Piko Drovers Caboose

[Bill Barnwell]

Good job,Bill! I have a Kalamazoo drovers' caboose that I've been working on. I intended it to be somewhat of a replica of the Virginia & Truckee #24(formerly the Nevada Copper Belt #3) caboose, but I then bought the USA Trains version, which is much nicer, and so I shelved the Kalamazoo for the time being. I bought a very nice Kalamazoo D&RGW 4-4-0 a few months ago, so I may pull the caboose out of my storage, and reconfigure it for the D&RGW.

Yea Kalamazoo made some good stuff and their original motor block was the same as LGB's. Does the engine have the real brass domes? If you get a chance read this it explains a lot of stuff

 

[RkyGriz]

No. It's all plastic. Kalamazoo was more of a toy train than a quality scale model. And they don't pull very well,either. Mine only pulls 3 passenger cars. The wheels slip if I add more. Does better with freight cars. It might do better with Kalamazoo passenger cars,but I don't own any Kalamazoo passenger cars at the moment.

 

[Bill Barnwell]

No. It's all plastic. Kalamazoo was more of a toy train than a quality scale model. And they don't pull very well,either. Mine only pulls 3 passenger cars. The wheels slip if I add more. Does better with freight cars. It might do better with Kalamazoo passenger cars,but I don't own any Kalamazoo passenger cars at the moment.

The new engines made by Hartland use solid brass domes and by adding weight to yours you could probably pull some more weight. I've got a brand new 4-4-0 kalamazoo with passenger cars that I bought for the grand kids but never used like all the kids now if it doesn't have buttons and screen they 're interested. Like Kalamazoo's size as it's not overpowering.

 

[RkyGriz]

I've always had a soft spot for the little Kalamazoo 4-4-0. They're cute,look nice (if a bit of a funny scale. And that steam dome! Weird looking and really tall!) ,and they run forever. Plus, they're easy to work on since they're so simple. I currently have 2 Hartland 4-4-0's. One's an older model ,the PRR#2 "Malvina", and the other one is the Virginia and Truckee #22 "Inyo". They made a version of the V&T #11 "Reno" ,but it's very rare. I'd just about kill to get my hands on a Hartland Reno!

 

[Bill Barnwell]

got any pictures of it, don't believe I'm familiar with it

 

[RkyGriz]

Which one, Bill? The Inyo is in storage, while the Malvina is displayed on my desk It's been many years since Hartland produced the Reno, and I don't have any photos of it.

 

[Bill Barnwell]

The Reno, just had never heard of it and wondered what it looked like, but I found a picture on the web it's just their current production 4-4-0 with tender, and yes they are nice little engines, Bill.

 

[tac foley]

I built a 16mm scale shortie replication of the SR&RL caboose, using coffee stirrrers as an overlay on styrene...If you've seen it before, please look away now...

Before painting...



...and after......

 

[Bill Barnwell]

That is just about too cool, what did you make the rungs for the ladder out of, great job

 

[tac foley]

'kaaaaaaaaaaay. The sides of the ladder are brass channel, drilled through with 1.2mm holes. I then slightly cut down dressmakers pins, and inserted them into each hole on both sides - then ran a piece of 2.5mm diameter alOOminum tube - that's the rungs. The whole thing is ACC'd together, and your uncle is Robert.





Apologies - my Raspberry phone is not what it used to be............

 

[RkyGriz]

Very well done, Tac. It's very nice .I wish I had the skills to build such a great caboose like yours.

 

[RkyGriz]

Here it is guys: My Piko drovers caboose with the LED lighting system in place. It wasn't as perfect as I had hoped for. I had to remove the supplied, pre-wired LED's for the lanterns, and replace them with the Piko original equipment lantern LED's, and also do a little cutting to enlarge the slot at the bottom of the cupola to get the rear LED board to fit, but other than that, it went smoothly.
I used a hot glue gun to attach the 3 LED boards to the roof and cupola. I also had to cut ,and modify, the main power wires. I used some of the push in connections supplied by Piko with this caboose to make the installation modular so I can easily remove the roof, if I need to.
The green Coach car is one of Bachmann's new versions. It was originally undecorated ,olive green. These cars can retail for up to
$100.00, but I picked it up a few months ago as an "open box" deal on Ebay for $37.77 ,with free shipping. I just finished decorating and upgrading it to 5mm Warm White LED's yesterday(Saturday)There are 6 LED's placed on the roof of the car and 2 capacitors(to prevent flickering),and 1 bridge rectifier to allow the LED's to operate in both directions.
The sound card is a Phoenix 96/97 BigSound card.
Here's the video:

Enjoy!
Andrew

 

[tac foley]

I've always had a soft spot for the little Kalamazoo 4-4-0. They're cute,look nice (if a bit of a funny scale. And that steam dome! Weird looking and really tall!) ,and they run forever. Plus, they're easy to work on since they're so simple. I currently have 2 Hartland 4-4-0's. One's an older model ,the PRR#2 "Malvina",

Here in UK we would rename that 'Falkland'.

 

[Bill Barnwell]

'kaaaaaaaaaaay. The sides of the ladder are brass channel, drilled through with 1.2mm holes. I then slightly cut down dressmakers pins, and inserted them into each hole on both sides - then ran a piece of 2.5mm diameter alOOminum tube - that's the rungs. The whole thing is ACC'd together, and your uncle is Robert.

View attachment 254000

View attachment 254001

Apologies - my Raspberry phone is not what it used to be............

Very nice, and I don't have a uncle

 

[tac foley]

PD

 

[Greg Elmassian]

I thought it also implies that it is easy.

Greg