Old Mill Switchers

[icheymon]

These are some of the units I built for my late steel mill, Ahl Iron. The first is a first issue Walthers SW1 that runs like a swiss watch. It runs so quiet that if you are not careful and don't realize the siding it is sitting on is still powered up, you can have it drive right off the unfinished portion of your layout, bounce off the floor and crush the roof....thus was born a radio control unit for the hot metal shop.
The second is a Proto somethinoranother SW1200 that I got at a show for 10 bucks in a junk box...ordered new handrails and crummied it up a bit.
The third is my first attempt at an SW1001...it came out fairly well for a beginner. I put on chain handrails after seeing photos of a mill unit and it is a dummy. It will more than likely end up on the dead line at the new industry that is being born from the ashes of Ahl Iron....Watts Locomotive Inovations...

More to come, Rich

[DRLOCO]

I especially like the 3rd pic...Love the use of safety chains instead of handrails...I heard from my dad (who worked at the USS Gary Works in his early 20's) that they were set up like that so they could remove the chains and use the footboards to place stretchers with wounded and injured workers in the event of an emergency!

And the robot engine is really neat too--do the lights work?

[icheymon]

I had purchased a set of clear bulbs to make the side lights work and after seeing an article in a model magazine I really thought I could do it....however the fat finger fairey proved that once again I bit off a bit more than my skills could do. I figure since it will now be window dressing I don't need to try again. Thanks for the comments....Rich

[icheymon]

As I understand, the lights indicate visually to the controller or operator on the ground what the locomotive is doing, such as direction, braking and whether or not the hand held contoller and the locomotive have signal...as I understand it. And yes I did consider using LED's but to be honest it is above my skill level...I had enough issues with the soldering iron trying to hook up the lights. I always try to keep things simple, that way once I arrive at the ER it is easier to explain what I was doing when I got (insert burned, cut, stabbed, here).