# Walthers track bumpers



## Mister Bill (Jan 30, 2014)

I purchased a pack of twelve track bumpers from Walthers. They need to be assembled and painted. They are gun metal gray plastic.

Can anyone suggest a practical paint color? Orange is shown in the photo. Is that for safety visibility?

Bill


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## beepjuice (Sep 17, 2014)

I got some a few years ago and they were already a deep rust (reddish brown) color. I just left them with some with some scenery texture around them. I like the way they are.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

Mister Bill said:


> I purchased a pack of twelve track bumpers from Walthers. They need to be assembled and painted. They are gun metal gray plastic.
> 
> Can anyone suggest a practical paint color? Orange is shown in the photo. Is that for safety visibility?
> 
> Bill


Bill;

The prototype bumpers I've seen tend to be made of unpainted rail, and rust colored. Perhaps OSHA, or some other regulator, want's them painted some weird color, but I have not seen a real one that actually was painted. Google "railroad bumpers" there's probably some color photos. 

Traction Fan


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

Hit 'em with some black acrylic wash... they'll be fine.


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

Prototype pics...


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Googling “railway track bumpers” and selecting images will give you more than enough examples....


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

I've used these MicroMark ones.
Tichy are the best IMO.


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## patrick.b (Mar 8, 2017)

I have bought the exact same bumper kit. Honestly, you can find a prototype of damn near any color if you look hard enough.

In my searching, the most common seems to be unpainted / rust color. I have also seen black, yellow, red, orange and blue.

I personally have been using black for any of the bumpers owned by the "railroad" and a mix of yellow, orange and red for industries to show distinction between them. I also plan to go back and whether them.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

LateStarter said:


> I've used these MicroMark ones.
> Tichy are the best IMO.
> View attachment 550545


It would be nice if somebody made them in N-scale.

Traction Fan


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

They're too easily hand-made, to spend money on.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

depends on the era modelled as to what colour ...
i made these on a filament printer {HO}, but will use homemade ones made from scale ties instead ... the white ones needed two coats of airbrush thinned paint to cover properly ..


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

LateStarter said:


> They're too easily hand-made, to spend money on.
> View attachment 551732


That "sawhorse" style maybe, but I found making N-scale versions of the steel beam "track ape" type in your earlier photo of the Micro Mark bumpers, from soldered together code40 rail, has been plenty challenging. They're OK, but don't look as good as the commercial models.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I think wvcga is on the right track in his post. Small, repetitive details like these can be prohibitively expensive when you need a lot of them.

Definitely look at investing in a 3D printer. Personally, I prefer theones that use liquid resin, because it avoids the filament lines. Mine has paid for itself several times over, even given the cost of consumables. Even if you can't design the 3D models yourself (although it's not that hard to learn), there are thousands of free print files available to download, and even more for a small fee.


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## kilowatt62 (Aug 18, 2019)

I found a bag of these amongst the bargain bins at my local hobby shop, ( still going strong since the late 50's. yay). 18 of them for $10.
Hand made it looks. Bad side? See that insul joiner? Yup. Rails are electrically shorted'. No biggy really. 18 dead ends on my layout? Hardly. But hey, got spares? 😏


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## LateStarter (Mar 12, 2016)

AMB wheelstops.
But they probably shouldn't be at the very end of the rails.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I have seen those (real ones) on both the ends of the rails, and a few feet before the ends of the rails.....


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

The problem with putting them right at the end of the rails is that they WILL move if shoved hard enough by a sloppy crew.

For Kilowatt -- I would have epoxied them in place with a piece of styrene insulation rather than soldering.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

kilowatt62 said:


> I found a bag of these amongst the bargain bins at my local hobby shop







__





HO Scale Track and Track Accessories: Train Sets Only


We carry HO scale track from the following manufacturers. It is important to realize that there are differences and they are not all interchangeable. Atlas - Long-time makers of HO scale track.&nb.




www.trainsetsonly.com


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## Bonz85 (Sep 16, 2019)

I see it mostly at ethanol plants and biodiesel plants where they just dump a pile of ballast or gravel at the end of the track. That would be pretty easy to replicate.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)




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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

A long time ago, I bought a couple of these small kits by Peco, “Slepper Built Buffer Stop”.....as you can see, I never did build them.....


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## kilowatt62 (Aug 18, 2019)

CTValleyRR said:


> The problem with putting them right at the end of the rails is that they WILL move if shoved hard enough by a sloppy crew.
> 
> For Kilowatt -- I would have epoxied them in place with a piece of styrene insulation rather than soldering.
> 
> ...


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Stumpy said:


> View attachment 552483


That is a pile of ties, sure enough, but probably not one intended to serve as a bumper. More likely they were pulled out and are awaiting pickup, or were dumped their to discourage trespassing by ATVs or track cars.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

CTValleyRR said:


> That is a pile of ties, sure enough, but probably not one intended to serve as a bumper. More likely they were pulled out and are awaiting pickup, or were dumped their to discourage trespassing by ATVs or track cars.


I guess I should have explained the humor. I googled railroad track bumpers and found myself at some web page with dozens of photos of RR bumpers. In the middle of them was that photo.


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