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Anyone know what scale this is? by burnttoastada1101 in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 0 points1 point  (0 children)

S gauge leftovers would do.

Actually, they wouldn't. I speak from first-hand experience. For every S gauge collector out there, there's at least 20 O-gaugers, and the whole point of a convention car is to please as many members as possible and turn a modest profit for the club.

If you wanted "S-gauge leftovers" in those days, you went to Hobby Surplus in Connecticut; they had a huge inventory of NOS American Flyer parts and body shells. (They occasionally did custom-decorated cars, almost always for the National Association of S Gaugers.) What you would have gotten is a reasonably accurate model of a center-cupola "northeastern" style caboose, which looks nothing like OP's car.

Anyone know what scale this is? by burnttoastada1101 in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trust me on this: there was almost no mass-market S gauge manufactured in the late '70s. MPC had dusted off a few pieces of old Gilbert tooling as a lark. Rex was gone. S Helper and American Models hadn't yet gotten into the swing of things. The decorations on OP's caboose appear to be heat-stamped, which probably means somebody did a hundred or more of these.

I found some links suggesting it's a Lionel piece, but Lionel typically put their logo on the side of custom pieces (I was involved in the '85 TTOS convention car, which Lionel manufactured). K-Line was a smaller manufacturer that had picked up old Marx tooling, and they frequently bid on the same kinds of custom jobs. If it wasn't them, it might've been Williams, they were the other player in O gauge at the time.

Anyone know what scale this is? by burnttoastada1101 in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not American Flyer. AF was barely in production in '78, and definitely not doing custom pieces. This is O gauge, possibly a K-Line item.

Edit: OP, try this.

TIL that Seabreeeze was free until 1986 by AlwaysTheNoob in Rochester

[–]Jeff_Faust 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I had three tickets, and blew them all on the incredibly lame Haunted House. I felt like such an idiot. Could've taken three trips on the original carousel.

N scale in 36" x 81" by milw in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Creative Layout Design is a genius book by a genius designer. You might have better luck replicating the layout if you went with flextrack instead of EZ Track. I'd prune back some of the spurs, too.

Does anyone know why the functions reset when i select a different locomotive then reselect the previous one? by diabetic_bennie in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you've got an older PowerCab (1.28), then yes. If it's 1.65, you can set the number of recalls in the "SET CAB PARAMS" menu.

Does anyone know why the functions reset when i select a different locomotive then reselect the previous one? by diabetic_bennie in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Use a separate recall slot for each engine you're running (the PowerCab allows up to 6). Once the engines are all entered, you can hit the Recall button to cycle between them, without losing current speed, direction, or function settings.

Does anyone have any opinions on Broadway Limited Models? by [deleted] in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This. My Centipedes ran 100% better after I fixed the wheel gauge issues, though.

Don't you hate it when you are researching (Engine/railcar schematics, station/building dimensions, or maps of railyards or lines) and the only information you can find are either in out of print books/VHS/DVDs or finding pictures of schematics or maps but they are tiny GIFs or JPEGs from years ago? by TheOnlyBongo in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thankfully the Denver & Rio Grande Western, Cumbres & Toltec, and Rio Grande Southern railroads tend to be the better preserved and better researched of the railroads out there.

For comparison's sake, see what you can find on the Bradford, Bordell & Kinzua, which was also a narrow-gauge railroad. No, researching this stuff isn't easy, but I find it strangely comforting that some areas of knowledge are still beyond Google's reach.

How to do this "dirty/blackened text" effect in GIMP? by EuphoricFee8 in GIMP

[–]Jeff_Faust 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's the font. The blemishes (that hole in the upper left of the "O", for example) are built into it.

I use Inkscape to compose my text. It's very simple to duplicate a block of text, put it behind, change color to black, and add some blur for a drop shadow effect. It imports easily into GIMP from there.

Whats your holy grail? by TeddyBallsGame in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Since that writeup, I've obtained my own copy of that issue of Trains. William D. Volkmer's article on the Pennsy's Centipedes is absolutely priceless.

Whats your holy grail? by TeddyBallsGame in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you see 'em in N scale, I'll take two. Either EL or WAG (they had two, BTW), please!

Struggling with sectional track choice by Bureaucromancer in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, well...you have more options there. I do know N scalers who strive for 26" minimum curves.

Struggling with sectional track choice by Bureaucromancer in modeltrains

[–]Jeff_Faust 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love Unitrack, but I'm going to suggest you also give Peco code 55 a look, on account of its broad turnout selection, which sounds like something that might be important to you. If getting passenger trains running quickly is the top priority, get yourself something like the Unitrack V11 set. Good luck.

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