I am wanting to build a steamer from the early 20s just after WW1 so I was thinking oil burning tank setup with a tender as well, a 4-8-8-4 logging style articulated built from old Rivarossi, Bachmann, etc...
And suggestions?
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
I would start with a good old Bowser steam engine kit, or one of the Mantua engine kits. Mantua offered thier logging 2-6-6-2 in kit form for several years. Bowser had several PRR engines as well as a UP Challenger and Big Boy in kit form. There never was a 4-8-8-4 logging mallet. Weyerhaeuser's 2-8-8-2 Baldwin built Mallet was the largest mallet built for logging work. Baldwins 2-6-6-2t or with tender were the most common logging mallets in the USA. Mike the Aspie
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
While this isnt a kit, here is my brass PFM/United Sierra 2-6-6-2. She started her career on Weyerhaeuser Timber Co's lines, then went to the Sierra, then back to logging on the Rayonier till retirement. She now sits in pieces in a private collection, probably till that gentleman passes, then hopefully she and others in his collection will find homes at museums that will restore them to running or atleast cosmetic condition. If you really want a nice running, nearly bulletproof logging mallet, this is the one to get. PFM imported over 6000 of these mallets over several years. While drive is a bit noisy due to the open spur gears between the motor and the gearbox drive line. They are smooth and solid as a rock. A second hand 2-6-6-2 from one of the pacific northwest loggers also fits in with your area you want to model. Would make a good hand me down/second hand engine purchased from said road at the end of thier operations. Either from Rayonier or Weyerhaeuser's operations. You can go tank type or tender like my #38. My logging layout is set in the pacific northwest and kind of waffles between a steam era logging railway to a heritage line, kind of like Mt Rainer as I also have a CB&Q F3 that I pull my dinner excursion train with and local freight when the crews do not want to deal with firing up a steamer to switch out local industries.
Mike the Aspie
NWP SWP I am wanting to build a steamer from the early 20s just after WW1...
I am wanting to build a steamer from the early 20s just after WW1...
"Build"? Well, there's from scratch. And then there's build from a kit. And then there's modifying an existing RTR, brass or plastic.
For a kit, a Tyco/Mantua might be fun:
They DO tend to work. It REALLY should have some detailing changes, so it doesn't look like everyone else's.
Myself, I'd likely pick a BLI USRA light Mikado, as below:
It's got sound and DCC and all that. And, to me, it looks nicer than the Tyco. I'd also add/change detailing. Just for fun.
Both can easily be converted to oil by adding an oil tank in the coal bunker: Evergreen styrene plus some pieces from Precision Scale. And removing the ashpan. Could also use a different tender.
Ed
Well I'm going to modify an existing rtr. Should it be a 4-4-4-4 articulated instead?
I want it to be articulated but have a smaller style boiler like 4-8-2s and stuff.
Also I want it to have a tank setup tender and auxiliary tender. And have a third center cylinder on each set of drivers to give it that hop, skip, jump chuff pattern.
Also it's not a logging locomotive but I want it to be similar in size not the size of a big boy.
Like this.
From the three I have seen, the newest version of the Mantua 2-6-6-2 is a sweet machine.
.
Why a logging steamer on a class 1 bridge route? Am I still not understanding your concept?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
It's not a logger it just looks like one.
That's my goal a smaller end articulated that is set up long distance non stop running i.e. the tank, tender, and auxiliary tender.
That helps the locomotive fit into the early operating scheme that helped the merger happen in WW1.
Suggestions? Will this be yet another "project" that never gets off the ground, Steven? I see you post about all these grand ideas you want to accomplish or say you will do then nothing happens. Is it really worth anyone making a suggestion this time around???
Start with simple scratchbuilding or kitbashing projects and work your way up to bigger and more complex ones. You will never get anything accomplished continually dreaming up projects that you aren't ready for. Prove me wrong but I don't see this going any further than any of the other projects you've dreamed up.
Be an imagineer; just make sure it's still somehow firmly based in some reality...
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstageStart with simple scratchbuilding or kitbashing projects and work your way up to bigger and more complex ones.
