The Pennsylvania Rail Road E-6 Atlantic Locomotive Builders Log.
I first fell in love with the E-6 when I was a boy. My father had received a HO scale Bowser kit as a gift and allowed me to help put it together. I spent a lot of time scraping the flashing off of those castings only to discover later that the engine had the annoying habit of shorting out on our layout. As a result, it sat un-finished in the attic for years.
When I first got interested in Large-scale trains in the late 80’s my father took me to see a Christmas layout that was set up in the Macys department store in San Francisco. There, I saw a beautiful Lionel G-Scale Atlantic locomotive pulling a string of freight cars. I wanted one so bad that I could taste it, but at a price of around 400.00 dollars it was definitely out of the question.
I never lost the desire to have one of these engines and I’ve always liked the locomotives chunky proportions and the unusual boiler shape that is a characteristic of most Pennsylvania Railroad steam locomotives.
I considered two options from making this model. The first was to obtain an old worn out Lionel Atlantic and modify it to suit my needs with an Aristocraft motor block. After checking E-bay I decided that the cost of one of these models was just too high and it would shorten the model building process which I enjoy more than running the finished models anyway!
The second option was to use an Aristocraft motorblock as a starting point and build the rest of the locomotive my self. This had the added benefit of allowing me try to build that very unusually shaped boiler which should be quite fun.
Below is a little background history on the E-6 provided by the Bowser Company. If you are interested, you may also want to view the link to the story of the “Lindbergh special” for a little more history of this locomotive class.
Background History on the model prototype:
The class 4-4-2 Atlantic was the pacesetter for high-speed passenger service, which resulted in competition for the development of the fastest train. The E6, was created by Alfred W. Gibbs. No. 5075 (later renumbered 1067 in 1912) was first developed in 1910 as an experimental model. Four years later, after intensive testing, several changes in cylinder diameters, the installation of superheaters, and the building of two other samples, eighty E6 locomotives were built by Juniata in 1914. This locomotive was produced amidst the development of the renowned K4 and the Pacific locomotives. It turned out to be a great investment into locomotive future; they led directly to other popular engines on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and E6 Atlantics could pull trains that would require six-drivered Pacifics.
An interesting feature of the E6 is that it contained a KW style trailing truck. The heavy frame of the KW balanced the rear of the locomotive, and the underframe of the locomotive was supported directly upon it. Steel castings were used on these locomotives; this was used on all railroad-designed classes until 1930.
E6s engines quickly became prime movers of main line limiteds. They worked closely with E3sd and K2 classes, dealing with World War I traffic. One locomotive, number 13, ran for many years on the Williamsport Division of Pennsylvania, and was considered good luck by many of its engine crews. This locomotive held the division mileage record for its time period, but was later to be replaced by K4s.
E6s worked their way down into Baltimore and changed from steam power into oil-powered locomotives shortly after World War II. In 1947 there were a total of 74 E6s engines. In contrast to all other Atlantics, the E6s never had a stoker, a feedwater heater, or power reverse. Their distinguishing characteristic was the two basic boilers that gave the trains the ability to run fast, carrying a heavy load. The locomotives also utilized a 26-inch cylinder stroke, 80-inch drivers, and 205 pounds of steam pressure.
The Story of the Lindbergh Special:
http://www.rrmuseumpa.org/membership/milepost/lindy/taletwomemos.htm br /
After looking through my Steam Cyclopedia, I found a set of suitable line drawings and began blowing them up. I initially blew them up to 1/32 scale which would have been nearly perfect for the Aristocraft motorblock but I have had problems with getting all of the drive rods to fit beneath the locomotive when working in that scale. As a result, I compromised driver diameter for a little larger and wider body in 1:29 scale. This will definitely give the boiler a “chunky, brutish feel”.
Modifying the Aristocraft Pacific motorblock.
The first step in building the Atlantic is to remove the extra set of drive wheels form an Aristocraft pacific motorblock.
To do this I first heated up the bolts that hold the drive rods in place.
Next, I heated up the screws that hold the wheels to the axles. This is necessary because Aristocraft uses red loctite to hold all of the screw and wheels in place on these mechanisms. I usually hold the torch on the part to be removed for about twenty-five seconds before I try to take it apart. I have learned that it does not pay to try to force these little screws!
Once the Wheels are removed, I was able to open the Motorblock case and easily remove the front gearbox.
This will be put into the scrap box for future use.
I then cut the motorblock case down to size.
Once the case was cut, I then cut the drive rods down to size.
