I traded some repair work for an old LMB CB&Q 2-8-2 today. Intersting little Mikado, real tall cab, large wheeled trailing truck and the best part, it runs super smooth and quiet. Almost can motor quiet, yet still has its vintage open frame and an open worm/gear box set up. It was correctly painted but it was an old and badly done job. The boiler and tender are in the stripper can and I serviced the chassis and repainted the cylinders. Once boiler and tender are stripped, I will give them a dishwasher bath and repaint. Need to order decals as I dont have them for this model. I am tempted to move the headlight to a centered position, move the bell to a front mount and paint her for my shortline, definatly has the shortline look about her. No box and loads of wheel wear, so any collector value is long gone. Gotta love nice old brass steamers, espicaly when they run nice! Pics soon, a pic of a stipping can isnt very interesting! Mike
LHS mechanic and geniune train and antique garden tractor nut case!
LMB was the brass import line of Blum's Hobby House in Cleveland. They had CB&Q 4-6-2, 2-10-4, and two of the 2-8-2s -- one of them duplicating the 4960 excursion locomotive -- and much else besides
I seem to recall KMT was the actual Japanese manufacturer.
The wonderful HO Seeker website has the catalog page that shows the original unpainted model
http://www.hoseeker.net/lmb/lmbcatalog1968pg03.jpg
Dave Nelson
Had you considered just using it as "lease" power, that old LMB with the whell wear and all will still fetch $300+ with a nice paint job on it. Those were sweet running old engines, run forever and never give a hint of trouble, wish the same could be said for some of the new ones on the market.
Better to expend the effort to install a new NWSL can motor in it.
Or at least that's my opinion....................Mark
Decided to keep her CB&Q, the boiler and tender are out of the stripper can and are now nice and shiny brass again! Tomorrow after work they will get the dishwasher treatment, otherwise paint wont stick to well. Then I can shoot both satin black with a silver/graphite smokebox and bake them. I must say the drive runs smooth and almost totaly silent, and goes around the 15' radius curve at the one end of my little test layout supprisingly. I would love to find the other CB&Q engines. I think this one is the excursion engine, looks identical to the pics I have seen of her prior to going to the Grand Canyon line. Looks to have had PFM sound at one time, tender floor is drilled for a speaker, had a blown micro bulb in the front light still and the tender is drilled to take a light bulb. The most wanted Burlington steamer on my wish list is the one that had the Mars light above the main head light. Pics soon. Mikie
Looking at that old catalog pic, if the tender's coal boards taper inwards, its the 4690, correct?? The bottom pic of the other style tender is hard to see, but the coal extension boards look to be straight up and down. Mine angle inward so it looks, from the pic, that I have the 4690 and that is what it was numbered before I stripped it. It will also get that number when I repaint the engine. Need to find something opaque to fill the angled numberboards on the front headlight, so they will be lighted and numbered. P.S. It runs to well to remotor it right now. The local club it will get run at is DC only. Someday she will get a can motor, but not yet. Besides, the smell of the ozone when I run the old girl is half the fun for me!
Enjoy that nice baby--I've got one on my Yuba River Sub (a Burlignton WWII 'loaner'), and it's a very smooth running, sweet loco. Very well made. Mine had the motor changed out several years back to an NWSL can--the original open frame was giving up the ghost--but the original motor was dependable power for years and years. .
I'd like to have gotten hold of the LMB Burlington 2-10-4 also--reports on that loco were very positive.
Enjoy.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
The 2-10-4 had some issues concerning "correctness", if I remember correctly the running boards were too low and the boiler diameter was off a bit as well, but not much. But, that said, it's still a heck of a nice looking engine and darn near all of those old LMB's were superb runners and can still be found in the $250-400 range. Or...........if the minor flaws bother a person there is always the Challenger version at about $1000!!!
Yup, that was my thought as well, I'll take the LMB, I "know" how they run, smoooooth. They also used that same mechanism for their B&LE and DM&IR 2-10-4's as well, again, very smooth runners.
The older brass engines from Japan are a true bargain on the market today for someone who wants something that actually "runs" and doesn't shed pieces along the way. I have seen several Westside cab forwards go for less than one of the new MTH cab forwards, not being into the sound and smoke thing as well as having no interest in DCC or DCS I consider them a superb bargain. Remember, most of them are already 40+ years old and still going strong, I wonder how long these new ones will last? I seriously doubt that they'll see their 10th birthday in many circumstances, at least not without major repairs. And one company's engines, I won't say their name as some people appear to be very defensive about it will be lucky to make it 5 years without problems, aka "motorized scenery".
Well, enjoy that little 2-8-2 and remember, you'll always be able to recoup your investment there...........
Mark
Just as a supplement to my above post, the HO Seeker website has all sorts of helpful old literature
http://www.hoseeker.net/lit.html
includintg two LMB catalogs
http://www.hoseeker.net/misccatalogs.html
The Q 2-10-4 (and Pacific) is here: http://www.hoseeker.net/lmb/lmbcatalog1968pg02.jpg
Based on the photos and on my recollection, I think the LMB brass engines came in "bare" brass -- that is, sometime in the 1960s or 1970s brass engines started to come actually painted a "brass" color so you'd no longer see variations in the shades of brass (ranging from very yellow to slightly pink), and no longer see the slight signs of soldering. Some guys stripped off the brass paint, some used it as a first primer coat. I can recall seeing older brass for sale in hobby shops that over time would become tarnished.
Just like the PFM models of that era, LMB's came unpainted. Tenshodo was one of the few that offered most of thier models painted already. I got the model primed and painted satin black during lunch at work. Now that I am home, I put her in the over at 170' for 45 min to bake the finish, now I can paint the smokebox. Still need to come up with decals however. I am impressed how well it runs, better than some PFM pieces I have owned. Cheers Mike