Walscharters valve gear on 2-6-0. How do I do it?

[Dusten Barefoot]

I'm attempting to walscharters valve gear on my 2-6-0 with out having to take another locomotive apart to do so. Are there any kits out there for me to do so or am I going to have to scratchbash it?

Rock On!
Dusten

[tac]

Sir, if it was an American-built loco it is more likely to have had Baker valve gear than Walschaert.  If it's on a 0n3 model then your prolly going to have to scratch-build it.

tac
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[jonathan]

Hopefully, this will help you out a bit in your decision whether or not to attempt this.  I built a valve gear for a locomotive once.  I spent more time measuring and researching than anything else in the project.

Bowser still sells all the parts to build a valve gear (search "Bowser parts").  It would be most important for you to know exactly what size cranks, rods and hangars you want to use.  Don't forget the rivets and rivet tool.  I also found it handy to get some 0-90 screws with nuts.  Some people call these 'eye glass' screws.  They are tiny, man.  You will also need an 00-80 nut driver tool.  I may have the nomenclature wrong.  They are available through Woodland Scenics.  Some loctite is also a necessity.

There are two kinds of valve gear hangars available:  separate hangars that mount directly to the crossheads guides; either by solder or epoxy, or the one-peice hangar that mounts to the frame.  In the latter case, you would need to make sure there is a spot to mount to the frame, without interfering with the drive mechanism.

An estimated cost would be around $25 for the parts, provided you order all the right parts the first time.  I discovered a need for a second order because I ordered the wrong crank pin screws and the wrong spacers.

This is not a project for the faint of heart.  It takes a long time, and patience, to assemble correctly.

I wish you all the best!  It was hard, but I found it was worth it in the end.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Kevin Strong]

Sir, if it was an American-built loco it is more likely to have had Baker valve gear than Walschaert. 

Tac, quite the opposite. Baker, Young, and Southern valve gears were very rare on all US locomotives, let alone narrow gauge ones. After Stephenson valve gear became obsolete, Walschearts valve gear became the dominant valve gear for US locomotive builders. (That's one of the loudest "complaints" about Bachmann's 1:20.3 2-8-0; they chose a prototype with Baker valve gear, which--while accurate for the prototype--was pretty much unique to that prototype in terms of narrow gauge locos.)

Later,

K

[ebtnut]

I'll echo Kevin's response - Walschearts gear was by far the most common valve gear in the U.S.  Baker gear ran second.  Now, this is predicated on post 1900 locomotives.  The most common, almost the only, valve gear used from about the 1860's until the early1900's was the Stephenson gear.  As for narrow gauge locos, most of the slim gauge engines in the U.S. were built between 1870 and 1900, and almost all of them were built with slide valves and Stephenson valve gear. 

Getting back to the original question - Bowser and Yardbird probably have the parts to do a Walschearts gear from their HO parts, but you'll have to know what lengths and spacings are going to be needed.  Once upon a time Kemtron (taken over by Precision Scale) offered a Walschearts valve gear kit in a lost wax brass kit, which I think was designed to fit the Roundhouse 0-6-0.  That might be a good start, if you can track one down.  Don't know if it still available from Precision.