Large Scale Central

Visit to the Trdewinds & Atlantic RR

Conventions, Shows, Clubs and Get-Togethers
#1

We made our (sometimes) annual trek across Alligator Alley to Tradewinds Park, near Ft Lauderdale, where the 7 1/4" gauge Tradewinds & Atlantic RR has a track and a gauge-1 raised layout for guys like me who have smaller steamers. I took all the coaches, too.

The stars of the show were my Dreyfuss Hudson, (an AML prototype,) and the AML Pennsy K4:

Here’s the video of the action:

My wife, who is a great help on these trips, also took some HD video [I forgot to reset my camera so the above is only SD.] She also got a shot of John Spark’s diesel with the Phoenix sound card (plus large speaker and external amplifier!) And a shot of the Killdeer, a small local bird who has laid its eggs between the rails

(She also got a shot of me, the guy in the green t-shirt, which I cut into both videos. She is in one too.)

A great day of steaming. Everything worked!

#2

Morning Pete,

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Great video! I really have to get down to the Tradewinds and Atlantic RR. Its on the bucket list, but we get to the Ridge Live Steamers and just settle in. One thought, isn’t the track for the 1 1/2 scale 7.5 inches instead of 7.25? Not having been there, I have to rely on other people’s knowledge, but I thought all of the 1 1/2 scale Florida Live Steamers Railroads were 7.5"?

#3

And why, may I ask, are there 2 different gauges for that scale? Doesn’t that lead to “issues/challenges” (problems)?

#4

Yes, it can lead to “problems” but also opportunities.

You can have locomotives to run on 7.25" gauge when you visit the NE and

you can have locomotives to run on 7.5" gauge when you visit the rest of the US.

Twice the fun!

Just ask Ric.

#5

One thought, isn’t the track for the 1 1/2 scale 7.5 inches instead of 7.25?

Oops. Yes - 7 1/2" according to the website. (I thought the East Coast all used 7 1/4", not just the NE? Guess I don’t know much about BIG trains.)

#6

Supposedly, that is “this is the way I heard it”. The 7.25" between the rails came from “across the pond” and was followed in the Northeast. A letter (remember letters) was written amongst friends that lived on opposite coasts of the USA. It may have even been in cursive, imagine that, and the 7 1/4" was either mis-read or mis-written to be 7 1/2". This mushroomed as the hobby grew and most of the USA is 7.5", but the Northeast, England, Canada and other places outside the USA are 7.25". Sounds familiar with other scales, doesn’t it?

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I have a ride behind rail bus and riding car that has interchangeable trucks and then the drive wheels under the back of the bus are adjustable to the two widths. I have a friend with a large, heavy Long Island H-10, that has interchangeable wheel sets for the Number 1 and Number 4 drivers and then extra wide treads on wheels sets 2 and 3, that are both blind. He changes out the pilot wheels and the trucks on the tender and other rolling stock.

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We do this for fun, but sometimes that leads to a lot of work.

#7

This mushroomed as the hobby grew and most of the USA is 7.5", but the Northeast, England, Canada and other places outside the USA are 7.25". Sounds familiar with other scales, doesn’t it?

What about the guy who bought Tom Miller’s Big Boy and had it converted to match the New Zealand 7 1/4" gauge. That’s a lot of wheels to deal with!

https://youtu.be/S_w7_OxbOig

#8

The link below is a video showing the regauging of Tom Millars engine once it made it to NZ. A whole lot of work for 1/4 inch!

Big Boy back on track Pt 1

If you click on Jono’s (new owner) Youtube profile there are a couple more.

Ironically I can’t watch his “Big Boy Ships Downunder” video due to copyright restrictions - not available in NZ…

Cheers

Neil

Edited for tpyos

#9

Audio was really low, did he explain why he made all new tires? Were the others worn or was this the way to adjust the gauge?

Greg

#10

‘Audio was really low’ - Not to mention we talk funny… (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

As far as I know the new tyres were purely to fix the gauge problem. Around 10:30 in Pt 1 you can see the new tyres overhang on the inside by about 1/8". I’m guessing that’s half the gauge change each side.

cheers

Neil