Q: I have an old Rivarossi locomotive from a Northern Pacific passenger set. Have you ever run an article on adding a DCC decoder to one of these? – Chuck Kvasnicka, Chicago, Ill.
A: Former DCC Corner columnist Mike Polsgrove ran a column titled “Installing a decoder in a Rivarossi locomotive” in our April 2006 issue. For his installation, Mike used a 4-6-4 Hudson. While you don’t specify which kind of locomotive you have, I’m sure that the techniques Mike outlined in his column will be of help in your decoder installation. If you don’t have April 2006 in your back-issue stash, you can find, read, and print out this article, and any other from our 87-year history, here.
Q: Any suggestions on how to make or where to buy HO scale siding representing asbestos cement shingles? This was used a lot in the 1940s and 1950s, and many homes in older neighborhoods still have it today. I’m trying to model my childhood home, which had this type of siding. The shingles were about 24” long and 10” to 12” wide. They had a texture of slight vertical ridges. – Dwight Oehlerich, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
A: Rail Scale Models (rail-scale-models.com) offers three patterns of asbestos shingles in HO and O scale. King Mill Enterprises used to make some, too, and although they aren’t selling any products right now, you might find some of their products on offer online or in hobby stores. In a pinch, you could probably use any kind of scale shingle material, since in HO scale the texture would be indistinguishable. I would suggest laser-cut paper shingles from manufacturers like American Model Builders, Bar Mills, Branchline Trains, B.T.S., Northeastern Scale Lumber, GC Laser, or Motrak Models. They’re easy to apply directly over a wood or cardstock building core and take paint well for a realistic look.
Q: I have two identical HO scale boxcars, one that came ready-to-run, the other that I built from a kit. Both roll on metal wheels that were supplied with the car. The ready-to-run car rolls very nicely, but the kit, not as much. The kit came with two nuts to serve as weights, mounted over the trucks, inside the car. Could this affect how well they roll? – Bob Devine, Rumson, N.J.
A: It’s possible, though the trucks or wheels are the more likely culprits. Make sure that the needle points of the axles are seated properly in the very center of the sockets on the truck sideframes. Make sure the sideframes aren’t so tight that the axles bind. Test that the trucks roll freely by themselves, before installation on the car. And make sure that the wheels don’t rub on the car underfloor, center sill, brake lines, or anything else once they’re installed.
Q: I’m wondering whatever happened to TT gauge? I’ve not seen anything about it in your magazine in a long time. – Jim McCutchan, Gosport, Ind.
A: TT scale – 1:120 proportion, about halfway between N scale (1:160) and HO (1:87.1) – never really caught on in the U.S. Introduced in 1945, it was quickly eclipsed by N scale, with several U.S. manufacturers shuttering their TT lines in the late 1960s. Today the scale has a small number of followers, but it’s hard to find anything sold for it in the U.S. The scale is more popular in Eastern Europe and Russia; manufacturers offering TT products tend to be German, such as Tillig, Roco, Fleischmann, and PIKO (not to be confused with British firm Peco). We don’t publish many articles about TT scale because no authors submit any to us. If they did, we’d consider them.
Reader tip: Weighting N scale cars
To weight my N scale cars, I use automobile tire weights. The smallest ones are 1/8” x 1/2” x 3/4” and weigh 1/4 ounce. They come with an adhesive backing strong enough to hold them on a car wheel in all weather conditions. I’ve used them in N scale boxcars and covered hoppers.
You can buy them from Amazon.com and other sites on the internet, but you need to check the dimensions carefully to make sure they’ll fit inside your rolling stock. You can get 48 for about $8 (16 cents each). – Michael Donnelly, Renton, Wash.
Send us your questions
Do you have a question about model railroading you’d like to see answered in Ask MR? Send it to associate editor Steven Otte at AskMR@MRmag.com
In the May issue of MR Magazine in the article “Model a Ballast Hopper,” I noticed that the Automatic Equipment Identification appliances were not mentioned. Were they applied?