Shinohara to cease track production

This has been sent out by Scenery Unlimited:

"Shinohara, a brand leader of track and turnouts in many scales—including S— for three decades or more, has announced it will stop production of its products, although a Japanese company has plans to take over the Japanese market at last report. The brand has been known world-wide for precision and quality for a long time. Its North American distributor for the S and Sn3 scale line, Scenery Unlimited, expects to have only a small amount of stock on hand when the firm finally closes its doors, largely because the announcement came so suddenly. “This is a very unfortunate circumstance,” says Don Heimburger, president of Scenery Unlimited, “but Shinohara is planning to retire and there appears no recourse.” Scenery Unlimited will continue to sell its remaining stock of S and Sn3 track and turnouts until they are gone."

This reduces the choices of track for the scale side of S standard gauge as well as Sn3 modelers. Fortunately there are other companies with offers in the market. But none the less it is a loss for S and the model railroad market in general.

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Passenger Car Detail Parts Available again

Some years back Ladd Houda designed and introduced a line of passenger car under body detail parts. They were most recently marketed by The Supply Car, but again dropped off of the market. They are now available again from Pre-Size Model Specialties.

Pre-Size has introduced 24 new detail parts for S scale passenger cars. The parts are produced in high-quality resin. These new items are numbers 530 - 557. See them on the Pre-Size Model Specialities web site.

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Circus Model Builders Plans Library

Have you been thinking about adding Circus models to your S layout? Have you wondered where and how to get started? There is an organization similar to the National Association of S Gaugers for circus modelers -- CIRCUS MODEL BUILDERS. If you have not already done so, check out the Circus Model Builders web site.

The organization is comprised of modelers dedicated to preserving and modeling circuses. CMB produces an excellent publication for its members -- Little Circus Wagon (LCW). Much as you see in the model railroad press, LCW has included plans in each each issue. And these plans were available from the CMB Superintendent of Plans for a small fee.

Now to promote circus modeling even more, the CMB has made their entire plan library available online and at no charge for personal use. Visit their web site, select the PLANS link and find the plans you are looking for. Over 400 plans are currently available!

If you're been putting off starting those circus models, now is the time to get started!

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Railway Prototype Cyclopedia News!

Among others, model railroaders have for a number of years used the great reference series of books titled Railway Prototype Cyclopedia to expand their knowledge of the prototype. Created by Ed Hawkins and Pat Wider, each volume includes in-depth articles including many photographs, diagrams, rosters and other items. And we have eagerly awaited the new volumes. Two recent observations are:

1. In what is great news for modelers and others, Volume 20, which was apparently the most popular volume and has been difficult to find for a long time (a recent copy on an auction site went for $150), has been reprinted by Ron's Books. See their web site if you are looking for a copy. The article from Volume 20 that drove that volume's high demand was Patrick C. Wider's 85 page article on Flat Car Loading Practices. The article synopsis is:

   The article contains 46 diagrams that show how many types of loads are restrained and tied down to flat cars. Also included are 126 photos of flat cars with all types of loads such as various steel products including pipe, auto frames, road construction and farm machinery, transformers and circuit breakers, boilers and vessels, rolling stock underframes, trucks and wheels, forging presses, locomotives, damaged freight cars, street cars and busses, lumber products, stone, containers, military equipment, and trailers on flat cars. Captions describe the flat cars photographed including the cars' histories (car number series, builder, and build date). Additional text details the A.A.R. rules for securing the various commodities.

2. The website for Railway Prototype Cyclopedia has disappeared. And along with the web site, the PDF for the RP CYC Index file has disappeared. Fortunately snapshots of the web site are available on the Internet Archive (aka Wayback Machine). A copy of the Railway Prototype Cyclopedia Volumes 1-34 Index has been retrieved and is linked here.

For those not familiar with the Railway Prototype Cyclopedia, here's how the publisher described it on their web site:

What is Railway Prototype Cyclopedia?

