# Mail Box



## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

A friend is building a Mail Box, Train Theme and as you can see more needs to be done as it is still in the planning/building stage. To enhance the box I assembled a velleman circuit kit, comes with a circuit board, a package of components and a functional schematic,. Radio shack had the switch I wanted which will produce the Chuff Sound with a button switch when the box is opened. Enjoy.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Nick;

Cute idea, but I hope it does not adversely startle the mail delivery person when it chuffs.

I always thought that a mailbox mocked-up to resemble an RPO car would be cool. Today it could be achieved simply by printing the image on steel or vinyl. I suppose some rail fan oriented manufacturer would have to think it would be profitable to produce.

Thanks for sharing,
David Meashey


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Dave, I did suggest he set up a video camera for the first time it is put outside to capture the event. While searching for ideas I found several Diesel style that had the RR insignia very nicely painted on the box sides, I didn't see any RPO, but I bet you can paint one on the side of a normal box with maybe a blister on the top to represent the cooling fan assembly. LG


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Nick that is a very nice, the design is cool. I like how you did the number.
Thanks for sharing.
Dennis


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

> I always thought that a mailbox mocked-up to resemble an RPO car would be cool. Today it could be achieved simply by printing the image on steel or vinyl. I suppose some rail fan oriented manufacturer would have to think it would be profitable to produce.


 Doesn't the USPS still have very strict requirements for "rural" mailboxes? They have to be pretty much what we all know and love (size, color, shape, etc.). As for personalizing one's own mailbox, like Nick's seriously neat loco, either the USPS regs allow for personalization or they just don't bother to fight them. I think.

JackM


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## Ironton (Jan 2, 2008)

I believe the box itself must be an approved box, that is what is allowed by the USPS. My box is larger than most, but is approved.

What you put around the box is up to you as long as you do not block access. So if the boiler is an approved box, the rest of it will probably pass muster.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Dennis, Jack & Rich, thank you for the compliments and advice. Jack, not my design, friend Sgt Becker did the design and build, I'm just working on the sound. Yes, started with a standard cheap mail box and just built around it. Jon still has detail to add and I will interface the sound system. BTW, is any one aware of restrictions concerning SOUND coming from a mail box, may take some research. I guess it's obvious the loco # is the house number, what isn't obvious from the pic, is the roof of the cab and the Key Stone on the smoke box front are Copper sheet. We're having fun. LG


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

I've never heard of a mailbox with sound emitting from it externally at it's location, but I have heard of circuits that will set off a sound inside your house from circuitry mounted inside the mailbox to alert you the box has been opened or that their is mail in the box, but the postal person would not hear any of those sounds.

That may be something you need to check with your local postmaster on. As it may be something that may not be permitted. 

I'd definitely check with the postmaster first before actually installing or even designing a sound system that sounds off at the actual mailbox location when opened. There could be regulations against such criteria.

BTW: Very nice job on the mailbox. Would love to have one for letting the maintenance and management folks here put in the community newsletters, lot rent, etc. in by my front door. We have community mailboxes here, so if I wanted a mailbox like that, I could have it at my door for the aforementioned items, or even a larger one for UPS or FEDEX deliveries. But got to walk to the community mail center to retrieve any USPS I get.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

if i were you i wouldnt let your friend use his mailbox. a few years ago, me and my dad built our mailbox to look like a duck. the mail man liked it.he thought it was neat. my dads dad(my grandfather) used to make duck decoys.he passed away about 20 years ago(so before i was born) dad had the head for a decoy that he made. it was one of the last things of his he had. then vandals smashed the mailbox, and the duck decoy head was missing. just like they did with our christmas decorations the year before.
i am afraid the same thing will happen to his. (and yes, we live in a very good neigborhood, and most of the people that live around are between 65-80, but stuff still happens.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville, I actually the idea of the sound being in the house rather than the box much better, I will approach him on that and I think he would like it as then he is getting the fun out of it instead of a possibly having the delivery of his mail stopped. Can you give me a hint about in box device that will activate the in house sound without having to trench out to the box, give me more ammo for the change. 
Nate: I know of what you speak, had a neighbor that had a Goose Neck box and the kids used to like to play I think it's called Mail Box Base Ball where they knock it for a loop with a bat. It seems that anything outside is fair game today no matter where you live, **** shame.
Orville: you got me thinking, I wonder what the range is on those remote door bells??? MEN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH LG


