A while back I purchased some (four) cheep Proto 2000 SW9/1200 which I am in th process of repainting for the Kansas City Terminal RR SW1200. I don’t like the plastic handrails which came with the PK2 locos as they are too fragile and also the wrong handrails for the KCT SW 1200. I am building an operating oriented layout and locos and cars will be touched. I would like to go with metal handrails and have considered Atheran (SW 1500) or Smokey Valley hand rail sets which would need to be modified. I am not excited about bending a lot of wire, because I just don’t have the skill. Suggestions?
“Practice makes perfect.”
I don’t like plastic handrails either, but there’s not much in the way of options if you don’t like bending wire. I like the old-style Athearn metal stanchions (because they’re durable) in combination with .015" music wire. These will stand up to lots of handling, although music wire is tougher to bend than brass wire - tough in that it needs to be bent correctly the first time, as it will often break when re-bent. Brass wire will stand-up to more re-bending, but also has its limits.
These older Athearns, converted to SW1200RSs, use music wire handrails - once they’re installed and everything properly aligned, I apply ca to all of the points where the wire or stanchions enters the body shell and at all joints between the wire and stanchions:
For this Atlas diesel with modified battery boxes, I cut away all of the plastic handrail sections, then drilled out the plastic stanchions to accept .015" brass wire, threading them onto the wire, then installing the assembled handrails and securing with ca:
If you absolutely don’t want to bend wire, here’s a prototypical option using chain:
Wayne
I was checking on the Horizon Hobby web site for some Athearn stancions and most sets are sold out. I will try and find some on Ebay, and may try some Smokey Valley stancions; and learn how to bend piano wire.
Forget about the steel wire (Athearn wire isn’t piano wire - piano wire is stainless steel, Athearn’s is plain steel and it can rust). The better choice is phosphorbronze wire, it’s stiffer and springier than brass, but not so difficult to bend as steel wire. You can get it in different diameters from Tichy Trains. Phosphorbronze can be cut with Xuron-type rail nippers without damage to the cutters, (which steel can not).
No one is born with the skill to bend wire, we all had to practice to learn how, which is how you develop all the skills we use, by doing. A good set of small needlenose pliers will help alot.