The Tyco Chattanooga: A Masterpiece MADE!!! (go to pg.2)

[Darth Santa Fe]

That's right, I've been turning a Tyco Chattanooga Choo-Choo into a masterpiece! I got a junker at a train show last year, which still had everything, but was pretty messy inside and out. After cleaning it up and working with the drive, getting it working as well as possible, replacing the tires, and having no luck getting it to run smooth, I decided to replace the mechanism entirely! And the new mechanism is finally 97.2% finished. Here are some progress photos:

Correctly sized tender trucks, and no "fuel tank!" I put a front truck on the engine.

Closer look at the tender. That Chattanooga lettering will be gone eventually.

The scratch-built mechanism! It took me 6 months to get all the parts I needed for it (Athearn was busy changing their red nylon worms to white nylon, and took forever to ship any). The tender shell has 5 oz. of lead stuck into it.

The other side.

The underside. Like with modern Athearn trucks, the axles are held centered by the sides of the axle gears themselves.

A closer look at the truck's construction.

The frame is soldered sheet brass, and the trucks are glued and soldered brass sheet and tube. All gearing is made by Athearn, as well as the bearings and truck sideframes. The wheels are Intermountain 33" freight car wheels. The motor is a 16x25mm, 7-pole, coreless type motor. The flywheels and universals are NWSL parts (one flywheel was off balance, which is why I drilled a hole in the side). Electrical pickup is with all 8 wheels, 4 of which are grounded to the frame, and 4 of which use wipers made from Kadee centering springs.

After a LOT of work to put it together, the new mechanism runs very smoothly and quietly going forward. There's a little clicking in reverse, which I suspect is from an axle gear binding with my method for keeping them centered (fixing it is the last 2.8% that needs finishing). It has plenty of traction for a steam engine this size, and has a maximum speed of 76 scale MPH at 12 volts. It also runs very reliably across switches. I took the smoke unit out of the engine, since it made so much noise and drew excess current.

Up next is getting the whole thing a little more detailed, repainted, and looking good. Since the whole thing is freelance, I think I'll make it a New York Central steam engine (I have a lot of leftover decals from when I built my Bowser K-11). I'm going to try and turn this junker into...a...

MASTERPIECE!!!

[twhite]

Darth: 

And if anyone can, it's gotta be YOU, my friend! 

I would say that by the time you've got it all finished and ready to debut, that little puppy will probably make 2-8-0's from the Western Maryland or the Delaware and Hudson blush with envy.  I forsee you growing old and crabby waiting for it to move smoothly from tie to tie with about 1,287 cars behind it up a 2% grade without any helpers at all, LOL! 

Seriously, someone who can take the time and the effort to take a basic mechanism like that and work it into something that the rest of us might pass over, deserves a lot of praise. 

Keep us posted, okay?  Can't WAIT to see what you do with the locomotive!

Tom  

 

[Guilford Guy]

 EPIC!

That's quite the project!

I believe Elgin, Peoria & Illinois Central had some very similar consolidations!

[fmilhaupt]

VERY nice! That puts the old trick of putting an Athearn switcher mechanism in the tender to shame. I especially like the appropriate tender trucks, since so many others would have been satisfied to use diesel trucks for the sake of simplicity.

 

[dehusman]

If you went to all that trouble (and its a very creative solution), why didn't you space the trucks properly under the tender?

It will look a lot less toylike if you space the tender trucks properly.  They are typically centered about 5-7 feet from each end.

[dknelson]

I am reminded of the old joke that the best way to improve a Chevy Vega was to hoist up the radiator cap and drive a new car under it  ....

