The Boiler

The Boiler is quite easy to get, you simply roll over to Bachmann and they'll send you one for about $25.00 or so.  What you get is a high quality shell ready to be mounted on whatever frame you choose to put it on.

In this case, I'm putting it to this 4-6-0 chassis.

One might appreciate the size of the Richmond 4-4-0; incidentally enough, it is right about the perfect size for the boiler that was originally mounted on this frame; the curvature of the saddle fits comfortably well. The boiler will be set about a foot back, though, to clear the motor.

The shell comes assembled, so I took a moment to completely disassemble it.d

The Cab

One might ask why I don't simply use the cab as it comes with the Bachmann Shell.  Well, there's this simple issue - it's a standard gauge cab and I have a narrow gauge chassis!  Luckily enough, the chassis came with the cab, though I could have used one from MDC in a pinch if I had to.

Setting the two cabs together, it becomes apparent why I couldn't use the standard gauge cab.  Herein lies a problem - to use the narrow gauge cab, I have to cut down the supports on the boiler and then narrow down the footboards - and I'm not exactly equipped to handle precision work at the moment.

x

But I do have a razor saw...

Narrowing the Brackets

So here is where I introduce one of those "Well intended presents we dread from those who mean well."  And by that, I mean those things we get because everybody knows we like trains...and it's present season...which means, we get something like THIS:

Now I honestly don't know what exactly this piece of wood is or what it's used for [I think it may be used to hold napkins?] but the point of the matter is, whatever it's intended use is, i don;t use things like this for that purpose, or I'd already have one I'd so merrily toss out to use this one, or use them both...eh, what to do?

So I put it on my workbench...where else do we set things when we have no mind to set them anywhere else?

It turns out when I got to cutting the brackets on my boiler, I needed a firm trough to place iton, and coincidentally , enough, the locomotive on the wood piece is a Modern 4-4-0 with a diamond shaped builders plate...what are the odds?

So I first did it the hard way...but that didn't quite nibble off the exact amount, so I busted out the Dremel with a grind stone and Very Happily narrowed the mounting bracket!

Narrowing the walkways

The next part is the walkways; They have to be slimmed down in a similar manner.  I decided I could let them sit under the cab and appear as the floor, and there would be no issues.  Luckily enough, the walkways flare out to the overall width of the cab, which means the whole thing doesn't need to be narrowed.

I was set to make these cuts with the razor saw too, but sanity prevailed and I continued forward with the Dremel, this time loaded with a cutoff disk.

First I used my new "anvil" to hold the walkways up in the air while I cut off the material.  The edge had some roughness, so at this point I needed a file - a needle file, perhaps?  I gave the board a brushing here and there, and then I dug out another fun tool I knew I have but haven't ever used: a bastard file.  I got this one from Fast Tracks when I was tooling up my shop in preparation for making switches. 

It made quick work of filing off all the little details on the topside, while neatly truing the edge into something resembling a flat plane.

Onwards...

Final cab fit

The cab itself required a little modification as well, primarily to clear the brackets.  The Dremel is so much fun for this sort of work...It's not as clean as a mill might have been, but it looks well enough from the outside

I'll have to build a cab front, though I may just go ahead and build the cab wall be in place on the boiler.  We'll see what happens yet.And so there it is, all ready to be assembledit shouldn't be too bad, once it's all together...

A Tender...

I then dug around and found another box, this one holding an MDC kit I don't quite know what I'll do with it yet, But it at least had a tender and I now have a perfectly good excuse to use that!  The most frustrating part was finding the trucks, because I knew I had an extra set, but I couldn't for the life of me remember where they had gone off too, but then I found them...I think at this point I'm just waiting for that package from Litchfield to arrive!





I suppose at this point my work's all cut out for me!  We need a cab wall!

I like it!

That looks sharp, Benny, and I'll bet it runs like a Swiss watch as well.  If I had to change anything, I'd probably remove the coal bunker from the tender and add a flare around the top, to make it look a bit older.  Based on what little I know, most NG engines, and especially the smaller "main line" engines, were built around or before the turn of the 20^th century, and later modernized.  Therefore many (but obviously not all) had tenders which looked like something out of the 19^th century - because they were!  Fortunately, the rivet pattern on the MDC tender lends itself to that sort of modification.

Also, thank you for sharing a very unusual steam project!  I hope it inspires others to think outside the box car as well.

Tender

Benny, that is great work. It may be the perspective of the photo, but the tender looks like it is standard gauge width. Are you going to have to cut it down the middle?

Roy

...

It's the MDC Narrow Gauge tender - it will be used as-is.  I'll have to build a new post in there somewhere for the kingpin.

Cab Wall

So I pulled it out to night and surprised myself...working between another project!

The wall starts as sheet styrene.  I used the narrow gauge cab to trace the overall piece.



I used the standard gauge cab to get the boiler profile.

I used a L [T-square] to place and then drilled the holes for the handrail ends.  I further found the punch M.J. Fujiwara describes in his latest escapades at Micheals, and I report that it works just fine.  I'll have to practice getting it to punch straight and square.

The raw prepared Cab wall:

The cab wall will be glued in place on the boiler, while the cab is allowed to float.  This will be better for the handrails and piping.

Testfit:



A quick touch with the Floquil Spray bomb [it was on clearance sale



The interior:

Cab set in place:

Mockup on frame.  It feels a bit like the Bachmann G scale ten wheeler, which is itself patterned after a very similar locomotive, except it's in HO.

That will do it for the night.  I should probably get my wiring finalized soon, once the boiler is permanently mounted on the chassis.

Looks sharp

Wow, that looks surprisingly good.  And I'm going to have to try leaving the front cab wall separate on my models - I can see how it would make things a lot easier.  Back to the drawing board!

Great Job

Benny,

That really looks nice. Job well done and like Ken said, good idea about the cab wall.

Bernd

Very nice

Good project for a one-of-a-kind locomotive. Looks like a very typical Baldwin deckless steamer. If you gather up your organizational skills, this is the kind of article that has allowed DR Rickman to buy that boat and summer home. Right, DK?

Filthy stinking rich!

Riiiight!

Here's the boat and summer home:

I made more than I expected, but when you figure out what you make per hour , it's not a good career move for most of us.  Still, writing for MRH did give a nice boost to the hobby budget, and hopefully that will result in more projects, more articles, and more boosts.
 

Train Holder

Looks like it makes a great "Train Holder". I would put some fabric inside like an inverted saddle to protect the locomotive finish and also to catch small parts during Locomotive construction/destruction.

Here the posts ended, and yet I found another set of pictures.  This album was a VERY busy set of projects, I did quite a bit of work back in this space of time.

I took the engine down to the club and started getting the wiring setup.

First up is the motor and pickup.



Next is the headlight.



I then put it all back together.



The tender has a lot of room, which is handy for DCC.



I was worried about the cab height versus the tender, but at the very least the floor plate between locomotive and tender was at the right height.





I recall feeling the cab might be a smidge high, but tonight it looks rather decent.

When I find this again, and I have seen it a couple times even recently this year, I'll have to get a decoder harness installed and get it properly running.

I do miss the month and year long marathon sessions...and I do miss the old club layout, even if I have most of the pieces here and I just need to rebuild it.  Not yet, of course, but it's on my list of proprities.  It's just a little...low on the list at this time.