Ernst made a gear conversion for the RDC that not only slows it down but makes it a smoother runner. They only power one end of the RDC with the kit however I have installed two and they do work well.

in the old days of the early 70s, we use to take  resistors and match speeds in various diesels in that manner. For non-dcc, this works very well to closely match speeds. I use resistors based on maximum load for a particular locomotive. They will be under 10 ohms in value and usually about 5 watts in power. This requires hard wiring the pickup from the truck to the motor.

If you are modeling older narrow gauge cars, Ozark Miniatures makes a complete kit for a boxcar/stock car

Rich,

The prototype hinged boiler was first used on some unusual mallets made by Baldwin for the Santa Fe. There were a couple of versions but the best known were som 2-10-10-2 helpers built specifically for the Cajon Pass run. There were some 4-4-6-2 passenger versions as well. It is all well-documented in many Santa Fe steam books.

TRhe hinges were flat plates that were bolted together to make the joint. Maybe 8-10 were used depending on locomotive. All were retired by the mid-1920s and converted into something else.

The late Bill Schopp noted that these were perfect prototypes for small radius curves, mostly tongue in cheek as he knew the real ones required as much radius as a normal USRA 2-8-8-2.

Rich,

I'm assuming that the Southern Railway engineering staff had a bunch of obsolete parts that were paid for and thought they could make it work. There's a reason that they bought standard locomotives in the first place, not many of the southern lines had much of a motive power engineering staff that were like the Pennsy, N&W, C&O or the western roads.

They probably didn't have anyone who could figure boiler steam production. It wasn't until Woodard of Lima and his staff really did the math that the so-called super-power steamers appeared in the mid 1920s. Alco and Baldwin followed in this case.

The Southern experiment was done in the mid 1910s as a less expensive way to get a mallet. Someone just forgot that the boiler was adequate only for the original locomotive.

Jim

Gene is correct on the Southern Railway. They had 2-8-2+2-8-0 locomotives that were mikados with an older 2-8-0 frame and machinery under the tender. They failed for the same reason as the triplex, not enough steam from the boilers to run both sets of machinery when needed. The Southgern never owned a triplex and only owned a few articulateds.
For what the Southern wanted, a Franklin booster would have been more practical.

Speeds vary from construction and terrain. Most narrow guage lines ran between 15 and 25 miles per hour.  I recall seeing the pipe train on the D&RGW hittiong an astounding 8 miles per hour heading up Cumbres Pass.

Roadbed and terrain are the biggest reasons speeds are slow. on the other hand, the South Pacific Coast usually ran between45-50 miles per hour on passenger trains from San Jose to Alemeda. The Boston, Lynn and Revere ran similar speeds on its commuter lines.

in the period of 1890 and 1910 Samuel Vaulcain of Baldwin Locomotive works had a very large influance on locomotive design in the US. While many railroads had their own ideas on motive power, the Vaulcain idea of compounf cylinders was used. Almost all major railroads ordered locomotives with this setup. Many 2-8-0s were delivered with compund cylinders. The specific period Harold asked for would have most 57' drivered 2-8-0s with this setup.
The same locomotives were rebuilt in the 'teens to simple after the extra cost of maintenance was figured out.  Most of these locomotives lasted until the end of steam as simple units. The correct question is what period do you want these models to be in?

Someone mentioned the MDC 2-8-0 and 4-6-0 mod4ls. While thye have a general Harriman theme, they are not models of any specific SP class and more resemble the Bull Frog and Tonopah, Las Vegas and Tonopah and Tonopah Railroad locomotives after SP purchased a good portion of them and rebuilt them. They are basically simple versions of Baldwin catalog locomotives of the period that could be found all across the country. They are great for model railroads with 18 inch radius curves. The original MDC drivetrains suck. I mill the frames and install NWSL gear boxes and have fewer problems.

A nice set of common 2-8-0 and 4-6-0 locomotives of this type would be welcome and I'd go so far as to ask for them to be Spectrum though putting a speaker in a short vandy tender is a pain.

I have one as well and it didn't run when I got it. I replaced the reversing unit/sound in the tender with a TMCC board from Train America Studios. The installation isn't hard. If you have a three rail version the boards are a bit different than three rail but the real problem is in the board. The motor is probably fine, I removed the boiler from mine and tested the motor.

The battery system is the major problem as they get drained and can damage the system.

Out in the west the outdoor tracks were referred to as garden tracks for the hostlers to fire up or keep hot locomotives that had been serviced or required very little service. I would use you outdoor track for a hostler track. Most shops would not have a hot engine in if any work was to be done, mostly for safety reasons.

The SP had a large roundhouse and turntable at Sparks and Roseville specifically o service cab forwards being used in the Sierras.  They also had a turntable at Norden to turn helpers. This was entirely under a snowshed.

That should have a DC 70 pittman motor in it. The gears are available from NWSL if they are bad.

Those were excellent running locomotive  when new. Tenshodo locomotives were generally painted RTR, though a bit shiny.  I don't know hat's being asked but under $300 should be good. Detail was very high by 1960s standards.

BTW, that's a 4-6-4 illustrated. Still a very good locomotive.

The Roger 4-6-0 #3 of the Sierra Railroad would be a great model, but we need a SCALE version. Arbour models did it in scale but it was a difficult pewter kit to assemble and get to run correctly.

The Mantua model is about 15% too large. But lets also ask for some period rolling stock that's also prototypical to go with the 4-6-0 and the Ma And Pa locomotives. #3 isn't a large engine by any stretch but historical as it has appeared in almost as many movies as V&T #11, which by itself would be a nice scal Spectrum replacement for the dinky 4-4-0s noww offered.

Sometime in the late 1880s replacing wooden barrels as oil could seep through the seams.

My latest 2-8-0 had DCC installed, hence the switch of the DCC board to the vandy tender. The older, non DCC is a straight plug in as Gene pointed out

Robert,

Nice job on the mine but much too clean. a coal mine is a very dirty business. Perhaps this is an unobtainium mine?  This is probably the best coal mine kit I've seen, representitive of mines from Pennsylvania to British Columbia. Colorado had many mines and buildings like thgis, both standard and narrow gauge.
Some of Wlathers kits have extra pieces that are shared with other kits.  I have found instructions to be very poor from  user standpoint.