Kato N Japanese ED19 Electric Loco

One of a fairly limited number of locos that can operatre on Kato Compact Line 150 mm curves is their ED19 electric loco:

The prototypes were six locomotives built for the Japanese National Railways by Baldwin-Westinghouse in 1926.

They were built for the Japanese 3'6" gauge, but the proportions aren't far off for US standard gauge electric locos. With a 1-B+B-1 wheel arrangement, they seem to be fairly close to the New Haven EF-2.

The biggest difficulty I had with the loco was installing the number plates. Kato number plates and number boards are tricky and liable to shoot off into space in installation. On their US models, Kato provides extras in case this happens. On this model, though, you just get four boards per number, with no spares. You'd probably have to send to Japan for replacements and maybe try to explain things in Japanese.

What I've done with Kato number boards and number plates is use a small piece of Scotch Magic Tape, laid sticky side up. I press the number board or number plate onto the tape, number side down, into the sticky side of the tape.

Then I pick up the tape and use it to maneuver the number board or number plate into the recess in the body where it belongs. It's good to double check and make sure the numbers are right side up. It may take some jiggering around to get things exactly in line to go in, but the tape will keep things from flying off into space. When the board or plate is firmly installed, you can just gently pull the tape away.

With no spares, I was nevertheless able to get all four number plates installed in this loco.

Overdue Project Update

As far as I can tell, it's been about 18 months since I posted about a trolley-interurban-light rail style micro project I've been working on. At the time, I was just scoping out the possibilties for mounting Kato Compact Line N scale track with 4-5/8" radius on standard T-TRAK modules. My post just had some curves temporarily set up on books and corrugated cardboard sheets and connected to a standard T-TRAK module.

Since then the project has grown:

The layout as it stands is set up on two standard double-wide T-TRAK modules that can be separated in the center. Either can be connected to other standard T-TRAK modules at one end, or one or more standard T-TRAK modules can be added to the center. Provision is made for the left hand module to serve as part of a reverse loop if needed.

The basic ground cover is JTT scenic mats. I got the trees in bulk, I think from Hobby Lobby. I still have more to add. The interurban shelter at left is Milwaukee Elecric prototype from Depots by John. The LRT style platform is from Kato. More buildings and scenery are to come.

Walthers Mainline SP-T&NO GP9

Diesels of Southern Pacific subsidiary Texas & New Orleans, although they were lettered for SP in SP-style paint, had two key differences. One was that they had three-digit road numbers. Another was that they didn't necessarily have the full packages of warning lights of the parent units. However, T&NO units routinely got to California mixed with SP units. Walthers Mainline has produced GP9s with T&NO headlight style and numbers. I ordered 408:

You can see SP-T&NO 408 in the photo above with 5607, a full SP GP9 from an earlier Walthers Proto run, behind it. 5607 has the full light package plus Proto factory details not present on 408. However, I think 408 is a satisfactory layout-qualiry model. Below is a Roger Lalonde photo of siaster loco 434:

The SP placed train numbers in loco numberboards until 1967. Before that, unless the loco was a lead unit on a train, the number boards were empty, as shown in the prototype photo. The Proto model of 5607 has empty numberboards, but the model of 408 has the unit number, which is incorrect. I may change this.

T&NO 408 was built in May 1954. In the 1965 SP renumbering, T&NO units were renumbered into SP number series, and 408 became 3408. In the 1970s, it was renumbered 3301.