I'm New Too! HAHA!!

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BIG44

New Member
Oct 13, 2006
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Iowa Park, TX
Hey there! I just got into model rail roading and I love it so far. HA! I went with N Scale because of the room I have but I love the long line of cars I can pull and not have them look like they're chasing eachother arounf the track:thumb:

Today I got in my second Kato BNSF AC4400CW and roadhouse 12 cars I got off of Ebay. The only problem with the cars is that they don't stay hooked together really well with all of my Kato cars and engines. So if you don't mind me asking a question here...

Do I need to get new trucks for my Roadhouse cars to allow them to hook to my Kato cars better?

I have all Kato Unitrack and for now it's set up on a 36"X80" blank door stock. I have the Kato power pack as well but I would like to get a DCC soon (along with a lot of other things). LOL!

I just moved to Iowa Park, TX with my wife and the BNSF trains run about 20+ times a day (seems like it) and I really like seeing them. I really love the white noise at night that they create. :eek:ops: HAHA!!!

So anyway, I just wanted to stick my head in and say hi before I called it a night. I hope to get to know some of you better and hope tp see you soon.

BIG44 "out"
 
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Biased turkey

Active Member
Apr 10, 2006
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Hi BIG44

Welcome to the Gauge.
You too are into building your "Empire railroad" on a hollow core door.
The classic layout on a door seems to be the Carolina Central ( do some search here )

Have fun
 
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BIG44

New Member
Oct 13, 2006
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Iowa Park, TX
Thanks for the welcome!:D

Yeah, I liked the idea of a hollow door but now I'm thinking of putting two together in an "L" shape to expand things a little. HAHA!! I bought the Kato Layout Templat set and I'll start working on what things should look like soon. I want a Weat Texas scape so I've got some ideas for rolling hills and such.

Right now, though, I'm trying to figure out how to replace my trucks on my Roadhouse freight cars that I just got. How in the heck do you remone then?wall1 I don't want to force them to come of in fear that I may break something.

Does anyone have any tips on this? And what type of truck is the best to replace them with?
 
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Triplex

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Aug 24, 2005
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The only problem with the cars is that they don't stay hooked together really well with all of my Kato cars and engines. So if you don't mind me asking a question here...

Do I need to get new trucks for my Roadhouse cars to allow them to hook to my Kato cars better?
Click to expand...
I'd try checking the coupler height on all the cars of both brands.
 
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BIG44

New Member
Oct 13, 2006
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Iowa Park, TX
Triplex said:
I'd try checking the coupler height on all the cars of both brands.
Click to expand...

They all lign up great but the Rooundhouse cars couplers have a lot of vertical play in them and I've noticed that they tend to work themselves apart as they travel.

I havent seen a way to adjust their hight though. they just kind of snapped in and were ready to roll. I don't kjnow what you would call this type of knuckle coupler other than it's an MDC Knuckle Coupler. Is this a good model coupler?

Right now I'm useing a pair of really small needle nose plires to sort of squeeze the couplers back together after they have ran about 10 or so laps. This seems to keep things from comming apart. LOL!
 
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Herc Driver

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Apr 18, 2005
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BIG44 - as a fellow hollow door layout guy, may I make a suggestion...

If you need to cut the door due to space or layout shape requirements, you'll need to add back wood to go across the door between the front/back faces of the door. A wooden yard stick fits into the hollow gap between the two faces perfectly. Cut to size and glue into position with carpenter's glue and the door regains the structural integrity it lost when you cut away either a side or the top/bottom of the door. Due to space requirements, I cut off the last 18" of the door's bottom which is where the door is built up with cardboard backing sandwiched between the two face pieces. Picked up a yard stick offered free at Lowe's, cut it and glue'd it in and just like that, the door is strong again.
 
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BIG44

New Member
Oct 13, 2006
18
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55
Iowa Park, TX
Herc Driver said:
BIG44 - as a fellow hollow door layout guy, may I make a suggestion...

If you need to cut the door due to space or layout shape requirements, you'll need to add back wood to go across the door between the front/back faces of the door. A wooden yard stick fits into the hollow gap between the two faces perfectly. Cut to size and glue into position with carpenter's glue and the door regains the structural integrity it lost when you cut away either a side or the top/bottom of the door. Due to space requirements, I cut off the last 18" of the door's bottom which is where the door is built up with cardboard backing sandwiched between the two face pieces. Picked up a yard stick offered free at Lowe's, cut it and glue'd it in and just like that, the door is strong again.
Click to expand...

That's a great idea, thanks:thumb: I'm still not really sure waht I want to do just yet though. My wife has allowed me the space of a 20'X20' room but my problem is that I have too many hobbies. LOL! As soon as I get the room the way that I want it I will figure out just how big I can actually make my layout. As for now I have the hollow door ontop of a small table with my trains running along.:D I have thought about using two hollow doors in the shape of an "L" to keep the layout in the corner to give me more room for my guitars and computer.

I'm sure that I'll be thinking this over for some time. HAHA!! I'll keep you updated!:thumb:
 
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umtrr-author

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The "mighty darn couplers" that MDC supplied with their cars a few years ago are... how shall I put this diplomatically... suboptimal. If that's what you're using, yes, that could very well be the problem. I've never heard or read a single good review of them.

It would be easiest to replace the trucks with Micro-Trains Roller Bearing or Barber Roller Bearing. You didn't say what kind of cars they are e.g. boxcars, hoppers so I can't be more specific but I'm guessing modern based on the AC4400CW pulling them. If you're more ambitious, it would be less expensive to body mount just Micro-Trains couplers, and even less expensive to buy unassembled Micro-Trains couplers and build and body mount them. It's a time vs. money tradeoff.
 
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BIG44

New Member
Oct 13, 2006
18
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1
55
Iowa Park, TX
umtrr-author said:
The "mighty darn couplers" that MDC supplied with their cars a few years ago are... how shall I put this diplomatically... suboptimal. If that's what you're using, yes, that could very well be the problem. I've never heard or read a single good review of them.

It would be easiest to replace the trucks with Micro-Trains Roller Bearing or Barber Roller Bearing. You didn't say what kind of cars they are e.g. boxcars, hoppers so I can't be more specific but I'm guessing modern based on the AC4400CW pulling them. If you're more ambitious, it would be less expensive to body mount just Micro-Trains couplers, and even less expensive to buy unassembled Micro-Trains couplers and build and body mount them. It's a time vs. money tradeoff.
Click to expand...

The cars that I have are 57' reefers. 12 of them in all along with the Kato double stacks but I only need to change the reefer trucks. What is the differance between the Short, Medium and Long shanks? Does it matter what I get?!?!

Here is a site that I was looking at to buy the trucks. I was told that the best for me would be the Barber® Roller Trucks [SIZE=-1]MTL-003 02 042[SIZE=-1]w/Medium Coupler Shank[/SIZE][/SIZE]
http://www.nscalesupply.com/MTL/MTL-NScaleTrucks.html

Does that look like a good truck? My smallest radius is 11".
 
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