CARL NEIDLINGER MCKEEN CAR

This is a true gem and something you would only be able to find at York.  York October 2012's meet brought me this absolute gem, made by Carl Neidlinger.  Its a Standard Gauge McKeen car which has been made out of two Ives standard gauge passenger bodies.  I have no idea how Carl got this motor car's body so absolutely perfect, but here it is:

Lionel 33 Restoration

I picked up this Lionel 33 engine from Ebay for $55.  Its a cute little engine.  Someone must have gotten sick of the puke green color and went nuts with the spray paint.  Horrid paint job aside, the engine is straight as an arrow and shows no signs of rust.  Its a great little engine. 

Here are some pics of the engine as it came in the mail:

After stripping out all of the wires (the insulation on which was pretty dry and cracked and just came right off) I was able to run the positive wire through the bottom of the engine (it has no roller plate on its bottom) and this was the result:

STANDARD GAUGE ZEPHYR

This is an updated post with my revisions to the standard gauge zephyr.  As you may or may not recall, I purchased a gauge one zephyr body from my friend Bob Thon.  Bob is the owner of Roberts Lines and a few years back he manufactured a gauge one zephyr which is absolutely sublime.  The gauge one zephyr is made from Aluminum and is gorgeous.  And yes, Bob was nice enough to get me one of his gauge one zephyrs which is missing a middle car.  Anyways, I digress. . . .

So my initial post with the standard gauge zephyr was a little quirky since the body sat on the drive truck, which made the drive iffy at best and the nose was raised off the trakc, which also didn't look quite like the zephyr.

Here is the alterations I made.  I lowered the motor truck INTO the body.  This is the result:

I think that this is a HUGE upgrade from the previous Standard Gauge Zephyr.  The linkage between the two bodies needs a little work, but I'm proud of this creation and I think that this zephyr is the first and only one that I have seen in Standard Gauge. 

SGMA IN PITTSBURGH NOVEMBER 2011

Although these are older videos, and they should have been posted last November, but these are the pictures from the 2011 SGMA show in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. 

SGMA SHOW AT DRIVER'S VILLAGE

The Standard Gauge Module Association (SGMA) had another show at the Driver's Village located here in Syracuse New York.  If anyone is in the area, and loves trains, Driver's Village is a great stop.  There is a permanent display set up by the Large Scale Group (primarily running Gauge one trains) and we have a very good rapoire with the Large Scale guys.  They invite us routinely to set up and display our modular layout at shows they run and September 8, 2012 we obliged.

We ran a 12 foot by 20 foot rectangular layout for the five hours of the show.  The layout attracted several children, including my two boys.  It was nice to see my sons run trains for a half an hour without the assistance of any adult.  The boys were a good draw for other children. 

The pictures I have posted are of my sons and also Jim Cottzolla's fiance Renee, who was essential in the set up and running of the layout.  Its nice to include family in our crazy hobby and as these pictures show, it was a nice day of running trains. 

Max

LIONEL MILWAUKEE ROAD PASSENGER CARS

In the past, I have at times regretted buying the Lionel Milwaukee Road Standard gauge set issue in the 1990's, but was unsure of the reason why.  After pondering this issue for more time then I should have, I figured uot why.  The Engine and tender are absolutely gorgeous.  It was the passenger cars.  And not the fact that the passenger cars were streamlined and lacked a clerestory.  It was the putride grey that Lionel decided to paint the roofs of these cars.  I tried an experiment and painted my entire set's roofs black.  It makes a better set in my mind and solves any issues I had with the appearance of the set.  Take a look,

I hope you agree, the black roof makes this car look far more attractive.

Max

Super 381 in Action-Milwaukee Road

This engine is great!  After what seemed like years of waiting, the Super 381 finally hit the tracks on my basement layout.  Look at how nicely this engine runs.  The ngine had very little clearance and actually hit most, if not all, of my lock ons, so I had to grind them down to remove the clearance issue. 

I have posted a photo of the engine. . . . .

