Large Scale Central

obssesed with little locos

Prototypes
#1

OK I admit I have become totally obsessed with tiny locomotives. So since David M won’t let me build my Beyer-Garratt because I already have to many projects and John C accused me of being “a tad busy in the mind” (there seems to be a theme here) I have decided to check out 2-4-0 locomotives. I am already building a 0-4-0, I am finishing a 2-6-0, and have plans for three more 2-6-0 s and when David lets me I will build an 0-4-2 2-4-0 Garratt, Oh yeah don’t forget my GP9 chop nose; not to mention two layouts and a few pieces of rolling stock, so I seem to be running short on things to think about.

I decided to play with a 2-4-0 design. I plan to put back together the 0-4-0 Bachmann Porter that had a split gear that is now fixed. I will leave it stock for now except a few pieces needed to fix it. But some day it needs to be stripped of the side tanks and be turned into a 2-4-0 with a tender. So while I am sitting here bored because I have absolutely nothing to do I was looking at American style small driver 2-4-0’s. There are some cool ones. I want to stay away from 1800’s versions because I really love 1880’s 1890’s locomotives and I will have plenty of them in 1:20.3 so for the 1:24 stuff I am trying to stay with a 1920’s theme.

I came across this beauty. To bad its an oil burner (that’s just wrong). Beautiful locomotive and I have to admit the gas tank is even nifty.

Photo credit http://trains.nute.ws/2-4-0/LK&P3.htm

#2

Devon, and that is another reason I chose the P&CS as my prototype. They had one mogul, and the other 8 locomotives were 4 coupled types. Small locomotives, hauling coal, so they were coal burners.

#3

That looks a lot like HRyCo #5 up in Kent, CT - also an oil burner…

#4

Small is beautiful! I really like the little guys, they seem so much more personable. Those big main line guys sure are impressive and awe inspiring but the little ones are approachable full of character. They also look more at home on our windy layouts.

#5

So true Eric, small locos do have a lot of character.

Devon you should check out the Bachmann Lynn 2-4-2 T engines. They have nice detail ,metal gears and would make a terrific starting point to bash up.

#6

#7

I like those locos. I wouldn’t turn one down if I got it cheap. There are tons of great little locos to be built and lots of good starting points from which to build them. Just which time and money matched dreams and desires.

I have to also agree with Eric. The big locos are simply impressive. I mean who can’t appreciate a big boy. But I fell in love with 4-4-0 that just yells American West. I then fell in love with the mogul because of my prototype ambitions. But Eric’s main 2 footers really caught may attention and now I real have a soft spot for locos that are the size of my pickup truck. I like their looks, I like where they run, and I like what they were meant to do.

#8

I had one of them Bachmann Lynns. At 12 volts, it was going faster then most any other locomotive I have. So its geared for speed, and not power. With a ruling 2.58% grade, all curves, I need my little tea kettles to have some power to them

#9

David.

What version of the Lynn did you have?

What you describe was true of the original POJ.

The later version is excellent. Definitely not a hare.

#10

Tony, ok, then I had the original. It was on the bargain table at Nicholas Smith, a few east coast shows back. I liked the detail, just not the gear ratio. Maybe if I had a quarter mile of flat double track…

#11

That little 2-4-0 is by most accounts the engine Bachmann used for its 2-4-2 model. If you can get the last model produced they are supposedly very reliable.

#12

A friend shared this photo from another fella who has a really little garden railway… A modified accucraft ruby live steam…looks like a little Porter industrial engine.

#13

It looks like the LGB saddle tank Porter. Its cool thats for sure.

#14

Porters, I like them, and they are a local product. Porter and Bell was not that many miles from where I live.

#15

Devon, if you are really obsessed with small locomotives, check this out, The Pioneer, from the Cumberland Valley Railroad.

It doesn’t get much smaller than a 2-2-2T

#16

Yeah that is very cool. It looks more like a steam tractor

#17

Aren’t they all, at heart?

#18

I build a model of Myrtle’s sister (Anaka) from an Accucraft Ruby.

Anaka is now a 2-4-0; the LK&P removed her trailing truck, which was really an addition anyway; the loco started out as an 0-4-0.

I crawled around Myrtle a few months ago while visiting Maui. Alas the railroad is on hiatus at the moment while they try to get their ducks back in a row to being operations, but the engine shed is open air, and the folks who were renting workspace from the railroad were quite friendly to me wandering around.

Anaka on the left, Myrtle on the right.

A close-up of Myrtle’s tender. This tender is almost identical to the tender behind the “Pineapple Princess,” a Baldwin 2-6-2 which is now in Iowa, having run for a season on the Georgetown Loop RR. (I’m working on a model of her right now; don’t know if I’ll do the oil tender or not, as my railroad is a coal road.)

A close-up of Anaka. Historical note; Anaka was rebuilt by a builder in Pennsylvania, and tested on the EBT prior to being shipped to Maui.

The LK&P also has this Plymouth diesel. I couldn’t tell you how heavy; my guess is around 25 - 30 tons.

At the railroad’s southern terminus (Lahaina), they’ve got this stuffed-and-mounted 0-6-2. Somehow, I neglected to get a proper side shot of her; she’s a really well-proportioned outside-frame 0-6-2. An LGB Frank-S would make a great starting point for this one.

Unfortunately, the “Reopen December 2015” is a little optimistic. The guys I talked to say they’re hoping to be back running in 2016, but things aren’t progressing as fast as some would like. Personally, I was pleased as punch to see everything still there, not crated up with condos sprouting up in its place. Visitors have used this board to express their well-wishes for a speedy return to service. My daughter is responsible for the train in the lower left.

And I close with what has to be the most unique prototype kitbash I’ve seen in a while. One of these days, I’m going to find a 1:20ish golf cart, and this will be modeled.

Also in Lahaina, there’s a small plantation museum that has two 30" gauge locos sitting outside. There’s another historical museum in downtown Lahaina that has a dozen or so photos of plantation locos which ran on Maui. All of them would make fantastic small models.

Later,

K

#19

Small locos are great and fun to run. I really enjoy my small live steam locos (Their are a lot of great ones on the market). Plus you dont need a big layout for them to look good.

#20

That Anaka is almost exactly what I am picturing in my mind as a 2-4-0 version only I think I would give it a riveted steel cab as everything I have or have planned will be wood. So an “upgraded” steel cab I think is a must.

And Myrtles tender I think is great for a gas tank. It is unique for sure. But I am wondering how it holds both water and oil. must be a divided tank?