The 'Rio Grande' did not share the same love affair as the 'Colorado & Southern' railroad did with their Moguls and so the five Moguls the 'Rio Grande' once owned did not make it far into the 20th century. The last was pensioned off in the early 1900's.
Time for a little fictional history. I summised that the Denver & Rio Grande kept an early woodburner Mogul on a remote branchline for yard duties. Over time the loco was converted to coal and received some modern equipment to keep it legal with current regulations. The flared tender has been replaced with a more modern coal tender, as well as the loco receiving a new shotgun smokestack and a generator. The elaborately polished headlamp bracket has now lost its sheen and is now painted. The gas headlamp has been converted to electric operation and also painted a 'drab' black colour. Gone also is the early 'russian blue' polished boiler jacket and the early polished sand dome. Black is now the ruling theme.
I started with a mint LGB #2028 South Park Mogul. I fitted a generator from a Bachmann Anniversary along with a large semispherical sand dome to replace the early polished sand dome. The balloon smokestack has gone and replaced with an Aristo C-16 shotgun stack. The coal tender started life as a mint yellow 'Lake George & Boulder' model. It received a coat of black paint and was lettered with the 'Rio Grande' flying herald. The early 3-pin drive block has been modified for digital operation. The early cowcatcher will be replaced with a switcher pilot.
I am now awaiting the paint to dry and will number the cab with a ficticious cab number. I also need to order a NCE 4 amp decoder and wire it in. The tender has been modified to accept a Massoth 'S' sound decoder, which hopefully will be available. I also dispensed with the stock circuit board and will use a five pin cable connector from a LGB 'shorty' 2-4-0 locomotive for electrical connection with the tender. The stock 6 pin connector on the Mogul uses only three pins to transfer track power and rear headlight power to the tender. Three pins are not used. These I assume are for the Hall sensor on the factory sound models. I am toying with using a Massoth axle sensor and sending signals to the tender mounted decoder to better synch axle movement to chuff. The tender headlight will most likely just be direction sensitive by using track power and a diode, rather than a decoder function, for simplicity.
Alas, it will be several weeks before photographs as I need to order the decoders from the States and then assemble the locomotive.
Time for a little fictional history. I summised that the Denver & Rio Grande kept an early woodburner Mogul on a remote branchline for yard duties. Over time the loco was converted to coal and received some modern equipment to keep it legal with current regulations. The flared tender has been replaced with a more modern coal tender, as well as the loco receiving a new shotgun smokestack and a generator. The elaborately polished headlamp bracket has now lost its sheen and is now painted. The gas headlamp has been converted to electric operation and also painted a 'drab' black colour. Gone also is the early 'russian blue' polished boiler jacket and the early polished sand dome. Black is now the ruling theme.
I started with a mint LGB #2028 South Park Mogul. I fitted a generator from a Bachmann Anniversary along with a large semispherical sand dome to replace the early polished sand dome. The balloon smokestack has gone and replaced with an Aristo C-16 shotgun stack. The coal tender started life as a mint yellow 'Lake George & Boulder' model. It received a coat of black paint and was lettered with the 'Rio Grande' flying herald. The early 3-pin drive block has been modified for digital operation. The early cowcatcher will be replaced with a switcher pilot.
I am now awaiting the paint to dry and will number the cab with a ficticious cab number. I also need to order a NCE 4 amp decoder and wire it in. The tender has been modified to accept a Massoth 'S' sound decoder, which hopefully will be available. I also dispensed with the stock circuit board and will use a five pin cable connector from a LGB 'shorty' 2-4-0 locomotive for electrical connection with the tender. The stock 6 pin connector on the Mogul uses only three pins to transfer track power and rear headlight power to the tender. Three pins are not used. These I assume are for the Hall sensor on the factory sound models. I am toying with using a Massoth axle sensor and sending signals to the tender mounted decoder to better synch axle movement to chuff. The tender headlight will most likely just be direction sensitive by using track power and a diode, rather than a decoder function, for simplicity.
Alas, it will be several weeks before photographs as I need to order the decoders from the States and then assemble the locomotive.
