Porter Update

Small update on the porter:

• Sound is a no-go. Sound/motor decoders are more than the cost of the engine.
• So with that I picked up a Digitrax DH123D decoder

On30 After All

After all the hooplah with odd sizes, I've decided to give it a rest and to go with something standard. Part of that is because a certain category of "standard" is ridiculously cool: On30. It might be popular, but it's popular for a reason.

I was recently gifted a Bachmann 0-4-2T Porter On30. It's the first steam On30 engine I've owned, also making it the largest engine I've owned. Without a doubt it's very cool. It's worth building an entire layout just for it.

This little Porter has now become my project engine. Here are some items I'm thinking about for it...

• Electronics
• Motor Control -- The porter comes from Bachmann setup for DC operation. I tested the engine initially with my "Ken Stapleton" Model 581 PWM DC throttle. While the engine ran smoothly under PWM, I'd like to convert it to digital control, especially now that I own an NCE PowerCab. It's a small engine but several posts on RR forums have shown it can be successfully done. This has the added bonus of giving independent control of the front light.
• Sound -- Sound can really make a loco come alive, especially under DCC. However in inspecting the engine I'm not sure where a speaker could possible fit (except maybe hidden in the fuel bunker). Further research will be required. It might be possible to make a permanent trailing car for it, though I don't care for those as much.
• Details
• Figure -- It needs a driver.  Really!  I need to find a period/locale appropriate O scale figure.  It think it would really add to the engine.
• Accessories -- The detailing of the engine as it comes from Bachmann is really fabulous, but this is model railroading after all, and so a little modelling never hurt. I'd like to do some more research on Porters used in the rocky mountain region and add some small details to match (and it's sort of a right of initiation for On30 that you stick a toolbox and chain on an engine somewhere). Perhaps I might look into building the buffer beams out of real wood too.
• Painting
• Bachmann ships the unit in flat black which a scatter of metal parts of a nickel color. While this looks great out of the box, I think I'd like to find some references photos to see which parts are more of a darker gray and silvery color and paint those accordingly. I don't plan to overhaul the cab color.
• Weathering
• Ok I'll admit it -- I'm a sucker for the dilapidated look. If it looks like it just got dropped off by the manufacturer: boo! If it looks like it's about to be taken out of service next month: win! I'd like to look into adding decay where steam blows out of the engine and where common parts rust. Again reference photos will be a must here. I'll probably be looking into a set of Bragdon Powders for this operation as well as they seem to come highly recommended and if you don't like what you've done you can brush it off and start over.

All in all I'm very pleased with this little loco and look forward to "modelling" it up.

Well, after dabbling with the thought of trying an obscure scale, I've decided instead to go with something mainstream for ease of availability -- specifically On30. With the change of scale might come a change of railroad, we'll have to see. At the moment I'm entertaining one of these two ideas:

• A mining line serviced by a shay locomotive
• A general freight or passenger line serviced by a forney

(I know, good choice on the 2nd one, right). But you're probably wondering, how did you go from a small scale to On30 and where will this all fit? Good question; glad you asked. I talked to the wife about this empty corner...

And the idea is to turn it into something like this (not drawn to scale):