GSL Steam Roster

[bob turner]

That's as nice as they come for a stock CLW Northern. The lead truck should be outside bearing. I may have given mine away, but if not it is yours.

[R.K. Maroon]

I visited my brother Pete in Atlanta recently and spent most of four days in the basement in some combination of talking trains, running trains, and working on various locomotives and other projects. One of the steam locomotives from the Great Southern Lines club layout was in the house. I had never seen any example of this model with my own eyes before, and I will say that it is an impressive beast. Originally a post-war Scale-Craft design that never saw production, it is one of the few models of the era (or any era?) with sprung and equalized drivers. As I recall, it mostly just needed a good cleaning and lube and off it went:



I want to also say that it was showing some cumulative wear that will need to be watched, but I will have to lean on Pete to either verify or to correct me. We worked on a half dozen different locomotives that weekend and I am already having a hard time remembering what we did from one to another.

Jim

[De Bruin]

Nice "bump" James thanks, I was going to update accordingly as we also worked that Mi-Loco-J-to-4-6-2 and an AN 4-4-2 as well as some of the diesel queue; including that pair of AHM C's with CLW drives (built by the late and most brilliant Arthur Hambrick) , the also previously reviewed Central of Ga Key E-7 with an equally brilliant drive care of the recently departed Mr Kleinshmidt (one of the great ones) and an All Nation NW-2 which you have posted the original drive wear gear conditions thereof. Most appreciated.

I will post the AN 4-4-2 and CLW 4-8-4 here soon, once they're visually refurbished (so far running well) though sadly that Mi-Loco J died again with a dead short after about 20 minutes of running at the MRCA layout.
Thinking continued driver tire fragmentation.

[bob turner]

You have seen mine - converted to a UP FEF-1 with centipede tender. And my spare mechanism.

[De Bruin]

Next up #598, an All Nation Atlantic built by the late Arthur Hambrick. Arthur had seriously good skills in building reliably operating models; this one is no exception as it ran regularly for years long before I joined and at least three years after until it developed a chronic tendency to pick facing point switches.

Removing the “tires-worth” of track grime on the all of the wheels “added” some flange depth (Duh! Right?) helping a lot but in continued testing with a full train there was still an obvious tracking issue with the pony truck de-railing. We'd assumed that installing a spring was the solution, but the truck was actually already sprung with a small diameter spring that was worn out, furthermore the locomotive frame (with cab mounted motor) center of gravity was exactly over the rear driver center, which caused the chassis-frame to rise under acceleration and lift the pony truck.

Not inclined to dissemble the smokebox to add some weight, I elected to put a (barely) camouflaged weight on the pilot deck, albeit was easier said than done as the deck is integral with the cylinder saddle and was not up to getting center-tapped or drilled, fracturing at the saddle as the casting proved quite weak having a lot of bubbles, pockets. BIG improvement though running wise, can track speed through the worst switches on Track-world now without derailing, hopefully will do the same downtown.

Also applied the usual cosmetic update too; replacing the mangy looking road number and applying the GSL standard red-brown roof and deck, also some bonus work since the headlight casting already sported the road# I co-opted the B&O-like smokebox plate for the GSL's Herald.
Next up, jumper work for the CLW drive AHM C-Liners, weighting the CLW Northern’s pony truck (pilot deck on that one already loaded with pumps) and re-decaling as well, and then back to the Chester Sunbeam project.

[ScaleCraft]

Doesn't the Atlantic smokebox front come off with the screw down the stack to a bracket screwed to the back of the smokebox front?

[De Bruin]

Pretty sure It does, unfortunately removing that screw only removes the stack on this one, without pulling the frame off the boiler I can't tell if the smokebox is glued on or pressed fit, and again the castings are soft enough that I did not want to try prying it off either. Worse once the screw was removed it would not reseat into the bracket thread. Nerve wracking this is.

BTW Dave, sincere thanks for posting, sometimes I wonder why I bother with these.

[De Bruin]

Recently the RMCA was the recipient of a donation of a large collection of old O Scale equipment, the models are as recent as 70’s era Atlas-Roco and AHM and as old as SMR, Hines and Adams & Son. The build quality varies wildly, the painted kits appear to largely be done with a brush and will be laborious to bring back from the dead.

The steam engines in particular are quite old and will need some TLC to restore to running and clean up damage accumulated from years of storage and moving.

This is the largest and heaviest piece in the bunch, a 4-8-4 based on an uncertain prototype, though the pilot and smokebox have a "NYC-ish" quality to them.


I have discovered the tender has an Adams & Son casting mark on the under-body center sill under the rear truck, however as Jim has pointed out in his column, that’s hardly definitive for identifying the brand name for these older guys as it can solely indicate merely the castings origin foundry.

Anyone recognize the model or know anything about these? Any help would be appreciated.
Pete

[bob turner]

Tender is from the same patterns as the A-N Mountain, only probably brass. Loco frame is Adams. Boiler might be built up - as in pretty much scratchbuilt. There may be a prototype - I will check my Rock Island steam book.

[bob turner]

Anxiously awaiting pictures of others.

[Nortonville Phil]

Pete,

That reminds me of a C&NW 4-8-4. It looks a lot like the Scale Craft OO scale model I am familiar with.

[De Bruin]

Phil, based on the photo evidence you've forwarded I have to agree. Not a exact match but the boiler domes, some of the piping and certain hardware (the ATS box above the cylinders) are too much of a coincidence. It would certainly be logical for All Nation to serve up an H class, as the C&NW was a major Chicago area road. Would take some effort to clean this one up, the missing ladder, smokebox details, all the piping etc etc.
Thanks for the tip, hope to see you at the OKC meet.
Pete
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=111624

[bob turner]

After a quick search, I am going to declare the closest match a class N-63 Missouri Pacific Northern. The domes are not exactly right, but those saddlebags are a match, as is the cab. Tender is close. The only thing CNW about it is the outside bearing lead truck, and it is missing the outside frame trailing truck and the Berkshire cab, then available from Lobaugh.

Fairly close to Lehigh Valley, but the saddlebags are MoPac.

I still vote for mostly scratchbuilt.

Thanks, Pete. You livened things up a bit.

[R.K. Maroon]

Bob --

I couldn't find any information on an MP class N-63 4-8-4. The N-73 looks like a pretty good match, as you say:



Speaking strictly for myself, I sure would like to see that big guy properly restored and tooling around a layout somewhere (perhaps in Dallas ).

As an aside, like Phil, my first thought when I saw Pete's post was "Chicago and North Western Class H". This might be, in part, due to the ATA doorstop model of that locomotive that appeared briefly after the war. It would need that distinctive banjo trailing truck though. Hmm...I wonder if this could be a modified version of one of those? Will research and return.

Jim

[rex desilets]

if these locos were built during WWII, it's not surprising that they look alike except for minor details.Just as the C&O T-1 morphed into the PRR J-1.