Dear Editor:
With the recent introductions of several new highly detailed plastic steam locomotives, you might think that a steam modeler such as myself would be very happy. In reality, I am not quite so happy as I thought I would be.
Only modelers of steam would care that most steam locomotives, unlike diesels, were quite unique to each individual railroad. A New Haven modeler might admire the Roco articulated imported by Proto 2000, for example, but these engines seldom ran in revenue service within a couple of hundred miles of his modeling interest.
The USRA engines are welcome because many roads used them, but real dyed in the wool steam enthusiasts have been known to turn up their noses and say that these are not real railroad designs: not a true Louisville and Nashville loco, not a product of Altoona to Pennsy fans, etc. Moreover, only a few engines stand between where we are today and the end of the USRA series, they will soon run out of USRAs to make.
I certainly realize, as most of us old timers must, that there is a lot more ready to run available today, and where the products we want are available beautifully painted with fine running mechanisms, and the recent steam engines are probably the best running group of locos ever, a lot of us are very happy.
However, like modelers of the olden days of years back, I look at a foreign road engine, like a Santa Fe 4-8-4 and wonder if I can cut it down to make a Reading engine that actually did run in my areas of interest. I have already made a big dent in building the engines I will want for my fleet over the past several years, but there is very little being imported now that I can use. Must I rely on 50 year old technology and old kits to build more engines? As many of these kits (Mantua’s for example) are off the market, young people do not even get the chance to try their hand at building these, or the experience of converting them to other engines.
As I see it, the problem is that while the engines now being imported from China and Korea are fine if left as they come, disassembly is extremely difficult to permit lubrication, painting or detailing, let alone converting to other types of engines.
I am fully aware that this craft has to be about the lowest of priorities on the minds of the designers and importers of these engines. But as neophite modelers (as I was not too long ago) are satisfied with any steamer that seems suitable for the jobs involved on their railroads, the purchase of a couple of photo books and membership in a historical society often causes these engines to be relegated to the scrap line or a dusty box under the layout when the modeler realizes they are not right for his or her road.
Expert modeler Mike Cunningham points out that if one built a kit of a Mantua switcher he (or she) could, without too much trouble, attempt construction of virtually any Bowser, MDC or other American style kit with only the sizes of screws and valve gear arrangement being anything new.
These American (and many British and European) designs have all had their motor and transmission mounted to the frame with the boiler being a housing for the weight, smoke unit, headlight, or any other electrical component. This permitted new boilers to be mounted with only relocation of a few screws; from this we get products like the Cary Light and Heavy USRA Mikado and Pacific boilers. (The light versions of these are now offered as complete kits from Bowser, even though the boilers were originally made for mounting on Mantua chassis.)
It is unfortunate that the most modern of these models from the Orient are built with the motor and transmission completely buried in a solid boiler weight casting. These are nearly impossible to replace with new boilers. It is more than I would attempt — and I have been modifying steam engine models for years and years.
I even have a suggestion for future editions of these imported engines: shorten the metal casting for the motor and transmission as a rear section of the boiler weight so it can be mounted on the chassis. Make the front part of the boiler weight a separate part. Open the extreme bottom of the aft (rear) part of the plastic boiler and firebox so it can slip over the mechanism. Clip the boiler at the rear to studs on the back of the frame and use a screw up through the bottom of the chassis to retain the boiler at the front. The cylinder block should be mounted to the frame with one or more screws so it can be removed when necessary for changing valve gear or whatever changes modelers want to make.
There are many different kinds of technologies involved in building steam engine models, and I hope that craftsperson modelers — those ready to do a little more than pour the engine out of the box — will be served by the next generation of new imported plastic and die cast steam engines from China and Korea. Again, they run so well and are beautiful if left alone; but if you have to do any big changes to make them resemble engines that ran on your favorite road, you may just be out of luck. It is such a shame that one by one I have to pass these new engines up. I want to buy some of these too!
Victor Roseman
Brooklyn, NY
Dear MRN,
I wanted to clear up some confusion that may have been caused from a recent review in your June, 2001 issue of the Walthers / Kibri Komatsu Wheel Loader. The assertion from the reviewer, based on overall length and width of bucket, was that the model was made to 1/90th scale. The bucket width was given as 15' across in the review and this is correct if you measure form the outside edges of the mouth of the bucket. But the WA800-2 spade bucket has a shield attached to the rear of the bucket to keep unloaded loose rock away from the tires. These two shields are the widest part of the bucket, so to measure overall width of the bucket you need to measure from the rear of the implement. That measurement on the model is 15'-8" wide. The width of any type bucket on a WA800 is 15'-7", so it is actually a little wider than the prototype.
This is by no means a fault of the reviewer because he was using information from the Komatsu website for checking the accuracy of the model. Unfortunately, construction and mining companies for the most part do not provide in depth details on their websites when compared to information available from company brochures. Construction and mining equipment come in many configurations that can effect overall length and width. Options such as different tire sizes, types of buckets, blades, and even teeth type can impact overall dimensions.
The reviewer referred to an overall length of 47' feet long for the prototype Komatsu WA 800-2 and there is a version of the loader that is 47'-7" long, but that is the high reach version which has longer loader arms. The standard length for the Komatsu loader with a spade nose bucket (meaning the front of the bucket forms a V shape) on the ground is 46'-3". With the model coming in at 45', it is shy by 15". Now this may seem significant, but the WA 800-2 has a rear engine service platform attached to the rear bumper that someone can stand on while servicing the engine. Unfortunately this feature is not actually part of the model kit, but would be counted towards overall length if comparing the model to prototype dimensions. While I don’t have an exact measurement for this platform, it is clearly visible in all rear machine photos in the company’s brochure and looks to be at least 12" to 15" wide. One easy way to check this assumption is to compare another dimension from the WA800-2 brochure as it shows the length from the rear wheel center to the rear of the machine (excluding the bumper) as 10'-6" — the model measures exactly 10'-6".
Wheelbase dimensions for all WA800-2 are the same 17'-11" — the model comes in at 18'. Overall height from ground to top of ROPS is 17'-4" and the model hits that number right on the nose. The width over the tires on the real WA800-2 is 15'-1" and on the model it is 15'. So my conclusion after taking a closer look at the dimensions of the real machine and comparing them to the Walthers and Kibri model is that it is indeed 1/87th scale.
Dan Goins
1/87 Vehicle & Equipment Club President
To Whom It May Concern,
I’d like to say, “Thank You” for letting me put an ad in MRN. I’ve gotten what I asked for, so many thanks. A Hobby Store in New Jersey sent me a card to get a three free issues. I decided to place an ad, and I’m very glad I did.
David B. Keller
Lebanon, PA
Dear Mr. Rittman:
Having read your two articles on Highspeed Railway Safety(May, June 2001), I feel I must respond. First, let me say you did a splendid job extracting data for these articles. Unfortunately, you did leave out one major factor; and that is what I am writing to you about.
Let me say that I have been a life long rail buff, having experienced train travel in different parts of the world. About a month or so ago on one of the TV magazine shows, this same subject was brought up. It is sad that such corrupt practices exists, especially in the most civilized and honest country in the world. I am referring to American tracks and their horrible condition. In Europe they have “Gleis-Geherr” — track walkers that constantly inspect and then order repairs of unworthy track. The article on TV stated if the track inspectors are from Burlington, SP, UP or other freight companies, that the findings are put in a pile and maybe eventually they are lost or somehow get lost.
In the meantime, I guess it is okay to derail and write off 1,000 Fords or Chevies as an insurance loss. Only if there were more Federal Track Inspectors it would be a bit different. Their findings don’t go in the same box as Burlington, SP or UP. They go to D.C., and unfortunately there are less than 100 inspectors for all of the United States. In Europe, say in France for the first 100 kilometers, the TGV goes on wooden ties at a slower speed and after that they go on concrete ties and the speed increases. Freight trains are not allowed on that track. When I traveled in October, 1999 from Chicago to Los Angeles on the Super Chief, we had our “last supper” just outside Gallup, New Mexico. As we got there, all four of us at the table in the dining car thought for sure that we were going to derail. That’s how bad the track was. Two days later, the Super Chief did derail in the California desert after an earthquake in the Twenty Nine Palms area.
In closing, I just want to say that American Train Travel could learn from the Europeans. Maybe they didn’t land men on the moon, but they certainly know how to transport human beings here on earth.
Roman Przybyla
Burbank, CA
Sirs:
Please advise on the best publications giving me detailed description, pictures, and dealers of where I can consider purchase of the PRR’s GG-1s in gauges G, O, and O-27. I found the O gauge on www.Lionel.com, but haven’t been able to find any others. I’m particularly interested in a G gauge model.
MartyL8@aol.com
Dear Michael,
When I read Daniel Arsanian’s letter [Model railroading is fun?, August, 2001 MRN], I laughed so hard I almost stroked! I’ve never seen a letter in any model railroad publication that was so far off base, especially coming from someone who works in the industry. There isn’t two types of Model Railroading as Daniel purported, there is only one! It just so happens that Model Railroading has been going through some wonderful improvements in quality (especially in HO and N scales) over the past twenty years. Kato started the ball rolling with their fantastic running HO models and others in the industry have followed. I think back to how bad Life-Like was before they introduced the Proto series, or Bachmann before the Spectrum series. I have no idea where he got the idea that the new knuckle couplers “break very easily” as I’ve tested almost all of the new couplers pulling up to seventy-five cars without a single failure in any brand tested. Also, I can’t speak for the rest of the modeling community out there, but I don’t feel that anything is being rammed down my throat! In fact, I don’t believe that I will ever become a Proto 87 follower, but then again, there was a time when you couldn’t give me a Life-Like product — now I count them as some of the finest around. The bottom line is that the consumers are the ones who ultimately set the standard by what they are and are not willing to buy.
Best Regards and keep up the fine work.
Gary Cook
Tigard, OR
Hello,
As I am into logging in HO, I would be interested in finding out where I can obtain the book West Side Pictorial. As I live in the UK, it is difficult to obtain these books. Your website, www.modelrailroadnews.com, has quite a lot of information, thanks. My website is: http://www.badger-creek.co.uk and is called Badger Creek Lumber Company.
Cheers friend.
Paul Templar
England
The book is published by: Heimburger House Publishing Co., 7236 W. Madison St, Forest Park, IL 60130-1765, (708) 366-7763, fax (708) 366-1973; www.heimburgerhouse.com
It’s nice to hear from our friends across the pond.
Cheers. — Ed
