Got an early morning delivery from DHL the last of my supplies from Japan. Got a package of single track catenary steel masts along with some more Kato couplers and my last order of Tomix pantagraphs. 100_0547-3 by John Moore posted Sep 7, 2020 at 11:45 AM Decaled the new electrics last night and now with the pantagraphs on hand I am ready to install them. 100_0548-4 by John Moore posted Sep 7, 2020 at 12:02 PM I really like the way these locos close couple yet have no issues with 7 and 8 inch radius I can snake these locos down on the port's tight trackage with no issues.
Installed pantagraphs on one set of electrics tonight and I like these Tomix 0234 pantagraphs better than the Tomix 0242. They are mostly metal and more rugged than the 0242 which are all plastic yet with just as fine detail. 100_0551-5 by John Moore posted Sep 7, 2020 at 7:48 PM I measured the distance between a coupled pair and it is only 1.5 N scale feet yet these locos go through my 6 inch radius curves to the piers in the harbor without a hiccup. I have Kato 11-109 mechanisms under them with Kato 11-707 couplers installed. These couplers play well with MTs and all my Japanese locos have these now installed. The Kato 11-109 mechanism is only a two axle mechanism but the sides are done so you have to really look to see that. I have no performance issues as far as electrical pick-up. This is the redesigned former 11-103 that Kato reworked. Yesterday I had 4 locos with 31 cars running no heating of the power pack or the locos even though I ran them for more than an hour. I give a big part of the running quality to the use of Kato unitrack and their superior electrical connections. Daggone track is near bullet proof. And these mechanism are geared for a realistic scale speed.
After some thought I went ahead and converted a 44 tonner to a hybrid loco. Removed one exhaust stack and installed a roof platform and then a pantagraph on that creating a loco that can operate on overhead wire or under diesel power. 100_0563-3 by John Moore posted Sep 8, 2020 at 5:34 PM And a real 1 to 1 version with a body similar to the 44 tonner. Scan0001 by John Moore posted Sep 8, 2020 at 1:08 PM As usual I am creating two.
I am concluding Part Four of the Turtle Creek saga with a group shot of the electric locomotives I have created over the last five weeks. Part Five will resume with the electrification of part of the port in a few weeks to a month from now. 100_0564-5 by John Moore posted Sep 8, 2020 at 7:14 PM
