Cab Forward 2023

[bob turner]

My 2020 thread now has maybe three photos - not sure why Shutterfly photos have a “view by” date.

My motivation for repeating these now missing photos is twofold: one, I think these are semi-interesting models, and two, I am thinking of offering a selection of my models to the Calif RR Museum. They might not be interested - O gauge17/64 Scale is not all that popular. But I am going to post - maybe starting tomorrow. And invite them to look.

[E7]

My 2020 thread now has maybe three photos - not sure why Shutterfly photos have a “view by” date.

My motivation for repeating these now missing photos is twofold: one, I think these are semi-interesting models, and two, I am thinking of offering a selection of my models to the Calif RR Museum. They might not be interested - O gauge17/64 Scale is not all that popular. But I am going to post - maybe starting tomorrow. And invite them to look.

Stuff on the NET is pretty much "ephemeral" as in: Here today, gone tomorrow. Be interesting to know what the average life span of items on the Net is, but I suspect not very long. Too much $$$$ motivated obsolescence. The rationale might have once been dictated by the cost of memory (remember Y2K), but I seriously doubt it's a factor anymore!

[bob turner]

The strange thing is - the link is identical (I think), the images are still hosted, and Jim's contributions from Dropbox are still there. I shall guess the limit for me is two years.

[E7]

Not a clue. Last time I put any images out there was a couple on OGR, and before that, years ago, when I sold a few things on Feebay, which they have pretty much wrecked. The longer things go, the more of a pain in the A$$ it seems to be to do stuff, and I'm 4 years younger than you! Pretty sure I have bought my last PC (a laptop yet to be fired up). When it becomes passe (if I don't beat it to that point), I doubt I'll be buying another. Considering the so called LOW price of memory, I would think personal storage would still be viable, but my give a $hit factor is getting ever lower for all things PC/Internet.

By the way, why don't you just copy the two links and compare them? Any difference should pretty much jump out at you if you put them on screen one directly above the other.

[bob turner]

Good idea! Firing up the big computer momentito.

[bob turner]

OK - here is my first post - the link has been removed, and replaced with "image"

Post by bob turner » Mon Aug 10, 2020 12:10 pm

My #3 Scratchbuild - still using steel exhaust pipe for boilers due to ignorance of availability of proper size brass tubing. Tender trucks cast from my masters using Lobaugh journals and springs. Available for a while from Trackside Specialties.

Runs like a watch with Pittman 9234 motor and Mod 0.5 gears. 17/64 Scale. First Place OSW 1995 (although before paint and weathering it lost a contest to a dealer-owned Overland import).

Image

Here is the Shutterfly link:
https://uniim1.shutterfly.com/render/00 ... 1596565848

And here is the photo:

[bob turner]

I am going to take the time and stack most of them here in rapid succession. My #3 scratchbuilt was of the same prototype with the change to a four wheel lead truck. This one is all brass -

[bob turner]

Later on, I did the 2-8-8-2 version, and it won first place at OSW. Some folks quarreled with my MC-6 designation, but I had Bob Church on my side.



Tender shown is a 98-SC-6, a "one of a kind" tender. No proof exists that this tender ever graced the prototype, but on the other hand, no proof exists to the contrary. I think I have a model of every cylindrical and semi-cylindrical tender the SP ever had.

[bob turner]

I lied above - this is my #3 scratchbuild. It is an AC-8, with some slight modifications in piping to make it closer to the AC-11. Ran like a watch last time I tried it - NWSL Mod O.5 gears, Challenger frames, Lobaugh drivers, castings for tender trucks from my father's foundry. Markers and headlight are constant illumination.

[bob turner]

My AC-6. Feature here is a wood block tender, with glued on brass embossed sides, and incorrect trucks - although from my patterns. It, too, ran like a swiss watch last time I tried it - before the turn of the century.

These things are well lubricated, including Teflon grease in the ball bearing gearboxes and ball bearing Pittmans. They should crank right up without problems, although a quarter century of inactivity will freeze up any good machinery.

[bob turner]

The above, to me, is a pretty nice cross-section of the SP Cab Forward series, starting in 1910 with the MC-series and 1911 with the MM. The later AC locomotives are the famous ones, and the ones most copied in O Scale.

I have several MM-2s, and a pair of Lobaugh ACs that I will append here in a few minutes. It is the above collection that I personally think deserves some sort of preservation together. I feel that way about my SP-class 4-10-2s and the big Baldwin, but that is a topic for a different thread.

[bob turner]

Just for kicks, I am going to separate out the above with a prototype photo - one I obtained from a collection prior to its transfer to the Pennsylvania group, and for which I had permission to reproduce (thanks to Harold Vollrath, a fellow modeler and nice person).



I have several photos like this, but you can see as many as you would like by purchasing a copy of the Bob Church book. I strongly recommend that.

[bob turner]

Here is the genuine Lobaugh AC-8. Kit drawings are dated Dec 7, 1941, and you can imagine what happened to production. We think there are twelve of these out there in complete original shape, but there are lots of fragments using USH tenders and drive wheels. I have re-assembled two such fragments, and do not regard them as significant in a historical sense.

This one has suffered a slight modification - I changed the tender trucks! They are easily changed back, since they are the same Buckeye castings as used on the ubiquitous Berkshire - and always for sale on eBay.

The Sacramento Museum already has one of these - it is sort of hidden, with no curation whatsoever, which is why I think maybe they will not be particularly interested in my collection. If I were to donate it (after I croak, please) I would stipulate that it had to be displayed with historical notes and identified as scratchbuilt by me. My experience is that museums would rather retain the right to sell such junk.

Herewith - genuine 1941 Lobaugh:

[bob turner]

And one more Lobaugh - this one from fragments, but all the fragments are Lobaugh. Tender is the one supplied with the SP Mountain. I changed this one to more closely resemble what modelers call the AC-6 SF (for "streamlined face."). I just happened to have a set of Lobaugh spoked drivers - the model has an original Lobaugh boiler, albeit pretty cut up when I got it, and original frames and cylinders. I also wound up with a spare genuine AC-8 rectangular tender, which is a true rarity.



You know what? Studying the image shows that the tender in the photo is Adams. Rest assured it now has a genuine Lobaugh tender behind it. I have a genuine fondness for the Adams variant, and believe the Lobaugh is not quite as accurate - but still, the Lobaugh version is very credible, and I think I have four!

That's it for this morning. Still gluing rib repairs on that Stearman wing, so off to the airport for me.

[bob turner]

You know what? Before I go, I should note that I have not modelled the MM and MC series as rebuilt as simple articulateds, and re-classed AM and AC. It is a personal preference thing - but models do exist. There was one scratcbuilt AM, I think owned by Dick Fullerton way back when, and of course Sunset did a really nice model. Maroon posted a pair of photos in the original Cab Forward 2020 thread, and they remain as pretty much the only photos not relegated to the trash bin. Here is one: