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Bottom Operating Cut Levers For San Juan Couplers
When I originally designed my Virginia & Western Railway, the main objectives were to look and operate like the prototype. This meant being able to uncouple cars anywhere on the layout. There are many ways to do this, but I wanted operating cut levers like the real thing. On the prototype, the cut lever is…
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The South West Industrial Railroad
Dan Ellis’s South West Industrial Railroad is set in a coastal area of Eastern Canada. It is a railway conceived to accommodate the requirements of a diverse group of agricultural, manufacturing, and resource based industries surrounding a major city. To get an idea of the operational philosophy of the railroad, think in terms of spokes…
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Working Coupler Pocket for the San Juan Type-E Coupler
The San Juan Car Company AAR Type-E coupler is available in two different shank styles. The traditional style (#5101) fits Kadee coupler pockets. The other style (#5104) has a scale shank. At first blush, it doesn’t seem to be very easy to adapt to equipment. Jim Hickey came up with a nifty idea for using…
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Making Rivets
When I was a young lad just starting to scratch build locos I couldn’t afford many special tools so this required some head scratching to come up with construction methods that were simple…and cheap. This article describes my second version of a rivet “machine.” My Compact 5 lathe came with a steel block for the…
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Modifications to a Sunset Western Maryland Decapod
Recently I have had some time to make some improvements to my P:48 WM Russian Decapod. I have taken a few photos and prepared this short description on what modification I mad eto add sound and add a large air reservoir to the frame. I machined a frame-mounted air tank out of aluminum rod with…
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Peeling Paint
You may have noticed that boxcars and reefers often look like their roofs are unpainted. With the exception of some modern cars that use galvanized roofing materials, most have simply shed their paint over time. A number of years ago two talented gentlemen by the name of Greenberg and Nash invented a scheme for the…
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Canvas Roofing
Over the years we have all read about the quest for the perfect tarpaper or canvas roof for structures and rolling stock. Modelers have used silkscreen, tissue paper, masking tape and even sandpaper to get various effects. Our tip this takes a slightly different approach. We have had excellent results with paper adhesive bandage material,…