And also a video of the set in action . . . .

Rich Art Bi-Polar Gauge one conversion

This is my most recent project. . . . .

This engine originally started as a Gauge One Rich Art Bi Polar.  If you are not aware of these engines, they are really a beautiful piece, in their original form.  I have found, after years of searching for a Rich Art Bi Polar engine in good working condition, they are VERY hard to find.   Apparently they were made in Gauge one, but the versions I have witnessed in the past were in standard gauge.  This engine is very long and hinged in the middle.  In their purest form, these engines have two eight wheel drive trucks, one under each section of the main cab.  Its wheel configuration is 4-8-8-4.   

When this engine found its way to my home, it was in gauge one (which was really a non issue since the only wheels I have used from the original would be the lead and trailing trucks).  One way to convert the lead and trailing trucks was to super glue a wheel to the existing gauge one trucks, which expands the spacing between the wheels to convert them into standard gauge.  I have attached  picture of the truck wheels. . . . . .

I have also converted the drive train from gauge one, which runs on DC to standard gauge, which runs on AC with the use of two McCoy trolley motors, which have been placed in Roberts' lines 100 series trucks.  To add length to the drive trucks, I have attached two Roberts lines trucks, bot relying upon the middle axles, making these trucks a 6 wheels drive train.  I hope these photos further explain this conversion . . . .

Here is a clip of the engine running. . . . .

A real beauty.   

Dehanes Super Chief Sets

Here is a Dehanes "Tranportation Milestones" Super Chief F-3 engine, observation car and Vista Dome car.  I know that these are an acquired taste for a serious traditional standard gauge collector, but this set is a real gem and its nice to see someone who creates standard gauge engines other then those created by Lionel, Ives or American Flyer.  Kind of reminds me when Lionel ventured back into standard gauge engines back in the 1990's and they created the Hiawatha and the Commodore Vanderbilt.  If these engines had only been better received, it may have led to some pretty awesome standard gauge engines.  I don't know how anyone who is into standard gauge doesn't have BOTH the hiawatha and the commodore.  The six wheel drivers alone are worth the purchase prices.  Add in the detailing on the engines and the beautiful cars and it defies logic as to why any serious collector would not have these sets, especially since you can pick up these for $1700 to $1900 on ebay any day of the week. 

Maybe someone can explain to me the allure behind a Lionel 408 because I just don't get it. 

Standard Gauge Dreyfus Hudson

In case you have never seen this standard gauge beauty, it was created by John Kresse and I believe painted by John Harmon.  My understanding is that John Kresse created five (5) Norfolk an Western "J" engines, five (5) Dreyfus Hudson engines and four (4) GS-4 Southern Pacific Daylight engines.  These are truly beauties and a most see by any serious standard gauge collector. 

Updated F-3 Diesel in N&W color scheme

In an earlier post I posted pictures of an F-3 Diesel engine made by Bob Thon a while back.  When I bought it, it didn't run all that well.  I have lock-tited the set screws on the axles, which was the root of the problem and it now runs like a champ!  This is a made up color scheme since the only F-3 Diesel engines are a blue color scheme which does not match the custom made N&W Powhatan Arrow cars.

Enjoy.

Standard Gauge "J"

Just two great pics of the Standard Gauge "J". 

SGMA at Family Train Day (with the "other" Large Scale Train Guys)

The local Chapter of the SGMA, Inc. was involved in the Central New York Large Scale Railroaders' "Fmaily Day" on November 27, 2010 at Driver's Village in Cicero, New York (right outside north of Syracuse)

If you are ever in the area, check out the Large scale layout in the main concourse of the Driver's Village Main building.  It is really well constructed and so very interesting.  They run trains most Saturday mornings and the size of the gauge one stuff is proportionately very similar to the Standard Gauge Trains.  Worth the price of admission (which is nothing) 

If only those Gauge one trains were all made of heavy metal. . . . .you can't beat the detailing you can get with plastics.

