Walther's Trainline FA Issues

Greetings Blog Followers, today is 12-12-12.

For the 2012 Holiday season increased passenger and freight movement has left my New York Central trains short on motive power. Fortunately neighboring railroads have been able to lease us some power by the hour. The Lehigh Valley sent over an Alco FA-FB-FA  lash up. Road crews reported problems with the units right out of the gate as the B unit was making a grinding sound and one A unit had structural damage. While the above is a 1/87th scale story the facts on the locomotives are quite true. Follow along as I once again tackle the issues of another set of Walther's Trainline FA/FB units.

Lehigh Valley Alco FA-FB-FA units made by Walther's as part of their Trainline offerings

Note rear of A unit where shell has split

The A unit on right is from the first release that came with horn hook couplers. This unit has had no issues since the 1990s when I first received it.

 This A unit is from a later release with scale knuckle couplers. The frames grew quite a bit from one release to another.

The B unit had a grinding noise that was an easy fix. The motor twisted just a bit under power and caused the universal to hit the frame. Some small strips of foam added to the sides of the motor corrected this.

 Here is the B unit frame. This frame had received a trip to the grinder last year to have the frame size reduced enough so that the shell would no longer split.

This frame was so large that the original coupler mounting holes were ground away during the shortening process. A Kadee coupler box has been installed.

The A unit frame that is in need of size reduction

The front of the A unit frame

Here is the frame completely stripped of motor, wheels, trucks etc

A view inside the frame

Bottom view. Note the coupler mounting pads on each end and the screw holes for each. The frame on the above B unit was so much bigger than the shell that the frame needed to ground down past the screw holes for the shell to fit without splitting.

 The working parts of the A unit. Note that I marked the motor and circuit board circuit board for easy reassembly.

Frame gets ready to meet grinder. Safety equipment such as eye protection is strongly recommended for this step and metal shavings will be flying off the frame. 

The newly ground frame. Fortunately the frame did not need as much material removed as the above B unit frame.

Front view of the newly ground A unit frame

Here are the units reassembled and back in service. The newly repaired A unit is in the lead. Note the Lehigh Valley boxcar to the right, talk about product placement ;)

The Lehigh Valley FA-FB FA units once again in revenue service

Here is the newly repaired A unit. The shell corners were glued and all seems to working well.

The B unit is now as quiet as a mouse after the foam was added to the motor sides.

LV 538 on point of a 50 car coal train. Doing what he is meant to do. 

 

   In review the Walther's Trainline units are now back in service and running smoothly. The later release units did require some work to repair the manufacturer defects that may be beyond the skill level of some modelers. Walther's continues to offer these units for sale and they are reasonably priced power for DC layouts. A bit sparse on the details but the are heavy and mostly run well. A good way to avoid the models with the frame problems is to closely look at the models. If the rear door is bulging outward than this is a unit with a frame problem.
 If you are tackling the frame problems yourself with a bench grinder as I did be aware that the metal used for the frame can easily break apart so go slowly and steadily. I know this because I broke the first one I tried to fix a few years back.

Leased Power

Greetings Blog Followers,
Due to overwhelming freight and passenger demands the New York Central fleet has been stretched thin. A recent coal train needed leased power from my son and my lovely wife who so graciously allowed her lone locomotive to assist in getting this train to it's destination....

The Grinch himself leads an A-A-B-A lash up of leased power on the NYC layout

The coal train crossing the Empire City station tracks on the high line. An A-A-A lash up of recently painted PC and PRR units look on.  

The Grinch loco is a Bachmann unit that is quite heavy, has eight wheel drive and a good runner and puller. 

The Grinch himself rides to the rescue

With the strength of 10 Grinches, Plus 2

 Whoville sure looks different today!!

 The Grinch has certainly earned his place at the Christmas feast where he himself will carve the roast beast. 

New Building for Industrial Area

Greetings Blog Followers,
The last few weeks have been spent working on a new building for my industrial area. The building is built with Design Preservation Models (D.P.M.) modular walls. The building is specifically for this and features a rail siding and truck loading / unloading dock. The building is not yet named but I hope to remedy that shortly. Here are a few pictures of the newest layout addition.....

