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Paul that's really nice. I'd thought about using one of Barry's drive to make it a 2-8-0. But I like the Annie's valve gear, and it's a little unclear to me how Barry converts an annie to a 2-8-0. Also I have a couple 2-8-0s but no 4-6-0.

I think sectioning the cab will be hard enough--I'm stil not sure I want to do this
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Thanks DR, I think you're right about the cab, and the handrails. I hate messing with handrails, I always screw them up!

I have to admit I'm less interested in matching a specific prototype than I am in getting a standard gage look



According to Kevin Strong, the best/easiest prototype would be the Maryland and Pa RR's 4-6-0s, which had under 60 inch drivers. The Annie drivers are 2 inches and scale out to 58 inches in 1:29. I found a pdf of southern steam and they had a few 10 wheelers with drivers in the low 60s. I may just make it a consol

 

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Here's a badly photographed drawing of Ma & Pa #27




and my photoshopped annie



Kevin Strong seems to be right--they are very close

 

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That loco on the right would be a very nice match for a standard gage annie

When did the Southern go to the green paint scheme, as on the Pacific at the Smithsonian? It was in the 1920s, no? And only passenger engines?

Part of our layout is modeled on the Washington & Old Dominion, which leased locos from the Southern and used some Southern trackage before it converted to electric/diesel in the 1920s.

For me, the hard part is probably going to be the cab. It will need to be cut down in three dimensions. I'm not at all sure how to go about it. It would probably be easier to build an entirely new cab from scratch. I have the annie cab sitting on my workbench, and I'm trying to figure out how to attack it. Cut it into components, and then reduce them? How do i cut the roof off, since it's a curved cut? Hmmm

 

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I just managed to cut up the bachmann cab a little while a go and decided, when I was done, that I'd probably be better off making a new cab from scratch.

Thank you for the pictures--I had seen that page of southern 4-6-0s, it's in my original post. The 62 inch driver version is probably my best shot--I had seen a drawing of the 62 in ch driver loco in a pdf. file.

I'd love to see the artwork, and more info on the color scheme--thank you

 

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thanks RW Jenkins, excellent suggestions. I agree with your suggestion to "Use 1:29 detail parts for the air compressor, bell, dynamo, etc." If I could find 1:29 detail parts I would use them--they're not easy to come by

 

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Thanks so much to everyone who replied--it's been a huge help. Im going to take my time on this and see what I can do. Updates when appropriate!


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Well I went and got my old annie out of the attic. It was more beat up than I remembered. Also it was the "old" version, generation four, with a wood cab and the more ornate style domes. I thought about it for a while--I want this to be a loco in regular service. I could rework this and buy a BBT drive, or just get a latest generation drive, with the all metal gearing and the new from pilot mount. So I wentt ahead and bought a latest generation annie to cut down.

Downside is the pilot truck is now diecast metal, which will make shortening it a little trickier.

I decided to model it on the Ma&Pa rr ten wheeler shown in the Kalmbach Steam Locomotive Cylopedia, since there was a good drawing available. I scanned the drawing and sized it to 1:29 and printed it out. The biggest problem is the cylinders--they are too far forward on the annie. Moving them would take this project, given my skill level, from "fun" to "nightmare, because all the valve gear and associated rig would need to be shortened. It may not be possible to shorten it enough to get the right look. OK, accuracy is the first thing to go.

I may start working on it later this week

 

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Slowly making slow progress. This project is way above my limited skill level, so I fully expect to mess it up.



Here's the Annie near the drawing of the Ma&Pa ten wheeler in the Locomotive Cyclopedia

I cut the smokebox down by roughly half an inch, and made a new pilot truck out of an old aristo Pacific pilot truck. Both are just tack-glued together, but they look like they could work. Patching that cut line will be tough.

The cab will be a problem for me. It has to be lower, and shorter, and set farther back, which means I have to deal with that slot in the boiler and then figure out how everything is gong to attach.





