Cab Forward 2020

[Rufus T. Firefly]

There may have been a sort of backwards Beyer Garratt, or maybe Peacock?

[E7]

There may have been a sort of backwards Beyer Garratt, or maybe Peacock? But only SP had true cab forward steam.

Maybe because the other roads didn't need them!

[ScaleCraft]

North Pacific Coast 4-4-0 Number 21 was allegedly first:

https://locomotive.fandom.com/wiki/Nort ... ast_No._21

BTW, SP called them "Back-Up Mallets", did they not, and the name stuck even when later they weren't Mallets anymore?

[bob turner]

That is certainly true. My father's family was SP - my aunt was born in the Columbus NM depot (still there). All of them called this unusual steam "Back up Malleys" (after Anatole Mallet).

I saw the giant ACs up close, out of Lordsburg, and in my back yard at Fairbank, Ariz. i lived in the A&NM Depot in Fairbank for a while.

[robert.]

For a while it was "W T Rogers" in Michigan, now I can only find 2" dia, and it is hideously expensive.

I need some 1 5/8" OD. Maybe 3' of it. I guess I could work with rolled sheet, but still need a source.

Steel is problematic; once finished you really have to do serious corrosion control. Solder flux must be scrupulously removed, and then the steel must be coated.

Not interested in working with steel.

these guys sell by the inch.
https://www.speedymetals.com/ps-2858-19 ... brass.aspx

[bob turner]

I'll say! Tubing that I might be interested in is $7/inch! How things have changed!

Simple 2" bar rail - three feet for a hundred bucks.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

For a while it was "W T Rogers" in Michigan, now I can only find 2" dia, and it is hideously expensive.

I need some 1 5/8" OD. Maybe 3' of it. I guess I could work with rolled sheet, but still need a source.

Steel is problematic; once finished you really have to do serious corrosion control. Solder flux must be scrupulously removed, and then the steel must be coated.

Not interested in working with steel.

these guys sell by the inch.
https://www.speedymetals.com/ps-2858-19 ... brass.aspx

Yes.............some serious thick wall stuff there - 1/8" wall thickness! Pricey, too!

[bob turner]

Need a photo for this page. This is an MC-6, a "Mallet-Consolidation." I am willing to bet that it is the only model of this particular version of SP "Back-up Mallies" that will ever exist. Tender is a one-of-a-kind Class 98SC-6, and I have no photos showing it behind this particular locomotive. Once again, I claim artist's privilege.
17/64 scale, ran like a watch last time I tested it. Still needs one valve spindle support. First place OSW decades ago.

[bob turner]

Oh - I asked Industrial Metal Supply - 12 feet of 2" dia x .050 wall is roughly $200. I think that's five times what I last paid, but it is polished, which adds to the cost. That's roughly half the price of the "per inch" - but the "per inch" place doesn't make tou buy 12 feet. Have not checked McMaster-Carr.

I stockpiled brass a while back - I am probably set for the foreseeable future.

[bob turner]

This is the last of them, and the only Cab Forward/Back-up Malley I have ever done in 1/4" scale.
Old timers will remember the ten-part construction series that ran in OSN - this is that model.

Unique things about this creation include the passenger car vestibule on the back of the tender, and the mix of 24:1 and 25:1 gearboxes, making the engines go in and out of synchronization. That experiment was a wild success; you cannot see the periodicity, even when looking for it, and its pulling power is apparently not affected at all. In contrast, the NP Challenger with its two-motor twin-spool design is at least noisy, and way too complicated.

This is not my last attempt - I have at least three more started, and one is at the stage of adding pipes and appurtenances, but it surely will be the last with motor and gearboxes. I don't run often enough to keep the ones above limber, so there is no point in spending an extra $200 per model for gears and motors.

[PRRK4s]

Bob, no intention of hijacking this thread but your cab forward reminded me of something. Just looking at the pictures, do you think it had potential? It was part of a collection from years ago I sold off for someone. It ended up going to Japan of all places. Brass/bronze mostly, tender shell tin. I wonder if it turned into anything operable.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

It ended up going to Japan of all places.

Shipping there must have been entertaining,

[bob turner]

Not hijacking. I keep hoping others will share. I already know what my collection looks like. Keep posting.

I personally would rather start over, but am always thrilled with a good set of Lobaugh drivers.

[bob turner]

One of the things that I think about lately is - where should these things go? I once offered to display them in the SDMRR Museum, of which I am twice a life member. The occasion was "Cab Forward Month." They were not even interested in looking at the photos, let alone have me drag them down there and put them on display. My great fear is that I would donate them, and then a museum would either park them in a warehouse or sell them. Still, I am thinking of making the offer - maybe to a museum that would give me the time of day?

Since this is a "bump", maybe I shall get some photos of my unfinished SP Malleys. I think there are three coming along slowly.

[J. S. Bach]

...snip... My great fear is that I would donate them, and then a museum would either park them in a warehouse or sell them. ...snip...

The selling would not bother me too much IF the museum used the resulting funds in a proper manner supporting the museum's goals.