Refining the Coal Car Trucks

When I visited Gary Hinshaw after Christmas, we were commiserating about our 3D printing woes. I’ve been feeling that my printing has gone downhill since I got new resin last year, and hearing that Gary felt the same, I decided to look into it. Well, it turns out that printer calibration is a thing, and […]

Coal Car Test Truck

I refined the truck design a little over the holidays, and assembled a couple of test prints. The mechanical aspects are fairly good now, and as you can see it equalizes quite nicely. I just have to improve the supports a little so I don’t lose any more brake beams!

Coal Car Trucks

I’m taking a little break from Percy as I wait for some slightly larger, more powerful motors that I ordered earlier this week. I cast about for another project to pick up for a week or two and alighted on the coal cars. They’ve been waiting for a resolution to the weight problem, and they […]

Tender Truck Proof of Concept

The first print was too tight, and the second print was too loose. The third print was just right! So after playing with the action for a few days and showing it to my friends, I soldered some .010″ phosphor-bronze wire to some custom-made brass tube bearings, and assembled the truck. Honestly, it could roll […]

Are New Trucks the Answer?

The resolution of the mystery derailment at turnout 5 continues to elude me. I’ve spent hours watching that leading wheel of the tender truck kissing the rail and floating off at the critical point. The more I watched it, I became less and less convinced that it was ever in proper contact with the rail. […]

Treasure at the Winnipeg Railway Museum

The day after our trip on the Prairie Dog Central, I carved half an hour out of the family vacation to visit the Countess of Dufferin at the Winnipeg Railway Museum. This venerable old engine is the one that I could find that has a mud drum, and she was going to help me with […]