A make-over for a couple of old locos...

[doctorwayne]

For a long time, I've been not totally satisfied with the appearance of my two Moguls. The first, number 34, is a brass model of a Boston & Maine B-15. When I bought it (used) it would barely run and I ended-up replacing the open frame motor with a can Motor from Mashima. Because of the loco's narrow firebox, the motor had to be mounted on a bracket soldered into the boiler shell.
To disguise its heritage somewhat, I added homemade brass awnings over the arched tops of the cab windows, replaced the single phase air pump with a compound one, and added a headlight and number boards to match those of my road's Consolidations. I also replaced the tender's Fox trucks with modified Andrews ones and added a working coupler to the loco's pilot. The result was a very sweet-running loco that had decent power for its size. Here's a couple of photos of the thus modified loco.
Engineer's side:


Fireman's side:


I'd barely started on this project when I decided to also modify the 34's more modern sister, #37, a plastic model by IHC. It had been altered to more closely resemble the 34, with similar details and a shortened tender. My plan was always to re-motor this loco - it runs nicely enough, but requires more current than the 34 at start-up. When doubleheading these two, the smaller 34 will drag the 37 and the trailing train (usually only 8 or 9 cars) until the power is increased enough for 37's motor to begin turning. Once underway, they run well together.
Here's a look at those original modifications.
Engineer's side:


Fireman's side:


I completed #34 first, and rather than pause to take "in-progress" photos, decided that a few views of the modified but not-yet-painted loco would suffice to show the changes.

Here's the engineer's side, showing the new cab (from a Bachmann 2-8-0), new boiler piping, also from a Bachmann 2-8-0 (the original loco had almost none), and the new piston valve cylinder arrangement.


...and the fireman's side. Some of the brass piping under the cab is simply a replacement for the original, which broke off during construction. The water pipes and overflow lines, along with the lifting injectors and boiler check valves, were non-existent on the original model.


To modify the loco from a saturated steam type to one that's superheated, I unsoldered the square valve chests from the original assembly, then replaced them with lengths of suitably-sized brass tubing. End caps were punched from .033" sheet brass, then a wrapper was fashioned from brass shim stock, and soldered in place.

The tender was also modified somewhat, increasing its coal capacity with a clear-vision style bunker, built-up from styrene sheet. The handrail stanchions are leftovers from an Athearn Mikado.




For #37, the first task was remotoring. I purchased a 20x32 can motor from NWSL, then modified the interior of the boiler to make room for the new motor, which was both wider and longer than the original one. A mounting bracket was fabricated from sheet brass and the original worm installed on the new motor's shaft. The design of the original drive train was such that I opted to re-use it, as installing a new gearbox would require a totally new pick-up system for the loco and would also require removal of too much material from the loco's plastic frame, weakening it severely. I managed (just barely) to get everything to fit within the confines of the boiler, then adjusted the gear mesh until it operated smoothly and quietly.
Unfortunately, a test run with #34 showed that while both started at the same throttle setting, #37 had become significantly faster.
It was decided to remove the new motor and re-install the original.

Here's a look at the modified loco, first from the engineer's side:


...and the fireman's side:


The new cab, already painted and lettered, is again from a Bachmann 2-8-0. For some reason, the rear appears to be sagging, although I didn't realise it to be so severely until viewing the photos. This was corrected by adding shims to the area of the rear mounting screw.
The new air tanks replace the original low-relief cast-on plastic ones, and consist of brass tubing filled with lead. The cooling coils and other piping is .022" brass wire, with hanger brackets fabricated from .010"x.030" brass bar.
The cabs of both locos, by the way, were lowered slightly by removing some material from their bottom edges, then the front openings were modified to fit their respective boilers. For #34, this meant addition of some strip styrene to allow for a tighter fit around her smaller boiler, while #37 had the opening re-shaped slightly. The latter loco's cab actually sits about a scale foot farther forward than the original. Both cabs are attached to their underlying walkways with screws driven from below, and the .100"x.100" styrene strips added to the cabs' interiors for this purpose precluded re-use of the Bachmann cast cab weights. Instead, new weights were fashioned from .030" sheet lead, and added after the cab windows had been installed. Each consists of seven sheets, formed to follow the contours of the roof and front of the cab sides.

Of course, a re-worked loco needs a tender to match, and the 37's shortened tender was a very old style, with flared top edges similar to what would have been used on a wood-burner. I remedied that by slicing off the flare, then added a "bump-up" similar to that on #34's original tender. Made from .020" sheet styrene, it's topped with a bead of .025" styrene rod. This, in turn, allowed me to create a new deck for the cistern, increasing the tender's water capacity. The new water hatch and handrail stanchions are from Precision Scale, while the hatch rest is made from .010"x.030" brass bar.
The coal bunker was also built up as a clear vision type, with the resultant increase in fuel capacity. Stanchions there are from Athearn.




In working order, tenders included, the 34 weighs in at 20oz., with the 37 at 14.75oz. I'll probably cast a lead weight to place on #37's cab floor, as she's a bit heavy in the front end.

Here's how the cab lettering was done. After an initial coat of Floquil Grey Primer, the cab roof was masked as shown, then airbrushed with a coat of Reefer White. After it had dried for a couple of days, dry transfer stripes and numerals (from C-D-S) were applied, although the finally burnishing step was omitted. The colour of the letters and stripes is unimportant, since they're used only as masking devices. Next, the cab was sprayed with a custom-mixed colour used for all cabs and tenders on my road's locos.


As soon as this paint was dry to the touch, bits of masking tape were dabbed at the cab sides, lifting the unburnished dry transfers and revealing the underlying white paint:


While #37 still requires some touch-up airbrushing, and both locos need a little weathering to blend the new paint in with the original, here are a few in-service photos.

Here's the pair, the 37 with her cab still drooping, rounding the curve near Indian Line:


...and on a bright sunny day on the bridge at Chippawa Creek:




...pulling in to Elfrida:


...and the pair westbound on the Maitland River bridge:


While I've yet to add the extra weight to the 37, the re-built 34 alone handled an 18 car train (two of which were 8oz. loaded hoppers) up the curving 2.5% grade between Elfrida and Cayuga Junction. The addition of that superheater certainly payed off, and with a savings in coal and water, too.

Wayne