What is the easiest way to mount a loco with many engine and tender wheels to mount? Use a rerailing ramp?
Thanks
Dave K.
My late brother-in-law who was a fanatic N Gauger always used a railing ramp, he swore by the thing. Especially since he was a big guy with fingers like bananas!
I used to do N Gauge myself and a railing ramp made things a lot easier.
I use one, but I find it easier to run the locomotive through rerailing track.
I’m building my second N layout, and one thing I learned from my first layout was to put in a bunch of rerailing track sections all over.
Hello All,
I model in HO and prefer re-railing track sections. I have a rerailing ramp but don’t use it.
After visiting the Colorado Model Railroad Museum; in Greely, Colorado, I noticed that they re-rail their HO cars and locomotives by feel- -which can be time-consuming.
The disadvantage of a re-railing ramp is its length.
Some steam locomotives and their tenders might be too long to fit on the ramp, especially if they are joined by a drawbar versus couplers or hook.
Hope this helps.
I’m a pretty dextrous person and I wouldn’t even try to rerail N scale by hand. A couple bucks on a ramp seems like a good bargain.
One thing I’ll add is out of the several re-railer ramps I have I like the Kato one then best. It has a shallower angle and on the other ones I have the pilot on some locos will hit before the front wheels.
I have no rerailer tracks but I do have a rerailer ramp I use occasionally. I model in HO so it’s not so necessary, but it makes life easier for steamers.
Re-railer ramps are fine as long as long as you’re not pushing a traction tired loco along the rails.
If you have TT’s then you can still use the ramp but rather pull the ramp out from behind the stationary locomotive and tender.
Sliding traction tires along the rails will cause them to stretch, and when stretched they are easily thrown, then they will need replaced.
Some locomotives require side rods to be removed to replace TT’s.
You can also tip the loco and tender to the backside rail getting all those wheels on, then let the other side down on the close rail.
Or you can place your fingertips on the bottom of the wheels where they meet the railhead and rail it that way.
If I had to mount any sort of an N scale item I think I would just try to find a good taxidermist.
I’m an O Gauger myself and I HATE traction tires! They’re a major PITA to replace on O Gauge engines, I can’t imagine trying to do it on HO or N Gauge ones! If they fall off one of my engines and the engine doesn’t miss them I just leave them off! [:(!]
But I can understand how they might be crucial on smaller gauge engines.
OK, for N scale I can see the little ramp as useful, but I can put an N scale car on the track without any real difficulty.
I guess it depends on how you use them, but I have always considered the ramps and the re-railer track as being a little “brutal” with the equipment in HO.
Some of my equipment in HO is pretty pedestrian, like Athearn Blue box cars, but some of it is high end, high detail RTR, or craftsman kits with lots of carefully built detail.
I’m not plopping them on the track and running them back and forth by hand…
I have ZERO trouble putting HO models on the track.
And here is a tip that makes it easier. Convert all your freight cars to Kadee “self centering” trucks. A never talked about feature Kadee introduced a few decades ago. The truck has a special bolster and bolster pin that aligns the trucks with the car when the truck is suspended in mid air, making it easier to place on the track.
Most of my freight cars are equiped with these Kadee trucks which have also been refitted with Intermountain metal wheelsets - producing the most free rolling truck you will ever find.
Locomotives - without even talking about traction tires, I just have a hard time dragging the drive wheels of a locomotive down a re-railing ramp or over a re-railer track…but that’s just me.
Traction tires - I don’t love them or hate them, but sometimes they are a useful evil. The best HO traction tires are not black and not rubber, but are clear vinyl sold by Calumet Trains, they seldom wear out.
Flintlock76 - in HO or N, a loco with traction tires simply will not run without them. The grooved wheel is BIG problem without the plastic/rubber tire.
As explained above, most of my rolling stock has sprung trucks, but I have been putting them on the track by hand since 1965 or so, and at 65 it is still not a problem.
A rerailer or two in hidden trackage is cheap insurance that I hope seldom gets used - b
I can well understand. O, HO, N, different animals.
Why is my reply not going into a separet box? It looks like it’s part of the OP message?
When you add the quote, you have to scroll down until you see the word “/quote” in brackets and type your message after that, not before it.
Sheldon
I will second this. The Kato railing ramps, in HO also, work quite well.
-Kevin
I DO NOT use a rerailing ramp. I place the locomotive on the track making sure that the wheels are on the track. Roll it back and forth about 2 inches. If it rolls smoothly the truck is on the track, if not I lift the offending track and repositon it on the track. Sometimes it may take to three tries, but it works pretty well.
I model N scale and for most steam engines (and a few finicky diesels) i use the Kato rerailer ramp. I generally position the ramp so the tender rerails first, backing the engine onto the track. I try to keep as much of the weight of the locos drive wheels off the ramp and rails (as possible) so the side rods don’t bind. The Kato ramp works even with long wheelbase locos like my 4-8-8-2 cab forward. For most 4 axle diesels I usually just use my fingers, which might be an acquired skill.
I have seen electrified retailing ramps, and I suspect there would be no particular rocket science involved in adapting an existing or scratchbuilt ramp to be appropriately powered.
This might also be a way to remove delicate locomotives from the track without the usual GHA sausage fingers.