gary Armitstead
1st Class Member
Burbank, CA
Foreman
Posts:411
Send Message
 | | 02/18/2008 4:25 PM |
| Are RED bows common to the delivery of ALL Accucraft engines? I ordered a C19 about 6 weeks ago and the anticipation is overwhelming! | |
Gary Armitstead
Los Angeles Live Steamers
SA #4449 | |
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llynrice
1st Class Member
Cornwall, Vermont
Foreman
Posts:180
Send Message
| | 02/19/2008 4:11 PM |
| Hi Gary,
My K28 tender came wrapped in a red ribbon. When I was in Viet Nam, I learned that folks in southeast Asia always make a point of wrapping any gift or offering in red. I don't know the exact cultural reason; but, it seemed quite important. I suspect that the red ribbon around the tender relates to that tradition. If the C19 is anywhere nearly as nice as the K28, your wait will have been worthwhile!
Llyn | |
Llyn Rice
Cornwall, Vermont
Vermont Scenic Railway | |
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gary Armitstead
1st Class Member
Burbank, CA
Foreman
Posts:411
Send Message
| | 02/19/2008 5:21 PM |
| Hi Llyn
Yes the anticipation is something. During my combat tour in Vietnam in 1966-67, we received many "presents" from the locals, but they weren't wrapped in "red bows". Ha! Ha! But that's a story for another time. Welcome home brother! I have been told by Jonathan that I could probably see my engine sometime in March | |
Gary Armitstead
Los Angeles Live Steamers
SA #4449 | |
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Greg Elmassian
1st Class Member
Carlsbad (San Diego), CA
Engineer
Posts:1225
Send Message
| | 02/19/2008 5:31 PM |
| Another comment on the K4, JC, maybe you did not notice, but the wheels on the tender are dual ball bearing wheels, as far as I can tell. They rotate independently of the axle.
I finished the lighting wiring today, since they are LEDs you have to be careful of the polarity. The color coding of the wiring is also backwards, the backup light has a red and black wire, the red is ground and the black is positive. The markers are green and black, and again, green is ground, and black is positive. Anyway, if you rewire your loco, 3 ma for each led, and 6 ma for the markers and classification lights (since it's two LEDs in parallel).
It's breaking in on my layout, after oiling everything.
Regards, Greg | |
Be sure to visit my site, lots of technical tips and modifications, and you can search for topics and key words.
Click here for Greg's web site | |
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CapeCodSteam
1st Class Member
South Dennis, MA
Foreman
Posts:170
Send Message
| | 02/20/2008 9:26 AM |
| | I had read somewhere the red ribbons signify joy/luck. And let me tell you, when I was opening up my Accucraft Big Boy, I was feeling a WHOLE BUNCH OF JOY!! Especially since I was waiting over two years for it. Maybe some year I can even find a track power layout with large enough curves to actually run it sometime. | |
Kent SA# 4468
LNER Mallard | |
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markoles
1st Class Member
Lancaster, PA
Conductor
Posts:810
Send Message
| | 02/20/2008 11:45 AM |
| Nick, That's interesting about K4's on the NYC! I was looking at steamlocomotive.com and there is a roster of their pacifics listed. They had their own K3's and K5s but no K-4 was listed. I thought "well that makes sense, seeing as how the PRR was their main competetion and their flagship locomotive was called a K4." Were the NYC's K-4s letter for the Central or were they left as PRR? (In a way, it sort of seems like Chevy putting a Mustang engine in their Corvette. Know what I mean? Not disputing your book, just commenting that its interesting. ) Maybe you could scan the picture and post or emai it. I'd be interested to see it. Mark | |
Mark Oles
Millersvillanova Railroad, Lancaster, PA | |
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pimanjc
1st Class Member
Jim Carter - Wichita, KS
Foreman
Posts:450
Send Message
| | 03/03/2008 6:35 PM |
| Greg E. alerted me to a problem in the K-4 pilot truck which can contribute to derails. He has this fix documented at his website found at
www.elmassian.com/index.php under the "Misc. info/tips" link.
The shoulder bolt that holds the pilot truck has a sharp lower edge on the head, which can gouge into the sliding surface, causing a bind and subsequent derail. The fix, is to
1. remove the truck,
2. use the bolt head to remove all paint from the sliding area,
3. remove the sharp edge by sanding/filing the backside of the bolt head while chucked in a drill,
4. Lube area with moly or graphite grease,
5. reassemble with washer and spring.
Greg also suggests placing three #4 washers around the threaded portion of the shoulder bolt to increase possible downward travel.
While performing the above, I discovered another issue with the shoulder bolt that required correction.
The edges of the slider slot had burrs on them, causing the bolt to bind in the middle and at the extremes of movement. I filed down the slot as shown in the pictures.
Now the pilot moves much smoother throughout its travel, without binding.
Re-assembled Pilot truck.
This last pic is for those interested in seeing the underside of the K-4. The track pickup wires are easily seen.
Jim C. | |
"Never promise more than you can give. Always give more than you promise." ~JC
"You don't stop laughing because you grow old, You grow old because you stop laughing." ~AU
Charter Member of the Roundhouse Irregulars | |
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Greg Elmassian
1st Class Member
Carlsbad (San Diego), CA
Engineer
Posts:1225
Send Message
| | 03/03/2008 8:20 PM |
| More to come, one more mod, washers between the wheel and the bushings to keep the bushings in place... will have to get some close up shot of the "equalizing" mechanism, but excessive side to side play in the axles makes the mechanism do funny stuff...
Regards, Greg | |
Be sure to visit my site, lots of technical tips and modifications, and you can search for topics and key words.
Click here for Greg's web site | |
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nick s.
