Keyser Model Kits P.O./P.O. Tours 4-6-0 locomotive in HO scale...

...and even all that may be wrong. I have found very little information on this other that the original owner and photographer's pictures. It will be on its way here shortly to join my growing stash of kits set aside to keep my fingers busy when work runs out. I have found nothing on the net except for a few auction listings and so would appreciate any history out there if you readers would know of it...

Northwest Short Line 18 ton HO scale Shay...again...

...the original introductory ad, October, 1973, Railroad Model Craftsman magazine...




Contrary to the ad, it does not come with all wheels driven...a production glitch that never was rectified as far as I know. Since most brass locomotives are sold to collectors who then turn them into shelf queens, it's highly unlikely few owners even knew of it--then or now.

Mantua HO scale 0-4-0 "Shifter"...

...a gift from an online friend. They came with the simple drive rods of most toy trains but, for a couple dollars, one could buy the optional full valve gear kit...




Before...


...after.
Sadly, when they were first offered, the slide gear was made with zinc castings that were prone to becoming brittle with age from crystallization or "Zinc-mites", the bane of all model train collectors and enthusiasts. This set was no different, obtained in the usual box lot of goodies I'm always looking for...


However...I found that the later plastic ones were a fairly easy retrofit. The peened rivet that held the original to the slide rod keeps a good grip when carefully pinched into the plastic one and the hole is already predrilled...

A full set of valve gear makes for a much more complete looking steamer, and would please the original giver of the model who, like me, is a tinkerer of the first order and an old school modeler as well...



Yes...this old girl now sports one plastic, and one cast slide rod but, since you can only see one side at a time, I figured no one would notice that the other is of a different material. I do have a plastic south paw rod should this one decide to go south on me in the future.

Northwest Short Line 18 ton HO scale Shay...again...

It just looks better here than it does sitting on some white paper...its empty eye socket now filled with an M.V. Products .166" light lens.

Ken McMillan's West Hades & Beelzebub S scale 4-6-2 Pacific...

...an unbelievable chance find in an Edmonton, Alberta pawn shop, a piece of model railroading history that is one of the scratchbuilt masterpieces of yesteryear...

From the PNR NMRA Region 6 Highball, Summer 2010, page 6...

Ken McMillan Passes

Ken McMillan passed away on May 31, 2010 at the age of 86.

Ken built and operated the West Hades & Beelzebub - a mostly scratch-built S scale layout.

His prize-winning brass steam engines were controlled with a home-built CTC-16 system.

The entire layout operated flawlessly.

Who can forget dumping live ore loads in his automatic rotary dumper, complete with a working kickback track?

The craftsmanship on the layout was surpassed only by Ken's hospitality to guest operators.

Several of us were honoured to take part in operating sessions late into the evening, the first exposure to operations for many.

Many of us also remember Ken's voice - he was known in some circles as "Edmonton's Frank Sinatra" - and was a frequent singer at Edmonton-area karaoke bars.

One of the treats of the 6th Division spring meet in 1978 was Ken's after-banquet singing.

Ken will be remembered fondly by all who had the good fortune to know him

---Mark Johnson






---owner photos

Mantua HO scale CM&PS RR. 2-6-2 Prairie...

...coming in for the New Year....


My plans for this blog remain unchanged from my original mission statement...the year promises to be an interesting one on all levels. I earnestly pray the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ carries you, my readers and followers, through the coming year.

Amen.

New Heaven, New Earth

We are coming to plead now with one whose arm is not shortened, and whose ear is not heavy. Renew your strength as you think of him. If you have doubted the ultimate success of Christianity, renew your strength as you remember who it is that has sworn by himself that surely all flesh shall see the salvation of God. You are coming to plead with Jesus Christ. Be silent, and remember those wounds of his with which he has redeemed mankind!

