Last night i was fooling around with the camera and thought i'd take some different pics to show different things. The photos have all been reduced to 800x600 and are under 200K. These photos are of Proto 87 wheelsets in Accurail S2 rollerbearing trucks. They also compare the P87 wheel to the NMRA RP25 wheel. http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/truck_1.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/truck_2.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/truck_3.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/truck_4.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/truck_5.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/trucks_1.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/view_1.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/view_2b.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/view_3.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/endview_1.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/endview_2.JPG Anyone still want these? http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/package.JPG These pics are of an Athearn Blomberg B with the bearing caps installed to actually work. Note, i'm now running sand lines directly from the frame- no longer from the sideframe. http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/Blomberg_1.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/blomberg_2.JPG http://mscd.edu/~jimenez/blomberg_3.JPG I know some of them pics might be fuzzed or the lighting weird, but i'm still learning!
Fuzzy, but readable. Wow, those Proto:87 wheels look good! How well do they stay on the rails? Keep them pics a-comin'! ------------------ Ship IT on the Frisco! Bob T. http://hometown.aol.com/slsf1630/myhomepage/profile.html
They stick like glue to the rails... As long as you don't have any real bad trackwork. I could even get em to go thru an Atlas Custom Line No. 6 halfway reliable... Of course i wouldn't recommend that way for any serious operation. Kinda weird i got the Blomberg photos sharp really close while i couldn't get the truck pics as good. I think it had to do with keeping the camera stable.
<font color="336633">just wondering shouldnt this be in HO?? looking at those i might be persuaded to convert my modern stuff to P87 EEEEEEK! thats going to cost a few quid.... ------------------ Matthew wheres all the C636's???? stickymonk.com Matts Photo gallery
Yeah, it probably should be, but i'd thought i'd let the various scales see the Proto 87 stuff- A few quid! I'd say a few more...
<font color="3333ff">Good thing we don't have expensive stuff like this in N scale </font> ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
This looks very nice indeed. But in the name of a peacefull house, don't show these photos to my wife, otherwise guess who is going to be up all hours replacing wheel sets. By the way, how easy is it to replace the wheelsets on the locomotives, especially the powered bogies?. We have something similar over here used by the British Modelling fraternity. As you know us Brits were awkward and decided to have our own scale of 4mm - foot (1:76) but to utilize HO track (16.5mm) gauge. Some bright spark decided that he would go over to 4mm/foot scale for everything, Locos, wagons, coaches(Cars) and a track gauge of 18.83mm. Fine scale throughout!! It looks good, but it doesn't half involve a lot of painstaking work. The track has to be EXACT, no ifs or buts, - EXACT, but if you want smooth running that is what you have to do. And also a bit expensive. Alan and Matt in Lincs should know what I am talking about. Just how involved is the tracklaying with P87? Ron C. Rio Grande Main Line thru the Rockies. Helen C. UP - Dependable Transportation (???)
Yes, Ron. I have seen several 18.83 layouts at exhibitions, and the trackwork and wheels look superb But it takes an awful lot of work to do even a modest layout, and as you say, there is no leeway for anything less than perfect. ------------------ Alan The perfect combination - BNSF and N Scale! www.ac-models.com Andersley Western Railroad Alan's American Gallery
With the testing i've done the cars should have no problems at all with properly gauged smooth trackwork. Remember these wheels are not compatible with normal NMRA gauged turnouts- the spacings are all wrong. You can get them to roll thru a normal turnout but reliability isn't good enough for serious operation. My plans for track involve the following: I'm gonna use Micro Engineering flex mostly while all switches will be handlaid to the proper specs. This layout is not being built to every fine scale tolerence! Or even to 'finescale', i am using Proto 87 wheels and track specs. I am not counting rivets on the tie plates. I am not making every car exactly scale as relating to underframe etc... That stuff may be in the future but is not a concern of mine right now. Yes, i will upgrade the car fleet for appearance(grab irons/ladders etc) but this will be an operating layout and too much fine detail gets broken. Getting back to replacing wheelsets on motive power, i started a thread about that last week but the gist of it is this- 4 axle units (Athearn/P2k, higher end models) will have no problem as long as NWSL makes a wheelset that fits. There might be a little fiddling but not much. 6 axle- somewhat different story. If the model has the trucks with the design where the contact/bearing strip is flush with the sideframe(P2K, Genesis, Kato, others) there will be no problem. Athearn 6 axle trucks on the other hand are not easily workable. This is due to the fact that their bearing mounting strip varies widely in relation to the opposite side. I haven't been able to keep one on the track on a 36" curve. I'm still looking at possible solutions though and will post a note whenever i come to solution or workable theory. Did i ever mention i'm still waiting on the Accurail Protomate? Scale wheels and scale size couplers- it can't possibly get any better!