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

in fact, i dont even like to clean the rails on my g sclcle outside to be shiny, because when they are dull, you cant tell the railroad is there since its is backyard. when the rails are shiny and reflective, you can see this bright line in the back yard which causes attentionn.... and possibly vandals


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Nick Jr said:


> Orville, I actually the idea of the sound being in the house rather than the box much better, I will approach him on that and I think he would like it as then he is getting the fun out of it instead of a possibly having the delivery of his mail stopped. Can you give me a hint about in box device that will activate the in house sound without having to trench out to the box, give me more ammo for the change.
> Nate: I know of what you speak, had a neighbor that had a Goose Neck box and the kids used to like to play I think it's called Mail Box Base Ball where they knock it for a loop with a bat. It seems that anything outside is fair game today no matter where you live, **** shame.
> Orville: you got me thinking, I wonder what the range is on those remote door bells??? MEN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH LG


I have those remote {Wireless Doorbells} on my manufactured home. I believe the range on them is 100' on the ones I bought quite a few years ago. I think it's be easy enough to install an IR detector pair in place of the button on the remote. Then when mail is placed between the detector and emitter, the sound would play inside the house.

i don't think it'd be too difficult to modify the remote button for detection inside the mailbox and the doorbell assembly with your own sound system for in the house.

I know mine said 100' range, but I have gotten 150-200' range out of them. I think most of the ones I've seen today say 50' for reliable service, but if you're like me, you never go by and test it to see just how far it'll transmit to it's receiver that it's linked too. Usually by little jumper blocks. My current remote wireless doorbell has 4 banks of 16 songs or sound effects, for a total of 64 choices. I'm sure you could get a single chime one and modify it for your Chuff Sound module instead of the installed sound.

Good Luck with it!


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

It also depends on the number of obstacles between the transmitter and the receiver... Put the receiver as near to the mailbox as possible with the fewest walls between the pair. AND be sure to NOT put the transmitter antenna INSIDE the mailbox... the metal mailbox will be like 1000 walls!


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville & Semper, I thank you for the info. Unfortunately Sgt Becker USMC superior stated in no uncertain terms "NO WAY". 
It isn't finished yet, he has more detail and I am making a mold and will cast a duplicate of the stack on my Fairymead for his box. 
He is going to try and have the sound at the box and see what happens. I so much like the suggestion of sound IN the house, while not making a locomotive box as I don't think it will survive here, will in the near future put a magnetic switch, transmitter and sound in my house. LG


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Nick Jr said:


> Orville & Semper, I thank you for the info. Unfortunately Sgt Becker USMC superior stated in no uncertain terms "NO WAY".
> It isn't finished yet, he has more detail and I am making a mold and will cast a duplicate of the stack on my Fairymead for his box.
> He is going to try and have the sound at the box and see what happens. I so much like the suggestion of sound IN the house, while not making a locomotive box as I don't think it will survive here, will in the near future put a magnetic switch, transmitter and sound in my house. LG


I talked with my mail person the other day about sounds coming from a mailbox, and said mail person stated to make sure to check with the local postmaster general as she was certain it is illegal to do that to a working mailbox. 

So having a sound that could startle your mail carrier could land your friend with a fine or worse jail time. 

So he better do some real checking and research before installing ANYTHING in a USPS mailbox that isn't supposed to be there! And if you install, you do become an accessory to all this, if he wants sound to come out of the mailbox to get reactions, he may be putting you at risk of getting fined as well. 

If he insists and wants to do it, even if they say you can't, let him do the installation, your building the unit would mean nothing, but installing it could definitely get you involved with some legal mumbo jumbo. And I'm sure you really don't want any of that.

But she said really check, even if he says he did, you should also check and see what they tell you. Can't count the number of times a supposed friend told me something was legal and ok, but before I did anything, I checked and found out they would have set me up.

Be safe, not sorry! Good Luck!


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville, thank you very much, and NO I don't want any drama in my life at this age. I will forward your posting in it's entirety to him. LG


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

nick, did you get my PM's? 

i would make sure if you do it, it is a light chuffing sound, and not something like a blaring whistle sound, also, i would have your friend wait out at his mailbox for the mailman the first day, and show him so he isnt startled.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Should he wait by the mailbox for the alternate mailman and the substitute mailman and the new mailman and... how will he know when the alternate is on the route, and when the regular one is on vacation/sick-leave to warn the sub, and when the route is reassigned to a new mailman?