Dave Nelson

[Darth Santa Fe]

Thanks for the positive comments guys.

twhite, to get that kind of traction, I think I'd need superpowered motors, perfect traction tires, and a piece of nuetron star for weight! Of course, how do we know materials like that won't be available in the next x0 (pronounced ex-dee) years? I will keep everyone posted as I get it finished, because I'm also excited to see what it will become.

fmilhaupt, I've heard of the switcher chassis method before (a Bachmann 44-Tonner can also be used), but the diesel trucks are what made me want to build my own from scratch instead. I wanted it to look like a tender, and I wanted something that would be completely my own.

dehusman, I was having a hard time finding any prototype photos for the tender, so I just used the spacing of the original Tyco trucks. At this point, moving them is kind of out of the question for me, but I may do it someday later for more realism (it would require unsoldering the truck bolsters from the frame, lengthening the driveshafts, and repainting). I suppose it wouldn't be a huge amount of trouble, but I just don't want to pull it apart again right now.

[loathar]

Outstanding work Darth! Really top notch.
What Athearn truck towers did you use? (SW?) And why didn't/couldn't you use the stock Athearn worm bearing caps?

Does it still smoke?

[Cox 47]

Wow!!...Thats some nice modeling....You now have a Chattanooga to be proud of!!...Wonder how many cars it will pull?....Jerry

[TankedEngine]

Darth Santa Fe

That's right, I've been turning a Tyco Chattanooga Choo-Choo into a masterpiece!

Lots of labor of love engineering in there - well done.

I have had a couple of these in junker state but never perservered with them.

I think I am correct in saying that the Loco just sits in front of the 'motored/geared' tender & gets 'pushed' along?

I haven't run any locos/tenders set up like that & wonder what the practicalities are as regards keeping the loco on the rails - do you need to load the loco with lead to hold it down ??

What's the minimum curvature it can safely navigate??

Tanked

 

[Autobus Prime]

DSF:

The Force is VERY strong in this one. :)

Well done! 

[Darth Santa Fe]

loather, the truck towers are sheet brass cutouts I made. I made them to use Athearn gears, but their overall build is different, so the Athearn worm bearing/truck retainers don't fit. I took the smoke unit out, since it works by having a lever on one of the steam engine's axles push a lever in the smoke unit once per revolution. It made a lot of noise, and it drew excess current, so that's why I took it out.

Cox47, I don't know how many cars it will pull, but I do know that it can pull a pretty good string of them with ease (I ran the chassis without the extra weight, and it dragged 10 cars like they were nothing ). I'd expect it to pull maybe 40 cars without any trouble.

TankedEngine, the steam engine is just there for the ride. It's like a freight car, and does need some weight to stay on the track properly. I'm guessing they make some steam engines like this either to reduce costs, or maybe to simplify mechanics. I think it could go around a 15" radius in its current state.

[ereimer]

 i thought the old saying was "you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear"

 

 i guess you never heard that one ? 

 

ernie

[Milepost 266.2]

 Wow, this almost makes me want to go back and finish my articulated Chatanooga project I started years ago.  That kind of mechanism would work much better than the NSWL gearbox I jammed into the rear frame.

 

 

[SteamFreak]

 What? No more Powertorque?  Everyone knows they were the real smoke units...

 Absolutely awesome job, Darth!   You did have a lot of soldering and metalwork to do.

I would wait on moving the truck bolsters, though, because I think that tender is a bit large for the engine. You could find a smaller tender shell, and you'd only have to trim the ends of the frame back. The deluxe version of this loco was pretty close to the Black River & Western #60, one of the larger examples of her class, but the tender is still shorter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO3wqXb7Yfg

I think Tyco did whatever they had to to house the drive. A shorter drawbar would look good, too.

If you want valve gear, I have some extras in my parts collection.

[Packers#1]

 This loco is way before my time, but from what I gather, Tyco was crap. And then I'm not really into steamers either (call it being 14 and being in N scale w/ all the atlas offerings), but from what I gather (yet again), they're trickier than diesels to get runnign. Excellent work man!

[Texas Zepher]

Darth Santa Fe

... Tyco Chattanooga Choo-Choo  ... the frame is soldered sheet brass, and the trucks are glued and soldered brass sheet and tube.

Cool.  I've got an "old time" 2-8-0 by some toy vendor that this might inspire me to fix up.

My only question is that since you rebuilt the frame from scratch, why didn't you move the bolsters out more toward the ends?   It looks a little "clustered" to me.  Of course I think that is better than "stretched" like some of the 4 axle trucks on the monster USRA tenders look.

