Yet another ugly duckling...

[Mik]

There's more than enough "credit" for this project to go around....
First a fellow shared this picture on another board...

Then Vic Smith send me a set of Aristo-Craft 0-4-0 cylinders....

Next I when I got the Lionel cab for my Mason project, a running chassis came with it...

Kimmee stacked together a bunch of bits when she removed them from her way...

And finally, my muse got bored while waiting for some spot putty to dry.................

Last night I stuck this together. The cab is the Delton one I removed from the Mason.

But it just wasn't right. Those cylinders were just too honking huge. No amount of superheat could justify them.... but a Vauclain compound just might!

Since I didn't have the Aristo valve gear anyway, it was a simple matter to fudge the piston valves into high pressure cylinders

The boiler was raised and lengthened.... giving it an odd, top heavy look, but allowing the bottom of the smokebox to clear the saddle. The cab was also raised a bit. The domes are New Blight.

If I can get a r/c car cheap enough I'll lift the controls, battery pack, etc. I already have a tender started to house them.... Am I going over to the dark side? Nope. Those brass wheels just really suck for track power

 

[Mik]

Start on a backstory -

1898 was a very good year for the RR. Revenues had been growing for several years, and the board felt the company was now strong enough to expand again. Credit enough was available to both dual gauge the lower end of the line from Verona to Ford City, and to purchase three new locomotives to supplement their aging fleet.

That spring, representatives from Baldwin made a presentation on their 'revolutionary' Vauclain Compound, citing the many wonderful efficiencies of compounding, and of their design in particular. The AV, like many railroad boards across the country at the time, were intrigued by this modern marvel, and ordered two. A 2-6-0 for local passenger service from Verona to Kittanning, and 4-4-0 for mail/express service.

Also, like other lines, the AV soon found the Vauclains to be much more problematic than promised. Uneven crosshead loading lead to excessive wear and increased maintenance, rail pounding, and a rough ride for the crews, by far offsetting any savings seen from compounding. This bad experience was to be another nail in the coffin against "newfangled hoohaw" on the railroad.

The AV shops valiantly tried several approaches to remedy the problems with the design. A heavier, wider crosshead was installed on both locomotives within a year. This decreased the pounding somewhat but did not eliminate it. The problem was found to worse at higher speeds and heavier loads, so the 4-4-0 was eventually re-fitted with regular simple cylinders, a fate that most Vauclains met within a few years, but with the lighter loadings and lower speeds of local service, refitting "Old Slobber Stack", as #-- had become known, was viewed as an unnecessary expenditure. She would retain them as a visible reminder to "trust the in tried and true" until she was retired in 1939.

 

[Mik]

I've been a bit under the weather the last few. So I haven't felt much like doing anything. But I do have a few photos to show on this -

Front of the cylinder block with piston valve (center) high pressure (top) and low pressure (bottom) covers nearly ready to paint - now if I can only get the silver to cover as well!

I decided that the boiler needed lengthened more than the smokebox did, so it got a minor rework. The stack got moved back to make more room for a headlight as well.

The tender is ancient New Bright riding on even more ancient Kalamazoo trucks. I think it might even look pretty darn good 'til I'm finished

mock up of it's current state - the basics are all there, now to flesh it out.

 

[Mik]

Caution - Major revisions ahead!

I probably should have been working on the Derrick today, but I wrecked this thing and started over, instead...

It probably was no real secret that I wasn't all that happy with the Aristo cylinders. And since Kim vetoed me buying a c-16 to make into a Camel, my options became pretty clear.

In the bottom of Vic's goody box there was also a set of cylinders from a LGB Stainz. After about 2 hours of fussin' and cussin', I managed to figure out how to make them work.

The Lionel 0-6-0 is really, really short. So my Camel will be a short firebox version by necessity. 89c worth of pvc pipe, some leftover plexi, and an empty pill bottle, and I was on my way!

Since about the only way to lift this thing will be by the cab sides. I needed a way to ensure that the cab was not only level, but attached securely. Drilling the boiler to put some 1/8" music wire under the floor sounded like a pretty good idea.

The old Lionel cab floor pieces were re-used... waste not, want not!

