Wagner Car Company Truck Book No. 4 - Part 2

These are the balance of the pages in Book No. 4 plus some supplemental sheets.

While the "Elevated Car Trucks" were intended for the Chicago Rapid Transit (CRT)/Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) 4000 cars there were other CRT/CTA cars these trucks could be used for. 

The addition of the wheel guards to these trucks made these trucks the true North Shore Line standard trucks. Note the underbody detail is mounted on a brass plate which in turn is mounted to the bottom of the model. 

Perhaps most interesting is this flyer which was not an official part of "Truck Book No. 4". If you recall in the inside cover of this catalogue was an "Editorial" which mentioned Rich's health problems. Rich had suffered a cardiac arrest (heart attack). This flyer was for a copy power truck to replace Wagner power trucks. HO parts were used. The motor is from an HO diesel locomotive. It used a plastic worm. The spring belt between the pullies was rubber. This power truck did not operate as good as a Wagner. I bought one. It worked but it wasn't the same as a Wagner. It's still in my parts bin.

Cheers,
Ed

Update on My Health

Please excuse the delay in posting more of Wagner Truck Books. Since late May I've been plagued with various throat and lung infections. This includes Thrush, bacterial pneumonia, and now a fungal pneumonia.  

It's difficult to get things done when you feel like a series of trucks have run over you. I'm starting to feel better. As soon as I take care of a few things the balance of the Wagner material will be posted.

Cheers,
Ed

Wagner Car Company Truck Book No. 4 - Part 1

Please excuse the interruption in posting the next Wagner Truck Book. Unfortunately I was sick. 

With this Post there's a change in the format of presenting each page of the Book. It will be easier to explain each page as it is presented. 

The cover still has the orange band at the left margin. For some unknown reason my scanner chose to make the orange a red.  

Page 2 has an interesting "Editorial". Please read it. How many of the names do you recognize? Rich Wagner's illness during 1976 is mentioned. More about his illness will be covered later. There is a date at the end of the "Editorial". A separate price sheet to be presented later is dated April1, 1976.  

A note in the margin of page 4 mentions about 37-1/2" prototype wheels. These are LARGE wheels!

There are photos of the underbody of models on multiple pages of the catalogue. These are interesting to note. On the bottom of page 6 the underbody pieces were mounted on 3 separate pieces of brass sheet, The brass sheets were then "screwed" to the underbody of the model. 

There are many ways to mount the underbody pieces to the brass sheet. If the part is heavy it can be screwed to the sheet. Lighter parts can be soldered to the brass or glued using epoxy or ACC. Sometimes small pins are used.

If you look at the underbody of a prototype streetcar or interurban close-up you'll notice not all items are mounted directly to the underfloor. Some are hung from metal straps connected to metal cross braces. Sometimes resistor banks are hung directly in the center of the car. When hung this way the resistors have to be hung low enough to clear the brake rigging of the car this includes the brake cylinder, air lines, and the piping from the brake cylinder to each truck.

On page 10 the interior and underbody of the Illinois Terminal (IT 404) lightweight car are shown. The underbody parts are mounted directly to the wooden floor. In the interior besides the seats are the controls in each end. Wagner included his trolley rope retriever mechanism.  

This order sheet was stapled into the center of the booklet between pages 12-13.

The balance of Truck Book #4 will be the topic of the next Post.

Cheers,

Ed

Wagner Car Company Truck Book No. 3

Wagner made it easy to find the Truck Books by having the orange along the spine of the booklet. Almost all of my train, trolley and how-to-do-it books and booklets have always been stored on book shelves. The Wagner truck books always stood out and easy to find. 

A printed date in the catalogue is 5/1/69. Some general comments about the photos and trucks. On the cover is a photo of a model on a layout. In back of the model is scenery on a wall. The scenery is a drawing or a photo. What is important is the back-drop scenery - a photo, drawing, or a photo wallpaper has to be installed prior to making the layout. In making the layout, this can be installed later but may be difficult to do. It may not hang correctly. If you read books on designing and building layout, the recommendation is the back-drop scenery is to be installed first in the area where the layout is to be built.

Page 3 - Someone I know when researching material for the Houghton County cars discovered the truck centers were not the same distance from both ends. I don't recall exactly what he discovered. You'll have to look it up yourself. Also, if you ever have a chance to visit Houghton, MI you'll be surprised by the grades these cars had to climb. Both Houghton and Hancock (across the river from Houghton) are very unusual. They are in the copper mining area of Michigan.

Pages 5 and 21 - Introduce the "Inch" truck. These trucks can be noisy. The axel without the gear is a split axel with each wheel powered by a spring belt. I prefer the "LL" truck even if a hole has to be made in the floor.

Page 15 - The ITS300 and NS801 sideframes can be used to power The Car Works CA&E 450 series coaches. A Q-Car CA&E 3rd rail beam should be installed.

Page 16 - The McGuire 78ST is about the only power truck I have with the "Inch" power drive. Jim Osborn built a large number of single truck snow sweeper bodies. No trolley line worth its salt would be without one or even two! If you are making a model of one be sure to use a photo of your trolley lines snow sweeper. There is a lot of detail to add before completing your model.

Additional Sheets - About 16 months after the Catalogue was published, prices had to be increased. As always there were additions to Wagner's trolley trucks! 

Cheers,
Ed

Comments on Mounting Power & Trail Trucks

During last week I was sick with an infection. This means no work was done on the Blog. These are some general comments on mainly power trucks.

If you're been reading the Truck Books you may have noticed the info on installation of the power trucks. The following comments come from my personal experiences. This is easier to notice with open frame motors but is true for can motors. Also this info is true for both Wagner and Q-Car or any power trucks. When the motor is run with the armature turning in one direction vs. the other direction the armature will move inward towards the motor or outward away from the motor.

The reason for mentioning this is, over time some power trucks will make a noise when operated in one vs. the other direction. Normally power trucks are shown installed with the gear box facing forward. However, if the power truck is noisy when operated in this direction. Try turning the power truck with the motor facing forward.

Next the question, "Should the power truck be mounted in the front or the rear of the model?" If mounted in the front, the model is being pulled. If mounted in the rear, the model is being pushed. Now lets see if this makes sense. I always tried to have the model balanced. That is, I tried to have the same amount of weight on the front truck as on the rear truck.

Q-Car sells dummy motors which can be mounted on the axels of the trail truck. This will help to bring the model into balance by placing weight in non-powered truck. Either seats, underbody equipment, or car weights have to be added to bring the model into balance.

Why the concern about having the model in balance? Some models weigh enough to go through trackwork without being in balance. However, if the model is very light in overall weight; the lighter non-powered end will not track properly through tight radius curves or spring turnouts.

The gear box seemed to take up less space than the motor's magnet end. The additional space may be needed for mounting a coupler. So this means the power truck has to be: 

1. mounted with the gear box facing forward at the front of the model OR 

2. mounted with the gear box mounted facing the rear at the rear of the model. 

These conditons could help you to decide where to mount the power truck.

When there has been little space for mounting a coupler, especially between cars of a train where there is no need to uncouple the cars, dummy couplers have been used. Also, when there is restricted space for the draft gear, look at what is available from a vendor like Precision Scale Company (PSC) in the way of both regular size and narrow gauge couplers. Some interurban companies used smaller than normal size couplers. For example, the North Shore Line (NSL) used smaller size couplers in its passenger equipment to prevent yardmen from using passenger cars to switch freight cars.

Wagner Ctalaogue No. 3 is next! Cheers,

Ed

Sorry about the white, the "Blog" has struck again!!!!