The wheels were then put back onto the axles. What was originally the center wheel has been moved to the rear to accommodate the main drive rod.
The rods were then temporarily put back on the wheels while I re-applied loctite and quartered the drivers.
The next step was to lock the forward set of drivers in place to prevent the whole motorblock from leaning to one side or the other.
Finally the reassembled motorblock was put on bearings for testing.
(NO PROBLEMS YET!)
Boiler construction is underway. I started by attempting to use PVC pipe that was very close to the finished diameter of smoke box However, this did not work when I tried to cut thin strips of 1/8” thick styrene to glue on the sides. The styrene sections tapered from about 1/8” down to nothing. I could not get a decent cut to save my life so I went with another technique that a lot of you who made stick and tissue airplanes may recognize.
I started drawing circles on a sheet of 1/8” styrene and using the band saw to roughly cut them into circles of the proper boiler diameter. I then used a lathe to finish rounding the circles (this could be done with careful cutting but I have to find ways to justify owning such an expensive toy).
Once every thing was cut to size, I glued two of each peace together to give me ¼” bulkheads.
The bulkheads were then slotted to accept strips of 1/8” X 3/8” styrene strips and were put onto a threaded rod to hold them in their proper place.
Below is a finished photo of the boiler skeleton in place on the threaded rod. At this point, you can use your imagination and start to see the boiler taking shape… Or you may see a crudely assembled Gillows B-17!
An interesting side note. I just received an e-mail from my dad with a short article stating that the Pennsylvania State Railway museum will begin cosmetic restoration work on the last existing E-6. It’s interesting how timing works some times.
My original intent was to wrap the boiler in 1/16” thick styrene but I quickly discovered that it was too thick. I then attempted to heat it in the toaster oven (while my wife was away) but found that the plastic also shrinks slightly as it is heated. I finally was forced to drive 50 miles to the nearest hobby shop to get some .020 thick styrene street.
I then wrapped the boiler frame in paper, held it up to the light and carefully marked the location of the bulkheads.
The next step was to cut the paper off of the boiler and cut the between the lines that I marked on the paper.
Below are photos of all of the patterns for the boiler shape laid out together. Notice the slight curve to each section.
The patterns were then transferred to the .020 styrene plastic and cut to shape.
I then bent them into a cone shape and taped up the joint. At this stage, they are not perfectly round but more of a tear drop shape. However, once I slipped them on to the boiler skeleton they conformed to the proper shape.
After a test fit of all the pieces, I removed them and applied CA glue to the skeleton and slipped them back into place.
For added weight I also put lead shot in the lower portions of the boiler and then poured casting resin over the lead shot. I repeated the casting process on the sides and top of the boiler as well but did not add shot to them.
As a result, I now have a boiler with 3/8” thick walls. This should give the model plenty of strength and a good mounting surface for handrails, piping and other miscellaneous fittings.
I ended the day by tackling the trailing truck wheels. If you decide to build this model in 1/32 scale then the wheels from the Aristocraft diesel motor block will work perfectly and can be ordered from the factory or some of the other retailers listed on this web site. However, because I’m building mine in 1/29 scale, I needed a much larger trailing wheel. To get one, I turned to my lathe and spent the better part of the afternoon making a set of wheels. This is my first attempt at turning my own wheels and I think they came out looking very nice.
I’ll let you know how they work once I get them on and axle.
Lots of progress to report on today.
To start with, I mounted my newly cut wheels on an axle composed of styrene tubing reinforced with a brass rod. I took it out and sent it rolling down the track and through two sets of switches without derailing.
Below is a photo of the new wheel placed next to the motor block at its proposed position.
I then began work on the trailing truck in my usual way. 1) Glue two pieces of plastic together. 2) Rubber cement on a photocopy of the part.
3) Cut to shape.
4) Separate the plastic pieces and remove the paper.
The journal boxes were the next small project. I found a suitable passenger car model that had journal boxes similar to what I needed and made an impression in modeling clay. I then used casting resin to make some duplicates. The resin castings were then glued to a piece of 1/16” thick styrene and small slivers of hexagonal styrene were cut to represent bolt heads.
Now I don’t know the proper term for these next pieces so maybe someone can post back with the proper name, but I made the thick portions of the casting along the top of the truck and the area above the journal box out of a few different materials.
The photo below shows styrene used on one side (I was not very happy with the way that one came out) and Annealed brass tubing used on the other.
I then cut out a portion of a photocopy to make the thick portion above the journal box. The first one was made of styrene and was used a master.
I then mashed the master into some clay and cast a set of duplicates.
