Pennsylvania & Western RR - 9
Between them, Williams andWeaver Models had imported Sam-
hongsa-built L1s 2-8-2, K4s 4-6-2, E6s 4-4-2, B6sb 0-6-0, H10s 2-8-
0, G5 4-6-0, and T1 4-4-4-4 models. The 3rd Rail division of Sunset
Models had just released the I1s 2-10-0. All of these 3-rail locomo-
tives would run on 36" radius curves or smaller. I knew that 2-rail O
scale would require more like 60" radius minimum.
I wanted to design and build a layout for prototypical operation.The
choice of 3-rail was made for two main reasons:
1) As far as I knew, nobody had attempted such a layout in 3-rail.I
hate to follow the crowd (see my HO comment above) and I like to
be different. It was a challenge to see if it could be done.
2) I wanted to run big steam, and you can get a lot more railroad
in the space with 36" radius curves than you can with 60". As I was
designing, Sunset/3rd Rail released the J1a 2-10-4, which also was
designed for 36" curves, reinforcing my choice.
A third reason was the reliability of 3-rail trains. The flanges and
couplers may be larger than scale, but the trains stay on the track
and the couplers work well. I have reworked most of the couplers
so that they operate nearly as well as Kadees. Like most of the
hard-core operators I know, I will trade exact scale appearance for
reliable function every time. The best looking locomotive won't
be on the layout if it doesn't run right. Derailments on my railroad
are very rare. I’ve installed couplers on all of my locomotives that
can be opened remotely using the TMCC hand-held controller. My
freight yard is designed with the arrival/departure tracks a long
reach from the aisle, but reach is not a problem because arriving
trains can cut off the locomotive using these remote couplers.They
are also very handy for local switching.
My rolling stock is all scale and much of it comes from names famil-
iar to HOmodelers: Atlas, Intermountain, Walthers and Athearn.
Besides the mostly brass steam fleet, diesel locomotives are pre-
dominantly Atlas and MTH.
14
originally on heavy-duty dimmers). Now 6000 watts of incan-
descent bulbs generates a fair bit of heat. The basement height
(nine feet to the bottom of the floor joists) helped to give the
heat a place to go, but with the lights on during a four-hour
operating session (and 12 or so operators in the room), it did
tend to get uncomfortably warm.
A few years ago I changed from the 60-watt incandescent bulbs
to 9-watt compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). These are mar-
keted as replacements for 45-watt incandescent bulbs. I tested
and found that 13 watt CFLs (60-watt replacements) were too
bright compared to the old “fan bulbs.” Operating sessions are
much more pleasant with the new lights.
14: The B6sb yard switcher is on A/D 2 and is in the process
of pulling five cars off the head end of train EC-11.
MRH-Mar 2014
