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Lately I've been working on several projects for my proto/free lanced Kansas City & Gulf theme. As I waited for a BL2 and an RS-3 to return from the Sound Guy I use for decoder/sound installation, I thought: What next for a pair of engines to be sent for sound?
Decided on possibly getting my P2K FA1 and FB1m up and going and ready for sound. Now, I have one FA1 in service already, but it's an FA1m that the KC&G's Magnolia Shops re-powered with an EMD prime mover back in the mid-late 1950s. Here's a pic of KC&G FA1m #203 (wearing one of the KC&G's rare simplified schemes, no less):
At this point, I do not foresee another FA1m (though there are several on the paper roster), instead, my past purchases allowed for a "plain vanilla" FA1 (one of the few left on the KC&G still with its Alco innards). SO, I thought I would bring along the Alco powered FA1, and the EMD powered FB1m. Here's a look at the in-process FB1m:
And here's the "in process" FA1:
Given I was going to go with this FA1/FB1m as my "next ones", I began the process of disassembling the FA1's mechanism for cracked axle gear replacements and removing the cankered grease and re-lubing. To shorten this phase of this novelette, suffice to say I was very underwhelmed with the running qualities of P2K's FA1 mechanism. The cleaned/lubed trucks rolled awful. (Rolled fine until the side frames were pressed into place, then stiff as a board.) The flywheel's are also lighter than found in the P2K GP7's, and lastly, the motor cogged badly. The end result is that I would probably spend inordinate amounts of time in the fool thing making it run better, and still not be pleased with the results.
SO...
The FA1/FB1m are getting Kato'd.
I decided to pull one of my surplus Atlas/Kato RS-3's to donate it's innards to power the FA1. However, I soon saw that the Kato RS-3 trucks were NOT going to fit into the available frame space and still have room for coupler boxes. (The RS-3 trucks have a long enclosure for the gears.) Well wouldn't that knock yer hat in the creek.
HOWEVER...
Remembering that the Atlas/Kato RS-1 uses different trucks, I pulled out one of those that I had intended to use under the Stewart AS-16 I built some time ago. (Putting an RS-1 mechanism into the Stewart frame was going to be a lot of trouble. It proved to be quicker to find/purchase one of the Kato-powered Stewart Baldwin RS-12/AS-16's as a donor, which I did.)
You see, the RS-1 trucks and the RS-3 trucks are two totally different animals. Though they look the same when under an engine, the two have completely different configurations for the gears and bolster mounting. The result is the RS-1 trucks are shorter in overall length (needed for the FA1/FB1m) than the RS-3 trucks, as well as being pin-oriented for bolster mounting as opposed to the "bowl" arrangement the RS-3 trucks use.
THUS...
After a bunch of grinding using the Dremel with a steel cutting tool mounted... I then had a rolling chassis using Atlas/Kato RS-1 trucks:
Modifying the trucks:
The trucks in the Atlas/Kato RS-1 mechanism has a kingpin atop the truck bolster. Once fitted, I saw that they set way too high (which I expected). This means the underside of the frame bolster will have to be milled about .035" for the frame to sit at a more correct height. To adapt the RS-1 trucks to receive a kingpin from the frame bolster, I had to chisel off the kingpins on the truck bolsters and drill holes thereon. Then locate and drill a hole on the frame bolster for new kingpins.
The frames:
When I snapped the pic below, one frame still needed to be hogged out with a Dremel. That's was done yesterday morning, and I also needed to drill the new holes in the frame bolsters to later be tapped 2-56 for new kingpins for truck mounting. As of lunch time yesterday, all the Dremel work was finished, the kingpin holes drilled, and the pair of frames are ready to head off to the machine shop come Tuesday morning:
Re-powering a P2K FA/FB frame to receive a Kato mechanism is a whole lot of friggin' trouble and a ton of frustration therewith, but when finished, my crappy running P2K FA/FB's will "run like a Kato"!
All fer now!
Andre
Decided on possibly getting my P2K FA1 and FB1m up and going and ready for sound. Now, I have one FA1 in service already, but it's an FA1m that the KC&G's Magnolia Shops re-powered with an EMD prime mover back in the mid-late 1950s. Here's a pic of KC&G FA1m #203 (wearing one of the KC&G's rare simplified schemes, no less):
At this point, I do not foresee another FA1m (though there are several on the paper roster), instead, my past purchases allowed for a "plain vanilla" FA1 (one of the few left on the KC&G still with its Alco innards). SO, I thought I would bring along the Alco powered FA1, and the EMD powered FB1m. Here's a look at the in-process FB1m:
And here's the "in process" FA1:
Given I was going to go with this FA1/FB1m as my "next ones", I began the process of disassembling the FA1's mechanism for cracked axle gear replacements and removing the cankered grease and re-lubing. To shorten this phase of this novelette, suffice to say I was very underwhelmed with the running qualities of P2K's FA1 mechanism. The cleaned/lubed trucks rolled awful. (Rolled fine until the side frames were pressed into place, then stiff as a board.) The flywheel's are also lighter than found in the P2K GP7's, and lastly, the motor cogged badly. The end result is that I would probably spend inordinate amounts of time in the fool thing making it run better, and still not be pleased with the results.
SO...
The FA1/FB1m are getting Kato'd.
I decided to pull one of my surplus Atlas/Kato RS-3's to donate it's innards to power the FA1. However, I soon saw that the Kato RS-3 trucks were NOT going to fit into the available frame space and still have room for coupler boxes. (The RS-3 trucks have a long enclosure for the gears.) Well wouldn't that knock yer hat in the creek.
HOWEVER...
Remembering that the Atlas/Kato RS-1 uses different trucks, I pulled out one of those that I had intended to use under the Stewart AS-16 I built some time ago. (Putting an RS-1 mechanism into the Stewart frame was going to be a lot of trouble. It proved to be quicker to find/purchase one of the Kato-powered Stewart Baldwin RS-12/AS-16's as a donor, which I did.)
You see, the RS-1 trucks and the RS-3 trucks are two totally different animals. Though they look the same when under an engine, the two have completely different configurations for the gears and bolster mounting. The result is the RS-1 trucks are shorter in overall length (needed for the FA1/FB1m) than the RS-3 trucks, as well as being pin-oriented for bolster mounting as opposed to the "bowl" arrangement the RS-3 trucks use.
THUS...
After a bunch of grinding using the Dremel with a steel cutting tool mounted... I then had a rolling chassis using Atlas/Kato RS-1 trucks:
Modifying the trucks:
The trucks in the Atlas/Kato RS-1 mechanism has a kingpin atop the truck bolster. Once fitted, I saw that they set way too high (which I expected). This means the underside of the frame bolster will have to be milled about .035" for the frame to sit at a more correct height. To adapt the RS-1 trucks to receive a kingpin from the frame bolster, I had to chisel off the kingpins on the truck bolsters and drill holes thereon. Then locate and drill a hole on the frame bolster for new kingpins.
The frames:
When I snapped the pic below, one frame still needed to be hogged out with a Dremel. That's was done yesterday morning, and I also needed to drill the new holes in the frame bolsters to later be tapped 2-56 for new kingpins for truck mounting. As of lunch time yesterday, all the Dremel work was finished, the kingpin holes drilled, and the pair of frames are ready to head off to the machine shop come Tuesday morning:
Re-powering a P2K FA/FB frame to receive a Kato mechanism is a whole lot of friggin' trouble and a ton of frustration therewith, but when finished, my crappy running P2K FA/FB's will "run like a Kato"!
All fer now!
Andre
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