Today I FINALLY got the brass steamer back together and working with a sound decoder. It was quite irritating, but satisifying to finally finish it. The paint needs some touch up, and the decoder needs a lot of adjusting. The top end is WAY too fast, almost faster than Greg Speed. ;D It runs much smoother since I lubricated it while it was apart. Here it is in front of the station with some Walther's heavyweight passenger cars I got from an online auction at about $13 apiece.
Jeff
Also new to The Empire is the 1936 Twin Cities Zephyr. This is the "Train of the Gods", and is led by Zephyrus, loco #9905. Due to my internet handle, I had to have the loco and thus it's train on my pike. I got the loco last year on eBay, and the train a few weeks ago at a very reasonable (for brass) price. I believe there were only 25 of these trains made by Rail Classics about 20 years ago. Installing a sound decoder in this was a minor challenge compared to the *%#! steamer. The lead truck of the first passenger car has derailment issues, which I need to work out, but the train itself is stunning, if I do say so myself.
Jeff
Looks great Jeff! Thank you for keeping the model train economy humming.
Jeff,
Great photos of the new additions. I love the Burlington Mountain pulling the string of heavyweights.
The Twin Cities Zepher ain't bad either.
Looking really good.
Tom ;D
Now that's a pair of real good looking Passenger Trains.
Jim
Now that's my kind of steam engine..... ;D .
It's really terrific looking and is perfect at the front of those heavyweights and the Zephyr is gorgeous..... 8)
Hey Jeff:
Great photos. I very much enjoyed seeing them.
Karl
Nice job on the "Q" steamer Jeff. Even after hundreds of brass repairs and paint jobs its always satisfying to get one back on its feet and running. On your Zephyr check the truck swing for clearance on the steps and skirts and naturally the truck gauge. I painted a couple of these when they first came out and it seems this was a common issue - also the draw bar swing between the first car and the powered lead unit. Sticks in my mind it was just a "fiddly issue" and didn't require a lot of reworking.
Good luck
Doug