eBay Buy-it-now Photo Comment

[chuck]

Delrin, maybe?

Polyoxymethylene?

Acetal, maybe?

Yes. Other than the initial typo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyoxymethylene

[webenda]

The polyoxymthylene (Derlin) conical pocket bearings, zinc side frames and coupler are Diamagnetic. See "magnet test 2."

Delrin, maybe?

Polyoxymethylene?

Acetal, maybe?

Polyoxymethylene (POM), also known as acetal, polyacetal and polyformaldehyde, is an engineering thermoplastic used in precision parts requiring high stiffness, low friction, and excellent dimensional stability. As with many other synthetic polymers, it is produced by different chemical firms with slightly different formulas and sold variously by such names as Delrin, Celcon, Ramtal, Duracon, Kepital and Hostaform.

Magnetic susceptibility (χ) = −9.36×10−6

I know you know but for those who do not know, if χ is positive, a material can be paramagnetic. Alternatively, if χ is negative, the material is diamagnetic.

Or so says Wikipedia. Have I been trickerated again?

[Roy]

FWIW, I'm guessing the bearings in your new boxcar are iron-based oilite, and so would be ferromagnetic.

No more guessing, I tested the materials with a magnet.

The polyoxymthylene (Derlin) conical pocket bearings...are Diamagnetic.

OK. For an ordinary boxcar that has no operating mechanism, that should be all that's needed. I made the previous guess based on appearance. I'm more used to bronze alloy oilite, which has a gold color. The bearing in your photo looked grey metallic to me. I'm used to Lionel delrin being jet black.

[Roy]

Have I been trickerated again?

Are you feeling mendasticated?

[webenda]

"Your search - mendasticated - did not match any documents. We think someone is pulling your leg."

Stop that, Roy! I am feeling castigated for my spelling, not mendasticated by Wikipedia

[webenda]

The bearing in your photo looked grey metallic to me. I'm used to Lionel delrin being jet black.

Me too Roy. Color is a fascinating subject. The bearing looks jet black to my eyes, but dark gray to the camera (Nikon Coolpix S3300.)
I see Brunswick Green as dark green but most people swear it is black.
How about these Havianas flip-flop sandals, what are the colors you see?

[chuck]

Looks like powder blue and a med gray green. I'm sure it's neither. I was surprised at the coloration on the photo's as the truck I have looked black on black to the naked eye.

I am seeing more "color shifts" as I replace more and more of the incandescent lights with LED's. My OTT True Daylight CF bulb was pretty good at color rendition. The LED bulbs are all over the map. The "warm" ones seem to be the worst.

[Roy]

I agree with Chuck, colorwise.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Have I been trickerated again?

Are you feeling mendasticated?

More like digustipated......

[Roy]

Is that constipated with disgust, Rufus? Mine was masticated with mendacity.

[Roy]

I pass my time smiling at people who are nothing and should not even exist.

My apologies for that, Rufus. I know it's wrong for me to exist, but I'm afraid to kill myself.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Is that constipated with disgust, Rufus?

Disgustipated

And the angel of the lord came unto me, snatching me up from my place of slumber.
And took me on high, and higher still until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself.
And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own Midwest.
And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil.
One thousand, nay a million voices full of fear. And terror possessed me then

And I begged, "Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?"

And the angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots!
You see, Reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day and to them it is the holocaust."

And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat like the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared,
"Hear me now, I have seen the light! They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you!
Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers!"

Can I get an amen? Can I get a hallelujah? Thank you Jesus

I pass my time smiling at people who are nothing and should not even exist.

My apologies for that, Rufus. I know it's wrong for me to exist, but I'm afraid to kill myself.

I don't recall. Did I smile at you?

In any case, here is a litany to aid you with your fear:

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

[Roy]

Did I smile at you?

I wouldn't know.

In any case, here is a litany to aid you with your fear:

(Yada, yada about fear)

...Only I will remain.

Me, without fear, is still a pretty dismal prospect. But, I'll join the carrots, sooner or later.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

But, I'll join the carrots, sooner or later.

And from the carrots there was juice and juice was good, and there was much rejoicing in the land and the people did celebrate and feast upon the lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and breakfast cereals ...

[Roy]

Wayne, when you announced you were going to do rolling resistance in curves tests, I was pretty excited. Then I realized you'd have to scratchbuild or modify trucks to test what I've been suggesting. The only trucks with wheels rolling on axles are postwar cars, and I'm not interested in testing those.

I picked up a truck I played with a few years ago. It's a modern needlepoint axle truck. I pulled all the fast angle wheels off, in a way that didn't damage the needlepoints. Then I carefully removed the swedging on one end of the axles, just to the point that a postwar wheel had a close, smooth rolling fit. I used some K&S brass tube on the axles, long enough to keep the PW wheels in proper gauge.

It's just a start, but you can play with it, and see that you can get more efficient rolling on curves. Maybe three railers wouldn't give a dead rats *** for the improvement, but I won't be surprised if we see this on the real railroads.