TWO HOMEMADE MCKEEN CARS

These are a real treat.  Where else in the world would you ever be able to see the only two scale Standard Gauge McKeen cars made by Robert Thon and a friend of his in California, Sergio.  These two were on display at the Syracuse SGMA show.  My understanding is that the show only drew between 10 to 12,000 people, a smaller show.  You'll never know what you'll see when you see an SGMA layout. 

This is a funny story. . . . I saw Bob Thon's McKeen car during its construction at his house up here in upstate New York.  He told me that he was constructing two with a friend in California, who was building the roofs, the motor units and the front brushes. 

After Bob's McKeen had been completed, I saw that the one in California had been put up for sale on ebay.  Knowing the rare nature of this particular item, I contacted Bob's friend and asked if he would be willing to sell it to me "Buy it Now".  We couldn't agree upon a price and the listing ended prematurely.  Unfortunately, I thought that this other engine would never surface again, as happens with some items.

Prior to the Syracuse show, my friend Jim Kelly told everyone that he had a "surprise" to show us.  Little did we know that Jim was bringing the other McKeen car that he somehow lured away from all of us active bidders on ebay.  Congrats Jim.  You have a truly wonderful piece which should bring you years of service.

The Best SGMA picture. . . . . .

As an active member of the SGMA, I constructed these mountain modules several years back to add some vertical interest to our modular layout.  If you have ever seen these in person, they are painted somewhat like the mountains on the Carail layout.  They were painted by my father, a well known local artist.  They have a center slot but out of their bottoms for maintenance.

This year in Syracuse, my sons had their own table, but took some time out to play in the SGMA layout.  Let's just say that they enjoyed watching these trains from INSIDE the mountains, a view most children will never see. 

Far and away the best reason to be interested in trains. . . .the future.

p.s.  the smaller one is Alex (4), the medium one is Thomas (6) and the largest one is Charlie, a very good friend. 

Updated Zephyr pics

I have finally achieved a running Standard Gauge Zephyr. . . . .

I started in the summer and after a ton of different attempts, I was able to convert my gauge one Roberts' Lines Zephyr body to a running standard gauge engine.  Just an FYI. . . I DID NOT mess with a perfectly good Robert's Line Zephyr, this has always been a power car body and observation car body. 

I power this engine using a McCoy under the floor motor, with traction tires from a Williams "J" engine.  The power truck is a Roberts Line 100 series truck.  The middle and trailing truck are from a Lionel pre war standard gauge 35 car body.  I have yet to attach any detailing hiding the trucks, so its a little raw. 

I ran this engine for about an hour last night at 18.5 volts and it was extremely fast, but in true zephyr form it hugs my 84 inch loop.

Thanks for looking,

Max

p.s.  This engine can be seen at the SGMA's February show on February 26 and 27th, 2011 in Edison, New Jersey.

F-3 DIESEL

This engine is an F-something diesel created by Roberts Lines (Bob Thon) some years back.  I refer to it as an F-3 Diesel engine because I had an F-3 diesel engine as a kid in HO scale from my first train set, so this engine holds a place in my heart.

I just wanted to post this F-3 diesel engine so that anyone interested in some of the "non-Lionel" and "non MTH" engines can see what some of the smaller toy train manufacturers are producnig, or have produced in the past. 

I know that some standard gauge enthusiasts will reject this engine as being scale but I don't care. 

The second photo is a photo of the motor which drives this beast, which I think Bob must have pulled off of his son's dirtbike.  If I could only solve the engine's gear slipping, I could probably move my refrigerator with this engine.    

Standard Gauge Zephyr

This is my most recent experiment. . . . .

I took a Roberts Lines Gauge one Zephyr. . . .which was graciously given to me at an extremely discounted price from a good friend, Bob Thon.  I purchased a number 9 trolley, which was produced by MTH in 2004 or 2005, pulled both under the floor motors and mounted them in the trucks of the Zephyr. 

I am hoping to post some videos of the Zephyr running.

As far as I know, this may be the only operating standard Gauge Zephyr.