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

nate, thanks for alerting me, I answered you, LG


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville, you are absolutely correct. I called the local post office and was assured that there is a regulation against sounds emitted from a mail box. I wanted to find something in writing that I could post. He told me to go to USPS.COM and look for DMM. I couldn't find DMM but I do believe him. Will now disappoint Sgt Becker.
Thank You all for your input.


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## Tomahawk & Western RR (Sep 22, 2015)

well, if you put the sound device in a box directly under the mailbox, you could do it, as it is technically not coming from your mailbox..


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Nate, that may be a hair I personally wouldn't split. Did you get my PM


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Nick Jr said:


> Orville, you are absolutely correct. I called the local post office and was assured that there is a regulation against sounds emitted from a mail box. I wanted to find something in writing that I could post. He told me to go to USPS.COM and look for DMM. I couldn't find DMM but I do believe him. Will now disappoint Sgt Becker.
> Thank You all for your input.


I found the DMM, but there is way too much info there to try and locate the information directly. I have an e-mail in to the USPS and have explained the situation{no names} and have asked them if they could send me the direct link.

However, I did find this information and something else you should verify with the postmaster before even using or installing the new mailbox.

Here's the link to the "Mailbox Guidelines - Installing a New Mailbox:"

https://www.usps.com/manage/mailboxes.htm

Taken directly from the USPS website.

Once I get a link or the info on the sound criteria from USPS, I will pass that along too, but this may take a few days to get back to me.
.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville, thank you. I did fine the 'Mailbox Guidelines-Installing a New Mail box", but the DMM eluded me.
I appreciate your help in finding documented proof. 
On the plus side, If he can't use the sound system I assembled, I WILL. Magnetic switch in the box w transmitter on the back. The sound board IN my house. LG


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Nick Jr said:


> Orville, thank you. I did fine the 'Mailbox Guidelines-Installing a New Mail box", but the DMM eluded me.
> I appreciate your help in finding documented proof.
> On the plus side, If he can't use the sound system I assembled, I WILL. Magnetic switch in the box w transmitter on the back. The sound board IN my house. LG


No problem. 

That DMM site s a ROYAL P.I.T.A.! 

I found it and there are what appears to be hundreds if not thousands of documents in there, so tried the search function using varying forms of locating info on sound in a USPS mailbox, good grief, the results were just as bad, and when you'd open the link to any of the DMM documents it listed, they were so long and tedious, it'd take years to read through them to try and find the exact info being sought after.

After I spent a few hours trying to locate it, I opted to contact the USPS directly and ask for an exact link or the info to be sent to me directly and a link to exactly where I can find it on-line, if one exists and at all possible.

Just know it is and was very tedious to try and find it, almost impossible from all the other stuff you have to try and read through just to locate a small snippet of the info you're really looking for!


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville: Sgt Becker was very disappointed when I told our findings. I am making progress on the stack as I did make the mold for it. To save mold material, I thought I'd cast it in halves and then adhere them together with a bolt protruding from the bottom.
LG


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Nick Jr said:


> Orville: Sgt Becker was very disappointed when I told our findings. I am making progress on the stack as I did make the mold for it. To save mold material, I thought I'd cast it in halves and then adhere them together with a bolt protruding from the bottom.
> LG


Still have not heard a peep from the USPS site where I asked for a direct link to the info as yet. If they're checking into it at all, I don't know, or maybe they don't even know where it is in all those documents. So they could be trying to hunt it down and that's going to take a lot of time.. 

They need to condense those documents, much of the stuff is just like the media, rehash of the same info just in a different format/different way to state it, but still mean the same thing. Dang, do I find stuff like that annoying when trying to locate specific information on something or watching the news and they rehash the same thing 20 times over!

Had a feeling he wouldn't be too happy with our results/findings.

That stack is looking pretty good from what I can tell of the mold. Are you casting it in metal or some other material?