Railway Prototype Cyclopedia, or 'RP CYC' for short, is a continuing series of soft cover, perfect-bound books that provides invaluable information in a single source with a focus on railroad equipment built or in use during the 1920s through 1950s. This was the "Golden Age" of railroads when steam locomotives and first generation diesels ruled. Volumes 1-5 are each 96 pages in length, Volumes 6-10 and 13-15 are each 105 pages, Volumes 11, 12, and 16-30 are 113 pages, the combined Volumes 31-32 has 265 pages, and Volumes 33 & 34 each have 193 pages. In many cases the back inside cover is used as an additional page for tables. Each volume uses 80-weight enameled paper and a perfect-bound textured "leatherette" cover. Included are articles on freight and passenger cars, locomotives, and structures. Some articles include information about selected scale models that relate to the subject.

One of our most important priorities, RP CYC provides high quality, large format photographs of the prototype equipment and scale models. Every photograph selected for publication is large enough for you to see as much detail as possible. Photographs include those taken by the builders as well as in-service mainly during the 1920s through 1950s and occasionally the 1960s. The articles are also supported with technical data including applicable plans, diagrams, and comprehensive roster information.

Our Goal:

We want you to use RP CYC as a primary source of information and photographs for accurate scale modeling or historical purposes and to keep each volume on your bookshelf for handy reference.

If you have never looked at this reference series, I highly recommend it! While most volumes are sold out at the publisher, copies can occasionally be found on dealer shelves, or secondary markets like BookFinder and eBay (and of course Volume 20 (along with some other volumes) at Ron's Books!).

Some additional information:

Railway Prototype Cyclopedia Release Dates

Vol 1 July 8, 1997
Vol 2 June 30, 1998
Vol 3 February 10, 1999
Vol 4 February 2, 2000
Vol 5 November 29, 2000
Vol 6 September 28, 2001
Vol 7 May 20, 2002
Vol 8 February 15, 2003
Vol 9 September 26, 2003
Vol 10 April 14, 2004
Vol 11 February 15, 2005
Vol 12 September 27, 2005
Vol 13 March 18, 2006
Vol 14 October 23, 2006
Vol 15 April 23, 2007
Vol 16 October 23, 2007
Vol 17 April 16, 2008
Vol 18 February 14, 2009
Vol 19 October 24, 2009
Vol 20 May 17, 2010
Vol 21 Nov 12, 2010
Vol 22 July 14, 2011
Vol 23 October 18, 2011
Vol 24 April 2, 2012
Vol 25 October 18, 2012
Vol 26 March 26, 2013
Vol 27 October 17, 2013
Vol 28 April 2, 2014
Vol 29 October 20, 2014
Vol 30 September 25, 2015
Vol 31-32 April 25, 2016
Vol 33 October 29, 2016
Vol 34 March 29, 2017

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Pickles for your Model Railroad...

A recent inquiry from a prominent S scale modeler about Pickle cars prompted me to to do some additional research.

Since Pickle Cars, Vinegar Cars and Salting Stations are a unique industry for a model railroad layout, and there are regular inquiries about this industry, I thought perhaps it might be useful to summarize some of the major resources available to modelers.

Without a doubt, the major resource available is the book Pickle & Vinegar Makers of the Midwest - The history and operations of two fascinating industries by David J. Leider. Self-published in 2015, the book is 140 pages chock full of prototype information, excellent prototype photos, drawings and plans along with some references to the modeling press. The book features chapers ont eh midwest pickle industry, the manufacture of pickles, pickle transport, vinegar history, vinegar manufacture and factories, vinegar transport along with numerous charts, tables and plans, including car data from selected issues of the  ORER. If you're looking for THE reference on these industries and the railroad cars that served them, then this book is what you need. The book is currently available on Amazon as well as directly from the author.

If you're interested in the industry, but not at quite that level of detail, then obtain a copy of the article The Pickle Industry and Railroading, also by David J. Leider, published in the December 2011 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.

Also an excellent reference is the article L.C.Forman Co. Pickle Tank Car by Harold W. Russell, MMR, which includes pickle tank car drawings along with prototype photos. The article was published in the NMRA's Scale Rails magazine, December 2009 issue.

For a more complete bibliography of references, please see our new Pickles & Vinegar for your Model Railroad page. There you will find additional references in the modeling press, including articles on building both pickle cars and salting stations.

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New S Scale Library Section!

