Walthers N Scale Ballast Hopper

After a few light runs I managed to damage a few of the weak couplers on these wagons and I decided to replace them with much stronger Micro Trains trucks and couplers with metal wheels.

Going forward I will endeavor to replace all the trucks and couplers on other Wathers rolling stock I have I just did these first as I have a ballast plant on the layout and these wagons will do a lot of shunting.

 Original unmodified wagons as you can see there is quite a gap between the wagons when coupled.

 The original trucks are glued in and you will have to break the plastic pins by pulling off the trucks, I drilled out the remaining plastic with a Dremil mounted on a stand.

 Before and after, there is a metal under frame that the pins are pushed into and it acts as a guide for the drill leaving a tight secure fit for the Micro Trains pins.

 My helper for the morning.

Testing the fit for the pins 

 Fox Valley 36" wheels and Micro Trains trucks.

 New wheels, trucks and couplers and a lot closer together.

Finishing the Track and Wiring on the Top Deck

Wow it has been a year since the last update and as usual life has got in the way of the layout but I have been picking away at it. At the moment I am in the process of finishing off the track and wiring on the top deck including the remaining point motors and push rods for the manual throws. While doing this work I discovered two of the DCC Concepts switch motors had stopped working and another one was non-functional out of the box. I have replaced these with some new upgraded ones I recently purchased and will put them in the storage yards when they get back.  A very quick reply (within five minutes) to an email with a few things to try came from the office in Perth but to no avail and the offending items have been sent for repair or replacement.  Most of the track work involves replacing sleepers under joins and feeder and securing the wiring underneath.

The north end of the yard with point motors attached and sleepers replaced.

Working my way along the yard tracks replacing sleepers with my old man glasses.

Waiting for dad to get the track done.

Chief test engineer Henry.

Some times you can combine train time and family time, this is us at the 2016 Carnival of Flowers in Toowoomba in front of the shuttle train from Toowoomba to Spring Bluff Station.