1st Class Member
Upstate NY
Conductor
Posts:647
Send Message
| | 03/05/2008 7:39 PM |
| Greg, Jim.
nice write up on the k-4's you guys found some eatra stuff that i didn't know on this loco and i will incorparate your suggestions into my k-4's, nice write up guys, heres a tip on the pilot truck take some nylon washers and cut a small pie shape out of them and insert on all 4 axles between the wheels and the pilot, it will not only keep the bushings in place but because some of the axles are longer than others without the washers the wheels tend to hit the brake pads and short out
learned how to cut the washers from Ray M. he used some of them on my mikado.
Nick. |
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pimanjc
1st Class Member
Jim Carter - Wichita, KS
Foreman
Posts:450
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| |
Greg Elmassian
1st Class Member
Carlsbad (San Diego), CA
Engineer
Posts:1225
Send Message
| | 03/07/2008 7:54 PM |
| Nick, take that screw out, and clean away all the gunk! Then do the mod to deburr the sharp underside edge... you can tell it was sharp, it cut away all the paint! Grease the heck out of it with moly grease, it will work more smoothly.
Regards, Greg | |
Be sure to visit my site, lots of technical tips and modifications, and you can search for topics and key words.
Click here for Greg's web site | |
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MarkLewis
1st Class Member
Mustang, OK
Foreman
Posts:194
Send Message
| | 03/08/2008 1:08 PM |
| Ok, I finally finished drooling. It's a beautiful loco.
Mark
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Mark Lewis
Mustang, OK
email: oktrains@oktrains.com
Don't anthropomorphize your trains. They hate that. | |
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Ltotis
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:69
Send Message
| | 03/08/2008 7:42 PM |
| Well I tknow a few of you will faint when you read this but I ordered a Postwar version last night. I was half asleep when I placed the order. Well this morning I got a call from Matt at St. Aubin's asking me if I really wanted 4 of them. I had mistaken placed 4 1 unit orders last nite when I got a bit confused oredering the unit. This was my fault. I should have gone to sleep and ordered it in the morning. Great, Great customer service from St. Aubin's.
LAO | | | |
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Greg Elmassian
1st Class Member
Carlsbad (San Diego), CA
Engineer
Posts:1225
Send Message
| | 03/09/2008 10:18 AM |
| Larry, you were just too excited!
Well, are you going to run battery or track power, or DCC or R/C?
Regards, Greg | |
Be sure to visit my site, lots of technical tips and modifications, and you can search for topics and key words.
Click here for Greg's web site | |
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Greg Elmassian
1st Class Member
Carlsbad (San Diego), CA
Engineer
Posts:1225
Send Message
| | 03/09/2008 3:13 PM |
| Note: I just updated my K4 mods page: CLICK HERE on my web site.
I added the washers, and worked on the equalizing mechanism. It really works well now, and derailments from less that perfect vertical grades seems to have been eliminated.
Regards, Greg | |
Be sure to visit my site, lots of technical tips and modifications, and you can search for topics and key words.
Click here for Greg's web site | |
|
MarkLewis
1st Class Member
Mustang, OK
Foreman
Posts:194
Send Message
| | 03/09/2008 4:47 PM |
| Sheesh! That sounds like soemthing I would have done! I spend a lot of time on the phone correcting orders I have placed with different vendors. There's something about filling out forms that sends me over the edge.
Mark | |
Mark Lewis
Mustang, OK
email: oktrains@oktrains.com
Don't anthropomorphize your trains. They hate that. | |
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pimanjc
1st Class Member
Jim Carter - Wichita, KS
Foreman
Posts:450
Send Message
| | 03/09/2008 9:43 PM |
| Congratulations on your new K-4 order, Larry. The K-4 ran continuously on track power for about 3.5 hours. We had a great day ourdoors with the grandkids playing in the yard while the train was running.
Out of curriosity, I checked the weight of the loco and tender.
Loco: 18.6lbs.
Tender: 5.4lbs.
Total: 24.0lbs.
Several pictures were taken, but sadly weren't good enough to post.
JimC. | |
"Never promise more than you can give. Always give more than you promise." ~JC
"You don't stop laughing because you grow old, You grow old because you stop laughing." ~AU
Charter Member of the Roundhouse Irregulars | |
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charlietusa
Passenger
Posts:1
Send Message
| | 03/23/2008 3:55 PM |
| To All.
Can you tell me where to find the best price for the Pre-war K4? I have the Post-war. Thought I read on here somewhere that someone purchased them in the $600's?
Thanks,
Charlie | | | |
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Ltotis
1st Class Member
Brakeman
Posts:69
Send Message
| | 03/23/2008 4:44 PM |
| Well I finally took my K4 out of it's shipping container. Wow! I am just shocked had how nice it is. I need to figure out how to get it safely to the ECLSTS. If I sell a few items in the next few weeks I should be able to get a Pennsy E8 and maybe a GG-1. It will give me Pennsy power from 4 different manufacturers.
LAO | | | |
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pimanjc
1st Class Member
Jim Carter - Wichita, KS
Foreman
Posts:450
Send Message
| | 03/23/2008 7:44 PM |
| Congratulations, Larry.
I continue to be surprised at how well the K-4 runs on less than clean track conditions. Today being Easter, I tried to run the Eggliner Express.
Without cleaning the track, the Eggliner jerked, stalled and required a transformer setting of 85.
Later, I brought out the K-4 to show to visiting relatives. Without cleaning the track, still, the K-4 ran flawlessly at a setting of only 70.
I am pleased.
Maybe next week I will start issolating the track pickups, smoke, and chuff wiring.
JimC. | |
"Never promise more than you can give. Always give more than you promise." ~JC
"You don't stop laughing because you grow old, You grow old because you stop laughing." ~AU
Charter Member of the Roundhouse Irregulars | |
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