Model Railroading > NW2 Working It.

After some shop work on her fuel system and a little cosmetic attention, the shop forces found some era appropriate rolling stock and put her to the test on a couple two percent grades.

The little twelve cylinder 567 is putting all her one thousand ponies to work.

This BLI NW2 has received a decoder buddy, Tsunami 2, TCS KA2 and a Scale Sound System speaker. She will be heading back to the shop for a few more tweaks and some additional jewelry. Plus a tad more paint work and weathering.

 

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Looks good Chris

Posted from iPhone

It sounds as though the sound level might be too high and rattling the speaker. Either that or the sound is enough to rattle the microphone on the camera. I usually max out my master volume, but lower most sounds except the horn which I max out unless it rattles the speaker too much.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Looks great. Thanks for posting.
Regards, Jim Evans

funnelfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It sounds as though the sound level might be too
> high and rattling the speaker. Either that or the
> sound is enough to rattle the microphone on the
> camera. I usually max out my master volume, but
> lower most sounds except the horn which I max out
> unless it rattles the speaker too much.

Thanks for the input. I Don't hear that in person but something is not quite right. The master volume is at one hundred BUT the seven band equalizer is in effect which raises the volume considerably. Normally when using the EQ I keep the master volume between 40 and 80. With this model I'm still experimenting so will see where it goes. Because the Tsunami 2 has a two amp amplifier, you really need to start with a low volume setting when using a single speaker like I am here so maxing the volume out is out of the question because you'll overdrive the amp without the second speaker. Not an issue if volume is kept low, which is plenty loud enough as it is. 

its kind of fun playing with this stuff:-)
 

Enjoyed both videos , nice to hear the throttle position changes and almost expected a wave from the engineer in the second one !

Your layout must have broad curves to have that track cleaning car, with its drag, just 1 car ahead of the caboose. To avoid problems I run mine (boxcar) near the head end. The exception is the mail train where one of the baggage cars is the cleaning car and runs mid-train, but it's only a 5 or 6 car train. Nice looking layout.  

Westbound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your layout must have broad curves to have that
> track cleaning car, with its drag, just 1 car
> ahead of the caboose. To avoid problems I run mine
> (boxcar) near the head end. The exception is the
> mail train where one of the baggage cars is the
> cleaning car and runs mid-train, but it's only a 5
> or 6 car train. Nice looking layout.  

Thanks. That is a Walthers track cleaning car that I removed the poor excuse for s box car shell from and just painted it a flat camo color. I have two and really like them. They are heavy and track very well, not to mention fairly priced and effective. I've not had any issues with with them other than adding a bit to much drag a one certain grade that I have. Never have they caused a derailment or string line issue. My widest curve are 30 but with very generous easements. These cars use what looks like a fairly mild pad. A drop of mineral spirits cleans them right up in two seconds with a paper towel. I would buy them again in a second. My layout gets dirty fast in the attic space it's in.

Full disclosure, I generally run them ahead of the locomotive on a special track cleaning car train but I wanted to test the reworked NW2 on this day.

I love the "human eye level" second video. Taking video at that "eye level" usually looks cool and your seconf video especially is awsome!
Thanks for posting

hankbrank15 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I love the "human eye level" second video. Taking
> video at that "eye level" usually looks cool and
> your seconf video especially is awsome!
> Thanks for posting

Thanks, I like that view also. It's funny, back when I designed this layout phones with cameras were just starting to be a thing and I wasn't interested in larger format cameras at all.  Now I think I would design a layout completely differently with camera angles and scenes in mind just for photography purposes.

Diesel fuel tank first car ahead of the caboose.

Its not placarded, so maybe it was just rinsed out.

-LD

Very nice; I actually like the sound and the hint of distortion, because railroading is loud business and many of my favorite train videos are pretty noisy. But I defer to those who are more familiar with how the model version should be heard.

LarryDoyle Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Diesel fuel tank first car ahead of the caboose.
>
> Its not placarded, so maybe it was just rinsed
> out.
>
> -LD

Diesel fuel is classified as COMBUSTIBLE and does not requires a buffer car.

I'd enjoy seeing more of your SP power and trains.  I've got a fair amount of SP power myself, having grown up with the SP from the late 1960's through mid-1980's, nearly all SD power.  I recently got a tunnel motor and an SD45 out on the layout, both from ScaleTrains:  Here they are on the right side of the photo.  The SP SD45 came DCC ready and I"ve installed a LokPilot 5 decoder in it.

Cheers,
Jim



 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/25 12:50 by SPDRGWfan.

---

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LarryDoyle Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Diesel fuel tank first car ahead of the
> caboose.
> >
> > Its not placarded, so maybe it was just rinsed
> > out.
> >
> > -LD
>
> Diesel fuel is classified as COMBUSTIBLE and does
> not requires a buffer car.

My timeline is normally early nineties, but let's say this was more transition era instead. Would there be any rules regarding tank car placement during that time frame?

ChrisCampi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > LarryDoyle Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Diesel fuel tank first car ahead of the
> > caboose.
> > >
> > > Its not placarded, so maybe it was just
> rinsed
> > > out.
> > >
> > > -LD
> >
> > Diesel fuel is classified as COMBUSTIBLE and
> does
> > not requires a buffer car.
>
> My timeline is normally early nineties, but let's
> say this was more transition era instead. Would
> there be any rules regarding tank car placement
> during that time frame?

Take a look at the oil trains during WWII, I don't recall seeing any buffer cars on those.

Looks good Chris!  Good to see the stripe on the hood instead of how BLI had orange handrails.  The stacks being black instead of silver brings it back to looking like one of our favorite locomotives.
Seems like you replaced everything under the hood except for the motor.  I'm sure it will be a much better runner now. 
Overall it's looking, running and sounding SWEET!  Good job. 

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'd enjoy seeing more of your SP power and
> trains.  I've got a fair amount of SP power
> myself, having grown up with the SP from the late
> 1960's through mid-1980's, nearly all SD power. 
> I recently got a tunnel motor and an SD45 out on
> the layout, both from ScaleTrains:  Here they are
> on the right side of the photo.  The SP SD45 came
> DCC ready and I"ve installed a LokPilot 5 decoder
> in it.
>
> Cheers,
> Jim


Jim, when do we get to see some of your trains run?j. Also wondering if you have had to speed match your SD45 with your tunnel motor, my 45's run much slower the my tunnel motors.

wingomann Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks good Chris!  Good to see the stripe on the
> hood instead of how BLI had orange handrails. 
> The stacks being black instead of silver brings it
> back to looking like one of our favorite
> locomotives.
> Seems like you replaced everything under the hood
> except for the motor.  I'm sure it will be a much
> better runner now. 
> Overall it's looking, running and sounding
> SWEET!  Good job. 

Thanks Joe, hope it sounds familiar.

ChrisCampi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SPDRGWfan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'd enjoy seeing more of your SP power and
> > trains.  I've got a fair amount of SP power
> > myself, having grown up with the SP from the
> late
> > 1960's through mid-1980's, nearly all SD
> power. 
> > I recently got a tunnel motor and an SD45 out
> on
> > the layout, both from ScaleTrains:  Here they
> are
> > on the right side of the photo.  The SP SD45
> came
> > DCC ready and I"ve installed a LokPilot 5
> decoder
> > in it.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Jim
>
>
> Jim, when do we get to see some of your trains
> run?j. Also wondering if you have had to speed
> match your SD45 with your tunnel motor, my 45's
> run much slower the my tunnel motors.

 What do you used for video.  I don't have any video equipment, just my Samsung Android phone.

I'll have to figure out how to speed match the SP units.