East Broad Top
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| 07 Apr 2009 11:51 AM |
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No, this is not a week-late April Fool's joke. The EBT shops just turned out a D&RGW loco. Before you go checking your medication (or worrying that I should be checking mine), everything's okay. This was part of a trade which brought EBT #1 and Tuscarora Valley #5 to the Tuscarora Railroad, and sent Woodland Railway #14 to its rightful place in Maryland. (And will ultimatela bring EBT #3 to the TRR in exchange for another loco, more weathering work and a 1st round draft pick.)
Getting back to the topic at hand, D&RGW #350. The challenge--"Coloradoize" a B'mann 2-8-0. I was given the 2-8-0 and some detail parts with the simple instructions "make it look like it ran on the D&RGW." It didn't have to look like a C-21 or C-25, so I set out to give it details consistent with the D&RGW's fleet of locos without worrying about matching a specific prototype. Fortunately, the D&RGW roster skipped over #350, so it gave me the ideal way to "invent" a class of locomotive between the C-19 and C-21.
Here is the loco prior to paint. Changes include:
Install Accucraft couplers Toolbox and proper airhose fitting on front pilot Raise headlight Extend smokebox Re-arrange domes Shorten sand dome Add sand dome lid Install second air pump Re-wrap boiler to hide slot left from moving cab Move cab back to rear of floor Thicken tender frame Add taller coal bunker Add air tanks to tender Narrow trucks to eliminate week screw hold and bring frames in closer to where they should be
I also installed DCC. That's another story for another time... suffice to say "I love batteries."
Here she is out of the paint shop (and a few miles on the road). "Miss July" on this year's Colorado Narrow Gauge calendar is C-21 #360, so for the past few months, it's been July in the workshop. (Did I miss the convention???) I used that photo as a guide for detailing and weathering.
The classification lamps from Ozark. The lenses are the very tips of the LED Christmas light plastic bulbs (not the LEDs themselves) which I use for the headlights. I had dutifully sanded the silver off of the jewels that came with the Ozark lamps, but in the process of building, they evidently got tired of the mess, and struk out in search of more organized spaces. I wish them well. Besides, these are nicely rounded and look better. The numberboard is Ozark. The headlight was raised, as seems to be step 1 on most every 2-8-0 bash I've ever seen. The bracket is glued with solvent cement, then pinned from behind for more strength. (Peco track nails are great!)
The toolbox is from Trackside Details. The Accucraft coupler pocket bolts nicely onto the Bachmann pilot once the original one is removed. The air hose connection is from Accucraft, left over from another project. I didn't change the cowcatcher.
The domes were rearranged to a more K-27is pattern, after I experimented with various placements. I made a proper sand dome lid from the lid of some dollhouse pots and pans I had in my parts box. The spark arrestor is from a K-27. The running boards were sanded with 60-grit sandpaper to make them look wood instead of the original metal. The smokebox was extended using a PVC plumbing coupling. I've only extended three smokeboxes in this manner, and one would think that I'd take a photo of the darned coupling. Perhpahs next time...
One thing that jumped out at me from that (and other) photos was that D&RGW locos tended to get a good deal dirtier than their eastern cousins with which I am more familiar. As such, my weathering was going to have to be a bit heavier than what I typically do. All the weathering was done with acrylic washes and powders. The neat thing about the washes is that you can use them to simulate streaking simply by letting gravity work for you. A little dish detergent in the water helps with the surface tension so you can get finer streaks. On the stack, I used a mixture of washes and drybrushng to get the appropriate amount of black up at the top of the stack. (Sometimes gravity can be too effective.)
The running gear got the same treatment of washes, though I mixed some browns and dirt tones in as well. I followed up with some "dirt" weathering powder from Bragdon Enterprises. The running gear was painted dark silver, with brass highlights on the oil cups.
I tried to go a bit lighter on the cab so that some of the semi-gloss surface would still shine through in the right light. The lettering is CDS dry transfers that Caboose Hobbies happened to still have in their drawers. I can't tell you how happy I am that I was able to do this with dry transfers.
The tender is pretty much unchanged in terms of major details. I did add an extra strip of styrene to the bottom of the frame to give it some much-needed visual thickness. This has the effect of lowering the body onto the trucks, which--as delivered--look like they're on stilts. I also added the coal bunker and air tanks onto the rear deck, as seems common on the smaller D&RGW locos. Weathering, again, was acrylics and powders. I need to dust the trucks a bit more, as they're a bit too dark still.
The subtle irony--that's East Broad Top coal in the bunker. Under the water hatch is a magnetic reed switch that can be used to increase or decrease the volume on the sound system. The tender's got a 4" speaker inside. It's LOUD!
I moved the cab back, but kept the rear wall as was. It just kindof looked neat with the round opening framing the firebox.
