Railroad Model Craftsman 2009 12

The public has always been fond of special trains. Since the very first time some now unknown public relations employee thought of the idea, special trains, those that stand out from the everyday freight and passenger trains that help move America and its economy, have been crowd pleasers, attention getters, and wonderful sales tools. Throughout the history of railroading, somebody has always thought of using the rails to deliver a message. Think about it. Nothing but footnotes in the pages of history books, railfans can almost instantly remember some of the hundreds that have burnished the rails. Let's see, off the top of my head, there is The Baldwin Locomotive Works Prosperity Special of the 1920's, the Rexall Train of the 1930's, and General Motor's Train of Tomorrow in the 1940's. On the more sobering side, not to be forgotten, there are those that brought fallen presidents home for the last time.

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Steel Masters No.89

Le 24 novembre 1943, le GCFTA débarque dans la région de Naples et entre aussitôt en action pour protéger la zone de regroupement de la division au nord-ouest de la ville. Puis c'est la montée en ligne dans les Abruzzes et les deux premiers tués, le 13 décembre, lors d'un tir d'efficacité de l'artillerie ennemie. Le camion et sa pièce doivent subir des réparations. Le 22 mars 1944, la batterie abat un FW 190. Le 24 avril, « Condor » (nom de baptême du GMC) est accidenté et ne reprendra du service que le 8 mai. Le 18 mai 1944, alors que le capitaine est parti en reconnaissance, la colonne est arrêtée pendant deux heures à l'embranchement des routes venant d'Ausonia et d'Esperia (deux localités du Latium situées à environ 135 km de Rome). L'équipe du « Condor » se met en position pour parer à toute éventualité... Notre saynète prend place à ce moment alors que « Charmeur », le canon assigné au « Condor », n'est pas encore dételé. Prêt à engager l'ennemi, il protège la mise en batterie d'un autre canon du convoi.

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Steel Masters No.05

Début 1942, la Crimée inquiète le haut-commandement allemand. Cette presqu'île contrôle, grâce au port de Sébastopol, une grande partie de la Mer Noire et constitue, selon Hitler une base pour une offensive aérienne soviétique contre les puits de pétrole roumains, a l'instar des quelques attaques menées en juin l941. Or, fin décembre, l'assaut de la 11.Armee de Manstein contre Sébastopol s interrompt quand l'Armée Rouge débarque en force sur la péniasule de Kertch puis à Feodosia.au sudest de la Crimée. Les rares réserves germano-roumaines jugulent difficilement la crise initiale. mais Manstein doit tenir compte de cette nouvelle menace. Car le « Front de Crimée » se renforce, près de 100 000 hommes passant depuis le Caucase dans la péninsule de Kertch grâce à la mer gelée ! Il empêche dorénavant la 11.Armee de se concentrer contre Sébastopol. A la fin de l'hiver, aucun des deux camps n'a pris le dessus même si Féodosia est reconquise. Les combats se concentrent autour de l'isthme de Parpatch ou Manstein caresse un temps l'idée de détruire le Front de Crimée.

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Railroad Model Craftsman 2009 11

The shop has been getting the power ready for a road train. They have identified the locomotives that will be used, pulled them out from the ready tracks, and coupled them together in the proper order. Some of the units may be dropped off along the way to do switching at outlying yards, so it is important that they be arranged to facilitate any needed setout moves. The electrical m.u. jumpers have been connected, the air hoses made up, and the correct functioning of the air brakes has been confirmed. But, how can you be sure they will all carry "load?" A loading check was a frequently-employed prototype practice done to make sure that all the locomotives in a consist (all coupled and connected by m.u. jumper cables) will actually respond to the throttle and load without shutting down. All the units that will be operating as train power are put on line, the brakes are set, and the throttle advanced to a high notch for several seconds. The desired result is that all the locomotives produce power, and move (hopefully all in the same direction) against the applied brakes. Any unit that doesn't load is bad news. It is contributing nothing to the tractive effort of the lashup, and any unit that shuts down and alarms needs to be looked at before the locomotives are ready for the road job. It should be mentioned that this type of loading check has no relationship to load box testing, where a locomotive is connected by cables to a stationary set of resistance grids so that the prime mover and generator can be load tested without powering the traction motors.

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N Scale Railroading 2009 09-10

Using the small jeweler's screw driver, pry apart the zero friction truck, first on one side, then the other (see Figs. 14 and 15). The next step is to clean the trucks various parts. I find a pair of tweezers handy for removing the lint that is usually found in a set of trucks. I also use the tweezers to make sure the wheel wiper bearing pockets are clean of any lint (see Fig. 16 and 17). There may also be old grease that will need to be wiped off. I have noticed that locomotives made in China seem to have an excessive amount of grease applied, which could in time dry up, and affect performance, so while you have your trucks apart, check them out. This is also a good time to use a Micro-Trains coupler height gauge (part # 988 00 031) to check the gauge of the wheel sets. Once all the truck parts are clean and checked over, fill the wheel wiper's bearing pockets with Atlas Conducta Lube (# 192) and reassemble the trucks. The truck frame should just snap back onto the gear case. Remember to have it lined up so that the wheels' gears are above the cut-outs in the truck frame or it will never snap back together.

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