Looking forward to seeing how the finished product looks.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville, thank you again for your effort. 
I cast it from resin that Micro Mark sells, the standard one, and if it doesn't hold up they also make a high strength one. Today I am cleaning it up so it is presentable.
Sgt Becker insists on moving ahead with the sound emitting from the box. Says he spoke with his Letter Person and she thought it was a 'CUTE' idea, I think it will bring trouble down the line. In addition he is going to take it in at night so it isn't destroyed or stolen. Personally, I think just a bit over the top, but not mine, just having fun with the portions of the project I am doing. I'll post a pic of the stack later today when I finish cleaning it up. Tomorrow I will go and deliver my parts and install the sound system and activation contact, I'll take pics of the finished product then. LG


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

I couldn't add pics to the previous post, here is the stack, unpainted. The red stuff is Bondo, auto body filler. I use it to fill in gaps and fix flaws. LG


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is the latest that we just did this morning. Installed the stack, the project box with the circuit board, the speaker with enclosure and the magnetic switch near the door that activates the sound. He said he has more detail to add but is using it already. . I am curious to see how long he receives mail, I will post if anything changes. Thank You LG


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Looks great Nick. 

I think you might be right about that sound in the mailbox causing issues later down the road. I talked with the lady and the male alternate mail carrier that delivers our mail and they both said if they opened a box and a loud sound came out of it, it would probably startle them enough to drop the mail, not only that, they said if any mailbox did that on their route, they'd refuse to leave any mail at the location until the sound was removed.

He may get lucky and nothing happen, but the postmaster over our mail where I live said he was pretty sure there was a regulation against it, and he definitely wouldn't advise doing it, not unless you've got a lot of money to invest in lawyers in case something happens. Just know if I had been or was thinking about doing such a thing and got this info from most of the folks in the USPS service, I wouldn't even attempt it! But that's me, if one wants to chance it and get into some financially dire straits and can afford attorney fees, by all means, go right ahead and do it. But don't tell us we didn't warn you first!


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

BTW: On that stack, how well would that hold up if it could made to fit a G gauge steam {large or small} loco and pump smoke through it?


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville, I passed on the info you posted, and I do believe it, he chose to continue on this path.
The stack: I made the mold from a 1:13 scale loco so It may be a bit big for a 1:29 ro 1:32. I used the CR600, the web site doesn't show any specs on the temp usage. As a quick test I held a match under a piece. It didn't melt but it did ignite after a while. They also have a CR900 which is a high strength version of the same thing. I am now curious enough to give them a call today and see what they say about temp resistance. I am going to fire up one and will hold the casting up against the smoke box and see what happens. if you are speaking about an electric with a smoke generator I doubt there would be a problem. I'll let you know what Micro Mark says and the results of holding up against the smoke box. If after all the ?? are answered and you are still interested, I'd be happy to cast you one LG


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Nick Jr said:


> Orville, I passed on the info you posted, and I do believe it, he chose to continue on this path.
> The stack: I made the mold from a 1:13 scale loco so It may be a bit big for a 1:29 ro 1:32. I used the CR600, the web site doesn't show any specs on the temp usage. As a quick test I held a match under a piece. It didn't melt but it did ignite after a while. They also have a CR900 which is a high strength version of the same thing. I am now curious enough to give them a call today and see what they say about temp resistance. I am going to fire up one and will hold the casting up against the smoke box and see what happens. if you are speaking about an electric with a smoke generator I doubt there would be a problem. I'll let you know what Micro Mark says and the results of holding up against the smoke box. If after all the ?? are answered and you are still interested, I'd be happy to cast you one LG


Just thought if they were heat resistant enough and could hold up under hours and hours of a hot smoke generator pumping smoke through them, and they were small enough to work on an 1:29 or 1:24 loco, might be nice to have some nicer looking stacks made for my LGB Stainz and my AristCraft 0-4-0.

Let me know what you find out and we can tale it from there!


