A journal following the history, design, construction and operation of Bernard Kempinski's O Scale model railroad depicting the U. S. Military Railroad (USMRR) Aquia-Falmouth line in 1863, and other model railroad projects.
©Bernard Kempinski All text and images, except as noted, on this blog are copyrighted by the author and may not be used without permission.
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January 5, 2017

Testing Liquid Traction Tires on Osceola

I did some testing of Osceola tonight after the Bullfrog Snot traction tires cured overnight. I also added about 4 ounces of lead weight evenly distributed over the drivers with half in the cab and half in the boiler.

 The good news is that the pulling power did increase. It was able to pull 7 cars on the level track. It may even be able to do 8. However, curve drag and grades still take their toll. Curve drag especially seems to have an effect.

An effective working train length for this engine over  the whole layout would be more like 4 cars. Note that the overall design train length is 7 cars due to siding lengths. If I relegate Osceola to Aquia Landing as a yard switcher, it might be able to do the job switching 6 or 7 cars on the flat lands.

I made a short video in a silent film style. Since the locomotive still has a diesel decoder, there was no sense listening to that.

What do you think? It is a neat looking locomotive. Watch the valve gear "operate" as it moves.




On a whim I tried to double head it with another engine and I learned that doesn't work. I forgot that these are brass engines. The tender frames have opposite electrical polarity from the engines. So using the metal front link causes a short.

I will test again when the new decoder, speaker and tungsten weights arrive.




2 comments:

  1. Looks great, Bernie! I tried Bullfrog Snot on my CNR 4-6-0s when they started slipping. It did nothing for me, so I cleaned it off. What did work was freeing up the spring suspension so that all drivers made better contact on the rails...
    Cheers!
    - Trevor (Port Rowan in 1:64)

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  2. That could have been Buster Keaton on the flat car. Very entertaining and enlivening film Mr. Director! Good to know she can pull 6-7 and that given she was a yard engine you are within the ballpark for car pulling power. Nicely done!

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