But, but but, I don’t count rivets. I very seldom even use them.
David Maynard said:
But, but but, I don’t count rivets. I very seldom even use them.
Purchased a B&O Railway Post Office (R310401) made by USA Trains. BEAUTIFULLY detailed. VERY heavy and well made. I was hoping that it would blend seamlessly with my LGB B&O streamliner. Sadly, it does not which is a shame. It’s a gorgeous model but it conflicts too greatly in scale with the LGB streamliners. I figure I’ll keep it statically parked in my B&O yard by the passenger terminal.
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LGB vs. USAT
Jay,
The paint seems pretty close (in terms of stripe width). What if you added a few large fender washers around the bolsters to bring the USAT car up to LGB level?
This, very dramatically, shows the difference between 1:26 (LGB) and 1:29 (USAT).
Rockwall Canyon Jeff said:
Jay,
The paint seems pretty close (in terms of stripe width). What if you added a few large fender washers around the bolsters to bring the USAT car up to LGB level?
Can you explain further?
Jay Briscoe said:
Rockwall Canyon Jeff said:
Jay,
The paint seems pretty close (in terms of stripe width). What if you added a few large fender washers around the bolsters to bring the USAT car up to LGB level?
Can you explain further?
Jay,
He’s suggesting adding washers between the truck and the body of the car to raise the body.
Hi Jay,
I don’t own any of these USAT cars, so I don’t have any experience with actually doing this. However I did have two of their long covered hopper cars that I raised up a bit. (The underside details dragged on my old uneven track). For the hoppers, I merely removed the trucks by unscrewing the center bolster screws. With the truck off I added a washer about 3/4in OD around the bolster and replaced the truck. I may have replaced the screws with a longer screw to compensate for the added height. This would only work if the trucks are center bolster mounted. If they are end mounted like Aristo then they will need a more involved lifting pad.
The RPO’s have two axle trucks, so logic says they should have a center bolster. I know, I know, logic seldom applies, but still… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
USAT does not supply a pic of the B&O RPO, so here is the D&RGW one. They are all the same, pretty much.
And the OP’s B&O RPO
Yea, in the picture it looks like if the USA car were to ride higher it might match up close enough. Cars were different sizes.
Another thing that might help is to replace the original USAT wheels with a larger diameter wheel.
Piko has a new 35mm dia ball bearing wheel set available now. I’m not sure what the stock wheel size is on the RPO…but 35mm is about the same diameter as an Aristo Diesel wheel.
What was the prototype wheel diameter?
I thought they looked pretty big already!
Greg
Jay
Ok this is the size difference that we were trying to explain to you. However since you have the USA car now this is how I personally would approach it.
In my opinion with mixed passenger consists the “key” is not lining up roof height or worrying about the width it’s as simple as lining up the diaphragms.
As stated already the wheels on the USA trucks are pretty big already and you are not going to find a bigger replacement wheel for those trucks that I’m aware of. What I would do is simply swap the trucks from one of the LGB cars and slap them under the USA car and vise versa. That should give you more height on the USA car (pretty sure the LGB wheels are a tad bigger) and it will also lower the LGB car a tad lower. See where the diaphragms line up then and if acceptable , always keep those 2 cars together in your consist. The step down between 2 cars will not be nearly as noticeable as trying to raise/lower just one. If your not quite happy with the line up of the ends you can also make a taller diaphragm on the USA car. The USA PA diaphragms are the same height as the LGB(actually real close) however you may have a tough time finding them currently.
The washer up under the trucks will work but you are going to really raise the height of the car and you may not like that at all. This is why a lot of guys lowered the Aristo streamliners as the truck to body opening was not pleasing to the eye. I don’t know if they made a baggage car B&O paint scheme in the Aristo streamliner or smoothsides but they will work better with the LGB cars than the USA. Since you have the USA car now this is how I personally would go about it and see how it looks.
RPO’s would usually be put at the headend, allowing the Post Office to be segregated from the passengers. I’m thinking of adding a straight baggage car to my collection since I’m using the LGB stuff to model the Norfolk Southern executive train. I’m running an ABA with currently 8 cars, with a full length dome in development. That said, here is what I would do:
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Swap trucks between the the USA RPO and one of the LGB coaches. Based on your picture, I think this will even out the differences a bit.
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Get out the F unit you will have coupled to the train (will this be the cabbed “a” unit or a b unit?)
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Couple the RPO to the F unit, the modified LGB to the RPO and finally an unmodified LGB car to the modified one. This should tell you everything you need to know about how the train will look.
Just my two cents. This would cost absolutely nothing extra other than an hour of your time. It will also tell you if there is any hope in getting a setup that will work for you.
To get back to the original discussion (is that allowed?) I have many pictures of the GG-1s coming through New Brunswick, NJ. Very rarely did I get to see a matched set of cars and it annoyed me. As they came up what is now the Northeast Corridor, I would see mixed streamlined, heavyweights, baggage, and boxcars. Sometimes the baggage/REA cars were from foreign railroads (non-Pennsy). One of my favorites was a Seaboard baggage car with three doors on each side.
Of course, now I can’t find any pictures to show you, but I will keep looking.
I found it! Will miracles never cease?
