Buffalo Canyon Railroad Locos and Cars

[GPdemayo]

Great looking rolling stock Mike.....

[IWannaRetire]

Howdy folks,

I just found an old HO scale coupler height gauge and discovered the caboose height needs to be adjusted. I checked all my engines, and they have couplers at HO height, so HO height it is. I can easily shim the coupler pocket but wonder if anyone has sage coupler advice for an ON30 newby? I use #5's currently.

Have fun,
mike

Mike, nice modeling here, thanks for all the details.

I've been waiting and hoping a sage would answer your question as I am a relative On30 newby as well.  As I haven't seen that, here's my own humble experiences with couplers.

I don't have an operating layout yet, coupler choice is still pending.  I have about 8 scratch built freight cars under construction as I search out a repeatable underbody scheme that works for me.

I re-entered the hobby just before the pandemic when garishly painted Bachmann Heritage sets were very affordable on the secondary market.  So I started with a couple Bachmann coaches and a 2-6-0.  I didn't realize it then, but apparently Bachmann had their own couplers, but they mate OK with Kadee HO couplers.  So I bought some Kadee #5s to scratch build with.

I'm not a rivet counter but the knuckles just looked too dinky, in my opinion.   So I bought some Kadee # 803 and 807, which Kadee labels as On3 couplers, along with an 815 coupler height gauge, which Kadee labels for On30 and On3.

Kadee 803 and 807 couplers are identical except one is brown, the other black. First thing I noticed is that the coupler boxes are slightly bigger, bigger was the goal.  However, the trip pins are so long and extend so low as to hit the track ties when mounted at HO height. Initially, I cut a bit off the trip pin and re-bent it. But it still didn't look right to me.  My internal Goldilocks gauge now said: too low:

When the On3/On30 height gauge arrived, the height difference from HO led me searching and as far as I could determine, the NMRA is silent on On30 coupler height.  It does list heights for On3 and On2, however.

https://www.nmra.org/s-2-coupler-standards

I'm using a slew of different old Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette plans for reference.  The scale drawings are excellent, but the prototype coupler heights are all over the place, as was the nature of short narrow gauge rail.

Extracting myself from that wabbit hole, and since I'm not going to take my rolling stock anywhere to interchange on someone else's layout, I'm leaning towards 803/807 at just a smidge under the On3 height standard. Searching now for NMRA smidge standard.

Unless I read some sage advice.

I don't want to sidetrack your thread anymore, but I am interested in which archbar trucks you are using.

[elwoodblues]

Mike from Illinois,

While I don't claim to be a On30 Guru or a sage I am willing to offer my observation even thou I am a newby at everything. 

On30 has been around for decades.  Back in the day it was a cheap way to get into narrow gauge by using HO mechanisms and track, it was literally a scratchbuilding scale.  Bachmann made it popular with their train sets for the winter village collectors.  Bachmann then branched out to the modeling market with freight cars and engines like the 2-truck shay, which by the way was the first piece of On30 equipment I bought when I switched to On30 about 20 years ago.

Because of the origin of On30, HO couplers and HO coupler height was used for ON30 equipment and Bachmann used the same standard for their On30 offerings.  While On30 (30" track centers) is half way between the main two-footers (24" track centers) and Colorado's 3-footers (36" track centers), On30 can be used to model both.

As for coupler height, I prefer the HO standards as I like the low coupler height to the rail as I prefer to model the Maine 2 foot equipment which has "dinky" couplers).  If you prefer the 3ft gauge lines you might to use the NMRA's On3 standards.  I personally use Kadee #148 on all my equipment (whisker Type which replaces the #5 couplers).

Hope that helps explain things.

Sorry for hijacking your thread Mike, I'll try not to let that happen again.

[elwoodblues]

Mike, thought I recognized that kit.  It's going to make a great model, can't wait to see what you do with it.

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

Work began on the On30IMA boxcar today. I cleaned up my desk as is the habit after a build and included a photo of my place of happiness:



Frame ready for truss rods


Truss rods


That's all for today.

Have fun,
mike

[Philip]

Your swell! I can clean my bench and wreck it in no time flat. I make my bed up ever day.  Does that count?

Nice start Mike!

[Bernd]

Mike,



Bernd

[Rick]

Mike, that's a great looking desk to do your modeling.
Now go and mess it up.   
Nice start on the boxcar.

[Jerry]

Great start Mike.  I really like your work space!!

Jerry

[Mr. Critter]

That's a wonderful-looking caboose.  You weathering's dead-nuts on.

[kyle creel]

Love the caboose Mike; can't wait for the boxcar..............
KYLE CREEL
G&D Ry.

[friscomike]

Howdy folks,

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words Philip, Bernd, Rick, Jerry, Mr. Critter, and Kyle.  They are much appreciated.

Waiting for glue to dry is why I need at least two projects going at once.  The grab irons and stirrups are glued in place and weights from sheet lead are glued to the ends. I don't want the weights to come loose with time, so I used regular Gorilla glue.  Hope it works.

Here is a photo of the ends and sides with grabs glued in place. It looks like a couple may need tweaking when the glue dries.



Have fun,
mike

[PRR Modeler]

Looks well done Mike.

[Dave Buchholz]

Nice work. Very precise. I envy the craftsmanship.

Dave

[kyle creel]

Yer off to a great start there Mike......
KYLE CREEL
G&D Ry.