When I was about Steven's age I was laying the groundwork for the STRATTON & GILLETTE. Boy, the dreams I had and the plans I made...
The SGRR was going to be in an 80 by 80 room above the garage that house my collection of 1950s automobiles.
Now, the SGRR will have its final home in an 11 by 22 room, and my oldest car was built in 2008 by General Motors.
Steven, Tom is right. Just build something. I am lucky enough to still have the first locomotive I ever built for the SGRR when I was in high school.
Have fun. In thirty-five years you will not believe how primitive your early efforts will. Just for fun, write down all your dreams and look back on them in your late adulthood.
Modifying a PRR T-1 4-4-4-4 type locomotive. I remember that because I thought of it too. Removing that ugly streamlined look it had with a normal appearance like a mountain or northern type.
I used it for commuter service. Yes I know it was to much power but it looked great with 8 coaches.
I never bought one because, wrong scale. But to much to modify. What might be easy to convert is adding or subtracting a trailing wheel underneath the boiler.
Tom and Kevin are right. I had big dreams for my G.N.O. Railway but nothing is happening other than talk, but I still hope.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
I have a T-1 I don't find the streamlining repulsive although a non streamlined version would be great.
I have ideas that sometimes I don't have the funds to do right now. But eventually I hope to do all my ideas.
I have found the running gear for it which will be the gear off a 0-8-0 Rivarossi or Bachmann. Then the tenders will probably be old Bachmann 8 axle Santa Fe's that have had their rears squared off. Maybe one will have a slope back...
The tanks on the locomotive itself will be either another Santa Fe or scratchbuilt and it may also have a slope front.
Something similar to this... Just without the coal bunker on the cab another tender on the back and the tanks square not saddle style.
Bachmann made a very nice USRA 2-6-6-2. It's far smaller than a Big Boy, though larger than a logging articulated. The same locomotive has been done in brass.
Logging articulateds were very small, and typically had 44" drivers. If you added one or two auxiliary tenders to one, you'd have a locomotive that could pull a small train slowly for a very long distance. That's not something most Class 1 railroads yearned for.
If you use the Tyco logger, it gets better, because it's oversized. I think it uses 51" drivers. So you'll have a locomotive that will pull a somewhat larger train a bit faster over a long distance. A distinct improvement.
The USRA 2-6-6-2 had drivers of 57" (still small, but 30% bigger than a logger) and pull twice as much.
PS: In high school, for my freelance railroad I designed a 4-12-6 that was a synchronized duplex (4-6-6-6). It was a very modern high speed long distance freight engine. Enlarged centipede tender. 70" Scullin disc drivers, lightweight rods and roller bearings. Belpaire firebox. Computer controlled valve timing. High speed booster engine on the trailing truck. And so on.
I've got some of the parts, but I don't put much time into it. Obviously.
So, I've done this kind of thing, too. Big fun!
What about the running gear off a light or heavy mikado? What size drivers are on those?
Steven,
Your design reminds me of an already existing model made by Mantua. Just void of the side tanks, which are not really needed with a tender.
Sir Madog Steven, Your design reminds me of an already existing model made by Mantua. Just void of the side tanks, which are not really needed with a tender.
I did this project (see below) a few months ago, which seems to be similar to what you are thinking of.
It is a Mantua, to which I added a Mehano tender. This is very easy to do (I added DCC, sound and an LED headlight, but you don't need to go that far). Adding the tender has the added benefit of adding electrical pickups for more reliable operation.
Simon
I'm not trying to make the perfect locomotive I just want to try kitbashing a locomotive into something different. Also I could put it on the mining-logging branch in the Sierras...
NWP SWP And suggestions?
I would say the near-unanimous suggestion is a Tyco articulated. It looks like a lot of fun.
According to the guys at the club anything with drivers bigger than a Mike or switcher in a 4-8-8-4 arrangment will not run at the club...
Are you referring to wheel size? In any case, it really depends on the manufacturer. The Rivarossi Big boy will run on 18" radius (with a lot of overhang). Brass models are more finicky...