Loco Project

[jonathan]

Yes, another project to share.  Gotta keep my hands busy... still waiting for the USRA Mikados to hit the streets.

Anyway, this is a brass B&O Q-4b 2-8-2.  Rather that start from the beginning, here are some progress shots:

Locomotive mechanism:

Installed a new motor, the old one was too noisy and vibratey. Also modified a kadee coupler to fit in the front.

Rear angle showing the wiring.  Needed leads for the headlight and a reverse light plug:


Another angle:


All the truck parts need to be painted separately:


The tender:


Drilled a hole for the reverse light:


The loco shell:




Finally, all the little wheels were brush painted:


Will share more as I make progress.

Regards,

Jonathan

[on30gn15]

Have read that after some initial skepticism, the USRA designs were well received by the railroads. True, mechanical is most important to the actual railroads, but the designs did have good lines.
Ah, recognize the motor lettering as NWSL.
Vanderbilt tenders are interesting, kind of like them.
I've for a long time had a notion to create, just for fun, a really ugly beast via adding Vanderbilt tender to a Camelback locomotive.

Bell and whistle cords are nice touches.
Is loco going to be solid black, or have touches of color in locations such as cab roof, and window frames?

[jonathan]

I have a rare color photograph of the locomotive I'm trying to model.  There are no colorful flourishes; just black and graphite on smokebox and firebox.  I'll still need a few colors for the controls in the cab.

Regards,

Jonathan

[J3a-614]

Jonathan--don't post as much as I used to, due to being busy with a couple of other things, but the work you and Roger do is still top-notch, looking forward to seeing the finished product!

on30gn15--A camelback with a Vanderbilt tank?  Son, I say son, there's a prototype for everything!  The NYO&W had such a beast!  I don't have my copy of "The O&W" in front of me, but if memory is right, it was a 2-8-0, and the tank was second hand from somewhere else.  For all I know, the engine may have been second hand, too, and from a different source.

If you want to see a REALLY ugly locomotive, check out "Erie Power," published by the late Al Staufer.  The Erie had some Vauclain compound Decapod 2-10-0s that looked pretty conventional as Camelbacks go when new, but when they were rebiult with a really high single cab on top of the Wooten firebox--whooee!  That NYO&W engine looked good by comparison!

By the way, some firm made a plastic 2-6-0 Camelback some years ago--in some ways a rather primitive model, don't remember who did it now, and it was a generic model--but it did most closely resemble a series of engines on the Old Woman.  Would take a lot of work, including a better tender to get it to look right, but you had something to start with at least.

[Len]

IHC did a "Mother Hubbard" 2-6-0 Camelback and Mantua did an 0-6-0 and 2-8-2 Camelback some years back.

Len

[J3a-614]

IHC did a "Mother Hubbard" 2-6-0 Camelback and Mantua did an 0-6-0 and 2-8-2 Camelback some years back.

Len

Thanks for tickling these old brain cells, Len!  

You're right, it was IHC that had a sort-of NYO&W 2-6-0 Camelback.  

Mantua had a number of Camelback engines over the years.  One of the first HO models of any kind was Mantua's "Goat," based on a Reading 0-4-0; this model dated back to the 1930s.  Many years later this engine was reintroduced in plastic as both an 0-4-0 and an 0-6-0, both still inspired by Reading prototypes.  

Mantua also had, as noted, 4-6-2 and 2-8-2 Camelbacks; these were patterned after Lehigh Valley engines.  

Other Reading engines have been mass produced over the years.  These included the I-10 2-8-0, made by Varney in metal back in the 40s and early 50s; a surprisingly good looking (but unfortunately poor running) Bachmann model of the same engine from the 1970s (the tender is still made and mated to some of the USRA 0-6-0 models as well as a freelanced 2-6-2 based on it); a 4-4-2 and 4-6-2, both in metal by Mantua in the 1940s; a streamlined 4-6-2 based on the Crusader by Bowser-Penn Line in the 1940s; and most recently, a T-1 4-8-4 by another manufacturer in various guises of its prototype, including in service and fantrip versions, a Chessie Steam special variant, and even a version based on the same engine disguised as a Delaware & Hudson 4-8-4!  The last one was for that road's sesquicentenial, and only ran in that configuration for a handful of excursion trips in one year.  

Oh my, what a collection of Camelback photos!

https://sites.google.com/site/camelbacksteamlocomotives/home

https://sites.google.com/site/camelbacksteamlocomotives/home/1-0-4-0-0-6-0/2-0-8-0/3-2-6-0/4-2-8-0/5-2-8-0/6-2-8-0/7-4-8-0/8-4-4-0/9-4-4-0/a-4-4-2/b-4-6-0/c-4-6-0/d-4-6-0/e-other

[Irbricksceo]

My grandfather has a brass camelback, I believe it is a 2-8-0, for the CNJ. The CNJ having had them long after other roads got rid of them since, due to being in NJ only, they didn't have to remove them from service after the ICC ruling.

