I've previously attempted to un-Russian the 2-10-0 but was never satisfied with the first attempt.  Here's No. 163 as she looked with the first un-Russianing.



Now here she is with a smaller sandbox and steam dome.  I've yet to run the sandpipes as I've run out of material, No. 32 black stranded wire.  They'll be added tomorrow.



Now if only I could fix that low slung cab....... stay tuned, you never know.

What do you think?  Better?  Worse?  No difference?  Who cares?

One of my "un-Russianed" 2-10-0s seen here being coaled at Berger yard in Atwater.

Lanny.  Seems as though you and I have a fellow modeller in common.

On a private Yahoo group I mentioned that I was starting a Spectrum 2-8-0 into a 2-8-2 project based on one I'd seen on the Bach Man board.  Ray Breyer mentioned he had a friend who was doing the same kitbash so he sent me some photos, from his pal Lanny who was doing the kitbash.

Same photos you sent me.  :-)

Small world us butchers of expensive steam loco live in.

Believe it or not, I have three "Superstore" christmas promotion 2-10-2s on the GER.

"Superstore" is our local "Loblaws", Canada's largest supermarket chain that trades under various local names.  For several years, they produced a Christmas train set.  The locos, until Christmas 2006 were usually IHC locos with the usual steam roller flanges.  However, Christmas 2006 they came out with what is, in effect, the IHC (Made by Mehano) 2-10-2 but with the correct Elesco feedwater heater matching the Elesco feedwater pump.  The iHC model has a Worthington heater with an Elesco pump.  Only thing that was missing was the "DCC ready" board in the tender.  Adding DCC is easy anway, so this was no big deal.

I ditched the ugly tenders that IHC supply with this loco and replaced them With Spectrum "Hicken" oil tenders converted to coal and shortened by about four scale feet to make them look more "Canadian". To the locos I added vestibule cabs, moved the dome, sandboxes, bell and a few other details to make two classes of 2-10-2 for the GER.  They will be the biggest engines that the GER owns.  In the photo, the far right engine is not quite complete as it's missing the turbo generator, low water alarm and muffler all from just in front of the cab. The white running board stripe will go when the engine is decalled.

To all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

To all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

My computer and the M$ security put up a warning regarding today's newletter from Bachmann.  Something to do with the security certificate not matching.

May be nothing but I thought I'd post it here.

Has anyone else noticed a slow down in the loading time on the board over the past few days?  Or is it just me?

Finally, it's "finished", for now.  Obviously there will be touch ups etc., but for the sake of this board, this is how it finally looks.



Remember how we started?



The new garden tracks ballasted and sceniced.  Ops, gotta fix that roundhouse roof.



And the finished and working turntable.

As you can see, the table has been weathered and the "concrete" pit has been converted to "cinders and weeds", far more prototypical than a solid concrete pit.

And just for Gene, that's a GER No. 732 a class U2 heavy Mountain on the table with a regular Spectrum tender Vs the long tender it came with.  So they do fit even with only a couple of scale feet to spare.  :-)

Some progress on the roundhouse and turntable rebuild.

Showing some of the track in place: -



All the turntable tracks in place and intial ballasting has taken place.  Locomotives "nesting" on the roundhouse roof have become a problem. Local control panel for turntable and roundhouse tracks just visible.



All the turntable tracks in place and intial ballasting has taken place. "Nesting" locos removed from roof.



A view only visble to the camera: -

Recently purchased the "new" Walthers powered electric turntable to replace the kitbash manual one, an Airfix circa 1964 plastic turntable mkitbashed to make it look North American.

Here's the roundhouse as it was: -



Site being demolished: -



Benchwork being modified: -



Reconstruction under way: -



I'll post more, if you're interested as progress continues.

Latest model added to the GER.

GER No. 562 was taken out of service and retired at the enginehouse in Berger Yard in Atwater 22 months ago.

She's seen here intransit where she's been set out on the "House Track" at Dorset Centre as the wayfreight crew thought she was running hot.  A mechanic will be sent out from the Berger Yard enginehouse to have a look at the bearing and slather it with grease and oil, enough to get her to Granville Junction on tomorrow's way freight and from there she'll be forwarded to Montreal for scrapping.

Sadly, in 1958 this has become a very common sight on the GER as steam is not expected to survive the year and railfans are swarming to the last hub of steam operation based around Granville Junction's roundhouse.

Thought I'd show off my latest kitbash.

I exchanged the stock tender for a slope-backed tender, origins unknown, on GER No25, the P2K 0-6-0 yard switcher in Berger Yard, Atwater.   I removed the P2K tender body and shortened the chassis to fit the slope-backed tender.  I wanted to retain the tender pick-ups and the excellent P2K electrical connection/drawbar that comes with the P2K tender(s).  Other than the fact that I mis-measured and mis-cut the chassis, about 1 scale foot too short, the conversion was fairly straight forward, once I'd fixed my error.  DOH!

The only other addition to the tender body was to increase the height of the tender coal rails around the bunker and to add "coal" over the top of the plastic heap, which always makes a tender look much better.

A little weathering and there you are, about five hours work all told spread over a few days.

I think the slope-back tender looks much better than the original long tender, the body of which will end up behind a Spectrum 2-8-0, a simple converstion that I've done once before.  This will give me two 2-8-0 with "clear vision" tenders with yet another awaiting conversion.  The clear-vision tender is ideal for way freight service.

Your honest constructive comments are welcome and don't be afraid to be cruel.

Original Tender: -



Three views with the "new" tender: -

800-356-3910

Number rings, and rings, and rings and rings until a recorded messages says "I'm sorry, your call did not go through, please hang up and try again."

I want to order two sets of piston valve cylinder block casting from the 4-4-0 as used on the undec version 83402 to adapt them for use on the Spectrum 4-6-0, replacing the slide valve cylinders the 4-6-0s came with.

Could someone with a piston valve equipped 4-4-0 please tell me the part number so I can see if Bachmann has any in stock?

It's important that the parts number is from the piston valve engine and not the slide valve engine.  The slide valve engine has those boxey covers on top of the cylinders, those are not what I want.

Thanks in advance.

Mr. B.

I have a 2-10-0 that is now several years old and has developed slipping gears due to "cupping" of the smokebox saddle casting.  A known problem I gather with early run 2-10-0s

I'm not sure of the warranty as I've lost.mislaid the warranty card.

Can I just send the loco back with, what is it, US$20.00 and have it "serviced" (replaced)?

If "yes", does this work from Canada?

I ask because I rarely, if ever, send locos back for service prefering to do all maintenance myself but this is beyond my abilities.