Today I totally scored!


railfan

railfan

junk collector
WOW!!****WOW!!****WOW!! :eek:

Found a great small one man n-scale outlet with affordable new and used equipment. Browsed every category pleasantly surprised by many unique and interesting available items........my brain quickly filled up with "must have" goodies.

Ordered a boatload of excellent stuff including:

one brand new microtrains line EMD FT A+B locomotive, reading rr. (half normal price!)

a few years old but new-in-box MRC TECH II 2500 powerpack/controller with momentum and brake (cheap!)

numerous new and used atlas code 80 switches, crossings, curve track, end of line bumpers.........many packages at $1.50 per

thirty....yes THIRTY.....assorted rail cars, most all used, probably none are best brands, but all with modern knuckle couplers, no rapidos

Add this to last weeks haul......and my n-scale RR equipment warehouse is starting to look good. Now I need to get one or two doors from lowes building center.

Has anyone ever used 24" x 48" cork veneer sheets to cover an entire door? I've seen guys in the U.K. doing professional looking layouts this way. :)

 
TrinityJayOne said:
Nice finds! What's happening with the front bogie on the B unit though?
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Hi Pete, that is just a file photo of a Reading RR FT........not the unit that I ordered today.......but true....mine will look exactly like that. If you're talking about the overhang on the left end of the B-unit (underneath the nose of the A-unit)....that is actually the normal rear end overhang of the B-unit....(photo shows rear of B-unit at left........front at right).

Only FT (the first F series) B-units had that rear overhang.......all later F series (F3, F5, F7, FP7, F9) B-units did NOT have rear overhang. Funny....because that unique looking feature is exactly what I find so appealing about the FT's verses the later F series :). I wonder what drove that particular design?

Or perhaps you meant some odd shadow effects around both trucks.....almost looks like something out of wack. ( :confused: )

Photos below of FT's showing B-unit rear overhang.
 
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A local shop with lots of N scale goodies? I don't believe it. Actually I thought I had a great local resource but the guy won't order anything new.

Why do you want to laminate luan with cork? Is that instead of using road bed? If you're using road bed as well, I don't see the pay off. If not my only hang up would be esthetic (no raise rail line).
 
SilverBlade said:
A local shop with lots of N scale goodies? I don't believe it. Actually I thought I had a great local resource but the guy won't order anything new.

Why do you want to laminate luan with cork? Is that instead of using road bed? If you're using road bed as well, I don't see the pay off. If not my only hang up would be esthetic (no raise rail line).
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I'm doing just a flat layout on my first door module so don't need any layers of one or two inch thick foam. Also wanting to avoid the raised trackbed effect. I just prefer the simplicity and look of track without bedding......but with fine ballast granules. I meant to post a picture of these very professional looking layouts by a for-hire company in the united kingdom.

Can't find the pic......but they laminate a thin sheet of cork (maybe 1/8" or 3/32") on top of thin (MDF?) over the whole layout platform edge to edge.
It comes out looking very nice and clean.....and expensive. Then wherever you decide to lay rail.....it's on top of soft quiet cork. If you make a change to the track it's easy because no rail bed needs changed too. So I just meant a full sheet of cork.......no extra rail bed.

As I was writing this I just found cork sheets by CLEVERBRAND on amazon.com. They come in 36" x 24" sheets.......many different thicknesses. Somewhat reasonable prices. Could also use cheap celetex fiberboard......it must painted though to keep from shedding fiber dust.

Found the pics!
 
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railfan said:
Hi Pete, that is just a file photo of a Reading RR FT........not the unit that I ordered today.......but true....mine will look exactly like that. If you're talking about the overhang on the left end of the B-unit (underneath the nose of the A-unit)....that is actually the normal rear end overhang of the B-unit....(photo shows rear of B-unit at left........front at right).

Only FT (the first F series) B-units had that rear overhang.......all later F series (F3, F5, F7, FP7, F9) B-units did NOT have rear overhang. Funny....because that unique looking feature is exactly what I find so appealing about the FT's verses the later F series :). I wonder what drove that particular design?
Click to expand...
Yep, that's what I was referring to. I did a quick image search for them and the majority still have the trucks at the end, no overhang. Apparently the overhang is only present on units that were bought in an A-B set, with a drawbar between the two but regular couplers at each end. On units bought in an A-B-A set the overhang wasn't present, as the B unit was an "FTSB" or "short booster". I figured that perhaps the space was for HEP, but that wouldn't make sense for a couple of reasons, primarily that EMD didn't design these locos with passenger trains in mind. Funnily enough, the area above the overhang was just empty space and the railroads that used these for passenger service ended up installing HEP themselves.

I couldn't find any definitive reason for the differences between the FTB and FTSB, only opinions. Some believe the overhang was there for the simple reason that the A & B units used a shared frame (the FTB's rear overhang is almost identical to the A unit's front overhang). Another suggestion was that the shorter wheelbase allowed a better fit onto the turntables of the period. Regardless of the reason, can't say I'm a fan! Just looks a bit weird to me.
 
TrinityJayOne said:
Yep, that's what I was referring to. I did a quick image search for them and the majority still have the trucks at the end, no overhang. Apparently the overhang is only present on units that were bought in an A-B set, with a drawbar between the two but regular couplers at each end. On units bought in an A-B-A set the overhang wasn't present, as the B unit was an "FTSB" or "short booster". I figured that perhaps the space was for HEP, but that wouldn't make sense for a couple of reasons, primarily that EMD didn't design these locos with passenger trains in mind. Funnily enough, the area above the overhang was just empty space and the railroads that used these for passenger service ended up installing HEP themselves.

I couldn't find any definitive reason for the differences between the FTB and FTSB, only opinions. Some believe the overhang was there for the simple reason that the A & B units used a shared frame (the FTB's rear overhang is almost identical to the A unit's front overhang). Another suggestion was that the shorter wheelbase allowed a better fit onto the turntables of the period. Regardless of the reason, can't say I'm a fan! Just looks a bit weird to me.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing these insights and information Pete. I did notice before...how the A-unit front overhang seemed to closely match the B-units rear. Interesting about it maybe fitting better on the roundhouse platform.
 
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