[on30gn15]

While I would not want to be crew on a real camelback loco, they are interesting beasts.
Last year 2 of the IHC models were acquired for eventual painting for one of my freelance roads.
CNJ had some nice looking 4-6-0. Model Railroader's Steam Locomotive Cyclopedia has an 1880s, Reading, I think, 2-8-0 which has an interesting low-slung look. An older issue of Model Railroader magazine has a 4-4-0 from someone, Erie? DL&W?
And then there are the 1850s Ross Winans jobs on the B&O - think someone is doing or has done them in O. 
Ya know, one of those B&O beasts would make a nice companion to the Lafayette and the DeWitt Clinton.

[jonathan]

Reminds me that the B&O had a consolidation (2-8-0) camelback.  There's even a brass model of it.

Anyway, back to this project... Not quite ready to assemble the major parts, but we're close.  Here are a few shots:

Tender about done.  The coal load glue is still very wet.




As usual, I put in a working reverse light using a warm white SMD.  I had to drill a notch in the lens so the SMD will fit in the reverse light can... which is very small:




Loco shell. I went farther with the weathering than I had intended. It happens:




I don't have a seated brakeman or a fireman at the moment.  They'll have to come later:


Installed the trailing truck and added weathering to the mechanism:


Smokebox front. Need to buff it out a bit more to smooth out the neolube:


Should be done in the next few days.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Woody Elmore]

Jon - is that the Westside version of this engine? I had one that was manufactured in 1976 and the Westside used a red white and blue box. Sad to say the engine was problematic. The importerss were going to Korea for models and the first few years of Korean stuff had many problems. There were a lot of cold solder joints and my mike had an undersized can motor and it was noisy and fast. Mine came with the optional water bottle auxiliary tender. The frame was too wide on it so the engine needed wide radius turns when running with the auxiliary tender. Since our club at the time had a minimum radius of 4 feet that wasn't a problem

When I started doing my post graduate work I decided that I didn't have time to tinker with the engine so I sold it at one of the Timonium shows. To this day I'm sorry that I sold it. The guy who bought it had a B&O hat and denim engineer's jacket which he said belonged to his dad - a B&O engineer. So I know the engine went to a good home.

Jon - your work inspires people. Whether it's brass or a Bachmann product you always add something.

[jonathan]

Thanks Woody!  Hope this helps give ideas to the younger crowd.  Gotta keep this wonderful hobby going.

Yes, this is one of the Westside versions.  In fact, I have both versions of the Q-4b.  One was the builder's version with twin air compressors and no brakeman's hootch (1976 like yours).  This is the later version, corrected for how the B&O modified them.

Both versions had terrible motors, which I replaced, but they have a great gearbox.  Again, yes.  Westside was known for occasional bad solder joints.  I have three Westside models and all need little repairs here and there, though nothing insurmountable. I also have one Overland model (kaching).  It, too, needed solder repairs.  Only PFMs seem to be rock solid construction. Go figure...

One of the reasons it takes me so long to assemble these models: all the little extra details that are needed--like lighting for example.  Also, I like to add some sort of illusory connector to the coupler and lift bar, like so:







I know a small piece of chain is not correct, but it looks nicer than anything I could model that would look close to the prototype.

And did anybody notice I painted the inside of the cab walls green?  Not an easy trick to pull off. 

Here's the other Westside Q-4b


Regards,

Jonathan

[jonathan]

Still need to do some wire adjustment between loco and tender, but here's a couple preliminary shots of the locomotive:




If you click on the images, you can magnify the photos to full size.

Regards,
Jonathan

[J3a-614]

Nice work as always, though for some reason this particular model is bittersweet.  Reminds me that we have so little in the way of later B&O steam in existence today--no Q-4s, no Big Sixes, no T-3 4-8-2s, no EL-3s, no EM-1s. . .

[Woody Elmore]

Jon - what color are the engineer's shoes? You painted the cab interior - wow.

Westside models went on a decline in the late Seventies because the owner was involved in a divorce. He turned to new Korean builders whose quality couldn't match the Japanese models imported by PFM. PFM later used Korean builders but the quality was much improved. Generally models by Empire Midland and Hallmark were things to avoid unless you were a serious brass guy. Being a Southern Railway fan I bought an Empire Midland Southern 4-8-2. The tender wheels were out of round and out of gauge. Every time I ran it something fell off. I had (and still have) a resistance soldering rig and got lots of practice tinkering with brass engines.

Keep up the good work. Did you color the gauges on the cab back head like the model airplane guys do with cockpit gauges?

[Len]

I get chain for the wooden ships I build from this place:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/cgi-bin/s8.cgi?cat_s=BJ&str_s=chain

Len