I'm feeling my way toward modeling contemporary passenger and commuter operations. Although there are N and HO models out there, the range is a little sketchy, and few commuter modelers post regularly on blogs or YouTube. The fact that couplers, wheels, and car weights aren't very well standardized in N makes operation using models from different manufacturers a problem, too. Her's a Virginia Railway Express train I recently finished and got into preliminary operation.
The lead car is a Kato Nippon Sharyo cab car with an FL12 decoder for head and tail lights and a lighting kit from an 11-212 set:
I also added Kato catenary bridges to the scene. I painted these for the red oxide New Jersey Transit uses on its Morris and Essex ex-Lackawanna routes, but VRE either operates under black ex-PRR bridges that have been de-wired or Amtrak bridges that are gray.
Here's a straight Kato Nippon Sharyo coach with an 11-212 lighting kit:
Wheels of Time brought out C&NW bi level cars in several schemes, including one Virginia Railway Express scheme. These cars were leased from Chicago METRA. The six-window style I believe was built for C&NW by St Louis Car Company, and these were completely withdrawn from METRA, while METRA kept running some of the ex C&NW Pullman 4-window style cars. However, the VRE 6-window cars were recently returned to METRA, which has put some back into service still lettered for VRE.
The Wheels of Time cars would not go around curves coupled to Kato Nippon Sharyo cars. I fiddled with some options to fix this until I found the Wheels of Time diaphragms would simply snap off the car ends, which eliminated the conflict, and both cars will now operate in a train around the T-Trak module curves. Even so, I think I need to tweak the way the Micro Trains trucks are mounted on the Wheels of Time cars to get more reliable operation.
Another Kato Nippon Sharyo coach. One thing I like about the newest locos and passenger cars is the ability -- at least with Kato -- to add lighting kits that give an extra prototype dimension to the models.
It's a shame the Wheels of Time cars don't have this ability. However, Kato will be bringing out the C&NW Pullman style 4-window bi-levels in METRA in another month or two, and I'm assuming these can be lit like the Nippon Sharyo cars.
The way N scale works, I'll be looking forward to running METRA trains with both Nippon Sharyo and Pullman cars that are fully compatible via Kato. Here's a Pullman I shot in Elmhurst, IL in train with later stainless cars:
I'll need to check to see if VRE had any of the Pullman 4-window style cars. If so, it would be great if Kato would bring them out for VRE.
And here's a Kato MP36 shoving the train.
Your N scale passenger trains are looking really good! Like their HO scale counterparts I see the N scale cars also require some tweaking for reliable operations. The N scale modules are coming along very nicely. I like the Catenary supports in the red oxide. I had to google Nippon Sharyo to refresh my memory. Interesting story there but the ending was not a happy one. The VRE paint schemes are quite nice as is the MP36.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive John! As a fan of commuter trains, I like the way they came out, including the lighting in them. Kato passenger cars look great in both HO and N scale. I have the Amtrak Bi-Level that I intend to use in my push-pull operations on the layout. Their Superliner Cars run very well and I know they can be lit up with ease. Some have the rear marker lights already lit up. Like the catenary work as well. I was thinking of adding them to my layout, but the way op sessions go and the reaching of freight cars, I think it would be a waste of my time and money. Kudos to you!
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