All those air tanks need a second air pump. Now I know why I'm not a plumber. Bell and whisle cords are uninsulated copper stranded wire twisted and painted. Jack, I'm lovin' that technique!
I can't say I want to make a habit of this, but this was a nice departure from eastern narrow gauge railroading. Ever since I "easternized" my 2-8-0, I've always pondered what I'd do if I had to "westernize" one. Now, that itch has been scratched.
And one last view, since I uploaded it to the server...
Later,
K |
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K27_463
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| 07 Apr 2009 02:08 PM |
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Cool, exceptin' those CDS transfers did not come from Caboose....
Jonathan
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Mik
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| 07 Apr 2009 02:22 PM |
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I hate it when you guys do this... it always makes my stuff look like a kindergartener's drawings compared to a Monet. lol Looks GREAT! |
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Mik
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Les
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| 07 Apr 2009 02:39 PM |
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That's a very impressive job!
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david bunn
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| 07 Apr 2009 03:11 PM |
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Nice one Kevin, of course you will now need some 'western' cars to go with it!
Regards
David
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Steamnutt
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| 07 Apr 2009 03:19 PM |
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AWESOME!!!!!!!
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Jim Francis
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| 07 Apr 2009 03:42 PM |
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Kevin,
That is very nicely done!
Your attention to detail is awesome!
What a great idea to use an "unused" loco number. How did you find that?
This is truly inspirational, thanks for sharing,
Jim
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steam5
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| 07 Apr 2009 04:28 PM |
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Looks great! Best looking C-20 :-)
One day I will get round to doing something to mine!
Thanks for sharing, Alan
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Steve Stockham
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| 07 Apr 2009 04:37 PM |
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Wow! Excellent job (as usual!) Why did he think you didn't find dry transfers at Caboose Hobbies? The last time I was there I found some as well! Oh well...
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aceinspp
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| 07 Apr 2009 07:18 PM |
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Nice work. I'll send mine right over for the rehab  Later RJD |
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East Broad Top
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| 07 Apr 2009 07:30 PM |
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Just to clarify Jonathan's comment--he had sent me some dry transfers to use on this. It was the older "Moffat" style lettering, which was unfortunately too long to fit on the tender. (It was from a caboose lettering set.) I haven't measured the K-27 tender yet, but if they fit, they won't go to waste. Jim, to find the number, I just looked on line at the D&RGW roster. They went up numerically with each class of loco, so I just filled the gap. Maybe--just maybe--they were planning a loco like this and it fell through.  Thanks for the kind words! This was a nice departure from my normal pursuits. I can't say I'm ready to tear out the plants and replace them with rocks and pine trees, but this was definitely fun. Later, K |
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up9018
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| 07 Apr 2009 08:20 PM |
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WOW, that locomotive is a real beauty. Keep up the great work!
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Ray Dunakin
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| 07 Apr 2009 09:14 PM |
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Magnificent!! I recognized the heavier, typically Colorado-ish weathering right away. You are really an artist when it comes to paint and weathering.
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Terl
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| 08 Apr 2009 07:22 AM |
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Very credible bash into a DRGW engine. Excellant weathering too. Didn't quite understand what you did to the truck frames. Did you get a photo on that? Thanks for all the inspirational photos.
Terl
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docwatsonva
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| 08 Apr 2009 08:15 AM |
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Kevin,
Beautiful work as usual. In fact, too much work for me. That's why I broke down a couple of years ago and bought a C-21 from Accucraft.
Doc
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chuckger
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| 08 Apr 2009 08:52 AM |
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K,
Another super job, nice weathering on this one.
Chuck
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Jerry Barnes
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| 08 Apr 2009 09:02 AM |
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Your weathering really inspired me to weather my Challenger, been meaning to, just got it done. I have the powders, will try the acrylic washes also. I've had good luck with india ink/alcohol mix. |
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Stan Cedarleaf
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East Broad Top
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| 08 Apr 2009 09:45 AM |
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I didn't get a photo of the trucks, but I've got some other pair here in the shop which I need to fix, so I'll take some photos then. Essentially, the way the Bachmann trucks are made, there's around 1/4" between the sideframe and the wheel that's filled in by a plastic extension on the inside of the journal. There's a similar extension on the middle of the frame where it attaches to the bolster. This is the part that routinely breaks on these trucks, causing the sideframes to fall off. I'll make the wild assumption that the prototype trucks are set for 3' gauge wheelsets, but the loco being 30" gauge, the wheels were set in a bit. Most likely, Bachmann saw this and replicated the inset, essentially widening the width of the truck. I just cut the extensions off, and screw the frames back together so they're closer.
Jerry, keep some paper towels handy when you do the wash to wipe off the paint from areas where you want a lighter effect. (Don't use Kleenex.) Wipe down, so you get the effect of gravity around rivet heads, etc. The more you wipe off, the lighter the weathering effect.
