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 Posted - May 04 2021 : 3:52:01 PM
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Months ago, I built a small box cab diesel from junk box parts. It ran okay, but no matter how clean I got the wheels, it would arc and spark and dirty them up in less than a scale mile. I figured that it could be hard wired to a car with electrical pickups added and then it would run well. Since freight service usually involves a lot of uncoupling from cars, the natural choice would be some sort of passenger equipment:
Long ago, I was in the market for a 50 or 60 foot combine car, and bought the one in the picture. It needed a whole lot of rebuilding and repainting. Half way through that project, I found another combine that I liked better and set aside this car. This project resurrected the half-rebuilt one. I put metal wheelsets on it and made electrical pickups out of springy .010” phosphor bronze wire. I had some super-flexible wire around and wired the pickups on the trucks to the underside of the car, and wired that to some brass pads to which I could solder wires from the locomotive.
The resulting trainset runs well and keeps its wheels pretty clean. Here it is, stopped at the Tabor depot:
Sometimes it’s useful to combine the LCL (Less than Carload Lot) service boxcar with the passenger service in a mixed train. Clearly, the boxcar can’t go between the engine and the passenger car, but it can ride behind. It’s not unprototypical to just couple a boxcar on behind a passenger train or doodlebug, but aesthetically, I like to tack the caboose on the end of that.
Strictly speaking, all bases were already covered with passenger service on my layout, but this was a fun project to do, anyway.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - May 04 2021 : 5:27:29 PM
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| That is just exquisite. A nicely done solution to a vexing problem.
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Posted - May 04 2021 : 9:54:04 PM
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Great work! Looks great on the layout.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - May 06 2021 : 7:53:19 PM
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Thanks for the kind words, guys.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - May 06 2021 : 9:08:27 PM
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Beautiful work.
You always do a wonderful job with your builds. This is no exception.
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