Our new S Scale Library section is growing. In there you'll find various S scale catalogs, kit instructions, past issues of some S scale magazines and newsletters, circus modeling information and various articles of interest. We will continue to add to it over time -- be sure to check it out!

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M.T.H. Locomotives - Electronics

Like many in the S community, I'm patiently waiting for the return of the S Helper Service product line and new S offerings from M.T.H. As the pre-order date for their first catalog has just passed, I'm really hoping there was good interest shown by the S community.

One of the areas I am very interested in is the electronics they will include in their locomotives. Between the advanced sound decoders on the market and the advances that Lionel delivered, M.T.H. has a high bar to reach. Like Lionel, M.T.H.'s 2013 catalog items in the Locomotives area are being delivered in one of two ways -- either with a set of electronics to handle all sound and power needs, or delivered as dummy non-powered units.

From the M.T.H. 2013 catalog (starting on the inside cover), every powered M.T.H. locomotive will include their Proto-Sound 3.0 sound and control system. Specifically in the catalog their EMD F3A and F3B powered units will feature Proto-Sound 3.0 units which

"offers authentic EMD 567 prime mover sounds, a first generation diesel horn and bell, crew and station sounds, and the ability to maintain any speed down to 3 scale miles per hour".

 Again from the text on the inside cover page of the catalog:

"Our Proto-Sound 3.0 sound & control system enables M.T.H. locomotives to run in every S gauge environment: conventional AC or DC, NMRA-standard DCC, or our own DCS digital command system.

With a conventional AC or DC transformer, Proto-Sound offers diesel motor sounds that ramp up and down with engine speed...You'll also hear squealing brakes whenever an engine slows down or stops. In addition, the Proto-Speed control acts like the cruise control on an automobile, helping your locomotive maintain a constant speed regardless of hills, curves, or heavy loads -- at any throttle setting from a 3 mph crawl to full throttle.

Add an M.T.H. AC transformer equipped with whistle and bell functions, and you can experience a much larger range of locomotive sounds: horn or whistle, bell, passenger station announcements or freight yard sounds, crew conversations and typical engine sounds such as air pumps...

If you operate with Digital Command Control  (DCC), you'll find Proto-Sound 3.0 locomotives take full advantage of the capabilities of DCC and are completely compatible with all DCC motive power. In fact Proto-Sound engines are already equipped to use DCC functions 0 through 28, to full advantage of newer DCC controllers that use the full range of NMRA standard functions.

To experience the full capabilities of Proto-Sound 3.0, add the M.T.H. Digital Command System (DCS) for full command control and an even larger range of sound and control features." (note: Pages 2 and 3 of the catalog provide a detailed view of Proto-Sound 3.0 features, along with a table of the DCC enabled features.)

At several points on pages 1-4, it notes that more details can be found on their web site at www.mthSgaugetrains.com. The nice thing about the online catalog is that you can click on any catalog item number and get a detailed page for that item.

The Proto-Sound 3.0 system really seems quite comprehensive. As always I'm even more interested in the reality of the delivered models. Until the S locomotives are delivered, the best I can do is review written material.

One data point that I do consider very useful is what they are delivering with Proto-Sounds 3.0 in their HO engines. Model Railroader magazine in the July 2013 issue (pages 64-65) has a detailed review of M.T.H.'s new HO scale Proto-Sound 3.0 equipped GP35. While it might not be an exact match to the S gauge unit, I suspect it will be close to the capabilities of the Proto-Sound 3.0 units in the S gauge models. The Proto-Sound 3.0 system is noted in Model Railroader's review as a highlight of the model. Find a copy and read the review for more details.

Also in the same review it is noted that the M.T.H. GP35 user manual is downloadable from mthHOtrains.com -- here's the GP35 Owner's Manual direct link. This provides considerably more insight into the specific DCC features implemented in the Proto-Sound 3.0 unit for the GP35. Again the DCC implementation looks pretty comprehensive -- including a number of advanced DCC features like user-defined function mapping, user-defined speed curves, and active functions at the consist address that are found in many DCC Sound decoders along with some M.T.H. specific DCC controls.

A little more to think about while waiting for the delivery of the models!

Enjoy!

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