One nice thing about using resin castings for these parts is that they are very flexible if you take them out early. They can then be bent to exactly the shape you want before they harden completely.
That’s all for today.
Joel
A short update for today.
I finished the trailing truck yesterday and was surprised at how many factory built parts could be incorporated into it.
Here is the Break down:
The lower coil springs are cut from Bachmann passenger cars.
The Upper leaf springs came from the Aristocraft Pacific motor block.
Finally the journal boxes are from an Aristocraft Heavyweight passenger car.
Most parts were cut to size and modified before being mashed into clay to make molds.
The coil springs on the bottom of the truck were interesting because the pattern springs were too wide. I corrected this by simply squeezing the sides of the clay mold in a little bit.
Over the past few days I have turned my attention to the locomotive stack and domes. In the past, I have made these out of wood and given them a generous coat of varnish to cover up the grain. This time I used resin for the sand dome and metal for the stack and steam domes.
To make the sand dome, I made an oval shaped form by taping a strip styrene in a circle and then squeezing the sides in a vice. This gave me a plastic blank to start with.
I used a sanding drum mounted on my lathe the get a rough contour on the bottom of the domes and stack.
I then tape a thin sheet of styrene over the boiler and glue domeor stack in place. The glue does an excellent job of filling in any gaps that are left.
Once the glue is dried, I remove the taped plastic and cut and sand the edges away until the domes blend perfectly with the contour of the boiler.
This process was repeated with the brass stack and aluminum steam dome. By the way, the materials were selected because that was what I happened to have on hand at the time.
That’s it for today.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
P.S. Thanks for the Big Hauler you gave me 17 years ago Dad! I had no idea how far I would go from that train set.
Joel
Good morning all.
I’ve begun work on the pilot wheels for the Atlantic. I used a set of B**hmann wheels that have been modified. If you are considering building one of these and don’t have access to a lathe, the modifications in this section are not necessary and the B**hman wheels can be used “as is”
The photo below shows the un-altered wheel set. The Wheels appear larger than the pilot wheels in the line drawing but this is mainly due to the over sized flanges. The wheels also concave.
To remedy the concave appearance of the wheels, I filled them with plastic resin.
I machined them flat.
Then machined a more appropriate profile
Finally I machined the flanges down a little to improve the appearance and make the wheels seem more to scale.
The photo below shows the modified wheels after painting.
The next step was to build the frame for the pilot wheels. This is nothing more than a 1/8” thick styrene box with a couple of hole drilled in it for the axles.
The past few locomotives that I have built have been under weight and I always have to add ballast to them to make them run properly. For the Atlantic pilot, I filled the styrene box with lead shot.
Then covered the shot in plastic resin.
Photo below is of the pilot after the resin has cured. The pilot is now quite heavy and should not bounce around too much as the loco goes over leaves and other minor obstructions.
Yesterday I started wok on the cylinders and breaks for the pilot truck.
For the cylinders I started by pasting a photocopy on two pieces of 1/8" styrene and cutting the plastic on the band saw
I then used some brass bar stock to hold the two halves together.
The sides were then added and the whole assembly was filled with lead shot for weight.
The saddle (if that’s it’s name) was made by heating a piece of plastic over my trusty heater and bending it around some pipe, cutting it to size and gluing it in place.
For the pilot breaks, I have started to build a
master with which I will make resin castings. Again, I just glued a photocopy of the part I wanted to make onto a piece of plastic and cut it out. I then used my drill press to machine the recessed portions of the break gear.
I will then mash the master pattern into some clay and pour casting resin into the cavity.
Joel
Good morning all,
This weekend I made some castings of break gear for the pilot truck. All went well and I made a spare set to add on to the Hiawatha locomotive that I built about a year ago.
Below is a photo of the clay molds used.
Breaks in place.
Styrene strips were then cut to resemble leaf springs.
The paint is drying
now and I’m off to San Luis Obispo for a week. You can be I will stop by the Questa grade to watch the trains.
Joel
Today’s update,
The I spent the past couple of weeks working out a way to attach the boiler, cylinders and motor block together in a way that will facilitate later disassembly for future work and I came up with a systems that uses three attachment points. Two through the holes already pre existing in the Aristocraft motor block and one that runs under the pilot truck through the cylinder and up into the base of the smoke box. If I planned this correctly it should require the removal of four bolts in the smoke box face and the removal of the bolts at the attachment points to disassemble the model.
See photos below.
Now I’m afraid it’s time to move on to the valve gear and driving rods. This is the most tedious part!
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