Very nice.  Did you lower the

Very nice.  Did you lower the boiler by taking a section out of the cylinder saddle under the boiler and removing part of the rear of the firebox?

We would like to hear more.

About the details of your effort.  It is really cool and nowadays with all of the older steamers coming on to ebay and train shows at reasonable prices, a lot more of these bashes could be done.  I am also very curious how you achieved a lowering of the engine and make it look factory fresh.

Regards, Vic B.

Make that 3 on lowering the boiler

Very nice modification. One would think that's a brass model under that paint job.

I'm also very interested in how you lowered the boiler. I have two Roundhouse engines, 2-6-2, and a 4-6-0 that could use this treatment.

Bernd

Lowering the Boiler

That was the job that made me really nervous.

I had to take away a slice of cylinder saddle. Additionally I had to take away a good portion of the ash box to keep some clearance to the drivers. But the slowest of all jobs was to render the exhaust pipes to the smoke box, because they have to have the right curvature to smoothly lean to the round boiler.

The very best advices I can give is to get such a result:

1. Do it!

2. Take your time!

Normally I am to fast!

Thank you all for the warm comments.

scopewime

...

Write the article and they'll pay you enough to by another one..or two...

If you don't have pictures of the boiler lowering process, buy another engine and do it, with pictures of the areas to be removed highlighted with a red marker...MRH will likely buy the article in half a second!!!

Kitbashed Roundhouse 2-8-0

Congratulations Scopewime for making a beautiful model out of this kit.   I have four Roundhouse steam loco kits being done at the moment.   I chose to do them all at once to cut down on time - big mistake!   One is the kit that you have done and I'm turning that into an Interstate RR 2-8-0 #7

Another is the roundhouse 0-6-0 which is being converted to an L & N 0-6-0 B -4

Finally I am doing two old timer 2-8-0's into freelance 2-8-0's for my own road the Jamestown Jellico & Ewing.  All are a lot of work but most enjoyable recreational time.   These mechanisms run particularly well using Nano-Oil on the drivers, motor and gears.

I bet you have great pride in your work and to think that you made so much of your 2-8-0 and could tailor that to the actual N & W prototype that you followed.   This type of work gives you enormous pleasure per dollar.

Best wishes of any further efforts

2-8-0 Kitbash

Brings back memories of the '50's and '60's when this was what we did. No super detailed SOB, RTR, stuff. Couple of comments. The lifting injector seems to be left out of the loop; what about the air pumps, tanks and associated piping? Did you include a power reverse? Keep up the good work.  

Some parts - ??

Hello J P!

For me it is great to build up a kit coming from the mid 60'ies when I was born, putting some DCC components into it and getting a individual engine. An engine with character.

So now to your questions about the parts...

The air pump is on the right side of the boiler and just positioned this way, because this builders fotos shows it like that  http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/photos/NW03929.jpg

The connections to the injectors ... ??? ... although I am playing with steam engines, did some rides already, i am absolutly no expert in the piping of such a thing. Especially as I origin from germany, where thes seldom used this kind of injectors.

A power reverse  - I did not find on the old photos like this one:

http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbs/photos/NW06590.jpg

So I tried my very best

If you got a got book where the piping and detailing of US steamers in the early 20th century is describes, please do not hestitate to tell me.

scopewime

Beautiful job

Beautiful job, and I second or third or fourth the suggestion for doing an article for MRH. I built (butchered compared to your work) several Roundhouse engines in the 60's. With a lot of drive tuning these heavy engines pulled very well. I may have to pull them out of storage and start over.

Reference book for steam locomotives

The absolute, gold standard if you can find it ( may be out of print, my copy dated 1960) is Model Railroad Cyclopedia - Volume1, Steam Locomotives, 271 pages, edited by Linn H. Westcott, Kalmbach Publishing Co. 

Good luck

DCC for your loco

I have a similar project for which I've been following your second bit of advice - taking my time. It's been more than 20 years now. I lost track of your number one bit - Do it.

Now I'm inspired all over again. Thank you for that.

You mentioned DCC in the loco. Are you using the Roundhouse open frame motor, or did you install a modern can? If you used the original motor, what decoder do you use? I have several Roundhouse and Bowser locos that I'm reluctant to modify for DCC because of the large current draw. Must I just bite the bullet and get modern motors?