Fleet Review: Atlas 2-6-0 Mogul

Another new addition to my ever growing US Civil War era rolling stock. This big boy(for its time) was made by Atlas and Micro-Ace. I believe the model itself was designed by Micro-Ace and then imported to the states by Atlas, But don't quote me on that!

This particular one I bought unpainted at the same time I bought the C56 for the same price no less. I decided on painting it for the Baltimore Ohio Railroad in freight colors. I took a few liberties with painting as well as naming(a common thing for locos at the time) because even though I wanted to do the B&O, I...well, I didn't like their 'rules' so to speak.

I did some research and found that the B&O was one of the few railroads at the time who followed a uniform paint scheme for passenger and freight locomotives. It was also common for railroads in the early and mid 19th century to name locomotives in a similar manner to ships, but the B&O put an end to that pretty early (around 1850ish) and opted to use numbers because of how many engines they were acquiring. I decided that it needed a name anyways, and I changed up the tender lettering a bit too. Because oh well...

 I decided to name it 'Firefly'

As far as running goes, its actually quite amazing given the whole size of the thing. For pickup its got 4 of the drivers pulling power, the rear set being equipped with traction tires and being geared. The tender also provides pickup from all 4 axles and has a nice heft to it to keep contact with the rails. For power we have a teeny tiny 5 pole motor squeezed into the cab, so unlike other smaller engines (most notably the bachmann 4-4-0) there is no driveshaft coming out of the tender.

There also is a working directional headlight with is pretty amazing that Micro-Ace/Atlas managed to fit that stupid thing in there. Its not very bright but hey, its there! Also, a thing to note, the tender boogies are actually fixed into place. Don't be alarmed as the tender is so short, that this causes no problems taking turns and the engine will happily make a 9.75 radius curve. This is also actually something even the the prototype had believe it or not!

 sexy rear shot! $5 if you can guess what kind of coupler that is

Out of the box it comes equipped with a pretty standard MT knuckle, but I swapped that out for something else.

One thing to note though, is that this engine, just like the C56 needed to be drowned in oil to get it to work smooth. It was very dry and ran like poop as a result of that. So if you ever get one make sure you lube literally everything that moves. It will increase performance by 100%. This makes 2/2 Micro-Ace locos that came un-oiled so it may be a thing with them, but I'm not certain for sure yet.

Back to the couplers, Micro Trains makes a lot of CWE(civil war era) stuff and as such offers link and pin type couplers for older era trains. Since I started to grow my CWE fleet I though I would try them out. They couple very close and actually look pretty good. almost unnoticeable unless you point them out. they kinda snap into the supplied coupler boxes where you fit a little pin into a hole. though you can get away without using the pin, it actually expands the thin plastic that the link snaps to and creates a stronger hold. pretty reliable and since they don't easily come apart, they make derailments pretty interesting! 

 Not too bad...

The picture to the left is what they actually look like out of the box. from left to right: the draft box, the link itself, and the pins. the picture above is how it all goes together. Only thing I don't like about them is that they are very unforgiving of up and down movement, and I discovered that some of my cars are actually slightly too high and physically lifted the Moguls tender off the track making pickup an issue. But over all not bad and a neat accessory for older era stock. Though on a side note, I bet it could work really well with some European stuff too. Would definitely look better than those boxy rapidos!

So yea, I really like this thing a lot. And once you lube it up it runs near flawless. I would love to get more but they are kinda rare, but for those of you who model CWE railroads in N scale this thing is a definite to add some heavy freight to your roster!

From front to back: 2-6-0 'Firefly', 4-4-0 'William Mason', 4-4-0 'Alas', 4-4-0 CP 'Jupiter'

Fleet Review: Bachmann MDT Plymouth Industrial

The first versions of this little industrial critter were released by Bachmann way back in the 70's. There have apparently been at least 3 other versions of it since then, but this one is a gen 4 if you will, the latest 2015 release. Cant say much on the other versions since I ain't got em.

 The packaging is quite attractive...even if the locomotive isnt!

I picked this little guy up at my LHS. Was an impulse buy really, thought it was an ugly little bugger and decided I needed right then a switcher for my layout. I honestly wasn't expecting much from it. It was cheap as dirt ($32.00), wasn't a particularly pretty loco, and it was a Bachmann(QC could very likely be off). but hell, it was yellow, and I like yellow! 

 this picture actually turned our pretty ok

Turns out, she was an ugly little gem of an engine. Popping the shell off is an easy affair, and reveals a pretty standard split metal chassis. The motor is some kind of can(can't count the poles) hidden in the 'cab' section and drives a worm gear on a short little axle. All 6 wheels are geared and all six pick up juice from the track. oh, and there's a non-directional headlight in there too. Just a standard grain of wheat bulb, no led.

