2-8-2 - THE BUILD

[doctorwayne]

After a few days I managed to clean all the pieces up and ready for the next step. (Question...The cylinders have a couple of bracket-like features on the bottom "corners" which can clearly be seen in the pic. Are these supposed to be there, or are they more flashing that needs to be filed off? While I'm asking, what is that gizmo just in front of the sand dome..??)

Gus, in the picture, above, the "lump" ahead of the stack is the heater component of a Worthington feedwater heater system. There should be another "lump" beneath the running board on the fireman's side of the loco, usually near the front end - that'd be the hot water pump. There may (or may not) be a cold water pump, too - it would be near the rear of the loco and down low, usually hung below the lowest part (front) of the firebox. All three components can be seen in the photo below:


The lumps on the bottom of the cylinders are either flash or part of the runners, and need to be filed off.

Referring to your original photo, the raised area surrounded by rivets/bolts is an access to the superheater header - I'd leave this one unless you plan on a more detailed version.
Immediately behind that is a very rough approximation of a top feed check valve - this is where the water enters the boiler. The moulded-on pipe which is visible is a cold water line, fed from an injector, usually under the cab or on the boiler just ahead of the cab, on the engineer's side of the loco. If you're using a feedwater heater of any kind, its hot water output pipe should be connected to the opposite side of the check valve. If you're not installing a fwh, there should be another cold water pipe connected to the fireman's side of the check valve. It's fed from another injector on the fireman's side of the loco, either under the cab or on the boiler just ahead of the cab.
Behind the check valve is the sand box, or dome, followed by the steam dome, and an auxiliary dome - the latter usually carried the pop valves, maybe a valved pipe for live steam, and perhaps the whistle.
The big "lump" at the rear is the turret shrouding - the turret was simply an array of pipes and valves to direct steam to all of the appliances which used it - of the two moulded-on pipes coming from it, I'm not sure of the purpose of the upper one, but the lower one supplies steam to the injector (mentioned earlier) and the pipe below that is the cold water line from that injector to the check valve.
Also visible, beneath the running board and ahead of the firebox, is the power reverse. It moved the valve gear to adjust the running characteristics of the loco and was also, obviously, the means of reversing. Depending on the maker and model, it should have a steam line connected to it, usually at the rear or somewhere on the top.

Wayne