Large Scale Central

Frankenstein ore train

Modeling Rolling stock
#1

I have always loved the Duluth, Messabe, and Iron Range…Some of my first “train memories” come from watching them unload taconite into ore ships in Superior and Duluth. I wanted to re-create one of those trains and with help from multiple manufacturers I am almost there.

An LGB Mikado (UP) with an Aristo tender custom lettered for the DMIR…I swapped out the tenders original 4-wheel trucks for 6’ers…

And of course an ore train is nothing without ore cars…I have 8 USA DMIR cars and recently picked up 4 Lionel Milwaukee cars. As many of you already know, USA picked up the Lionel tooling for these cars when Lionel bailed on LS…

Of course the coupling between all of them is a disaster. The USA will couple with Lionel but not Aristo. Lionel couples very well with both Aristo and USA.

The Milwaukee cars are on their way to the paint shop. They have been fitted with Bachmann metal wheels on the original lionel trucks. The USA couplers are WAY too LONG to look good (the one in the pic has been modified). All the USA couplers will be going to the “chop shop” this afternoon for a 5/8ths inch reduction (I’ll post the mod later).

So LGB + Aristo + USA + Lionel + Bachmann = DMIR ore train!

#2

I feel bad for saying this after you just swapped them, but the DM&IR Mikados actually had four wheel tender trucks.

The DM&IR’s Mikados also were numbered from 1300-1309, if you want to renumber the LGB loco. There’s a fairly good photo of 1303 on the Endion, MN turntable just north of Duluth here: http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/nemhc/id/4869/rec/2

You could also semi-permanently couple the ore cars if you want them closer–the DM&IR had permanently coupled four car sets.

Looking good so far!

#3

I know Robbie, but I like the 6-wheel trucks. :smiley:

I think the DMIR Vandy tenders were shorter too.

I will be adding more ore cars in sets of 4 (I think they called them “quads”). I plan on doing exactly as you suggest and “perma-coupling” them into 4-group sets. The ore docks were 96 cars long…Don’t think I have the room for that but I am shooting for 36.

I am not a “rivet counter” guy, I don’t ignore them, I just don’t count them. :smiley:

#4

Robbie Hanson said:

http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/nemhc/id/4869/rec/2

NEAT! I thought about re-numbering the Mike but if I ever want/need to sell it I can just put it back together with the UP tender…No harm, no foul!

#5

Mark V said:

Robbie Hanson said:

http://reflections.mndigital.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/nemhc/id/4869/rec/2

NEAT! I thought about re-numbering the Mike but if I ever want/need to sell it I can just put it back together with the UP tender…No harm, no foul!

In the past I’ve used double stick scotch tape with matte photo paper to make temporary numbers/lettering for locomotives. Perhaps you could do the same?

The DM&IR tenders actually -were- shorter–at the time of their acquisition, the DM&IR was only starting to upgrade from 2-8-0s and they had very close clearances. Not only were the tenders shorter, but their rear trucks were moved forwards on the tender in order to fit on shorter turntables. If you look closely or zoom in on the photograph I linked to, you’ll see that.

http://members.lsol.net/mollyandmick/D1323.htm

The DM&IR actually had more Mikados that they bought from the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern near Chicago; these had standard tenders. One of these has actually survived:

http://www.missabe.com/mikadogary.html

Though it’d require modification of the original locomotive, air tanks atop the boiler were a distinctive feature of the DM&IR’s ex Duluth and Iron Range (what you’re modeling) 2-8-2s; normally air tanks would be located beside the boiler under the running boards, but longer trains demanded a greater air supply. This was a fairly unusual feature; the only other steam locomotive I can think of at the moment that had them was the Frisco’s 1500 series 4-8-2s (example: 1522).

http://www.nmrabr.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=340

I’ll try to drop by my school library later today and snap a few pics of DM&IR Vanderbilt tenders from a book for you in case you feel like some future detailing.

#6

Also, what caboose are you planning on using?

For the steam era the DM&IR exclusively used wood cabooses with a steel frame, though there was a wide variation in length and cupola position, and some had side doors:

(http://www.railroad-line.com/uploads/danraitz/dmir_w61.jpg)

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/pictures\20858\DMIR%20C58-660815%20Ely,%20MN.jpg

http://www.nscaledivision.com/images/PBL%20Images/PBL%20DM&IR%20C-10%20Caboose.jpg

It’d probably be closest to take a Bachmann Tweetsie caboose, add archbar trucks, and add a fake steel frame under the sides–to me, the steel frame is an essential identifying mark of a DM&IR caboose. (Steel frames were necessary to add pusher locomotives behind the caboose, instead of in front of it. Wood framed cabeese crushed quite easily.)

