I recently noticed some minor flaws in model railroading, the track. You may be able to paint the tracks to make it more realistic, but look at the rails. Do they end in the same place? Then there is your problem. If you look at the rails in real life you notice that the rails do not end and begin in the same place, they end and begin in different places. I was wondering if any one else has noticed it?
I noticed it when I was building a small 4 x 8 model layout of the Eastern Idaho route through the beautiful scenery around Idaho Falls, Idaho. I am in the stages of redoing the layout to add more realism.
I also have a question, why did Athearn discontinue the GP35? I was wondering if you know if the GP35 will be put back into production. Some friends down at the Imagination Station and I were wondering, since the Eastern Idaho Railroad runs GP35s along their route, and they are very popular in Twin Falls. I also bought an International Bay Window caboose (undecorated at first), with the Eastern Idaho roadname on it. I run it with my GP35 Eastern Idaho, they look like an older brother and the younger brother when lashed up together. If you can get some info on the GP35, I would like to know about it in an issue of Model Railroad News.
Nicholas O’Dell
Twin Falls, ID
As to your first question, rail joints only occur together if that’s how you lay them. Many modelers, myself included, stagger many of our rail joints. When you use flex track, the inside rail sticks out farther, and you can push that into the next section. Where the joint takes place, you’ll need to cut out a few of the rail holders to make way for the rail joiner. The alternative is to model jointed rail with sectional track. — Ed.
Reading your article (Larger View) in the August issue on pick-up problems outdoors with brass track reminded me of my days in OO Gauge many years ago. Track in those days was almost always brass accompanied by the usual pick-up problems.
One company, though, had the solution: Scale Craft Company equipped all their locomotives with pick-up shoes bearing against the rails. That seemed to solve the problem and was used until Scale Craft faded away along with OO. The only other company I have ever seen do this is LGB, and certainly their products are successful running on brass track. Best of all, these pick-up shoes are available in three styles: Part numbers are 63210, 63214 and 63218. It might be worthwhile for garden railroaders to investigate this.
Manuel Noriega
Oakland, CA
The first question I have is about BNSF’s C30-7s. As a small child, I used to sit on the front porch of my house from which I almost literally had a front row seat to watch the then separated BN and Santa Fe’s fleet of C30-7s as they hauled Powder River coal trains down the Thayer Sub and on to power plants in Texas. Then, after the BNSF merger, the C30s lost their place on these trains in favor of the more efficient SD70MAC and by the time I graduated from high school in 2002, the “Super 7s” were becoming a rare sight. (In fact, they were almost nonexistent by the middle of 2002). So, with that said, my question is this: living in a small town like Koshkonong, MO and having a front row seat to watch trains, where you can see everything from SD40-2s, C44-9s, AC4400s, even BNSF’s latest AC45CTEs and a rare appearance by a “freightbonnet” SD45 or two, what has happened to BNSF’s C30-7s? Are they still active and, if so, have any been repainted into the Heritage I scheme? Two of BN’s U30Cs did survive into the BNSF days. Whether they’re still on the roster is unknown. Finally, my second question deals with Athearn’s new SD70MAC and I was simply wondering if you guys had a chance to test it yet? I know the first pictures I saw of the finished model made my jaw drop! Keep up the good work guys!
Dee Ellison
Koshkonong, MO
I turned to a pair of my favorite books for definitive information on the Super Sevens. According to Robert Del Grosso’s Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Locomotive Review and Remote Control Units, as of 2003, the last 18 C30-7s are off the road now, most of them retired and pending sale as scrap. The Official 2004 Edition of Locomotive Rosters & News shows no Super Sevens at all. A number of them are working in Brazil. As to Heritage paint, I haven’t seen any done up that way. — Ed.
I enjoyed very much your August issue story about the Union Pacific Gas Turbine Locomotive. I feel I had a small part in their building.
In early January 1947, I went to work for General Electric Co. My first job as an engineer was at the Traction Motor Dept. in Erie, Pennsylvania. In March I was assigned to read the meters on a test set up of the Gas Turbine traction motors. I worked 12 hours a night 7 days a week for the entire month. I don’t remember the time between readings but I do remember Erie in March was cold, and between readings we found that the only warm place was on top of the gearbox. The sound was extremely loud and the vibration was enormous, but we did manage a few moments of warmth and even some sleep between readings.
