Large Scale Central

Heritage Express Prairie locomotive

Modeling
#1

Always a love/hate relationship with these 2-6-2 locomotives. These were the brass-plated potmetal forefathers of the later Buddy ‘L’ and Keystone variants. If one did not partidularly need a 2-6-2 locomotive then one would avoid like the plague. It is possible to get a smooth running locomotive, but one does need to put up with the inherent faults in the type.

Suprisingly, the loco drive is based in part on the LGB Mogul, even down to the moulded recesses to take carbon brush pickups for the drive wheels. It would not suprise me if LGB Mogul wheels could be fitted (as yet I have not tried this task).

The drive suffers from the plastic embrittlement remembered on the late 1990’s B’mann Shay. The most crucial area is the aft two of the four mount screws that retain the drive top cover. The rear screws apply a downward pressure on the motor pinion, keeping it in mesh with the drive train. Every loco that I have had (around nine in total) has suffered deterioration in the mount screw bosses, leading to the motor spinning with no gear contact. the fix is to fit longer screws and hopefully find a few threads that have not deteriorated.

Another area of embrittlement is the mount bosses on the lower drive cover. Not as frequent as the deterioration on the top cover, but the mount screws on the lower cover can pull through the lower cover, leading to loss of retention.

I decided to continue with a previously started project just for a bit of sado-masichism. I really do not like these drives. First off was to ditch the standard motor and fit a B’mann clone sold on eBay. Direct replacement once the drive pinion was removed from the old motor and fitted to the replacement. I discarded all the shonky substandard wiring and directly wired the pickups to the motor.

The Heritage is supplied with a cast iron weight, but the drive could do with extra onboard weight, although this is a tradeoff as the drive is not very strong and failure will result.

I lowered the superstructure by around 5/16". While minimal it does make an impact on the model as the stock model does look overly top heavy. Next came a cabin detailed to more resemble a switcher type, with blanked off forward side window. Seating was provided.

The factory supplied paint is extremely difficult to paint over as the applied paint pools on the surface, even after most of the original paint has been removed. I will discard the original tender and run with a Big Hauler/Anniversary type. The original factory sound is woeful and will not be missed.

Trials to date in unfinished form have been excellent. The loco is very smooth at low speed, although the short moment arm on the leading and trailing truck could cause problems on small diameter curves. To make the loco reliably negotiate switches it is advisable to remove the sideplay in the leading and trailing drive wheels, by inserting thin slices of brass tubing over the drive shafts, sandwiched between the drive wheel inner face and the drive block bushing on each side. While doing this I would also fit the spacers to the pilot and pony wheelsets, keeping the wheel back to back measurements correct.

Hauling four heavy cars the power draw was less than 0.5 amps.

#2

Sounds like quite a project.

#3

I just got one of these locos and I thank you for this report. Now I know what to problems to look out for.
Any idea as to who put these out on the market and when they appeared?
From your description this loco may just be an early Chinese attempt to get into the G gauge market by copying parts of LGB engines. Or it could be done by an American or European contracting with a firm in China to manufacture these engines.
I am not very discriminating about the types of locos I use on the railroad. I have a major coast to coast line and a local backwoods railroad. So just about any model I get fits onto one or the other. I do not model any real railroad so I am free to use whatever equipment I like.
Stephen

#4

Welcome Stephen! Merry Christmas!

cale

#5
Stephen Auslender said:
I just got one of these locos and I thank you for this report. Now I know what to problems to look out for. Any idea as to who put these out on the market and when they appeared? From your description this loco may just be an early Chinese attempt to get into the G gauge market by copying parts of LGB engines. Or it could be done by an American or European contracting with a firm in China to manufacture these engines. I am not very discriminating about the types of locos I use on the railroad. I have a major coast to coast line and a local backwoods railroad. So just about any model I get fits onto one or the other. I do not model any real railroad so I am free to use whatever equipment I like. Stephen
I can tell you they have been around for a while in various disguises. The loco may look LGB-like, but I think the freight cars are copies of Bachmann's cars from the old Big Hauler.

