Having followed the article on One Twenty Point Me, and having read the subsequent follow up, I find myself a little less than thrilled at having preordered a 2-6-6-2. But, the die is cast. I’m now the proud owner of a six hundred dollar starter kit.
That said, I have a “Technical Advisor” of my own, who is capable of doing to mine what is described in the review. It’s a good thing, too. While my modeling skills have come a long way in the last nine years or so, I still don’t think in thousandths (eighths is sometimes a challenge…) and I fear I’d be the proud owner of some immobile metal hash if I were to try to undertake the various mods beyond rotating the eccentric crank.
So now I’m happy, right? My locomotive is as it should be, and all’s well in Shangri-La.
Nope. It’s not enough.
Take a look at this fellow’s photos:
http://www.customrcmodels.com/Gardenrailroad/bachmanns_2_6_6_2_mallet.htm
First of all, look at the rear swing of the “Myerized” locomotive. The rear frame is jacked almost sideways under the cab, and the coupler is swung to the stops, making the following car moved almost half off center with the locomotive. Also notice the huge gap between the frame and the cab floor – on the prototype there’s an I-beam arrangement that supports the bunker, and provides a center for the trailing truck as it arches forward to this arrangement… since it’s been left off here, the rear of the frame just, well, floats.
Inside the cab, it looks like someone designing the cab looked at a photo of the cab, and missed that there’s a seperate lever for the firebox doors and the automatic brake; in the Mallet cab, the automatic brake lever looks to be about two feet long, and points toward the firebox. The independant brake looks like the bell valve on the Diesel. The electric light has two shutoff valves, one above and one below the fixture for the light bulb, while the glass itself has none.
And then there’s the boiler itself. I will skip the bit about the saddle tank, because it’s not fair to expect the manufacturer to anticipate kitbashing. I do have an issue with the boiler FORWARD of the saddle tank having a squared off frame at the bottom instead of being round like it should be.
So … now I have quite a lot on my model making plate, don’t I? I need to remove the frame forward of the firebox, and fabricate a new boiler and frame. Salvaging as many of the appliances and fixtures from the original locomotive, I need to build a new superstructure for the locomotive with that boiler. I need to refit the cab so the valves are on the pipes (not the electrical conduits) and the controls are as, and where, they should be. I need to determine whether, with the new larger boiler, I can keep the existing cab, in which case I have to remove the fuel bunker, and extend the roof, or have to use a new cab, in which case I need to modify the cab floor to accept it.
And, I need to tell my “Technical Advisor” that I want to figure out a way to lock the rear engine assembly in place, and rework the front engine to hinge with the back engine, like God intended, and still work. Then I will probably have to duck and cover for awhile while he cools off. At least we have qualified technically minded folks in our community who can help with this kind of re-engineering, and achieve good results.
Oh, yeah, I have to do something about a tender too. While I didn’t mention the electrical nightmare that is this engine, I’m going to need a place to put some electronics. At this point, until there’s a paradigm shift, or perhaps a coup d’etat, I’m pretty much expecting I’m going to have to electrically gut anything that comes out of Philly, and am prepared to do so. Anyone know where to get a really good fire flicker unit that works well on 14.4 volts?
Did I mention I could have bought two brand new “Connies” and built a “never built” mallet very similar to the proposed RGS one (which would have used two K-27 engine assemblies) for less money?
I think Bachmann had a great idea, poorly executed. I hope whatever comes next (in the “new ideas” department) is a little more in keeping with the lines of the K-27, Consolidation, and the other Spectrum engines that we’d come to know and love.
Amen.
Matthew (OV)
