Never wanted to be anything but modern...backdating COULD be done but not my thing. OTOH, if, as it appears, Kato does the FEF-3, you'll see steam on the Sub...
Ever wish you had planned more operational interest in your layout including more buildings, towns, bridges, industries, etc? Seems like, after less than 4 years, all you have left to do is post pictures; awesome though they may be. Daryl
Not really, Daryl. I'm personally more of a railfan than an operator. And my prototype hasn't got much operations either, other than getting trains up and down the hills. I will confess to occasionally getting a jones for city building, but I have something in mind for that...not on the layout, but close.
After an extended late winter vacation and then some heavy outdoor activity due to the lovely weather, it's back to work, and here we see a necessary evil - track cleaning! Here's the cleaning train rattling through the Caliente crossovers: Sharp-eyed and folks with good memories will note I've simplified the cleaning train; now just five Aztec Predators with cloth rollers, the first one wet with Goo-Gone, the others dry. Here's a closer view of the business end: That's an idler car to the left. I find this train does the job nicely. The rails are now squeaky clean. And I must admit to being surprised to the small amount of crud coming off the rails this cleaning. I believe the switch to metal wheelsets is the culprit.
Jim, I doubt it is the metal wheels, I run mostly metal on mine and I hardly ever have any crud. I think it may be more having to do with the brand of track. In any event, it is great to see pictures of your layout again! Just had a thought, if you are running a lot of new locomotives, the blacking from them may have something to do with it.....
I got the impression that Jim meant "the amount of crud" was less now than when running plastic wheelsets.
I usually see no crud on my track with the use of metal wheels. But there was some lately and I deduced it was from running several new locomotives. That chemical wheel blackening does seem to leave some traces until it is worn through.
3DTrains and John are correct. I was amazed at how LITTLE there was - several orders of magnitude LESS than when I was running plastic. This is the first cleaning in about five months, and it really wasn't necessary, I guess, but I kinda wanted to see how dirty it had gotten over the winter.
Jim, based on your experience, what metal wheels would you recommend, and why? There's several flavors available. I have 400+ MT, IM, Athearn, Atlas, Red Caboose and other cars, converting them needs to be easy, and budget friendly.
No such thing as budget friendly when you're talking metal wheels, Hemi. I prefer Fox Valley Wide. They're available in 28, 33, and 36 inch diameters and at least two axle widths, .540 and .563. Matt has them rigged so they're self gauging with a shoulder on the axle, no out of gauge FVM wheels. I've used BLMAs and they will find your slightly wide gauges instantly - I understand Criag is coming slightly off the exact prototype on his next version, slightly wider tread and slightly enhanced flange. But once you tweak your trackwork for the BLMAs they're as good as they get. Converting is easy albeit expensive. And then you'll find out that many of the cars you used 33" on should have been 36"...anyone want some 33" FVM Wides? Slightly used?
The diameter is 33"...I suspect in a day or two I'm gonna have both .563 and .540 widths...got the .563 now. The weather is simply too good to be in the basement for extended periods - it's a walk-out and from my workbench I can see the back yard calling me.
Been working to get the correct size wheel on my cars. The tank cars are now fully equipped, and I do think they look better...
Converting is HARD and expensive! And frustrating! On the first batch I did over the course of a week, I counted 500 wheelsets from 5 bags. I did nothing but 4 axle cars. Somehow I ended up with 2 wheelsets. Somewhere is a car with two plastic wheels, or two cars with one plastic wheelset each. I've looked a little bit, but haven't found it yet. Last week I did about 40 of MT's 89' flats. As I change the wheels, I mark it on my inventory. Well, I found a car I didn't have in inventory. So now my whole inventory is suspect, and with over 1,000 cars and locos, it'll take a looooong time to redo the whole thing. But the whole thing is well worth it. I like the way the metal wheels sound and roll.
Looks really good Jim! I have got to do the same for my tank cars. But I am 3/4 ths the way through my box cars, so it will be just a little while before I can start tackling the tanks cars too!
