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 Posted - May 24 2017 : 12:03:39 AM
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Hey Y'all; Even with as reluctant as I am to do something requiring yet another login setup, wanting information was a powerful force so here I am 
My health isn't what it was three decades ago so I'm really slow but am thankful to still be able to do any model railroading at all. After a club got going in 2012 in our little burg of population 8,300 or so I eventually gave up having a home layout so as to have energy to put in to a 16 foot set of modules on the club's HO layout. Is just a hair over 1/4 mile long in HO scale.
An 80 year old member has partnered with me and he provided a lot of the track and turnouts.
I'm doing some work on his trains via the barter system and part of that is a set of ABBA Mantua Rock Island F9s with powered A units with flywheel.
I'm tinkering with them a bit. Adding LED headlight, adding plug connections in truck wiring so trucks can be removed to grind and drill on frame for a couple things I want to do.
Front end couplers will be changed to frame mounted. Truck mounted coupling between units will be maintained though shortened; maybe eventually using drawbars for closer coupling between each A and B.
As another part of those things I want to add pickups to the non-powered B unit trucks, which are the power trucks sans gear and contact wipers.
What I want is 4 trucks worth of contact wipers. The goal is to have all 4 units sharing pickup.
--> is there a place to acquire those wipers?
--> or a place to acquire the sheet metal they are made of? Phosphor bronze?
Here are the first two on one of my so very not finished modules on club layout.
“There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good.” — Tom Mueller, SpaceX, 2012
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Posted - May 24 2017 : 06:40:05 AM
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Welcome aboard.
There is a place to get phosphor bronze sheet and wire. I get them at Clover House:
http://cloverhouse.com/Store/index.php
Happy modeling.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - May 24 2017 : 08:28:51 AM
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quote: Ah, thanks! Have it bookmarked now.
A note of the A unit, I have this fetish for really bright headlights and it looked like a 5mm warm white LED pirated from Christmas lights would fit right in the headlight housing.
But ...
Whoever assembled that thing at the factory did not do much to help people like me - that headlight lens was glued in to stay! Finally resorted to drilling and carving it out.
Which wasn't much of a loss since it had round front and actual light front was flat.
Speaking of round and flat, it turns out there are now 2 types of LED used in those Christmas lights; some have the traditional round end but more and more now have an inverted cone end which looks designed to throw more light out the sides than the end.
One of the traditional round end is going to be used here with a disk of clear sheet styrene to represent flat glass on actual locos.
Also going to have to saw/grind off headlight bulb mount cast in to frame so LED will have room.
Eventually might even drill out number boards and light them too.
Gotta say though the 5mm LED is not at all like the the 2-bulb Gyralite used in the real deal, it will get attention at club open houses!
And make for some fun with 'night' operations. And photographs.
By way of illustration here's an IHC SD24 where it just happened a 3mm LED slipped right in to each of the slightly oversized headlight openings. Is on club layout a few years ago at previous location.
Now that's my kind of headlight,  get your sunglasses out!
[URL=http://s196.photobucket.com/user/FSW4picts/media/HO%20Trains/HO_WmW_3mm_LED.jpg.html] 
“There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good.” — Tom Mueller, SpaceX, 2012
Edited by - southwestforests on May 24 2017 08:33:20 AM
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Posted - May 24 2017 : 11:36:28 AM
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well I do like anything Rock Island
Including The Rock & Route Rock b4 it went bankrupt
welcome to the club
I likes ALL trains too
I even own some full sized crossbucks too hehe
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Posted - May 24 2017 : 12:45:40 PM
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| Welcome to the forum SWF...
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Posted - May 25 2017 : 08:50:57 AM
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quote:Welcome to the forum SWF...
Originally posted by walt - May 24 2017 : 12:45:40 PM
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Hey there! Something I had zero clue about was that abbreviation for my screen name, SWF, is used on dating sites for single white female - I'm not!
'tis a wonder the things one learns on the web.
As it happens my initials are FSW and I spent the first several years of my life in the southwest: putting those together makes for an easily remembered screen name.
Way back when my first 2 childhood train sets were Tyco, one with the Chessie System 6-axle Alco, C630 or C636 I think.
I remember Mom & Dad eventually telling about conversing with the gal in the store about odd shape of the C. One initial thought was the Chesapeake Bay but Dad was in Navy and recognized nope, not that shape. Think it was finally two decades later I told then about the history of Chessie the advertising kitten. Parents weren't fans of cats at the time train set was bought and I wasn't about to tell them the C was inverse silhouette of a cat!
Also by that time the Alco's motor had given out so I had cut up the body to use its vents and grilles and hood doors in freelance train models and on Sci-fi models.
Wouldn't mind having a pair if them now to wire for shared pickup and run permanently m.u.'d but there is only one of me and only so many things I can do in the available time with the available funds.
“There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good.” — Tom Mueller, SpaceX, 2012
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Posted - May 25 2017 : 10:35:51 AM
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Personally, I've never seen SWF used like that. Typically, I see it used in reference to .swf files, a type of Flash animation file.
sim-al2
Also since they cut track maintaince the trains had huge trouble making over the railroad by the end
純那
yeah
They did a Rock Island volountarily
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Posted - May 25 2017 : 12:06:52 PM
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And now I have learned a new thing!
“There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good.” — Tom Mueller, SpaceX, 2012
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Posted - May 25 2017 : 2:28:34 PM
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yeah C&O had TWO cats actually
Chessie & Peke 
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Posted - May 26 2017 : 02:51:26 AM
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Impressive module, and that you say, is not finished. I am glad you
took the time to deal with the logistics of registration and look forward
to seeing more of your work.
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Posted - May 26 2017 : 04:03:23 AM
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Thanks!
Here's the my whole 16 foot set of 4x4ft modules.
And a better view of the far end.
The 80 year old fellow who is giving the F9s has provided a lot of the track and some money while I'm the muscle and the mastermind.
Of course most everything is in some stage of incompleteness.
“There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good.” — Tom Mueller, SpaceX, 2012
Edited by - southwestforests on May 26 2017 04:09:49 AM
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Posted - May 26 2017 : 04:19:38 AM
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One goal is to create neat little scenes for interesting views.
In the yards, passenger platforms begin.
Oh, and the freight house will eventually have stairs to the office,
“There are a thousand things that can happen when you go light a rocket engine, and only one of them is good.” — Tom Mueller, SpaceX, 2012
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