Model Train Journal

I am sure I included these in some old thread or another, but a quick search reveals not much.

I was planning on entering my #2353 in the "National" portion of O Scale West this week, but caught a cold on Monday, and by Thursday I knew I had no business attempting the flight, or even the drive. So here I am while my buddies are enjoying the show.

This model did make it to the OSW contest sometime around 15 years ago - here is its caption for this year's contest:

Harriman Ten-Wheeler

This model was entered in an O Scale West popularity contest over a decade ago, and is offered here for consideration in the O Scale National portion of O Scale West 2019.

The model is scratchbuilt in 17/64 scale, using only a few commercial parts. At the time 2353 was built, the real 2353 was running in San Diego under steam, with a locomotive pilot on the back of the tender. There are a few departures – the logo is wrong, since the real one had the Museum logo on the oil tank, and the piping for air lines is not precisely correct.

The main frame, boiler, cab, and tender body are entirely scratch built by the owner. Small lost wax castings are off-the-shelf, but note that the side rods on the locomotive are fully clevised, and cast in nickel silver from the owner’s patterns by K & D castings. Drivers are Lobaugh, and power is by Pittman/NWSL, with motor in the tender.

The owner is departing early Saturday, so cast your votes early and often.

I did retouch the red fittings and window mullions, and was about to add some weathering chalk when the cold hit. The airplane was freshly inspected, although not yet cleaned (a required part of an annual inspection) and I had only to top the tanks and pack.

Back to the Ten-Wheeler - I discovered the real thing in the late 1960s, forlorn on the Imperial County Fairgrounds, just east of the Imperial, California, airport, when a weather event found me grounded. It sat there from the 1950s through the 1980s in the dry heat of the California desert until grabbed by the Pacific Southwest RR Museum (I am a life member) and resurrected to full operation. It ran for about three years, then a "boiler mishap" caused it to again become a static display, where it remains today. There are only two Harriman SP Ten Wheelers in existence - the other is #2355, in a park in an eastern suburb of Phoenix. That one is covered in stucco and handrails, reflecting the days when kids were allowed to climb on things. Who knows? Maybe someday one of these two beauties will again ride the rails under steam.

I have more than enough ten-wheelers, but feel another is about to see daylight. My first Harriman was numbered 2355 (in part because at that time I was flying a Piper Cheyenne numbered 2355V), but its numbering is not prototypical, since I chose the 69" drivered prototype for my model. This one, too, is in 17/64, but pre-dates my desire for large motors in the tender, so it suffers from a small Escap motor in the firebox. Also perhaps obscurely, its boiler is slightly incorrect. the Harriman had two tapers - the first is obvious, but the second is the firebox, which slopes to the rear. I promise, I did not see that back then. The 2353 boiler took three tries - these are tough boilers to get correct! Herewith:

Bob, how do you make your boiler tapers? I've only done one, the wagon top boiler for my Lionel General bash.

ScaleCraft wrote:http://www.modeltrainjournal.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17937&p=353392#p353392

Thanks, Dave. Bob said "The main frame, boiler, cab, and tender body are entirely scratch built..." Silly me, I assumed he meant brass construction. He may have used dingo dung, as far as I know.

I use brass bar rail tube for boilers, with vee shaped slices on the bottom to form conic shapes. I use brass bar stock for frames. Brass dowel for stacks and domes. .020 half hard sheet for cabs and oil tanks. I rarely use any oyher material, but on my D16sb I went to aluminum for dome, stack, and smokebox front for weight distribution. Same on some Mallets (but not all . . .).

I don't know where those locos were used but I see them in what is left of my mind dashing across the deserts of
Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico. Now I don't care if I'm wrong. I think they ould look good there.

bob turner wrote:I use brass bar rail tube for boilers, with vee shaped slices on the bottom to form conic shapes.

Thanks, Bob. The bar rail I have has a pretty thick wall. I imagine it requires repeated annealing, to bend it to shape. I just used brass pipe, from the local lumber joint.

Mine is .032, which I regard as the thinnest boiler material for O Scale. In the olden days you could buy brass tube in varying thicknesses and diameters.

The greater the taper, the harder this is - I use a sanding disc, sneaking up on appropriate diameters for joining taper and straight boiler courses. Maybe I will do that last ten-wheeler boiler and post my progress.

Meanwhile, surely I am not the only one here who has ten-wheeler and consol photos?

bob turner wrote:Meanwhile, surely I am not the only one here who has ten-wheeler and consol photos?

Do you need actual posting or can you utilize the link provided above?

4-6-0, I can do 2-8-0.

bob turner wrote:Mine is .032, which I regard as the thinnest boiler material for O Scale. In the olden days you could buy brass tube in varying thicknesses and diameters.

OK, my bar rail wall thickness is ~.070". The yellow brass drain pipe and red brass (called "copper") pipe from Home Depot, Lowes, etc. is about .032". I'm able to work this stuff, w/o constant re-annealing.

bob turner wrote:The greater the taper, the harder this is - I use a sanding disc, sneaking up on appropriate diameters for joining taper and straight boiler courses.

I see that. I use two former discs and a separator as a jig. I wrap the taper section material around this jig, and mark and cut off the excess at the seam. When the wrapper fits, I solder the kit and caboodle together on the stove. That way, I can either solder, or bolt the boiler sections together.

I bolt and then solder. Gives me an escape when things do not line up. Brass 2-56 FH screws, countersunk slightly. Heads filed off after solder. Yeah, .070 is way too thick. Did not know HD had such stuff.

I am about to cut metal.

Dave - yeah, the link was ok. I went there when you posted it.

If you need a consolidation to look at this Memorial Day...
Built by George Stock.
Regards,
Hugh

Nice. The hand lettering is familiar! I do have a 2-8-0 Camelback nearing some sort of completion - but for now here is a Harriman shot:

bob turner wrote:here is a Harriman...

Bob, did you make the spoked tender truck wheels?