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville, so far Micro Mark hasn't returned my call concerning the temp ranges of the cured resin, so I will give them another call this afternoon. You say "hot smoke generator" so I assume electric? LG


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Nick Jr said:


> Orville, so far Micro Mark hasn't returned my call concerning the temp ranges of the cured resin, so I will give them another call this afternoon. You say "hot smoke generator" so I assume electric? LG


Yes, I use conventional DC, well AristoCraft PWC on the rails via Aristo's TE setup, so all my trains are powered from the rails and the smoke units I power from a combination circuit I built that provides +5VDC to the fan motor and the PWC DC current to the heating elements though a full wave diode bridge. One of these days I'll buy some 5V heating elements and run the entire generator on 5VDC. But for now, I have a nice supply of 18V-24V heating elements, so I use those as needed for repair/replacement when the need arises in the modified MTH fan driven smoke units I use{scavenged out of non-working MTH loco's I own.}

Got the heating elements for free many, many moons ago when I worked for an electronics outlet and they were just going to throw them out in the dumpster! So I asked if I could buy them and they just gave them to me, I was willing to pay something for them, but they just let me have them. Got a medium sized box filled to the top with them. 

I have just about used them up now, got a few left for some repairs, but now about time to look at buying some 5V replacement types for the loco's that smoke {only my steam locos smoke, the diesels no longer have smoke units in them.}

So yes, definitely electric units.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville, so far Micro Mark hasn't returned any of my calls. The supplier/manufacturer that doesn't return the call usually means they have no answer to your request, so they just ignore it rather than just say so. 
From my experience with electrics, and my limited experience with the 5VLGB type smoke generator, I don't see the unit generating enough heat to damage a stack that is cast from this material. While looking through my stuff found what I think is an LGB smoke generator and an old REA caboose smoke unit, pics attached. Life is Good
EDIT: so far his Letter Carrier's seem to find the box and sound amusing, but time will tell. Catch one in a bad mood, and the whole scene will rapidly change.


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Nick Jr. We live in the country and our house is set back aways. We have our mail boxa is in closed in steel housing with a reg. metal mail box inside of it. It has a door micro switch that activates our Cam and alarm sys. to let us know when the mail has arrived. Love to have a choo choo or diesel horn sound thro on the Alarm sys. for that area. Good ideal..


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

'noelw', sorry I had to put the parens in other wise the spell check changed you to noels. I'm sure there is a way to isolate that zone of your alarm system and interface the 'vellman-kit MK134 to produce the sound in your house, but not through the alarm system audio, it will need another path to the MK speaker. I must admit, I did instigate the Sgt to add sound to the box, but he liked it so much he refused to be derailed even when I advised him not to. I like it so much that I am going to add a contact and transmitter in my mail box to send me a "Chuff' in the house when the mail is delivered, have another kit on order. YES, another project LG


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Nick Jr said:


> Orville, so far Micro Mark hasn't returned any of my calls. The supplier/manufacturer that doesn't return the call usually means they have no answer to your request, so they just ignore it rather than just say so.
> From my experience with electrics, and my limited experience with the 5VLGB type smoke generator, I don't see the unit generating enough heat to damage a stack that is cast from this material. While looking through my stuff found what I think is an LGB smoke generator and an old REA caboose smoke unit, pics attached. Life is Good
> EDIT: so far his Letter Carrier's seem to find the box and sound amusing, but time will tell. Catch one in a bad mood, and the whole scene will rapidly change.


LOL, maybe they're testing it themselves now that you've asked. 

I asked a manufacturer a question about something years ago, I have completely forgotten who the manufacturer is, what it was for, or what conditions I was asking about, but they finally did return with an answer, almost a year and a month or 2 later. 

They told me they had to "test" {whatever "it" was I had asked about} and see if it could hold up under the conditions I was wanting to know about, when I finally got the answer, it was yes it would.{whatever "it" was!??!}, just recall getting an answer of yes for whatever "it" was. 

But I'll be danged if I can remember, manufacturer, what it was, or what conditions I wanted it to hold up under!

So don't be surprised if you finally get an answer, but just may not show up for some time!  Or you might never get one and they just hope you go away. LOL

BTW: the fan motor is 5V, but the *heating elements are 18-24V* and *work off that voltage on the rails*. So these smoke units do get hot. I have a metal stack that was made by a machinist friend of mine back in 2003, and it sits just above the smoke unit and it gets HOT to the touch from the heating elements that are directly under it by the smoke exhaust port on the smoke unit. They've never done damage to the hard plastic stacks that were originally on the loco's, so I'd think your stacks should be able to hold up to the heat as well. Just don't want to melt anything that can't hold up to the heat generated. Right now I've got a Bachmann Big hauler stack mounted in the AristoCraft 0-4-0 Steam Loco, but it's cracked and I lost the top to it. Ugh. So was trying to find something similar that I could replace the broken stack with that would fit it. I broke the stupid stack trying to press a smaller stack I cut down with the balloon top into it. So now this loco has a horrible looking smoke stack.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Orville, I am not familiar with the smoke unit you described, but at that voltage I bet it does get hot, Maybe someone with a lathe can turn one for you, sorry I couldn't be more help.