    

Lightning Stripes Return

Greetings Blog Followers,

First today is Thursday November 22, 2012 and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

Now back to the trains... Despite the recent trend moving the layout, rolling stock and locomotives toward the late 1960s, which is indicative in prior posts by the paint schemes and appearance of the Penn Central, I want everyone to know that the New York Central Lightning Stripes are alive and well. Right now they are out in force and the somber all black locomotives are being given a much needed rest. Here's a small sample of some current locomotives on the layout.

 New York Central FT-A & FT-B part of an A-B-B-A Lash Up

NYC FT A-B-B-A Lash Up leaving Empire City Station

New York Central Alco FA-FB-FA Lash Up

NYC FA-FB-FAs on the point of a freight train on  upper level

New York Central F7A & F7A combine power on an upper level freight train

A Rail Fan favorite, an Alco PA-PB-PA consist makes it way to Terminal Yard

NYC PA-PB-PAs run light heading to Terminal Yard 

New York Central Alco RS2s also running light towards Terminal Yard

NYC RS2s running light (engines only)

  

Newly Painted Locomotives

Greetings Blog Followers,

Here are the newly painted locomotives fresh from the shop...
 

Penn Central #1908 joins PC# 1802 on the roster. Both units are Bachmann train set locomotives with non powered pancake motors. They are draw bar equipped for close coupling. 

Side shot of PC 1908 and 1802. Note draw bar connecting locomotives. 

PRR # 1602 in a simplified scheme from the late 60's. This scheme was used on FP7s during that era. This locomotive is a Bachmann train set locomotive that was painted in a bright yellow U.P. livery.

PRR #1602 attached to an Athearn F7A in the famous PRR Tuscan paint scheme.

NYC E8A #4020 is a Proto 2000 model and formerly painted in F.E.C. red and yellow.

NYC #4020

NYC #4020 with PRR #1602 

NYC # 4020

A four unit lash up, NYC Lightning Striped F7s with PC F7s, lead a feight train on the upper level. The first six cars are also recent repaints. Three Baldwin diesels are also in the scene with two S-12s on the lower level and an S-12 in the background on the upper level.

Newly Painted 50' Boxcars

Greetings Blog Followers,
Just finished stripping and repainting five 50' Boxcars. The cars were originally two Milwaukee Road, one Olympia Beer (reefer)and two Union Pacific. All cars received a new coat of jade green paint and three are lettered for the New York Central and two for the Penn Central using Microscale Decals.

Before photo of a train set quality Bachmann 50' Boxcar

Before photo of a Bachmann 50' Boxcar with a bit more detail

Newly Painted PC  50' Mechanical Refrigerator Car# 167538, a Model Power car, formerly Olympia Beer 

Newly Painted PC 50' Boxcar #167999, a Bachmann car, formerly Milwaukee Road

Newly Painted NYC 50' Boxcar #159895, a Bachmann car, formerly Milwaukee Road

Newly Painted NYC 50' Boxcar# 162440, a Bachmann Car, formerly Union Pacific

Newly Painted NYC 50' Insulated Boxcar # 36830, a Bachmann Car, formerly Union Pacific

Florida East Coast E9A #1031

Greetings Blog Followers,
Attended a recent train show and brought home Proto 2000 Florida East Coast E9A #1031. Unit has been tested on layout and runs excellent. Engine will be heading to the paint shop to become either a New York Central E8A in the cigar band scheme or a Penn Central E8A in the PC black scheme. A little history on the FEC E9A #1031. The unit was built for FEC and is pictured below in it's delivery paint scheme. The FEC ceased passenger operations in 1963 but was required by the state to run a single daily local passenger train between Miami and Jacksonville that was usually just two cars. The 1031 handled that assignment until about 1967. During this time frame it wore a very simple blue livery. Here are some photos of the latest addition to the motive pool.

FEC E9A #1031

A look at the improved backdrop.