[Hamltnblue]

I think it's an excellent job.   While tyco might be toyish, it's what many of us grew up with. It's nice to see one survive and run with the modern "toys"  

 

[cudaken]

 Darth, no wonder my Dash 8 you repaired pulls like a bear. If you where a car guy, I would love to see what you would build!

             Your friend Ken

[G Paine]

So this is what happens now that Bowser is out of the steam loco kit business?? You seem to like a challenge; maybe you need to update the "Builder of Bowsers" line at the bottom of your posts.

Seriously, that is an awsome piece of work.

[Darth Santa Fe]

Update time!

I've been working on adding some good quality detail to the engine, and have removed most of the old lettering. I've also put together a crude 1.5V forward constant lighting circuit, and a simple 12V reverse light. The drive has been perfected, and needs nothing but break-in time now. And with that, here are some progress pictures!

I'll be making a shorter drawbar eventually to close that huge gap.

Thanks to SteamFreak, it now has a complete valve gear! I'll be adding some piping on the side to finish the detail there.

I've added some pilot details and grab irons, making that area look a lot less plain.

I cut off the top of the ladder and put some wire there. We'll see how it turns out after painting.

The forward light comes to full brightness at 2.1 volts. Looks a lot better than the old Tyco headlight, which was just a tube!

The directional lighting circuit. The reverse light only uses one diode at the bottom. The forward light and its diode are wired in parallel to the string of 3 diodes (which are the motor's current path on one brush), and the last diode is a reverse path so the motor can run in either direction. It's sloppy looking and crude, but it works great.

This should be quite an engine when it's done!

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

 Darth I have to say when I originally read your post I thought your train was derailed. This guy is ficxing up what? but I tip my hat to you sir you are an artist nice work keep the pictures coming.

[SteamFreak]

 Nice progress Darth, and it definitely looks better with valve gear and pistons. Who's this SteamFreak you speak of?

 And where did you find a RED uncoupling lever?

I recommend some shrink tubing over those diodes, because that's a short waiting to happen. If you get much over 2v you can kiss that Miniatronics bulb goodbye. Don't ask me how I know.

[AltoonaRailroader]

Impressive.............most impressive. Makes me want to dig mine out and take a wack at it too. I have an old Model Power Swticher that is just awful body wise that I could hork the drive unit out of. I also have a few Atherton motors lying around, but the skills you possess are quite extordinary!!!

Thanks for sharing Darth.

[Darth Santa Fe]

Thanks guys.

SteamFreak, I've actually made sure the bulb itself never gets above 1.4V. The diode it's hooked up to draws 0.7V, which is why it takes 2.1V to get to full brightness. The 0.7V draw of diodes is actually the reason the whole circuit works (it's the same one Athearn used in their early Genesis PC boards).

Oh, and that red coupler lift bar is coated copper wire. I've got a huge spool of it on my bench, and it's useful for all sorts of things.

AltoonaRailroader, I believe those MP switchers only have a single truck drive, right? Even if they do, swapping the Tyco drive with one of those would still be a good improvement.

Allegheny2-6-6-6, I'll be sure to keep the pictures coming.

[steemtrayn]

and I noticed the valve gear isn't stuck in neutral, like on some more expensive steamers.

[Darth Santa Fe]

Added some piping.

It's made from 3 pieces of brass wire and some Kadee draft gear box. I get a lot of extra Kadee draft gear boxes from their couplers, and have found that they can be very useful for a lot of different things. I don't know how realistic the piping is, but the whole engine is freelance, so I don't really care if it's super realistic or not.

[pablo08619]

I love the idea.  I have been toying with the idea myself (I have the 0-8-0 clementine version). 

[Packer]

Intresting idea there darth.

Maybe I can use the some of your ideas in getting some parts from a busted kato alco under an IHC C415 so I won't have to buy brass

[Packers#1]

 Darth, excellent progress pics.

Hey, whatever egts the job done, doesn't matte rif it's ugly long as it ain't seen, lol.

you are doing a fantastic job on that old loco!