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Nick Jr said:


> Orville, I am not familiar with the smoke unit you described, but at that voltage I bet it does get hot, Maybe someone with a lathe can turn one for you, sorry I couldn't be more help.


Thanks for trying Nick. 

I'm scrapping the Aristo 0-4-0, it runs like a drunken sailor down the rails. 

I was testing it out today {Thursday, 9/22/2016} and it ran so horribly, I've decided I'm going to gut out the smoke unit and electronics I put in it, and just relinquish it as a display piece or use it for whatever parts are salvageable. it's just not worth the effort of trying to repair this particular beast.


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

I have added power pickup wiring between the 0-4-0 engine and tender (tender had power pickup for sound and light) and the difference is amazing. The rough running engine now runs smooth with more wheels picking up power.


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Dan Pierce said:


> I have added power pickup wiring between the 0-4-0 engine and tender (tender had power pickup for sound and light) and the difference is amazing. The rough running engine now runs smooth with more wheels picking up power.


Have the tender, had a PSS '97 Sound card in there, took it out because the tender pickups is from the pointed shafts on the axles. Worst power pickup ever in my opinion, it would drop out, start up, drop out start up, I had power pickups from it to the loco, still ran horribly because the tender doesn't appear to maintain a constant pickup through this system {I like the system that uses the carbon shafts and springs, never had an issue with this style pickup}. 

I even tried using a modified hopper that I motorized with an Aristo-Craft ball bearing motor block as a sound/helper car for long trains with these small loco's that aren't as powerful, all that did was push the Aristo 0-4-0 loco right off the tracks because the wheels are the worst I've ever seen on a loco. I think it used those horrid light-weight aluminum wheels and heard these have always caused issues with some of the older Aristo 0-4-0's out there. 

One of the first original runs of the 0-4-0 I'm thinking before they changed the wheels, and since it was wobbling so bad, it literally snapped one of the {not sure what to call it, it's screwed into the loco} plastic things that the wheel rods went through and broke it, that didn't help either, got even worse after that happened.

So it's scrap as far as I'm concerned, delegated to become a paperweight or just a loco to sit and collect dust on a shelf in the house, or possibly salvage what I can from it for use elsewhere when modifying something else for the railroad. 

I'll figure out some use for it, but for rail operations is going to be a no go, just not a good loco for running use. And I tried for hours to see if I could find a way to use, especially since I do like the looks of the loco, but just is not to be.

Plus the last run, it started making some strange noises like the gears were no longer meshing correctly either, it would stall and whir, then take off, and do it randomly over and over again, and I'm just not capable of repairing that aspect of this particular loco. 

Tried repairing gears before and I just ended up destroying loco's, so when they die, they're dead on my line and head off to the salvage yard for parts pickings, or whatever I can think up to do with what's left of them.


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

Remove the motor from the 0-4-0 and push it with the LGB powered tender.
I have been to open houses and saw this.


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## Cataptrra (Mar 16, 2015)

Dan Pierce said:


> Remove the motor from the 0-4-0 and push it with the LGB powered tender.
> I have been to open houses and saw this.


Tried doing that with a Bachmann Big Hauler a while back, even with added weight the power car behind it kept pushing it off the rails in the curves. So I sort of gave up on that idea for any future dead loco projects.

Been scavenging it for parts for use in other projects. Motors good, so I'm not sure what I'll use that for yet. Maybe a low voltage Halloween or Christmas prop for my display. Still thinking on that one.
.


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## Nick Jr (Jan 2, 2008)

Been quite a while since last posting, so juist to catch up: It seems the 'Chugging Mail Box' has become a hit with the local delivery people. They open the box, and wait the 3 seconds it takes for the chip to charge, and smile, he watches from the window. So far no one has complained, but only time will tell. Appreciate all input to this odd ball little project, thank you.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

I'm glad you didn't let those of us who told you what you _can't_ do, keep you from doing it. That your delivery people get a few smiles to lighten up their day is good.

JackM


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