Fenders were fabbed from a bit of leftover c-16 boiler shell and coffee stirrers. They should look OK once they are painted.

sand boxes installed and cab started....

I'm thinking it actually may look more attractive as a Camel than it did as a Vauclain....

 

[trammayo]

Well..... different. Like your ability to see forward - what a transformation - real morph!

 

[Mik]

OK, some update pix.....
Upper cab started using one of the resin windows I recently got off another builder, cut in half.

I think it looks pretty darn good for a camel (they'z ugly, smelly beasts, lol!)

That low firedoor give me a backache just looking at it

Cab interior started. I gotta get all the controls and stuff installed before I can do the end walls, my fat fumble fingers barely fit now! Walking surfaces on real early stuff was usually painted with a non-slip pale yellow or light grey. The 'sunflower' I usually use was dried up, so I found it rather amusing to use 'camel' instead

 

[Mik]

I could use some advice... If you look closely at this pic, you'll notice that the headlight is mounted off-center, actually beside the funnel instead of the usual location

It's a cool variation, but how would you model it so it looks prototypical, but is still strong enough to withstand the real world bashing it will probably get (especially during a roll-over derailment!)

 

[Mik]

Mini update!
Front cab wall went in the lazy way. I cut a bit of cd jewel case to fit the hole, then glued coffee stirrers and basswood to look like doors.... I think I want at least one back door open, so it will be more work.

After studying the Hayes Camel restoration pics, I felt confident enough to finish the controls. Mr. Mogul dude will do for an engineer. I also burned a bit over half an hour drilling holes with a pin vice and sticking HO track nails in them to look like firebox stays since otherwise it was a great big boring

Headlight in the offset position installed and wired. The LED is a high intensity white, so it's rather too harsh for a kero - but it was here, and I really didn't like the color of the yellow one I had.

 

[Mik]

Years ago, my dad had a bumper sticker (He got it at Strasburg, I think) that said "Steam Locomotives have a tender behind".... well, this one has a serious case of "ghetto booty".

It's probably the last free Delton shell around (the fleabay guy is OUT - has been since I got this one from him 4 or 5 months ago ), so I'm loathe to whack a section out... especially since there's always a chance of really screwing up... but I'm not sure a tender should be longer than the locomotive, either. Anybody know how long a LGB Mogul tender is?

 

[Madman]

Only a mother could love it :love:

 

[beavercreek]

What a great build Mik! I think it is the tender that broke the camel's back

 

[C&S]

Unless you can get trucks with a shorter wheelbase you're not going to save much in length. Can you do anything to make the tender look less monolithic, like "daylighting" the front of the footplate as in the prototype picture? That and a slight reduction in height of the water/fuel area might help, though it looks like too good a tender to chop up

Here are some pictures of an Americanised LGB 4 wheel tender - they were part of an article by Alain Gavard in the French NG magazine "Voie Libre". (I can supply details of when published if anyone wants to follow it up). Might be a bit small for a Camel, though.
Basically the conversion consisted of cutting away the raised coal rails, remodelling the front of the fuel bunker with a fuel hatch and moving the toolbox to the top rear corner of the tender. Then a lot of Ozark castings were added.

 

[Mik]

Thanks for the suggestions! After dithering for about 12 hours, I finally decided to bite the bullet and butcher the tender.

The B'mann frame could only get just under 3/4" removed. The flanges just barely touch on r-1 curves now... and yes, those air tanks needed to go next. Both to clear the new wheel location and because there were no such thing as air brakes in the 1860s!

Oh, the huge manatee!!! Such a shame, but about 1-3/16" simply hadda go....

Splicing back together.... I will have to file a vee joint and then putty to hide the seam better...

A bit better now

While the glue was drying I decided to attack the pilot. I usually dislike wooden (cowcatcher) pilots, mostly because they're so overdone to the point of almost a cliche`.... but this thing begged for one. Except I wanted a front coupler too. A bit of further butchery on the broken Lionel one that came with the chassis resulted in this.

It's.... getting there. The big thing really holding up the show is the r/c truck (radio donor) that seems to be lost in the mail. Since I need to see how much space I'll need for the circuit board(s) and antenna

 

[Mik]

The injector wasn't invented until 1858, and took a while to catch on. So early locomotives had feedwater pumps to put makeup water in the boiler while underway. Some were driven by the cylinder crosshead, or a separate crank throw, or an eccentric on the axle ... Ross Winans put them on an extension of the valve rod on the early Camels.

