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South Jersey S Scale Modelers

 

 

 

 

I have been on a “Modern” and diesel binge for over a year now with no end in sight. In 2022 and 2023 I bought 4 SD40-2 and 3 GP38-2 making many of them for Conrail. I also bought 4 GP30 making 1 of them for Conrail. With the SD40-2 possibly being difficult to get running well I was looking for other locos to make for Conrail. For me my Conrail is BLUE. I don’t do early Conrail with whatever was inherited in awful condition from Penn Central. When I saw some RS11 were Conrail Blue that became a possible project. Locos 7591, 7598, 7630, 7644, 7651 and 7652 were Conrail Blue. I picked 7651 because there was a lot of on line photos. Ironically I found the upper left photo on a Conrail roster website then looked on eBay only to find that same photo had the original slide for sale so I won it for this page.

 

 

I mostly thought I was going to get a new unpainted RS11 from American Models to show them some support. This loco came up for sale and had 3 price drops until it was the same price as the American Models loco. I could not pass that up. It is Overland Models OMI 1776 imported in 1989. Another ironic fact of this loco is I knew who was very likely the first owner from an address written on the box.

 

No Lightening Stripes

I really resist buying painted brass locos especially if they are one I like and might want to keep. By the time I am done with adding the DCC and repairs the paint has usually suffered wear from handling. Further I do NOT model New York Central. I have NYC freight cars but no locos – on purpose. Attempts to trade the painted shell for a bare brass shell did not work out. It is a REALLY nice paint job, but it is getting blasted.  I do not know all of the details but no NYC RS11 actually ran in the Lightening Stripe scheme. They were sold to Delaware & Hudson.

  

 

Overland Drive

While they run better than the older Overland “tank drive” I have always hated the 2 “HO” motor drive as well for the RS11 they are not even coupled together it is essentially 2 locos in 1 shell. I mostly have changed to a single Sagami 22mm x 40MM motor. The first photo is the stock Overland 2 motor drive them my remotored drive.

 

Finding the Sagami motors now is a challenge. This motor threw me a curve. There is usually a plastic hub to attach 1 of the motor mounts to. This did not have that. I rolled a brass ring.

 

 

These are the motor mounts I designed in 2006 for my PRR RS11 Finding the Sagami motors now is a challenge.

  

 

This motor threw me a curve. There must be various versions of it. It usually has a plastic hub to attach 1 of the motor mounts to. This did not have that. I rolled a brass ring and soldered to a very chopped motor bracket.

 

 

Also this is my typical all wheel pickup improvement I have done many times.  That is a Miniatronics 2 pin plug leading up to the motor and decoder. It runs really well now.

 

 

 

Updated 3-21-24

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