Can these fail of their reward? Shall Jesus be robbed of the power he has so dearly earned? The earth is the Lord’s, and he will unsheathe her of the mists which dimmed her lustre at the fall, and he will make this planet shine as brightly as when she first was rolled from between the palms of the omnipotent Creator. There shall be a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Think of that, and renew your strength. Hath not the Lord said concerning his beloved Son, that he shall divide the spoil with the strong, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands? Shall it not be so?

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Solemn Pleadings For Revival", delivered January 3, 1875.

Mehano HO scale 4-6-4 Hudson semi-streamlined in Canadian National paint, epilogue...

Remember that cool bell I made?

Guess what I found in my parts bin...


Seems like all those part lots I buy for a couple of bucks at train shows can hide a gem or two...in this case, an original Mantua bell the fits just fine with a little adjusting of the bracket holes---and it has a clapper to boot.

I'm not tossing the other bell though...it'll serve to stand in somewhere else as needed.

Con-Cor/Rivarossi N scale 2-8-8-2 N&W Y6b....

...gets an early Kadee Micro-Trains #1048 conversion kit installed. Nicely engineered for a relatively painless install, Kadee is to be commended for its early foray into a fledgling scale, without which N scale probably wouldn't enjoy the following it does, and certainly at a time when what was offered usually did not line up with the quality of the conversion kit Kadee designed for it.

The Con-Cor Mallet was one of the better running locomotives offered in its day, and certainly well worth the extra work to convert...even today. The conversion kits are still relatively easy to find online for these old locos, and usually run between $3-10 apiece.






The original pilot coupler provided in the kit grenaded on me, leaving me to modify one (actually two, one of THOSE grenaded as well...sigh...) from a U-boat conversion kit I had lying around. It does work but serves as a reminder to how fragile they are...

Mehano HO scale 4-6-4 Hudson semi-streamlined in Canadian National paint...

...part of a set offered in a Canadian retail chain. I just love the colors, the whitewalls and elephant ears---a feature added to some passenger engines to lift the smoke higher over the equipment behind for appearance and passenger comfort.




It is an excellent runner but...alas...its bell had gone the way of odd socks and Kadee coupler springs. Since replacements are hard to find, I made my own with a bit of brass wire, an odd rivet in my scrap box and a blob of solder...




After a bit of bending and then a good buff with my Dremel tool, my Canadian Belle had a bell again...

N scale Arnold 0-8-8-0 Tenderlok BR-96 Mallet

Having wanted one for many years, I was pleased to have the opportunity to have one come my way...even if it was only to repair damaged running gear.

Pretty tight work for my beastly mitts---keep in mind that the drivers on this locomotive are just over a 1/4" in diameter and that rod is a half inch long with a 1/16" hole to line up with a 1/32" hole.


A beautifully detailed locomotive and an excellent runner, its one shortcoming appears to be the egg shaped eccentric. Unlike the rest of the rod work, it is made of plastic and appears to crack, but only enough to pop the rivet out under stress. Because the rivet is peened, it simply snaps back in...albeit with the aid of high powered magnifiers and a jeweler's needlenose pliers.




I wish I could have taken better pictures but I simply don't like to take chances with such models in my house. Though 30+ years old, they still command a premium price, usually $200-250 easily. They came in four colors, each a representation of an actual color used on the Bavarian Railways at the time: black, blue, green and tan and all with the colorful red running gear.

So, like some "catch and release" fishing trophy, one more picture before I sent it back to its owner.



...sigh...

Run night....

...been a long 2 weeks with over 2000 miles of driving and a complete make ready in a house---including cleaning the stove...

...sigh...


AHM/Rivarossi NYC Dreyfus Hudson, Proto 2000 PRR GP30, Mantua 2-6-2 Prairie...yes, I do possess a rather eclectic collection...

Arnold Rapido N scale fantasy paint Southern 4-6-2 Pacific

...because it does not have the see-thru spokes or working headlight as advertised in February of 1969, I could only conclude that this would be one of the earlier ones...







