Have finished the Ten-Wheeler conversion and it runs great. It is possible to have Sn3 steam for under $150. Should have the article done by the end of the week.

Harold

Very nice conversion, Harold. Is my memory bad or have you changed the picture in your post of 06/07/2010?

The picture is different. The new one is the finished "Let's get it running - Phase 1". The old one didn't have the tender as it wasn't completed on June 7.

Harold

Thanks for the answer, Harold. Memory still works... I had the remembrance of a leading truck not fitting the track this well.

Eh, not as well as you thought[:-bigeyes2]:


The original picture didn't have track :erm:

It is nice to have Sn3 steam running after all these years, one more item off the "list"[:-spin]

Harold

You were right, Harold (sorry for the late acknowledgement... ).

In fact, I think what gave me this feeling is the apparent lack of alignment between the wheels of the trailing truck and the two drivers. My mind simply added a track below to 'maintain this observation'...

Our 4-6-0 is becoming a 4-4-0:



With our Markits Sn3 axles and Scalelink 18mm (45")drivers. Matching an Ilawaco 1887 4-4-0.

Harold

An interesting look, Harold. Very different from the kind of engines we've got used to see on the main Colorado lines.

Very nice indeed, Harold. :up: The look of the engine reminds me of the 4-4-0 narrow gauge locos of the Eastern roads, especially of the Catskill 3' short lines in New York.

But more typical of the vast majority of narrow gauge railroads.

It should be Ilwaco, D-oh!! Which on researching was SPC #7 renumbered to 26.

MacGregor lists the drivers as 48", the Ilwaco book lists them as 45" and Baldwin records as 42". I am going with the 45" which can be extrapolated from the photo.

Harold

This is my Sn3 PBL D&RGW Davenport switcher modification project. The model has excellent paint, beautiful detail, and REAL GLASS glazing, too! I bought it because PBL will not manufacture Eastern/generic locos and rolling stock (I asked them about it) and the only non-Colorado locos are available in kit only from Rail Master for 500.00. [!] Soooo, in order to have a non-Colorado critter, it's do-it-yourself time! [:-bigmouth] I decided to modify one for my NY State Catskill & Ramapo. I picked up this used critter on-line for 250.00. It's a 30T Davenport built circa 1937 and was powered by Caterpillar. Even says so on the radiator front!





I made the disassembly in about 10 minutes and blasted off the paint using my Paasche air eraser and Badger aluminum oxide blast media. The details are still sharp and the surface has great texture for paint adhesion. It'll give it a good washing and blow-down to remove any residual grit.



Next is to get it primed and painted. It will get equipped with a Soundtraxx 750 decoder and a small speaker along with working headlights front and rear. The 'Cummins' 750 decoder sounds just right for this puppy and I have to scrounge up an air horn for it...there's no horn or air whistle on the model. Before painting, I'll remove the D&RGW tender steps and install the typical strap steel stirrups. I also removed those dinky front and rear headlights and the D&RGW brake cylinders used for auto coupler pin lifters. The paint scheme will be black frame with yellow pilot and foot boards, grey hood and cab, and I'm thinking of painting the cab rear end yellow as well. Stay tuned!

Russ

This is going to be interesting to watch, especially how you shoehorn the sound system in the little switcher.

George

Here's the first stirrup using flat brass stock along with one of the original steps for comparison. I gave the stirrup pieces 'ears' to make it easier to glue/solder together and mount in place where the tender steps used to be.



George...The interior of the cab will take a 1" diameter speaker with the cab details removed. I just ordered a 0.5" speaker to see if it hides well enough with the cab detail installed. I'll try the smaller speaker first...it's an N scale speaker, but hey, this isn't a really big loco either.

Interesting project Russ, looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Here's the first strap steel stirrup in place. I slipped a couple of times while cleaning up the solder with my Dremel tool and took some stock off of the adjacent flat bar brass, but I'll laminate a piece of stock over both sides of the loco after installation of all four stirrups to hide this kind of [:-censored] tool damage. It's fussy and tedious work, especially the spot soldering, but it's exactly what I had in mind.



Russ