Rebuilding C 648

I own two Pan Handle Rusty Route cabooses and one is in far better shape than the other.  I'm starting with the most distressed and in need of repair, number 648.  Built from a Silver Streak kit with full interior and lighting, the car is a fine example of what could be done by a skilled modeler in the 1960s to create a car with detail and charm.  Sadly it has seen better days, but happily the repairs needed are straightforward.

While I'd like to light this car again in order to showcase the interior work, that's not a project I want to tackle at the moment.  My goal for now is to rebuild the car to running condition, mechanically sound first, address a "weighty" issue, and get it back on the rails behind #225 within the next month.  I'll leave the roof removable for now in order to add lights eventually.

The chief mechanical defect is a frozen coupler.  I had originally planned to replace it with a nearly identical one from my parts bin but decided I had nothing to lose by trying to unstick this one.  So, I thwacked the knuckle ever so gently with a tiny hammer and it moved.  A few more taps and I could move it, stiffly, with my thumb.  I applied graphite with a mechanical pencil followed by a drop of alcohol to draw the lubricant into the joint.  That did the trick.  After scrubbing away the remaining corrosion and working the knuckle a bit more, the coupler is now functioning and ready to be reinstalled on the body.

Next I turned my attention to the supplemental weights John had added into the body.  I'm guessing the car didn't track well or perhaps didn't make reliable contact with the rails to keep the light from flickering.  Either way, he felt a bit more weight was necessary, as these lumps of lead appear to be later additions to what was a neatly laid out interior arrangement.  I decided I could keep those weights in the car by modifying the details in such a way as to hide the weight in plain sight.  

I began by milling out the cabinets under the cupola seats to accept the two largest weights.  I used a small Forstner type bit and a straight cutting bit in my Dremel tool to remove the material.  Next I cut the remaining weights into smaller bits that would replace parts of the seat and table bases, taking care to keep the weight balanced on each side of the car, as best I could.  Finally I resorted to slipping one chunk of weight between the underbody tool box and center sill.  Once painted this will be invisible from a normal viewing angle.

This is a good stopping place for this post so I'll continue the caboose repair report in the next.  Thanks for reading!

Gaining Weight

Work on the IHC Mehano 2-6-0 cylinder issue has opened up a new possibility, pun intended.  While searching for reference photos of other locos with the same issue (and perhaps someone who has solved it), I came across a model that someone had customized, including little bits of weight crammed in all sorts of places.  I had already concealed some on this engine by filling out the air tank detail as seen in this image from a couple years ago:

John Allen once said he'd rather have a lighter but well balanced locomotive with the weight over the drivers than a heavy engine with the weight at one end.  This engine has a whacking great slug in the boiler down near the front and originally had more weight in the cab and behind the motor, both of which I've had to reduce in order to accommodate wiring and a crew in the cab.  So any weight I can return to the locomotive, especially toward the rear, is important for good tractive effort.

Here's the latest addition:

Doesn't look like much, but it's lead and it's down low where it counts. (It is the little gray bits on the foam next to the engine, and will go into the frame near the axles.)  I may try to squeeze in a bit more under the cab while I've got this gal in the shop.  By the way, the cylinders are now level, at least as level as they're going to be.  The critical point was where the steam pipes from the cylinders met the side flange on the smokebox - it has never lined up and for some reason I guess I just figured it would correct itself over time, or maybe I was ignoring the problem.  I couldn't any longer.  This seems to be a design flaw on some of these 2-6-0s, but not others.  The frame is also slightly warped at the pilot deck which causes that coupler to sit low.  However, I'm not going to try and correct that, only make sure that the coupler is set at the correct height.

Also, without much fanfare, this is my 100th post on the blog.  Hopefully it won't take me so long to make the next 100.  Thank you to all the readers and commenters. 

Surpise Inside

You never know what you're going to find when you purchase used rolling stock.  I bought this car for parts.  

Last night I was giving it a closer inspection when I noticed a distinct thunk coming from inside.  Old dried glue popped loose easily to reveal the source of the sound:

For my Comet cars I've used old tire weights for the additional weight and have tried Loctite "STIK'N SEAL" Indoor Adhesive.  It is "Solvent free, Non-toxic, Low odor, Water clean-up" and transparent, though that last one matters not for my purposes.  It is the sort of adhesive you apply to both parts, allow to go tacky, then press together.  It fully cures in 24 hours.  I wasn't sure it would stick when I first applied it as it comes out of the tube a little runny.  But boy howdy it sticks and has given me confidence to close up these cars.  Hopefully I won't be hearing thunks from within someday in the future - I seriously doubt it.

As for this Oscar Meyer car, I won't be reusing the sides as they are and the rest of the car will be re-kitted.  I was really after the fishbelly center sill as they can be pricey and this was a good deal.  The weight will be reused, held down firmly with a better adhesive.  But that's a project for another day.