It runs quite well, having survived a trip across the Atlantic from the UK. It has a diecast metal boiler and frame (no zinc-pest, yeah!!!), and features something rarely seen in N scale, electrical wiring that runs from the tender to the engine, quite a feat in its day. The valve gear is metal and exceptionally fine for the time as well.

1961 Athearn HO scale 4-6-2 Heavy Pacific...

...some interesting notes on this locomotive...

The slipping problem it came with was a result of an ear clip breaking. It is used to hold the worm gear in line and in contact with the bull gear. This would hold until a load was applied, whereupon it would push up and out, disengaging the drive. By installing a cone spring that pushes down on the top of the worm gear housing, it keeps the gears engaged while retaining the drive axle's ability to flex and roll in motion...






The tender electrical connections are shear genius. At a time when models were not quite standardized, leaving locomotives wired to go in different directions because of polarity, Irv came up with a novel solution. By making the terminal ends interchangeable with a simple plug in socket installed in the tender body and frame, polarity--and therefore directional travel---could be correct, even if one took their new prize to another layout...

1961 Athearn HO scale 4-6-2 Heavy Pacific...

First announced in 1958, it had many bugs in the drive. Finally released in 1961, it followed their unique 0-4-2 Lil' Monster and preceded their 0-6-0 USRA switcher...for four short years, they were the only three steam locomotives Athearn ever offered until the Genesis line in the late 1990s.




Highly desirable to Athearn collectors, I picked this one up as an unidentified model on an inner hunch that it was a Mantua Pacific, only to be pleasantly surprised by what it actually was upon further investigation...

My first clue was found on its arrival...the tender wheelsets are a spot on match to the popular Hi-F drive Budd RDC rail cars that Athearn had out at the time...


Equally fascinating were the all plastic drivers, pilot and trailing truck wheelsets---all power pickup is thru the tender...


All in all an exceptional catch that will keep me busy tuning up this winter...

AHM/Rivarossi HO scale NYC Dreyfus 4-6-4 Streamlined Hudson...

...stock #5095, this one dates to about 1972 and originally sold for $37.98. This particular purchase came with a five car consist that I will post later.





The original was coal fired...can you imagine what a beast this thing was to clean in its day...

Mantua hook/loop couplers...

...pretty much an HO industry standard until the introduction of horn/hooks...look carefully at pictures in any pre '65 or so model mag and you'll see that many folks used them....




You opened them by pushing these uncoupling pins up from underneath with a ramp or a tool called a "spoon"...

This box I purchased at last week's train show was pristine from one end to the other, the metal looks brand new. It's bare zinc, as I prefer it over other peoples paint jobs when I buy old school stuff like this, so I can show newcomers their hobby's roots.

Note that this Mantua 0-4-0 Booster has 2 wheel pick up---2 WHEELS...the other two being nylon. You had to be pretty faithful to the hobby to keep with it as balky as this thing had to be on that old school brass track...note the solid metal saddletanks to aid in power pickup. Even then, there was no way it could make it through Atlas Tru-Track with its plastic switch frogs...as soon as one wheel touched, the current flow would stop immediately.


The full valve gear would have been purchased as an aftermarket kit...an item I knew about but, until now, had never seen an original one, though there have been plenty of copies made by a variety of manufacturers since.

The Great Train Show...

...came to town last weekend. Looking to move into another market, it was important to attend if for no other reason than to show the organizers that there was a market to cater to. I bought a couple of trinkets...


...an HO scale AHM/Rivarossi 2-8-4 Nickel Plate Road "Berkshire", in excellent condition...and...



...this nice vintage lot containing a 1953 Mantua 0-4-0 Booster, two assembled Mantua flat cars and a 4 wheeled bobber from 1960-62, as well as an Ulrich two bay hopper from 1959. Note that they have the older Mantua hook/loop couplers that were pretty common at around that time, and that the bare zinc metal and brass looks like it hasn't seen air for most of their 50+ years of life.

I'll give more detail reviews of each as time goes on...right now, I'm enjoying a slow day at the house.