Well just bought my first HEAVY brass steam loco the other day

[ryeguyisme]

Hi all,
it's been a rather long time since you've heard much from me, I apologize. Life's Circumstances get in the way and financial and labor isn't the easiest to maintain in this day in age(I know I wouldn't have to tell you all that) And for those wondering the G&D 4-10-0 is still under construction, I want to make sure i can make that mechanism bulletproof before going any further, that engine has to run really good and look really good, so high expectations.

Okay enough with the catch-up, recently I found a job and been working so I've been able to pay the bills and save for more steamers I was intentionally going to purchase a Proto Heavy 2-10-2 w/snd with the interest that I needed more heavier non-articulated steam on my roster. The BLI heavy mike isnt cutting the mustard for me, so I've been eyeballing heavy 2-10-2's and 4-8-2's like brass D&RGW and DM&IR prototypes because those engines seem to catch my eye more and have a strong heavy freight appearance.

Given the circumstances, the price for a Proto Heavy 2-10-2 makes me cringe a bit and after battling it out in the auctions I tend to lose even though I bid higher than I really wish to spend on the model err $180, I've rather spend $150 on a bachmann DM&IR 2-10-2 with sound and plop a heavy mountain boiler on it but in due searching I saw one of my wish-list engines, an LMB, KMT brass DM&IR 2-10-4 and ended up bidding on it making my absolute high price of $310 for it(hey it's brass and it's not your everyday prototype engine   ) so I went for it at that price and landed it for $293 which isn't bad, I originally thought someone was to outbid me but my luck has to be good sometimes

Pictures:









Well knowing me I'm definitely going to be freelancing this locomotive up some. First starting with the detailing on the locomotive itself, adding some marker lights on the smokebox front and some additional details as well like open reefer hatch-like cab vents(prototype on my railway) like they have on UP 2-10-2's. The paint job is going to follow the DM&IR look anyways simply because I love the color scheme to it.

Picture of a paint 3rd Rail Brass DM&IR 2-10-4:


As far as the tender is concerned, other than the doghouse on top, I really think the tender looks too bland not to mention too long for my turntable by at least 2 or so inches, so I figure I take the doghouse of and sell the tender, and buy a bachmann DM&IR clear vision tender shell and plop on one of my extra bachmann tender chassis I have laying around. Slap a franklin booster on the front tender truck(love those gizmo's   ) and take off the decals, maybe change the motor out of the engine install DCC with a sound decoder and there we go, another Rye Guy Engine for the roster

[ryeguyisme]

and the center drive axle is blind unlike the actual original KMT by a previous owner. Originally these engines ran on 24" radius and I run a 22" minimum on my lines, so I was wondering if that added blind driver help me. Any suggestions?

[RAM]

Just a word of warning.  If the drivers are sprung, then you may not want blind drivers. Ok on the 2-10-4 or 2-10-2 with the center drive blind you may be ok.  How ever I found out with an eight driver locomotive, in my case a 4-8-4 with the 2nd and 3rd drive blind they will drop down off the rail on sharp curves.  I was Lucky and was able to get replacement drivers.

[ryeguyisme]

well taking that into consideration, if they are sprung, it can be fixed

[Doneldon]

ryeguy-

It's nice to see you back and a big congratulations on landing a job in this only slowly awakening economy. It's to your credit that you were hired!

I like the brass loco you purchased, and I think you got a fair price. I didn't check Glaser's book for the value but under $300 sounds like a good buy. I tend to prefer 2-X-2 wheel arrangements but I've been fond of big burly Texas types since I saw an ATSF Texas at the Missouri State Railroad Museum near St. Louis. What a gorgeous brute! It sits on a track almost adjacent to a Big Boy and it's almost as long. I envy you too much and, in all fairness, I urge you to keep your new loco under lock and key or it might be circling my layout!

Why not leave the doghouse on the tender? Potential buyers might have a problem with what's left after you remove it and be put off. Folks who don't want a doghouse can easily remove it themselves. If you want a doghouse on your new tender, the outfit that sells plastic HOn3 Mikes on the ebay imported brass list sells one for only eight bucks or something. I bought a couple a few years ago and they look fine.

A new tender could use rerailers and maybe marker lights but there isn't a whole lot to add to most of them. You can always jazz up a loco.

Again, welcome back. I look forward to your posts and your progress on the 2-10-4.
                                                                                                               -- D

[J3a-614]

Rye Guy,

Like Jonathan, I'm glad to see you back, and glad you found a job!  I work for an unemployment office as an auditor, so I don't see the misery as much as the claims people, but I see enough to know that many are desperate, and have helped a couple whom I met outside the office with additional assistance personally.

The prototype of your locomotive has an interesting history.  These engines were originally built at various times between about 1930 and the early 1940s in small lots for the Bessemer & Lake Erie, which like the DM&IR, was owned by US Steel.  They are essentially copies of Chicago Bulington & Quincy M-4 2-10-4s, which dated to the 1920s.  The B&LE engines, being a bit newer, incorporated some construction refinements, most notably a welded tender (that's why your tank looks as bland as it does, it doesn't have the rivets you would normally see), but were curiously lacking in others (fabricated frame and plain bearings, rather than a cast frame and roller bearings that would be more common in the early 1940s for such engines). 

When the B&LE started to dieselize, these engines and some others from other US Steel roads (including the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern) migrated to the DM&IR.  These included the 2-10-4s you have an example of, I believe some heavy 2-8-0s from the same road, and also some Union Railroad 0-10-2s, an unusual transfer engine custom built to replace double-headed 0-6-0s on this industrial railroad, and which had to fit on a short turntable, hence a short tender and no leading truck (not needed for a top speed in the 35 mph range).