 'with the outer shell removed, the soft innards are exposed to waiting predators...'

There were two surprises with this thing, one: it came with magnetic knuckles. The Bachmann variety I believe(I am not an expert on N scale knuckles), and two: it runs really well! The heft of the all metal chassis plus the all wheel pickup probably helps this thing to keep contact and push through even uninsulated switches. not to mention that the slow speed creep on this baby is not bad at all.
Now I've found that while it does run well, if you don't mess with it for a bit it will need a bit of 'warming up' before it starts to run smoothly. I run this thing for hours at my club running on a mine with a reversing switch, and have had no problems so far with it.
So sure, its not pretty, and its a Bachmann, but its respectable, good even. perhaps a bit of weathering would help it look a little more, gooderer...but that's just a nit pick. If your ever in a bind for a cheap switcher, check this guy out.

pose for the camera

Mountian Momma

Progress on the mountain is, well, progressing. Albeit slowly. I have been working on the ship to get it ready for mounting. so I can call this dumb mountain done and go do something else.
So I started by stripping the paint and priming it with krylon gray primer, then drilled out the portholes(which took forever). masking and painting the hull and super structure was pretty straight forward.

Front boat is done, butt boat still needs work

I also stopped at the Great Scale Train Show in Timonum MD and picked up a little laser cut shed from Northeastern Scale Models Inc. The Purpose for this little shed is going to be a substation that will provide power to the 2 halves of the ship via "power" lines that connect to the masts on either end. The building is finished, as well as a little power pole that I scratch built using some spare bits I had just plotzing around.

 its a substation!

All that's left to do is slap on some paint and its good to go. Connecting up the power lines should be a piece of cake.

And speaking of power lines, here is a close up of what I have been dubbing "front boat" with all the rigging finished. Still needs a touch of weathering, but I'll do that once I get the other end(butt boat) done

Still not sure how it got in the mountain in the first place...

Here is the mountain in all its glory, I cleaned up the area around it a bit, but I think the next thing I'm going to work on is the sub dock. But we shall see, still a lot to do for the hotel and mountain. 

stay tuned!

Mountain building cont.

Well, Its coming along. I've decided to use an old model of the Titanic I got from a friend a while ago. was never really gonna finish the half built thing, but this I think is a better idea then just tossing it. I'm thinking a mountain top resort, or casino? I'm not to sure yet, but I am planing on drilling out the portholes and adding lights and signage eventually

T

It even came with a bow!

The ship was missing a lot of parts and was basically just the hull glued together and painted. It  seemed that this was a decent route to take. I couldn't think of anything else to do with it. (On a side note, I calculated the length of the Titanic in N scale, and it would come out to a nicely reasonable 8ish feet!)

But anyways, I put together what I could with the parts I had and got to chopping this puppy in half. If I'm gonna put a ship in a mountain, might as well see both ends right?

 Its a start right?

Cutting was a pain, I initially started with my dremel and a cutting head, but realize that even with the outer parts of the hull cut, there still were decks holding it together(shoulda realized the first time!).

I ended up using a little jewelers saw to cut it the rest of the way. Wasn't pretty, but, since the cut ends are gonna be hidden, it don't matter none.

 bet you've never seen a mountian like that before!

I stared to layer up the foam around the ship, using the piece before as a template for the next. I mentioned in a prior installment that I wanted an elevated trolley line to go from the city deck to the other end of the layout, but didn't really have a plan. Well now, I've got a plan, and the EL line is gonna end here, as a small(but exclusive) trolley line that will soon service the casino/hotel/resort.

 now I just gotta figure out the middle...

This last picture is a view of the whole thing(well most of it at least). I just dry fit all the funnels and masts to the ship to see what it will look like, and so far, I''m liking it. I'm thinking that the rigging would lead to a small electrical substation with a big ole' sign on the top of the mountain. but first I need to finish the ship, carve the mountain so its nice and smooth, and then toss on the plaster cloth.

theirs still a bunch to do!

Back at it

Eh, its been a while, been dealing with a lot of personal stuff lately that kept trains out of the picture for a bit, but things are slowly going back to normal, so I've decided to get back in the game.
I've had an idea floating around in my head for a while now, but I couldn't really figure out the best way to go about doing it. At first I thought it would be cool to build an N-trak module but I've since found a way to incorporate it into my own layout. I am of course talking about a big ole mountain. who doesn't want a nice mountain on their layout with trains running through it? I do, so the first step of course is cleaning the table.

 It was harder than it looks

I decided that it was best to make the mountain cover only a quarter of the curve, I was thinking at first to do the entire turnaround but thought that between the city deck and the soon to be mountain, the trains would spend too much time being covered, and were all here to see the trains so that would be lame.

that looks like a mountain right?

