Weekend Photos - June 2025

[healey36]

Well, here's the 261 with two different trailing trucks. You can see the wheels are not centered in the arches (top photo), maybe just 3/8" too far forward. I ordered a second version of the trailing truck, twisted it up a bit, and dropped it in (bottom photo). We now have plenty of clearance, so now able to operate on O-31 curves:



The box-style truck, readily available from a number of parts suppliers, could be bent around to fit. Trainz has it, but I wanted to find it elsewhere if possible (no real issue with Trainz other than some of their parts catalog photos leave a lot to be desired). Dr. Tinker listed them, but he recently retired and closed up the parts business. Hennings doesn't have them. Paul Misuriello over at Trainworx had them...worked like a champ. Thanks to Sarge for help figuring out how to disassemble, and for tapping the mounting hole (a mystery why needed).

[webenda]

Fun repairing things that are not what they seem?

Or cutting live wires fun...

A non-contact voltage tester gave a green light, so I cut.
It was pretty humorous. I did not flinch, but a friend helping me took off running.

[Norton]

Was that wire connected to the house mains?

Pete

[webenda]

No, the wire in the picture is not the wire that melted the wire cutters.

I took down a rotting above-ground pool deck. A Klein Tools Non-Contact Voltage Tester Pen was used to check if the wires for the pool pump and deck lights had voltage on them. I switched the unmarked breakers in the basement off until a friend announced the pen light turned from red to green. Then I cut the wires to the lights. One was still hot (had voltage on it.)

Lessons learned
1) Before cutting, check each wire again.
2) When you buy a house, make sure unmarked breakers have nothing attached to them.
3) If any unmarked breakers have wires attached, trace the circuit and mark the breakers.

[healey36]

LOL, I've had similar experiences here. Recently needed to replace the safety switch on the old KitchenAid washing machine. Turned off the breaker marked "Washer", then, without checking, started to take out the switch; had curly hair for a few days afterwards. The circuits/breaker boxes (I have two) have been redone a number of times by various electricians. Apparently the labelling is deficient. A bit of work to track down what's what, but a worthwhile task to get the boxes correctly labelled.

[Norton]

As an ex Navy Electricians Mate I still have my Wiggins (aka voltage tester). Never touch a wire unless you are sure its dead.



Pete

[ScaleCraft]

Simpson 260. USN, still in leather case with manual.
In the shop, a Triplett 630 as backup.

[Norton]

I have a 260 as well but not from the Navy.

Pete

[ScaleCraft]

Had 260's in ET school, and on the boat.
This one came from a good friend who had two from his Dad who was an EM on boats.
I checked with Simpson to see about calibration (we did that every six months on the boats), they wanted serial number.....seems mine is from the 50's and they won't work on it.
Good movements have parallax mirrors. Cheap ones do not!

Interesting aside on USN Snap-On tools.
Pilferable.
The part numbers are specific to military, even tho identical in appearance.
Scuttlebutt (rumors) that if you had these and tried to get them replaced after you got out, a visit from the FBI might be in your future.

[Norton]

I don’t recall Snap On. We had Husky tools. I know we had a 260 as the first ship I was on was primarily DC and we used them to check commutators. Had to rewind one once. We had AC too primarily for the electronics and so the captain could use his electric shaver. That ship was decommissioned right after we got back from WestPac.

Pete

[webenda]

Experiment: Posting a video on MTJ.

It worked.
I love that little DC-only engine.* In the video it is pulling seven full-size (1:48 scale) cars from various manufacturers at 6 volts DC, 0.6 Amps. The curves are 12 5/8 inches in radius.

Advantage of O27 track? You can make an O gauge layout on the same size table as an HO layout. This layout is on a 30-inch-wide door.

Fun with measurements:
C=2πr=2x3.14x12.625=79.285inches (circumference of O27 circle)
S=2x44 inches (length of straight track)
L=C+S=2x44+79.285=167.285 inches (length train travels)
T=17.25 seconds (lap time)
Speed of train = 167.285/17.25=9.698 ft/sec
1 foot/second = 0.682 mile/hour (mph)
Speed of train = 9.698x0.682=6.614mph
Not bad for a model train with a reputation for being a speed demon.

Note--At 4.5 volts the train takes 51.55 seconds (2.2 mph) to lap the layout, but sometimes it stalls going through the O27 turnout.

*Lionel MPC 8314 Southern Streak (found for $12.50 at Roundhouse Electric Trains in Louisville, KY.)

[healey36]

I have a circle of 42" diameter O-27 profile track that Lionel made 2-3 decades back...use it on the round-the-tree loop every year (at least the years we put a loop around the tree). You could probably "track" some of that down, Wayne, but then you'd need a bigger door.

Saw this while looking through photos on Flickr:



It’s not 3-rail and it’s not the weekend, but I thought it interesting for a number of reasons. That second GG1 looks like its just got a "rubber-stamped" PC logo, vestiges of its Pennsy striping still visible. So then what color are these things under all of that soot/grime? A shot from Zoo Junction, Philadelphia, date unknown, I suspect these bad-boys hadn't been through the wash-rack for quite some time.

Photo courtesy of Doug Kroll.

[webenda]

I have a circle of 42" diameter O-27 profile track that Lionel made 2-3 decades back...use it on the round-the-tree loop every year (at least the years we put a loop around the tree). You could probably "track" some of that down, Wayne, but then you'd need a bigger door.

So then what color are these things under all of that soot/grime? .

Seeing what will run on a 27-inch diameter track, whether stock or modified, is part of my interest in the hobby, but thank you for the hint.

I feel that 4858 was painted Brunswick Green, the same as when PRR owned it.
PRR: https://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showP ... id=5328678
PC: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/ ... p?2,930873

The "experts" and those who saw the real thing claim some were painted black.
"Well, from a lot of extensive research thru photos and documents, it can be said with 100% accuracy that the Penn Central used DARK GREEN a n d BLACK..."
Source: https://pcrrusa.tripod.com/predrrs_files/indexpcpaintschmpg.html#:~:text=Well%2C%20from%20a%20lot%20of%20extensive%20research,green%20%22Brunswick%20Green%22%2C%20and%20not%20(usually)%20%22DGLE%22.&text=Known%20PC%20Locomotives%20That%20Had%20The%20Red%20%22P%22%20Logo%20Type%20Applied%20Were:

My experience with people seeing Brunswick green:

People with normal color vision often swear that Brunswick green or DGLE is black. I do not see colors as vividly as most people, which may be an advantage because I easily see Brunswick green as dark green.

Bruel & Kjaer vibration instruments and amplifiers are painted Brunswick Green. Everyone I worked with said they were black. Whenever I heard them say they were black, I would say, "It is green!" They would try to correct me, but they were wrong.

What color do y'all see here?

[healey36]

My understanding is that the Pennsy's dark green (DGLE) was very nearly black anyway...certainly nothing like what we see applied by manufacturers on model trains.

[ScaleCraft]

I used to model Pennsy. The usual comment was "What shade of black is Brunswick Green?"