Unfortunately the Bachmann caboose cupola has angled sides instead of vertical, but I can’t really think of an affordable large scale cupola that it could be replaced with.

Good luck!

#7

Thanks for the links Robbie…The caboose is a toughie. I don’t have any “spares” lying around for re-paint. I do agree the Bachmann would be a “close enough” fit. I guess I’ll just hang on without until the right one comes along.

#8

This is a set I did for fun some time back with a few “extra” Lionel pieces…

(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj222/Noble_Dreg/DMIR/81dec39d-b958-4397-80e7-c05f3b5ab965_zps1ae7af31.jpg)

(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj222/Noble_Dreg/DMIR/f8c8cfbc-8b9a-45be-a40a-37f0fbfeed45_zpsb56adce4.jpg)

#9

So I think a USA Trains caboose could actually be turned into a decent DMIR caboose. Raise the bolsters maybe 1/4", and add a fake steel frame…

(bad Photoshop posted below)

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1998236/dmircaboose.jpg

#10

I like the way the LGB mike looks with the vandy tender.

#11

Make your own caboose, the way you want to from scratch… It’s really not hard, Even I could do it.

(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/Caboose80132.jpg)

#12

I only “scratch” 1:20.3 Dave.

Kidding…Have thought about scratch’n some ‘small stuff’ but 1:20.3 NG kind of took over! :smiley:

Nice Caboose ya got there!

Robbie…The USA ‘minni-bash’ has some merit. Might have to put one of those on my ebay radar.

#13

For the caboose, what about using the cupola from an Aristo bobber?

As for the engine, I’d love to get my hands on the engine, the vandy & the original tender.

#14

The USA couplers are horrible…Who thought this seperation was acceptable? An easy fix!

(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj222/Noble_Dreg/DMIR/DSCF6616_zpsf5bbf4a3.jpg)

You need to trim off a “tab” on the end of the coupler and file down the ridges on the “tang”. Then drill asecond hole farther back…

(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj222/Noble_Dreg/DMIR/DSCF6610_zps1ed441d5.jpg)

I drilled the second hole so the “centering spring” fits flush to the back…

(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj222/Noble_Dreg/DMIR/DSCF6613_zps7af7b456.jpg)

The result!!!

(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj222/Noble_Dreg/DMIR/DSCF6615_zps45b3ff01.jpg)

I’d like closer but I’ll live with this for now…

#15

I wonder if the original coupler spacing was designed so a string of cars would go around a 4 foot diameter track? They do look better being tighter with your fix.

#16

Actually Todd, they still will navagate a 4’ curve. I honestly think it was the result of USA trying to fit their standard truck/coupler to the Lionel design. They did not have a stock coupler that would work well and did not want to tool a new one…Pure guess work on my part. I am just glad they made the cars and happy to pick up more. The trucks/wheels are well above the original Lionel ones. Nice metal wheels too!

#17

I’m glad to see you recreate one of the great trains engraved on your memory from so long ago. I get the attraction, that’s for sure.

One of my own earliest train memories is of Sunday afternoons spent with my dad, sitting on a grassy embankment watching one of CN’s big Northerns haul impossibly long drags of boxcars westward out of the city. All those boxcars were pretty much the same, 40-footers, CN, CN, CN, CN… and on and on for fifty, seventy, sometimes even a hundred cars. Not much variety there; not much, you’d think, to excite the imagination, but the memory persists, of noise, and smell, and vibration, as well as sight, and to this very day I can’t help myself, I still like the look of a long drag of near-identical cars. Go figure…

#18

MArk you might want to check out Piko’s ore cars, they are the old MDC molds and are if I recall fairly close to the Lionels. They are a heckova lot less expensive than the USA ones.

#19

http://www.piko-america.com/38820-NYC-Offset-Mineral-Red.html 48 dollars. I have a brace of the old MDC hoppers and I have seen these Piko units. They are identical in every way. The Ore cars are also the old MDC units. http://www.piko-america.com/37800DB-III-Ore-Car-OOt96-Brown.html

#20

I have had the old MDC cars, even in DM&IR colors…They are definitely 1:32. They look good but the Lionel/USA versions out-size them significantly. I like the LGB cars too, but they are getting harder to find, and they too would also require full re-paints.