This wasn’t much of a contribution to the building of the locomotive, but several years later I would see them occasionally, feeling a great deal of pride in having worked on the greatest locomotive ever built. I firmly believe this experience put me into model railroading, and I am still in it as owner of The Russian River Railroad Co.
Robert H. Comport
Arlington, TX
I enjoyed your review of BLI’s new 4-8-4 Northern. I happen to have this particular model and it’s a gem! I put considerable mileage on my locos in a year so I have to pay particular attention to the engineering of these machines. I think if you take off the tender shell and take care to run those six conductors from the pin connector on the engine inline straight into the tender, allowing the extra length of those conductors to flex gently inside the tender, you will be able to run this loco on your 22-inch radius curves and of course the appearance is enhanced. You also eliminate the stress on the back of the pin connector. Slip the tender shell back on when you’re satisfied the conductors will swing without touching anything inside. Where I put mileage on a loco in an evening, bearings are a must. I had to contact BLI to ask if that was a common in their products. Before a loco goes onto the layout I lube every bearing, and in the case of a steamer, any point that has motion. Is all this necessary? Well, the Mantua Pacific that I built back in 1954 is still running.
Iver Jacobsen
Halifax, MA
Nice article and wonderful pictures of the Broadway Limited 4-8-4 Northern. But what attaches the trailing truck to the engine on the two-page spread (pp 28-29)? The flexible “wire” is okay for a model, but I have always thought that the purpose of the trailing truck is to help support the firebox. Maybe to be more correct, my question should be “support” rather than “attach.”
Gardner R. Wills
Nashville, TN
On the model, the principle job of the trailing truck is to look like the trailing truck on the prototype. After that, it has the additional responsibility of not interfering with the operation of the model. Very likely, the model would run rather well without it, though it would look goofy as anything and it might not back through switches as well. I’m sure the trailing truck bears a small amount of the loco’s weight, but much more than that would only rob the model of tractive efficiency. On some models, the leading and/or trailing trucks may contribute electrical pickup, but most do not. BLI models have not used electrical pickups on their trailing or leading trucks. Thus the role of the trailing truck on the 4-8-4 Northern model is simply to follow along politely and not cause any problems while looking like the prototype’s trailing truck. It is very successful in that role — Ed.
I just received my copy of the Sept. 04, MRN. While reading through the TRIX HO freight car review, I noted the comment, “Although minor, my only real criticism in respect to the decoration of this car is the large ‘Great Northern’ spelled out on the sides of the car does not look like the proper lettering style used by the GN during the timeframe for which the car is painted.”
While the TRIX boxcar configuration is not accurate for the GN 3000-3499 series, built by GN in the mid-fifties, the lettering scheme is accurate. Please see my photo on page 57 of Scott Thompson’s Great Northern Equipment Color Pictorial Book One - Box Cars & Stock Cars, by Four Ways West Publications.
Duane Buck
GNRHS Modeling Editor
Sedona, AZ
A few evenings ago, I was at the point of quitting my internet search for information available about the Commodore Vanderbilt, the famous J-1e 5344 locomotive, when I incidentally spotted your Editorial of June 2003! Being impressed by your appreciative words in that Editorial I decided to respond, though late by one year.
My name is Buzdrug Gheorghe-Sterian and I live in Bucharest, Romania’s capital town. I am a mechanical engineer with studies in streamline design since I became a 1966 graduate of the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. While elaborating a study about the development of American streamlined locomotives and trains, I incidentally spotted a photo in Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation’s 1947 Steam Locomotive Cyclopedia showing Timken roller bearings applied on the main and side rods of the Commodore Vanderbilt. Being highly intrigued by the futuristic design of that J-1e Hudson, which I had heard that she was the first streamlined steam locomotive in the world, I tried to find some information about her.
Following the letter which I addressed to the New York Central System Historical Society (NYCSHS), I received from the Society an extremely kind answer having enclosed a Xerox copy of the story of the streamlined J-1e Hudson 5344. That story was told in an article published in 1981 by Carl F. Kantola, the author of the Commodore Vanderbilt streamline design. I also received the copies of the six patents covering various features of the completed design.