After some rightfully painful thinking(it hurts to use my brain that much sometimes) I decided to try my hand with foam. Hell, the layout is mostly foam so far, so why not? having never made a mountain before, I'm kinda doing this as I go. been using Elmer's glue to put it all together. should be using my adhesive caulk, but I'm lazy and this actually seems to be working quite well so far. We will have to wait and see if it holds together once theirs more mountain up. Hoping it wont collapse!

Oh! and I've got a new toy!! Very excited about this beastie!

CHOO CHOO MOTHERFLUFFER

Fleet Review: MicroAce C56 2-6-0 Mogul

What the dickens!? A new post? No were not dead yet. My computer needed to be rebuilt after catching a nasty virus, but its back online, and the blog is back on track(pun intended).

    What we have here today is a cute little engine produced by MicroAce. A Japanese N scale producer that I guess is analogous to Atlas here in the states. I dunno. Either way, what an engine!

    MicroAce makes a lot of high quality stuff from my research on them, and can sometimes be compared with Kato in quality standards(just like Atlas). But I never really had a sample to test that until now. Any ways, I picked this bad boy up at the scale show in Timonium MD. Nabbed it for $50 brand spanking new.

 New train smell,  mhmmmm...

Right out of the box the detail on this thing is amazing. I have a thing for Japanese locomotives now. My thinking being; since Japan modeled the way they run their railroads initially on the US, but based much their engineering on more European engines, they look to me like a perfect cross breed of Euro-American styles. Its got the boiler and cab shape of an American loco(and Japan uses knuckle couplers too) but the tender and smoke deflectors arguably give it that European vibe. I love it, you should love it, trains.

 "I cant decide if I like french fries or freedom fries" - Train probably

At first glance I was very impressed with the ornate detailing and paint on the boiler and running gear. It initial y came with a rapido on the back(the more popular coupler in Japan) but I replaced this with an MT knuckle(which was NOT easy). The motor is a tiny 5 poler squeezed into the cab with a brass worm that drives the center axle the rest being turned by the cranks. The main running gear on the wheels is metal but everything that connects to the pistons is plastic. This worried me at first, but after a few hours of run time they seem to be fairly reliable.

Got me a pair of goods wagons too, courtesy of Kato Trains

The engine is actually slightly larger than what it would be compared to everything else on the layout since Japanese N scale is 1:150(American is 1:160). but since there is nothing else like it that I own, I think I can get away with this one.  

    Running of this beast is simply sublime. It creeps along at a good slow pace and the top speed is not too bad. pulling power isn't great, there are no traction tires, but since its a small loco I don't really expect to be pulling the earths axis out of alignment with it, so I think were ok. I did notice that right out of the box the whole thing, and I mean everything, was very dry. There was a lot of binding and sticking, but once I basically gave it an oil bath, she ran like a watch. I don't know if this is common with MicroAce stuff since I only have one, but I plan on getting some more steam from the Orient so I will find out!

   Over all beautifully detailed and amazing running little engine. Its a real head turner on the club layout. I hope to get more Japanese steam because I'm really digging the look.

A resounding A for MicroAce on this one!

Sayōnara!

City Planing

Well Its been a few days/weeks/month, but I've done some work on the city deck. One of the main things holding me back right now is a lack of buildings. Because of the urban nature of this here layout, I need buildings in place so I can more easily plan out the roads (at least thats what I keep telling myself!). So what I've done is look around at some building I fancy and copied out the foundations (width/length) of the buildings on to some paper and placed them out to help visualize were to road and where to sidewalk.
This be what I got so far:

 N scale birds eye view

So you can see kinda what I'm looking at hopefully. Some of the buildings are actually paper buildings from Hawk Wargames which fit(roughly) the size of the buildings I'm interested in.

The little paper ant trail is actually what will hopefully be a future street car line that goes off the city deck and becomes an EL that runs through the other half of the layout. Using an engine shed as a stand in trolley barn.

 you might not be able to tell, but thats supposed to be a city...

Also, I was looking at the station, and was thinking of moving it back a little bit. I know I wanted the front facing out so I you can see the pillars, but I don't want it to look like a modeling "mistake" so to speak. I was thinking that if I pushed the station back a bit, that it would have more of a natural look to it.

I duno...I gotta sleep on that one before I start cutting.

 I duno man

 Also, stopped at The Timonium Trains Show this past weekend and picked up a few goodies. Expect a fleet review on one or more of the following:

 Atlas 4-4-0 American/2-6-0 Mogul

MicroAce C56 2-6-0 Mogul

Until next post <3