I thought, well, that's kinda cool.... so I made up some pumps out of dowel and plastic pearls

This might actually work!

piped and painted

I know this isn't the greatest angle, but just to give new folks an idea how tiny this thing is - Here it is with the LGB Mogul I'm trying to assemble from parts. The top of the Camel boiler is just above running board height on the mogul...

 

[Mik]

I got a little detailing done today so I thought I'd share the pix...

It's sure gonna be a shame to dirty this thing up... no matter how lightly. I'll probably either solder the connector jack, or bend the railings yet, before calling it a day

 

[robsmorgan]

Morning Mik

You are really leaving me behind on the mechanical detail - may have to modify mine when you have explained all the technical/historically correct spec!

Congrats
Rob

 

[beavercreek]

Terrific Mik. It has all the feel and presence.
She is a work of art but even in reality she has the appearance that only her mother could love !

 

[Mik]

Rob, Any questions you have, I can try to answer.... I'm learnin' as I go. Mostly I keep flipping between the vintage Winans pics and the 10 page photo essay of the Hayes restoration... then doing it whichever looks easier.

Let's look at the cab details for a sec. I had the benefit of the Hayes resto pix that I didn't find until long after you had built yours. The hydrostatic lubricators on either side of the pressure gauge are just plain "wrong" for 1850. But I re-used the bit from a broken New Blight, just adding beads and wire. Would a Camel have been fitted with hydrostatics later in her career (1870-ish), probably. Would they have been mounted right there? Maybe not- but they WOULD be protected and handy to the engineer there. The loooong throttle coming off the dome at an angle is correct as per the Hayes. The next big lever actually connects to the front sand box (the big square thing right in front of the cab) it would be shorter and mounted to the side of the dome, not the floor, on the Hayes. The gold thing on the floor is the water column, again as per the Hayes. And out of view is the Johnson bar hard against the cab wall. The rear sandbox on mine is just plain wrong in relation to the cab, but necessary because of the short chassis. It's doing double duty as the engineer's seat. It should be outside the cab like the front one with two tee-handles coming through the cab wall to start the sand. In the Hayes there were two boxes with padded covers mounted on a bridge over the exposed boiler for the engineer to sit on
There are also 3 water control valve reach rods coming up through the floor, near the sand lever. These came up about waist high and had a brass tee-handle. I just bent a short right angle on 3 bits of floral wire, painted the 'handle' part red, and called it a day. There should also be a rod going down to the cylinder cocks. But I didn't put it in.

I managed to figure out how to 'borrow' this pic from the Hayes resto. I'm claiming fair use as part of an educational demonstration. Compare it to my cab above, and my shortcuts become obvious. The really big missing detail is mine does not have the wrought iron railing inside the cab... I ASSume this one was originally built with an open cab and the walls added later. (Or Hayes was worried about it shaking itself apart)

Isn't industrial archeology FUN?!?

 

[Madman]

I happened to be browsing Ebay, as always, and lately there has been a flood of Lionel Polar Express trains, in all sorts of configurations. Some full sets, some just the loco and tender and still others are just the motor block with side rods. As you know, they are all eight wheel drive configurations. Most of the motor blocks can probably be had for less than fifty dollars US. I thought, alittle late, that the eight wheel motor block would have been good for your project.
Why these things seem to be so numerous is unknown to me. But I have seen whole sets go for $89.00.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lionel-new-...075256?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item3cc25f7bb8

 

[Mik]

I used a polar express drive on my plow engine.

The big problem with these drives is the overrunning clutch they put in to prevent the drive from being damaged if the loco is pushed by hand --- as it also just sits there and goes clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk when the loco tries to pull any more weight than the original consist. I pinned the one I have, but we haven't had plowing snow yet this winter - it's all been heavy wet 'heart attack' snow- so I don't know if it worked or not.

Anyway, the whole point was to find a use for the OTHER Lionel drive as it was here.... and I'm rather pleased with how it's coming along. IF I ever do another, I'd really like to use an Aristo c-16 as a drive donor