Stan, the hardest part with the twisted wire is peeling off the insulation. I pull it off in 1" sections, so not to break the wire. Leave a little bit of insulation at one end, then when you peel off the last section, leave a little bit on the other. This makes it easier to twist the wire. Then just cut to length and thread as you need. I paint it with some tan paint, then go back and wash it with dilute black paint to bring out the strands in the wire. (And--yes this means you don't have to worry about making me decals.)
Later,
K |
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| 08 Apr 2009 01:21 PM |
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Posted By East Broad Top on 04/07/2009 7:30 PM
Jim, to find the number, I just looked on line at the D&RGW roster. They went up numerically with each class of loco, so I just filled the gap. Maybe--just maybe--they were planning a loco like this and it fell through. " align="absmiddle" border="0" />
The Rio Grande had a number of 2nd hand 2-8-0s. They had three classes of 2-8-0s which were built for them, and three classes which were acquired used. The original three classes were Class 56, Class 60, and Class 70 (EBT #7). Most of the Class 56 2-8-0s, sisters to DSP&P #191 at Golden, were sold off. The Class 60s became the C-16s and the Class 70s became both C-17s and C-19s. The C-18s were castoffs from the Florence & Cripple Creek (F&CC had high quality equipment which ended up in Arizona, Montana, California, Hawaii, and elsewhere). The two biggest classes of 2-8-0s, the C-21s and the C-25, came from the Crystal River RR along with some Ingoldsby dump cars. A fourth Crystal River engine, originally an 0-8-0, was last seen somewhere in Cuba.
Perhaps the 350 was acquired from the Silverton Northern and dramatically rebuilt from their ex-SG&N OF 2-8-0. It served in Colorado for a few years during the Depression after the rebuild, as the D&RGW acquired the Silverton Northern in this alternate reality.
She does have a family resemblence to the Rio Grandes.
I wonder how much of the difference in dirtiness is from the policies of the roads and how much is due to the time period. Earlier today, I was flipping through Ferrell's color EBT photos book and wondering if the locomotives were cleaner before 1950 than after...as they were so many other roads. I think you did a fine job on weathering her...not too heavy.
Michael
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jimtyp
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| 08 Apr 2009 01:48 PM |
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Doesn't get any better than that! Gorgeous! |
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livin' la vida loco
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placitassteam
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| 08 Apr 2009 02:43 PM |
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Very nice Kevin!! Except for the Baker valves it looks very "Colorado". You have some nice details that I will use if I ever get around to making mine into a Nacionales de Mexico mid 40's loco from the Mexico to Oaxaca line. I used to love riding that train when I was a kid. |
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coyote97
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| 08 Apr 2009 03:07 PM |
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Hi Kevin,
yes, really a great work, and the 2-8-0 is worth spending some hours on it, because its one of the best "movers" that can be bought for money.
Me, i LOVE those engines, an have modified my second one, too. Needs some more patina and some decals, but then sometimes a pic will follow.
Interesting that you put up thoughts of the TE, because i´m looking for years after it. For Europeans its a bit difficult to "think in" the TE-question.
After months of research, i would say:
YES, C-20 is the right class for the Bachmann 2-8-0, because even the Georgetown-Loop No. 40 looks a BIT heavier (what shall give 21400 pTE).
What i mean is, that (good roling cars presumed), the TE of the model is near original, on my 4 percent grade layout, she will take a train of about 120 - 130tons.
Even the "weight on wheel" is ok with the carweights, as i found out about 10-12 tons one axle, and i set it for my RR on about 10 tons. So a hopper weighs 40 tons, what nearly matches.
And therefore the table in the "baldwin locomotive works"-catalogue a "weigth on driving wheels" of about 80000p gives a class around C-20 for the consolidation.
Very fine balanced model as new....
But looking THAT nice, perhaps she will take a flat more..:-D
Greetings
coyote (Frank)
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East Broad Top
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| 11 Apr 2009 05:51 PM |
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*sniff* Well, #350 has left the shops for her new home. I wish her miles and miles of good service. Not to worry, I've now got a K-27 that is due for a run-in with the same bucket of weather. I'm going to try an experiment when I do that, and mount a video camera on a tripod to tape some of the process. Don't look for me to replace that old PBS show or anything, but painting and weathering is definitely one of those topics that can't really be told through still photos. Of course, the other half of that equation--how well does weathering show up on YouTube?
Later,
K |
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joe rusz
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| 11 Apr 2009 09:48 PM |
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Kevin, you are really on your game now! Over the last few years I have watched you turn out various projects and with each one your inherent modeling talents seem to rise closer to the surface. With this loco bash, it's apparent that you are in the major leagues, dude! I an envious--in a positive way  |
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