Large Scale Central

Aristo Dash 9s & SD45s pulling coal train

Videos
#1

A video emulating a Southern Pacific & Wisconsin Central coal train operation on the layout.

With all the excitement about Bachmann resurrecting the Aristo Dash-9s and possibly SD45s, I thought to run these locos pulling a long coal hopper car train.
It seems that Bachmann would likely resurrect the 100 ton hoppers & Evans cars since they would be a bit more modern to go with resurrected locos.

See video on YouTube (so you can set resolution to 1080P) showing how the train at first suffered from “string lining” in couple of places on curves, but by removing a few cars to lighten weight, the train was Okay - seen later in the video starting at time stamp 17:25.

-Ted

#2

The words Wisconsin Central caused my interest Ted, I have a gondola (with scrap load) in that road name and friends in that State.

I was fascinated and a little envious of all those 100T coal cars. I am fascinated by coal cars so found the video most enjoyable. I was surprised that you only had two ‘string linings’ I would have expected more. Presumably it is due to your couplers and trackwork that the low figure was achieved.

#3

Nice video Ted. Would the cars , at least for the front 5-10 cars benefit from some additional weight in them, to keep them more “planted” on the track?

second question I saw a CompCams box in the basement, which loco is getting a performance cam in it? LOL.

Thanks for all the informative vignettes you have produced

#4

Alan Lott said:

The words Wisconsin Central caused my interest Ted, I have a gondola (with scrap load) in that road name and friends in that State.

I was fascinated and a little envious of all those 100T coal cars. I am fascinated by coal cars so found the video most enjoyable. I was surprised that you only had two ‘string linings’ I would have expected more. Presumably it is due to your couplers and trackwork that the low figure was achieved.

Thank you Alan,

Yes, trackwork layout design & implementation, disciplined techniques of wheel (metal) installation in trucks, and coupler arrangements all adds up for best possible train operation, particularly when pulling long heavy trains through curves, loops and grades where the weight of the train also comes into play.

-Ted

#5

Pete Lassen said:

Nice video Ted. Would the cars , at least for the front 5-10 cars benefit from some additional weight in them, to keep them more “planted” on the track?

second question I saw a CompCams box in the basement, which loco is getting a performance cam in it? LOL.

Thanks for all the informative vignettes you have produced

Thank you Pete,

Yes, weight could be added to the first few cars, but there is a tradeoff of pulling the train up grades - though in the case of the train shown in the video, the 4 locos would not have a problem.

As to the Competition Cams box you spotted:
In the mid 1980s, I built a replacement engine for my 1963 V8 Ford Falcon hard top car that would run on unleaded gas that was made mandatory around that time. The 260 V8 that had been in there with its 11/1 CR pinged on the better octane gas no matter how much I retarded the timing, so I built sort of a “poor mans Boss 302”, except I used a 289 (same engine family) with 351 “Cleveland” open chamber cylinder heads (with hardened valve seats for unleaded gas) to achieve a CR of 8.4/1 that provided very “streetable” running on low octane unleaded gas to this day. The engine has a 260 degree Comp Cams flat tappet camshaft.

-Ted

#6

Awesome Ted, I’m a Mopar or no car kind of guy , but admire all kinds of ingenious setups!!! I have a cousin rebuilding a 62? Falcon. Look forward to maybe meeting you in 2023 ? Now since Nashville and Denver have moved back a year, if you will be on the schedule of layouts

#7

Very nice Ted !