Matt’s thread on best rebuilt locos reminded me that I haven’t shown this one here. (I’m still pondering what my “best rebuild” is, mostly because I’m trying to figure out what in my mind constitutes “rebuild” vs. “tear it down to its basic components and go from there.”) Anyway, in the spirit of rebuilds, here’s one I just finished for my dad’s railroad. A quick history is in order. Back in 1990, I was reading the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette, which had a small article and drawing of a quirky little 40-ton center-cab Whitcomb. Originally built for the US Navy in Oahu, it later went to southern California where it ran on the US Gypsum’s operations there. I reluctantly admit a closet fondness for certain diesels, particularly quirky ones with siderods (and early Alcos, because there’s just something cool about how they sound. The railroad that ran behind my old place in upstate NY ran Alcos. If they’re gonna be diesels…) Anyway back to the story… The article concluded with the author stating he’d love to see someone build a model of this loco in 1:24. I couldn’t let a challenge like that go unmet. So I procured some Northwest ShortLine trucks, extended the axles so I could fix counterweights to them, cast frames, and built a model of the loco. Here’s a photo of the loco shortly after it entered service:
It did quite well on the railroad, except that the gears would sometimes slip on the axles a bit, which would cause the siderods to bind, which would twist the counterweights, etc. and so forth. Dad pulled the siderods off to help things run more smoothly, but the loco soon languished unused with other not-so-popular locos on the roster. Over the past three years, dad’s been thinning the herd anyway, concentrating on a stable of just a handful of reliable locos (most passing through the TRR’s maintenance shops along the way.) Then dad did some electronics installations for a friend, and received a QSI with G-wire receiver as payment. It came with a diesel sound on it, so dad pulled #40 from the mothballs and brought it out to me for a proper rebuild. After a year in the shop (working on it on and off), here’s #40 after its makeover.
The first task was to look at the trucks. I wasn’t overly fond of refurbishing the NWSL trucks, though I would have if necessary. Fortunately through the generosity of a forum member, I horse-traded for a pair of Bachmann 45-tonner trucks. I wasn’t sure they’d fit, but I figured I’d give them a try. If they were 1/8" larger in any dimension, they wouldn’t have worked, but they fit very well, though I did have to redo the air and fuel tanks underneath the frame. This was serendipitous, because I ended up enclosing the speaker in the fuel tank anyway. Before it was a small 1" speaker in the end of one of the hoods. Not a lot of presence, but then it was also a $10 toy truck sound system. Suffice to say the QSI was a step up in quality.
The Navy’s base on Oahu where the prototype for this loco originally ran had some clearance issues which forced the cab to be quite low. That’s how I modeled the loco originally, but I figured if the WRY crews were to rebuild the loco, they’d want a cab in which they wouldn’t have to constantly duck. So I built a new cab that stands about 1/2" taller than the original one. The crews are happier, and quite frankly, I like the proportions better. Ironically, I borrowed the proportions from a 45-ton Whitcomb center cab that’s currently running on Oahu.
I didn’t do anything to the hood or frame of the loco. I thought about getting a bit fancy and installing louvers, but decided I liked the flat look instead. There was some “battle damage” from 22 years of being knocked around, so I just worked that into the model when I did the weathering.
Dad wanted a new paint scheme for this loco that played off of the black and green paint scheme we’ve been using on his steamers. The green is Krylon “Hosta Green.” I painted the loco green, then imported a photo of the loco into Photoshop to play with the black and silver accents to figure out where I wanted them to go.
So with new trucks, new paint, and a new control system, WRY #40 is ready for another 20+ years of service on the Woodland. I’m not sure I’m ready to dieselize the TRR yet, but I gotta admit, I like this little guy. Accucraft’s 1:20 Whitcomb is sure tempting, but I think I’ll probably keep looking for another pair of Bachmann trucks instead. Later, K
