Take a B’mann Annie body plus a few offcuts and some styrene sheet, with a piece of pvc water pipe thrown in and you have my latest project. Southern Pacific narrow-gauge locomotives are very limited in availability, so with an abundance of LGB S.P. rolling stock (plus intention of building S.P. 401 in both pre- and post 1952 guise), I decided that I needed something that basically resembles one of the little 4-6-0’s from the desert. Whaleback is permanently built onto the B’mann tender frame. Before sheeting over, I fitted wiring internally for back-up light and power pickups. I have no intention of fitting sound to the tender body, so inability to access interior is not a problem, plus it aided assembly in getting a strong body. Loosely based on SPNG #18 (will have Walschaert valve gear), my version will retain the cab number ‘25’ for simplicity, as I am not building a copy of #18, but something that conveys the SP ‘look’. Body of the loco was chopped up into numerous pieces and rearranged to move the pressure dome and bell location forward of stock location on the Annie body. Water pipe was fitted and sheeted over. Smokebox door is a leftover from my experimentation with Heritage Express locomotives. Headlamp is from an Aristo Rogers.