Amazingly, examples of both the Union 0-10-2 and the B&LE 2-10-4 survive today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessemer_and_Lake_Erie_Railroad

http://members3.boardhost.com/Bessemer/index.html?1299547081

http://orion.math.iastate.edu/jdhsmith/term/slusble.htm

http://www.american-rails.com/bessemer-and-lake-erie-railroad.html

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ble/ble-rost.html

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/texas/?page=ble

http://www.ejearchive.com/page_photogallery.html

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ble/ble-stm.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Railroad_(Pittsburgh,_Pennsylvania)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Railroad_0-10-2

http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?Display=1016

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/0-10-2/?page=ur

http://members.lsol.net/mollyandmick/D.htm

The DM&IR had a notable design of its own, a very heavy and powerful 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone, based on a Western Pacific/Denver & Rio Grande Western 2-8-8-2.

http://www.steamlocomotive.com/yellowstone/?page=dmir

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrEeZW9SIT0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XeRrMPyJaU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccv077nocZA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUh-3k2-rEU&feature=related

Have fun!

PS--I would keep the tank around, just in case you sell the engine again, and that way the new buyer will have both if he wants them.

[ryeguyisme]

Thanks Doneldon and J3a(especially your input which dramatic amounts of material that sometimes even I can't fathom to find)

The tender I'm going to sell anyways, it's too large and I just don't have another locomotive that would look good with that slapped on the back of it, and speaking of which I probably will keep the doghouse on when I sell it. The engine however, is least likely to be sold again I know I'll be the final owner of it(very sentimental on my steam beasties) and Jon I'd sleep with it under my pillow  


the best part is it's a US steel kind of engine, and my railroad is a heavy duty express coal railroad, shipping coal at heighten velocity to the port coal docks, the engine facilities and the inter city coal dumps. The era would be a stretch from 1930's to mid 50's no diesels whatsoever(no motorized boxcars haha) Lots of medium drags, a locomotive erecting shops, turntables and roundhouses along the route, commuter steam from the suburbs to the city and light passenger service with heavyweights. Mountain climbing require the use of franklin booster of nearly all the freight locomotives on the roster and in some rare cases two under the tender of a couple steam locomotives. Eventually when the revenue heightens the railroad super will put in an order for a modernized erie style triplex. A right of way battle on one side of the line against the PRR escalated after a mainline interchange collision with a NYC destined coal pusher and a mixed PRR consist, since then a civil war of sorts existed between the two.

enough freelance story telling. This project is going to be alot of fun and besides my 0-8-0 and my care taking of my clubs New Haven 2-6-0(which needs an overhaul) this engine is like the first real accomplishment into brass locomotive collecting for me, of course there will be more but nothing comes out of my shops looking the same as it did when it went in  


PS- I've been somewhat into the hobby again ever since the train show in springfield MA I've just been too busy to post anything recent despite buying a varney berk boiler and putting it on a mike chassis but thats another story haha

[ryeguyisme]

well Today I figure since I don't have to work until 4, I'd build my first module:





for those wondering the locomotive is a modified spectrum 2-10-2, recently overhauled thanks to the gear parts received from the b-mann parts store(EXCELLENT SERVICE might I add), Locomotive was given to me by Guilford Guy for those who know him, I modified the engine first with the pilot, and the roof hatches, and smokebox door, the locomotive didn't have a smoke stack when I received it so I put a brass one on. The first sand dome I had to use on another locomotive (the 4-10-0) so I replaced that with a brass sand dome and I have yet to paint it, the tander is a brass samsahonga with a PSC brass franklin booster


The module has been planned out with an absolute minimum of 22" radii, on 5' X 2'6" benchwork, and the track spaced 2.5" apart, 5.5" to 8" from the edge

Planning on running some decent steam on ths module system

[Doneldon]

rg-

That crossing is going to be a humdinger to build if it's to be a straight over curve unit.

                                                                       -- D

[ryeguyisme]

rg-

That crossing is going to be a humdinger to build if it's to be a straight over curve unit.

                                                                       -- D

I'm hoping to mess with it some, to make it ease into the curves

[ryeguyisme]

ehhh that crossing seems to be a basket case  any hints as to a better way to cross over?

[Doneldon]

rg-

I hope someone else has a better idea than I have because none of my ideas sound very good.

One possibility is to scratch build the straight over curved crossing. That's a lot of work because you'll have to shape every piece, including the diamond and eight pieces of rail at the corners. If I were doing it, I'd start with a piece of curved track and work from that. Make sure each rail piece is electrified but there is sufficient distance between pieces that your trains don't short the whole thing out. That means making eight plastic corners. Whoa!

The second choice is to use a prefab crossing, assuming it's a stock size like 30^o. Then try to fit the curve around it by using flex track and moving the far right track out and back a little. I would guess the scratch job would be the easiest to fit in but it would be the most work. It could make for some fancy trackwork in that area - and something to be proud of.

I hate to be a jerk, but better thee than me. Good luck with this.
                                                                                                                     -- D

[ryeguyisme]

well I gave it another go and made it it but it makes the mainline look un-parallel

[J3a-614]

Atlas used to make a crossing that was meant to go with a couple of switches to make just the configuration you are looking to build.  I'm not sure of the crossing angle, but I seem to recall it being something like 17 degrees; I'm afraid I don't remember the switch frog numbers at all.

Update: Atlas crossing links, looks like the angle is 12 1/2 degrees, will need to look up what switches go with it:

https://secure.atlasrr.com/mod1/items.asp?Cc=H46&iTpStatus=0&Tp=&Bc=

https://secure.atlasrr.com/mod1/items.asp?Cc=H56&iTpStatus=0&Tp=&Bc=

I'll try and look something up in the next day or so for you.

[ebtnut]

Just for a frame of reference, check this out:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=316963&nseq=15