Model Railroader – October 2019

18 http://www.ModelRailroader.com

Railway Post Office Conducted by Jeff Reich

InterMountain trucks

In the August Ask MR, Jason Layne

writes that after taking the trucks off an

InterMountain Ry. freight car, “the

trucks and wheels come apart” and that

he’s “tried cyanoacrylate cement (CA) to

no avail.” Your reply perhaps misses the

point when you say “the sideframes and

bolsters are one piece.” This is the case

now, but I believe the first runs of the

cylindrical hoppers, and all of the many

kits I’ve built, have three-piece, non-rigid

trucks (plus brake beams).

The sideframes have short pins that

click into the bolsters and allow the side-

frames to move slightly (and come apart

sometimes as trucks are removed). If

that is Jason’s problem, I don’t recom-

mend gluing the sideframes to the bol-

ster, because of problems getting perfect

alignment of the sideframes and bolster.

I’ve found that the non-rigid trucks don’t

roll as well as one-piece trucks, and, as

you point out, the best solution is to

replace the trucks.

Replacement one-piece rigid trucks

without wheelsets are available from

InterMountain if he wants to use his

existing wheelsets. New wheelsets are

also available. Trucks come with sepa-

rate brake beams, but they’re invisible

when the car is on a layout and a nui-

sance to install.

Roger Walker

Calgary

DCC buyer’s guide

I was stunned to see no mention at all

of the Lenz system in “A buyer’s guide to

DCC systems” by Dana Kawala [July].

This is a robust and well-developed (and

recently updated) system that’s been

around for many years, and Lenz was

one of the pioneers in both developing

and popularizing DCC control.

Jim Brown

via email

As stated at the beginning of the

roundup, we focused only on systems

actively marketed in North America.

This statement no longer applies to Lenz.

I reached out to the firm that was a major

distributor of Lenz products in the U.S.

and was told that Lenz is no longer

actively participating in the North

American market. The Lenz USA website

also hasn’t been updated in several years.

• Dana Kawala, senior editor

DCC coverage

In a recent blog post (dccguy.com],

DCC Corner writer Larry Puckett dis-

cusses ideas for upcoming columns.

Ever since MR started covering elec-

tronics in model railroading, these arti-

cles have been my first go-tos. When the

CTC-16 was introduced in your pages

[December 1979], I was too young and

poor to build it, but I followed it care-

fully and knew that this was the future.

So please keep the articles coming on

this aspect of the hobby.

Greg Williams

Canterbury, N.B.

Like the real thing

There’s a lot of truth in the July car-

toon [by Matt Matteo] depicting

Canadian National railroaders going to

an operating session to see the layout.

Once, at a model railroad show,

I spotted two men who looked like real

railroaders. I tagged along at a discreet

distance to hear what they had to say.

They stopped to examine a model loco-

motive painted, lettered and weathered

to replicate a locally assigned locomotive.

One of the men said to his pal, “Look,

he’s got the fire extinguisher decal on

crooked just like it is on the real one.”

Yeah, some of the real guys do pay

attention to what we do.

Gordon D. Jomini

Fredericton, N.B.

Comments, suggestions, and additional information on Model Railroader articles and departments are welcome in this column. Every comment will be read,

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Museum gem

I’m delighted that Gordon Lind’s N scale layout depicting Appleton, Wis., is

now in a local museum [“Rolling on the river,” August]. Model railroads are great

Americana and folk art, and as such should be preserved when they are a good fit

within the scope of a museum or historical society.

Sam Powell’s freelance Penn Creek Valley, featured in Great Model Railroads

2015 , now resides in the Tri-Town Area Historical Society Museum in Dawson,

Pa. Sam designed his layout to come apart in sections for easy moving, and he

was consciously modeling southwestern Pennsylvania, which appealed to the his-

torical society. Much credit is due to Sam’s family and friends for making this

happen. It should happen more often.

Richard Lind

Rio Rancho, N.M.

Industries line the Fox River in Appleton, Wis., site of the first hydroelectric

power station, on Gordon Lind’s N scale model railroad. Dave Rickaby photo