As the whole project looked like artwork, I became interested to look for even more information about the Commodore Vanderbilt and her designer. Now following a long effort in that respect, I with highest sadness confess that Carl F. Kantola’s contribution to streamlining seems be nearly forgotten, if not ascribed to others!
Some examples taken out just from US literature are:
A) In the book The Streamliners (TLC Publishing, 2002, Kevin J. Holland), Carl F. Kantola is mentioned on page 26 as the designer of the Commodore Vanderbilt shroud, but second (!) to a certain Norman Zapf.
B) Brian Solomon goes even further in the book LOCOMOTIVE (MBI Publishing Co., 2001): he has no word dedicated to Carl F. Kantola, but says that (page 41) “the Hudson 5344 was fitted with specially designed wind resistant shrouds inspired by Norman Zapf.”
C) The ART of The STREAMLINER (Metrobooks, 2001, Bob Johnston, Joe Welsh and Mike Schafer) has no word either about Carl F. Kantola or the tradition-breaking design he applied to the Commodore Vanderbilt, but delivers wrong information stating that (page 36) “the New York Central’s first crack at streamlining resulted in Mercury streamliner.”
D) Even Arnold Haas in his now-hard-to-find book MEMORIES of the NEW YORK CENTRAL STEAM says that (page 243) “in 1935 the 5344 got the streamlining treatment and a name – Commodore Vanderbilt.” Here the author’s confusion is double: both the name and the streamlined cowling of the 5344 were assigned in 1934 – the year preceding the one specified in the book!
Such examples may continue probably. It is evident that Carl F. Kantola is virtually unknown to citizens in his country, though he was a forerunner of the trends to come in steam locomotive streamline design. His case fully illustrates John the Apostle’s words in The New Testament, “A prophet is not respected in his own country.” These words are just in the motto of this message.
When wrong information is spread, unfair history results. For instance, SCIENCE & VIE (S&V), an old and prestigious monthly magazine in France, released the most pregnant case of wrong information which I ever found about the Commodore Vanderbilt. In the S&V railway special issue released in 2003, Clive Lamming, a regular contributor to that magazine, tells that (page 113) “the famous and futurist Commodore Vanderbilt designed by Henry Dreyfuss was one of the first streamlined locomotives of the New York Central fleet in 1935.” The enormity of errors poured here may leave any connoisseur breathless!
If things are as they seem to be, few of our contemporaries will, in the turmoil of the New Year’s arrival, remember that 70 years ago, on 27 December 1934, the world’s first streamlined steam locomotive was presented to the public in the United States. It remains then to us, elder children playing with toys, the task of keeping alive the memory of the Commodore Vanderbilt. I am such an old child here in Romania, a country in Eastern Europe. In spite of my age (I turned 61 on August 20th), I am still fond of both toy and real-size trains. To somebody asking me “How come a man of your age is still playing with toy trains?” I’ll say “I have been a HO modeler focused on American steam since I became aware of the J-1e 5344.”
In order to sustain that, I’ll add that I actually make preparations to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the birth of the Commodore Vanderbilt. A HO scale model (spoke drivers version) of that locomotive is to be born on my workbench, by mating a Rivarossi Hudson running gear and frame with Monogram boiler modified to J-1e appearance and covered by streamlined cowling. The 5344 tender will also be taken from the Monogram kit, but top and rear views of the streamlined version are still unclear.
As you can see, warm feelings in your Editorial entitled No. 5344 determined my long message, a true letter in fact. I suppose that, like me, other elder children playing with toy trains also sent an answer to you. That’s why the June 2003 Editorial remains actual even for many years from now!
Buzdrug Gheorghe-Sterian
Bucharest, Romania
The hobby world has suffered the loss of another of its great advocates. Harry Hertz of TexNRails died on Wednesday, August 25. It was unexpected and the industry will miss him a lot. He always had a smile for you and was a real booster to Model Railroading in general. He had a terrific attitude and was a fun person with whom to work. His son, Brad, has been a great person with whom to deal as well, and I believe his attitude is a result of his father’s example. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Brad and his family.
Don Courliss
Jonesborough, TN
e-mail us at: letters@modelrailroadnews.com
or send us a letter to:
LETTERS c/o Model Railroad News
P.O. Box 1080 • Merlin, OR 97532-1080
Fax: 541-955-0346