As you can see the Bachmann model is longer than the drawing. But I'm not going to attempt shortening the valve gear!

Several people suggested using smaller appliances--a smaller air pump, headlight etc. That makes sense from a modeling perspective, but in real life, I doubt that Baldwin would have made a larger air pump for a narrow gage loco. Wouldn't they have just stuck, to the degree that they could, standard-size appliances on narrow gage locos?

Suggestions welcome

 

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Aha!

Thanks Pete, I see what you're getting at. Fill the slot, and cut away the attachment points on the running board. Looks easy when you know what you're doing! I'll need to bring the backhead forward a good bit, but that should be easy.

So how did that striped monster turn out?

 

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I understand about the scale difference, but if accurately modeled in 1:22, and based on a standard prototype, it should be the same size as the one they bolted to the side of their standard gage offerings. That is, it should look oversized on the Annie at 1:22. as I assume it would have in real life?
I have bought a lot of parts from trackside and sometimes they seem perfect for 1:29 and sometime they are WAY oversize--thanks for the offer to measure! I usually buy them from Warrior run at the ECLSTs

 

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So I've made some very slow progress--or maybe not. I shortened the boiler and roughed out a new cab. But the propertions look all wrong. The Annie's boiler is much too wide. If I make the cab to fit the drawing below, it seems too low, although the roof is falling right about where it should in relation to the dones. But the domes look too big. Or something

 

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Thank you!

So far all I think I've accomplished is to mess up a perfectly good Annie!

The cab is the right size for the plan, but the boiler being too big messes up the look I think. I'm going to bring the cab up 1/4 inch or so, see if that improves it

 

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Good news about QSI. If I'm lucky, this will be done in time to get a QSI card.





Ok, so thanks to all who offered advice. I'm hoping this thread will someday be useful for someone else




So I added a little less than 1/4 to the cab, and I think it's about perfect. I had to make a new front, and I dummied up a roof

That's a 1:30 figure from Hong Kong in the cab.

 

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Making a new boiler would be the right thing to do, but I went into this thinking it would be a small project, easy to do. First I'd ghave to make a wagon top boiler, which is beyond my skill level, and then the problem with the Annie--for me--is attaching the boiler to the frame.

I just lowered the domes by around 1/4 inch--i'll post pictures later

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Thanks again to everyone who replied. It really helps to have someone else looking at it. I cut the domes down by about 1/4 in the front, 1/8 in the back.


I think it looks better with the domes cut down, but now the cab windows seem off to me. I put a sill on the rear window and that made it look too small, maybe.



The cab is almost exactly the same size as the one aristo uses on its Pacific/Mikado. So I assume it's more more less right. If it gets much taller, it will start to look narrow gage.



It may be that you just can't make a good standard gage model out of an Annie without doing more major surgery.

I went into this thinking it would be fairly simple, but that boiler is a problem.

 

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Bingo! I lowered the windows and it came together very nicely. The boiler is still too big, but it's starting to come together. Pictures in the morning

 

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Thank you--I thought that too, at first, but if you look at the plan next to the Annie the dones are much closer to the plan in size. The annie's sand dome would be much too small. The domes on the plan are about the same height, but narrower.

It might work to replace the domes, but I'm going to go ahead with what I have. I can always cut them off later!

 

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I managed to get a bit more done but work and life are intervening. Made some cab doors. They won't open and close, but I will probably leave them both glued open. The one in the picture is wedged in place with a bit of paper. I'll add a window shade and rivet detail. I glued the smokebox back together and glued the lowered domes.







Now it's mostly down to filling/sanding, filling/sanding, filling/sanding

 

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Posted By Bruce Chandler on 02 Jun 2012 04:38 PM
Looking very nice. Are you planning on straight running boards, like the drawing? Or, are you going to keep the Annie look and not fill the front part slot?
Bruce I'd like to give it straight running boards but I'm not sure how I'd manage the attachment. I'll need to think about that!