Page 6 - March April 1999

M. G. SHARP MODELS
712 Attercliffe Road Sheffield S9 3RP
Tel: 0114 244 0851 / 244 7120 Fax: 0114 244 0434
EMAIL: MGSharp@aol.com
What a start to 1999 - at last we have heard from KATO about the HO scale SD40-2. It will be the early production model, we assume this means with the chicken wire grilles. It will come in May/June, price around £87.95. It will be DCC ready, directional lights, cab interior, 5 pole motor with flywheels etc., in the following paint schemes...
Non Dynamic Brake Version
Canadian National, 2 #’s SOO Line, 2 #’s
Union Pacific, 2 #’s Missouri Pacific, 1 #
CN North American
Red & White
Yellow & Grey - large number UP Yellow & Grey
Dynamic Brake Version
Burlington Northern, 2 #’s C&NW, 2 #’s
CSX, 2 #’s
Milwaukee Road, 2 #’s Norfolk Southern, 2 #’s Union Pacific, 2 #’s
EMD Leasing, 1 #
As normal we ghave been told what quantities we are having and some of the locos are already near to being sold out. There is an Undec. version but we don’t know if we will be able to get any. Phone for the current situation on all versions. A £45.00 deposit is required to confirm your order.
COMMAND 2000 DCC System
Control up to 9 trains (not just locos) on one track. Up to 5 throttles active at one time. Easy & quick start programming. Programmable start voltage, acceleration and deceleration rates. 28 speed steps. Meets NMRA specs. Will work N, HO & G scales. Requires 14-20 volt AC or DC input.
All this for only £99.95 Walkaround 2000
A must for the above, the walkaround has the 2 additional throttles so you can operate 5 throttles at one time using the Command 2000 system, without confusing switches.
Other features include, Memory so you can unplug the unit and move to another position without having to switch off. Group select button. Group LED indicator. Direction switches. Light button. Accessory button & a 15 foot coil cord.
At a brilliant price of £24.95
AD310 HO 1.5 amp Decoder 32.5 x 16.5 x 7.5mm AD310BP A 10 Bulk pack of the above
AD320 G Scale 2.5 amp Decoder 29.5 x 55.5 x 9.5mm AD330 N Scale 0.8 amp Decoder 23 x 8.5 x 4.5mm AD330BP A 10 bulk pack of the above
NEW Auto Reverse Module Ready fitted decoder locos from...
£ 17.00 £159.95 £ 21.95 £ 21.95 £199.95 £24.95 £46.95
Why not come and have a play with our samples.
KATO N scale due soon Alco RS-2 & RSC-2. UP coach sets A1, B1, B2 now in stock. ATLAS N scale SD60 Locos, choose from CNW, BN, SOO, CSX, Conrail & Oakway £62.50 NEW SD60M 3 window cab UP & SOO, 2 window cab BN, BNSF & Conrail - due Feb/March.
ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS TAKEN INCLUDING SWITCH POST AND HANDLING CHARGE £1.95 PER ORDER (unless stated)
WE ARE OPEN SIX DAYS MON-SAT 9.30 -17.00
Green & Black Falcon Service New Image Orange & Black Black
We Can Handle It
Blue & White
Some Gems from the Past John Firth
Glancing through some 1946 copies of Model Railroader the other evening, I realised just how much the hobby has changed!
Prices
Model Railroader itself cost 25 cents. Manufacturers such as Walthers, Varney, Athearn, Mantua, Exacta, Lobaugh, Scale- Craft, Silver Streak and Red Ball offered locomotives and rolling stock. Walthers were advertising their first post war catalogue at 25 cents. The famous Varney “Docksider” was available in HO at $15 and a Walthers HO hopper cost $3.50. Making allowance for inflation, the real cost of rolling stock has fallen considerably.
Electrical equipment
Mantua was advertising Pittman 5 pole 12 volt motors to replace 3 pole 6 volt motors. The NMRA had just produced a standard for motors to be 12 volts in place of the 6 volts that had been common up to that date. I think we must be very grateful for this change. The higher voltage has a greater ability to break down rail contamination and the reduced voltage drop resulting from the halving of traction current makes speed regulation much easier. It is perhaps a pity that they did not try to standardise on an even higher voltage.
October had an article on rewinding 6v motors to 12v operation. Fancy putting 300 turns on each pole of a small motor?
Walthers were advertising the Travis Electro Reverse Switch which, they claimed, was the first real advancement in 10 years. It had positive action and offered no increase in operating voltage. It was not affected by short circuits and was for use on D.C. ONLY. “When you see this unit work you will throw away your rectifiers”. I cannot work out what this was and must assume that it was closely followed by a second real advancement that caused you to throw away all your Travis Electro Reverse Switches!
The July Editorial said that “Despite the fact that power supply and wiring problems vex more model railroaders than any other single phase of the hobby, there is still no piece of equipment marketed that can be bought over the counter, taken home, plugged into any 115 volt A.C. outlet, attached to the rails, and used as it is to start, stop and reverse trains, and to control their speeds.”
The October Editorial reported interest amongst manufacturers in trying to produce self contained throttles.
People
In an article entitled “Meet Gordon Varney” (one of the major suppliers for the following 20 years) it describes his first month of Model Railroading. It says that “Varney had previously tried technicolor movies, architecture, contracting, aviation and oil prospecting without any lasting effect on the economy of the country, but this experience (model railroading) convinced him any hobby that could keep a man up all night working on the kitchen table without the benefit of wine, women or song was a first class entertainment business and he’d better look into it.”
Materials
One tip appearing was to use the cork insulation from your old refrigerator as realistic scenery. Does anyone remember cork insulation? An article with drawings for the EMD E6 suggested construction on the nose by forming it of strips of paper soaked in Casco glue over a wood former. Trucks were advertised with zinc alloy sides. A few years later these sides would be starting to crumble. Thank goodness for plastic.
Miscellany
There was some speculation as to what happened to a whistle presented to R A Riddle (Chief Mechanical Engineer, LMS) in connection with the visit of Coronation Scot. It was inscribed ‘Presented at Chicago USA, April 2, 1939 as a gesture of good will from American model railroaders to their British friends’. The whistle returned to Britain with the loco in 1942.
Apparently Riddle was surprised by the size of the whistle but thought it unlikely that it would be fitted to the locomotive because of the amount of steam it used. He is said to have remarked, “Its a beauty all right, but if we used it on the Scot we could either blow it or run the engine - but certainly not both!”
6 ROUNDHOUSE