional systems could detract as well. Another cool part of our hobby. If you don't like the local, there is probably something else somewhere that will catch your fancy. I grew up watching Burlington E8s & E9s and later BN E9AMs pushing and pulling commuter trains to and from Chicago. To me there is something special about 6 axle bulldog nose GM diesels. I'll do some searching and see if I can come up with some photos.
Hi, I'm new here, but wanted to jump in and respond to your query. I happen to own the Bachmann/Farish version of the Flying Scotsman (with double chimney, German smoke deflectors, and banjo dome) and it runs very well. All of the motion is quite smooth. The only problem you might run into is due to the tender running fairly close to the footplate and occasionally derailing on small radius turns. It doesn't run quite as smoothly as a Dapol engine, but, that's Farish. The only other note I could make on it is that it doesn't have as much pulling power as some of the other pacific engines. It is too light to haul more than 6-7 mk1 coaches up a steeper grade. It's great to hear from another American collector of British railways (especially in N gauge). My stable currently includes: 8700 Pannier Engine with Shirtbutton logo (GWR) 1403 Dapol 0-4-2 in standard GWR green 34xx 2-6-2 GWR Prairie Tank engine 7033 Castle Class (Hartlebury Castle) ex GWR (which needs a new brass cog) Class 08 Shunting engine in BR blue with yellow face J94 in early BR Black Midland Compound 4P #1111 in LMS maroon 4472 Flying Scotsman in LNER apple green 21C17 Belgian Marine (original) in SR malachite green. 4498 Minitrix "Sir Nigel Gresley" in LNER garter blue (down for repairs and needing parts) hope this helps.
I have more books on Santa Fe on my bookshelf than on Australian railways but there are a lot out there, I don't think much is available outside Australia however, but that goes for a lot of countries, before I visited Japan I thought all there was over there were bullet trains and commuters. Your comment on the different systems is correct, most publications seem to concentrate on New South Wales and Victoria where traditionally most population was and for which the most models are available. A general book on Australian railways might only have a couple of photos from narrow gauge, backwater Queensland where I live, although we have one of the largest systems with most electrified mileage, Australia's fastest trains and were running unit coal trains while others were still thinking about them. It's only in recent years with the breakup of most state systems to private ownership, (except Queensland but our government is trying to, but even state owned QR now runs trains throughout the country), and operators running trains in different states that truly national railfan magazines have developed. I think the reason I, and a few others, model other country's trains is that when I got into N scale most of what was available here in Brisbane was (and still is) US prototype. I got interested in Japan after visiting there and finding things we didn't have at home, not just the Shinkansen, but the things that have dissapeared elsewhere like branchline passenger service, interurbans and trams. In 2000 myself and three friends spent an afternoon along the old Burlington in Chicago's suburbs watching and riding the commuter trains, even with F40PH's it was an impressive show.
Sounds like you have quite the stable. I'm afraid my area of relative expertise is Japan. Westfalen has way more British prototypes in N scale than I do and knows way more about Japanese prototypes, too. My sole N scale British piece is a Hornby diesel freight set from about 1980 that my grandmother brought back from a trip to the UK. I do have the Hornby Live Steam set (which is very cool I might add) and the Hornby R2441 NRM Flying Scotsman (not the one with tender drive) but those are OO scale. I like the prototype terrier because it was a good solid locomotive with a long service life. The A4 is also very cool. (I saw the Dwight Eisenhower at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, WI.) Welcome aboard and feel free to post pictures and info about models of international prototypes.
That is interesting about the availability affecting choice of prototype. I knew about the different gauges (primarily from Trains and a visit to Perth in 1987) and I wonder if that caused railfans and modelers to adopt a more provincial approach. That must still be a trans-shipping nightmare. What I remember about Metra F40PHs and F40PHM-2s (there's a model I would love to have in N scale) is that their HEP unit is not driven off the prime mover so they aren't as loud at stops like the old thunderwagon Amtrak units. I now ride the Virginia Railway Express and they have a couple former Amtrak F40PHs - still no independent HEP. The F40PHM-2 "Winnabagos" replaced the E9AMs "Covered Wagons" around 1994. When Metra got MP36s, they found out they were too heavy for their intended usage (replacing F40Cs) so some of them ended up on the Burlington Line. I do miss the choice of about 26 trains one way in the AM. Glad you liked the show.
The National Railroad Museum is only about 2 hours away from me. My little boy is a HUGE train fan (in fact, he's what got me into the hobby) he LOVES it there. The Dwight D. is indeed a beautiful engine. I have heard rumour that the Brits are trying to get it back for the national collection or some similar thing. It'd be a shame to lose it. :tb-frown:
My British fleet at the moment amounts to a Dapol Terrier and a Graham Farish class 04, so I've run out of British models to post pictures of. I am planning a trip to the UK next year though, so I wouldn't be surprised if I end up with more.:tb-wink: The transhipping is not so much of a problem these days with most freight being in containers, but the differernt gauges and prototype designs from state to state still mean that if you are from one of the lesser modeled states you have a bit of scratchbuilding in store. We were most impressed by the long double headed express trains being pushed along at track speed, we've got nothing like that here.
I've got one in N scale so you have 100% more than I have. I think in artificer, we may have just found our Subject Matter Expert. As an aside, the Hornby live steam sets are great. Hornby has significanly reduced the prices and while still not cheap, the coolness factor is off the charts. Most Metra trains on the Burlington Line are 10 cars due to platform length and if it is snowing, or if gas prices spike, they are PACKED. The MP36s (When are we going to get a model of that in N scale?) can handle a 12 car train at 79mph with no problems. On an express, the 40 miles from Chicago to Aurora takes less than an hour which includes getting out of the yard, climbing the hill out of Union Station, and coming down the hill and past the coach yard into Aurora. I grew up with that so its commonplace. (In the early morning when I woke up, I could hear the crews getting the trains ready which included testing the horn. I lived 5 miles from the station.) Still, I'd like to see operations in other parts of the world including, "Down Under." This time I will be better prepared with what to expect and look for, unlike a kid on a port call many years go. I do hate to drag the wife along, though. She is a trooper but I know railroading just isn't her thing.
I was reboxing some of my N scale stuff and found that I still have a couple of old Con-Cor/Kato tank cars. I think I read somewhere that these were based on a Japanese prototype. If so, I'm a little bit on my way on a train for the ED75 that I have my eye on.
They certainly are a Japanese prototype, many N scalers may have Japanese trains without even realizing it.
