EBT #1 "Edward Roberts"

If ever there was a chameleon locomotive on the EBT's roster, #1 was it. It was one of the first two locos on the EBT, having been built in 1873 to the same drawings as the D&RGW's "Sho-wa-no" 2-6-0. (See David Fletcher's version on his web site). In researching the loco, I found no fewer than 6 variations--different pilots, domes, no extended smokebox, extended smokebox, then an entirely new boiler altogether (All the Airplane fans just said "then an entirely new boiler"), running boards moved up and down; then when it was sold to the Tuscarora Valley in 1911, an air pump and yet another front pilot (with automatic coupler). 
Here's some examples: This is the earliest photo I came across, and is probably as close to her original appearance as possible. The original Baldwin ornate paint is barely visible on the tender. The second steam dome was added at some point by the railroad.




I've always wanted to build a model of this loco. There were two possibilities for starting points. Aster's original JNR mogul would provide me with what I needed for a live steam version--including the funky three-axle tender. Alas, I missed a chance to buy one at a very good price, and since it's slip-eccentric and runs on only one cylinder, wouldn't be a good fit for my kind of operation anyway. (That doesn't mean that--someday--I might get one and build #2, a twin to #1.) The other option was starting with an LGB mogul. The drivers are the right size, albeit spaced a few inches too far apart, and the tender is close-ish. (That's a technical term meaning "close enough to where the compromise is worth not dealing wtih the headache of scratchbuilding.") I recently acquired an LGB mogul, so I was finally able to start.
The LGB mogul is 1:22.5, so one would think it might scale well for a small 1:20 mogul. While this is largely the case, it's actually too large for this diminutive loco, so pretty much everything above the chassis went into the parts box. That left me with a chassis and tender tank as the only surviving parts. (The rest has since been sent on to another modeler.) What I didn't realize, though, was how much cleaner my parts box was going to get as a result of this project...
The locomotive ended up being somewhat of a "Frankenstein" locomotive. I was prepared for a healthy amount of scratchbuilding on this project, but soon discovered that going through such lengths wouldn't be as necessary as I had thought. I had in my parts box some old Delton C-16 kits that I had picked up for a song. Having now conclude that the drive in those units is pretty much worthless, what I had intended to do with those will now be done using the new Aristo version. This freed up these components for "experimentation." My first look went to the boiler and smokebox. It was the right diameter in 1:20, and had very nice looking domes. They are not in quite the same place as the prototype, but it was close-ish. Since the domes on this loco moved around anyway, I figured it's a nice average of all the versions.
I cut the bottom of the Delton boiler open so it fit over the LGB motor block, and extended the smokebox by carefully cutting the smokebox door off with a razor saw, then inserting a small length of 2" OD acrylic tube. The seam is filled with plumber's putty to blend the two together. Number 1's smokebox front wasn't quite this ornate, and this may change before I paint it. I saw some Trackside Details smokebox doors the other day that might work well instead. We'll see. I'm not sure I want to risk destroying what's there. I sanded down the Delton cast-on boiler bands to a more scale appearance. My original intent was to sand them completely off then add new ones, but in sanding them down, I found I could work them to where I needed them. 
My only gripe with the LGB chassis is that it's a big box of plastic, not the spidery open frame of an early mogul. This wasn’t so much an issue under the boiler, as the fenders would take mask that part, but at the front and rear, things had to be cut away. Some work with a Roto-Zip bit in my drill press made quick work of opening up the frame. The trade-off is that the motor block is no longer sealed, so dirt and crap could work its way back in. Right now, I’ve got a piece of wood filling in the space. This may or may not change. The fenders are bent from brass, and screwed into the frame. The LGB plastic is notoriously resistant to glue, so I used mechanical fasteners wherever possible. 
I went back and forth about the LGB cylinders. It would have been very easy to use them, but they were too long and the crosshead was the wrong style. If I didn’t have the aforementioned Delton bits lying around, I would have let it go, but every time I looked at those cylinders versus the LGB ones, a change had to be made. So, I cut off the LGB cylinders, and replaced them with the Delton ones, which not only matched the prototype, but also had the correct style crosshead. The guides were too short, so I fabricated some new ones from brass and styrene. The top and front of the brass is covered in aluminum tape to give it the look of polished steel, so I don’t have to rely on paint for that. I might replace the piston rods with steel, we’ll see. I did have to lengthen the main rod a bit so the stock LGB rod could attach to the new crosshead. I cut and spliced the two rods together (coincidentally the same cross-section) and then reinforced the joint with 0-80 screws, which I threaded into the rod, then cut the heads off of. The result is a very strong joint. I used the original LGB crosshead guide rear supports, but removed as much as possible extra material. 
The plumbing on this locomotive is interesting, and also seems to have changed over time. On the engineer’s side, there’s both an injector and a crosshead pump. Originally, the locomotive had crosshead pumps on both sides. I don’t know if the injector is original, though I suspect it would have been. When the locomotive was reboilered, they stayed with only one injector, and removed the fireman’s side crosshead pump. I guess as long as you’ve got two ways of getting water into the boiler, you’re fine. So, I modeled the injector/crosshead pump arrangement on the engineer’s side, and left the fireman’s side empty. The plumbing is a mixture of Bachmann valves, a modified Trackside Details crosshead pump, and lots of brass wire. The reverse lever also reaches forward from the cab. It “pivots” from the bottom of the frame below the cab, but is non-functional. You can see the steam turret behind the steam dome which serves as the take-off for the steam heat line. 
Here’s a closer look at the modified Trackside Details crosshead injector. 
In another serendipitous development, I had an old Bachmann 4-4-0 cab sitting in the parts box which was virtually a dead ringer for the prototype. It fit almost perfectly across the Delton boiler, but needed some space filled in with extra styrene. I raised the cab windows to match the prototype, and that’s all that needed doing. I sacrificed the front doors being able to open, but I can live with that. 
I usually don’t go hog-wild with cab detailing, but the combination of large cab windows and a very simple locomotive made things just too hard to resist. It may not be 100% accurate, but it’s pretty accurate for what likely existed. I took inspiration from Fletch’s Baldwin Mogul masterclass.

The cowcatcher is cut down from the LGB cowcatcher. I removed the center 4 vertical supports, and screwed it to a new wood top piece. A coupler lift bar, Trackside Details pocket, and Kadee coupler complete the pilot. The flat holders are 3/32” copper tube. 
The tender rode on this funky 3-axle arrangement, with the front axle being fixed to the frame, the rear two being on a truck. I don’t know how common this was, nor if EBT#2 had the same arrangement, but it is most decidedly distinctive. 
The front journals are Ozark Miniatures castings, supplemented with brass strap. The rear truck is from the LGB tender, with brake shoes from a Bachmann 1:20 flat car truck. (I shortened them to match the smaller wheelbase). The wheels are actually a bit smaller diameter than what the prototype supposedly had, but I couldn’t get the needed swing with using scale wheels. 




From here, it’s off to the paint shop, which will have to wait until the weather is a bit more consistently warmer. I paint in my garage, and I prefer it to be well into the 60s for good coverage. In the mean time, I’ve got plenty of other projects to keep me busy.>>


K