I found these photos on my Comcast web space of an old brass plated version:
http://home.comcast.net/~pthorton1/new-comcast-page.html

#6

Stephen,
the manufacturer of these ‘quality’ products does not even put their name on the packaging or literature that accompanied the locomotive. These really are the low end of the market as regards quality. Probably on a par with the cheap battery operated manufacturers. Even so, I did purchase nine of them for various projects. Having one locomotive to spare, I stripped down the drive and made it into a Mogul configuration (2-6-0). The drive will be fitted to a Big Hauler tender, giving a duplex drive for the loco in the initial posting. Definately freelance, but as I am not a fan of these drives, it is a fitting end to make something unusual from them. The wheel configuration will end up as 2-6-2-6-2 and will keep the fireman busy keeping up steam pressure to the two drives.

         I will strip the standard wiring and fit an aftermarket electric motor.  To date,  this drive seems to have escaped the usual embrittlement that afflicts the plastic used on them,  but I am awaiting the inevitable failure.
#7

I do not know if any of these are still available in the retail market. I found mine at the local model railroad show. This is the first of these I have seen. I have been accumulating the Bachmann 4-6-0s for kit bashing and scratch building. I get these also at various local train shows at a nice low price. The problem, of course, is the lack of power for pulling long trains. But I do have one of those aftermarket upgrades. I am not concerned about following any particular prototype. Exact scale models are not my thing. I figure if every real railroad made their own modifications to engines they bought and some of the larger RR’s made their own locos from scratch, why cannot we modelers make our own designs. After all, by doing so we would be following real railroad practice.
I’ve also been accumulating the old Lionel PRR Atlantics for the same reason. I do not feel like making my own running gear. Back in the 1950’s there was Robert Schoup who modified the available HO gauge cast metal locomotive models into other types. He ended up with something that looked like the prototype but was not a scale model of it. It was obvious in his articles in Model Railroader how much he was enjoying doing this. And after all, like they said back then, “Model Railroading is Fun.”
The trick now is to find the time to do all this.
Stephen

#8

The duplex powered tender drive is completed. Whilst running in tandem with the powered locomotive, the total amperage draw is less than 0.5 amps (running on a small LGB 0.5 amp power pack). As on the loco drive, I replaced the stock Heritage electric motor with a Bachmann clone and used carbon brush pickups rather than the stock brass strip collector. The complete loco runs very smoothly, with a decent drawbar expectation.

#9

I’d like to see photos of what you did in terms of the duplex drive with the powered trucks in the tender. Is there any way of post them on this site?
Stephen

#10

Very much a toy and not practical from a prototype sense as the fireman would have no chance of keeping steam pressure up. Maroon painted pieces are original and unable to overspray due the very oily factory finish. Loco runs very smoothly.

(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/tim_brien/_forumfiles/duplexa.JPG)

#11

Tim, I do not know why you disparage your work. I like your 2-6-2-6-?.
If you want to kill the toy-like look of it paint the few colorful parts black and paint the wheels a silver color like real locomotive practice. Then weather the entire engine. It will end up looking much more like a real locomotive.
Also, why worry about the fact that the thing would be almost impossible for the firemen to keep up the steam. Just consider it a noble experiment by your locomotive shops. After all. the real railroads did quite a bit of experimenting and were not adverse to admitting they went too far when it became apparent. So why should we be any different? After all, the triplexes were failures, as I recall. You had both the Erie 2-8-8-8-2 and the Virginian 2-8-8-8-4 Triplexes and as I recall both were later rebuilt back into a more normal articulated and the remaining set of drivers made over into a Mikado.
So why should we be any different?
Stephen

#12

Tim,
Try the Neolube from MicroMark…it does a very nice job of covering just about everything. Goes on smooth…

#13

Bruce,
I will give it a try. I have the same issue with many of the Bachmann factory painted items as paint tends to ‘pool’ rather than coat, even after sanding and thorough cleaning.

#14

Neolube is for applying to metal. How does it work with plastic. Will it harm the plastic? Also, how will it take handling? Will it rub off if a person picks up the painted locomotive?
Thanks,
Stephen

#15

A short video of locomotive operating.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Gscalenut?feature=mhum

#16

Looks very good. I do not know why you call it toy-like. I think it is fine.
I also like your elevated roadbed. I do not know about you but I am way too old to be crawling around in the grass playing with my trains. I’m building my layout at table height off the ground. Also, that way no one can walk on my track.
Are you planning on putting a sound card in it? You can get them with the sound of two different cylinders in operation.
Stephen

#17

Stephen,
like you, I am too old to be playing in the dirt at ground level. I also like to view my trains side on, rather than overhead, from a bird’s eye view. No sound as the loco is not worth spending the money on it. I have numerous sound boxcars that I will run with it.