Wood and water for my Bachmann 4-4-0

[Terry Toenges]

Here's my latest project. It's almost done. I'm waiting for the new couplers to arrive. That one on there is just temporary. I wanted a car to go with my new Bachmann Santa Fe 4-4-0 and my four Overton Santa Fe passenger cars. I figured a car to carry spare wood and water would nice to have in case I was pulling a heavy load and started running low before I got to the next stop.

[Trainman203]

An internet search has been unsuccessful, but just a few years after the golden spike, a chartered transcontinental train, on the Central Pacific portion of the trip, had a Jupiter-like 4-4-0 with a special 6-wheel tender for long distance running. When I get home to my books I'll fill in the blanks.

[Ken Huck]

Luvin' it !  But I wouldn't research it too deep, it may be 'classified' information.



Ken

[Terry Toenges]

I've had the loco for many years. It barely runs. I don't know how Military RR tender came to be with Jupiter. I don't remember doing any switching way back then but maybe I did. I had put the loco with it to see how long I would have to make the hose.
I looked around at a few sites for something like a hand cranked pump with a handle but couldn't find anything.
I had a couple old sets of HO loco detail parts still on the trees. I used one of the pumps from it and I might try to come up with a handle for it. I don't know if it would work on gravity alone.
The long hose is just  piece of solid rubber cord from something. The top part of the wood bin is an On30 tender fence. The bottom part is just a balsa box I built so I wouldn't have to cut that many matchsticks. The two hose cradles on the side are pieces of sprue.
The rod running to the tanks and the angle on top of the pump are sprue, too. The plastic hose pieces I got from cutting up one of my oxygen hoses. The little pieces on the ends of the hoses are plastic Kadee coupler washers. For the hose nozzle, I took a 2-56 screw and ground the edge of the head off some and then drilled in the center a little ways. That way, I was able to stick the end of the hose in there and glue it after I whittled it down.
The tank covers are pieces of napkin with black rubber bands.
I didn't do very good with the Woodland Scenics dry transfers for the lettering. Trying to cut out little letters and numbers and hold them in place while I burnished them was a major challenge.
I'm getting some different Overton cars. Mine are old and missing the rails and brake wheels and the observation car is missing the fence. I searched and searched for the green Santa Fe Overton cars but to no avail. Now, I'll just find some cheap ones with different road names with good complete chassis and switch bodies. I really wanted to add a fifth Santa Fe car but I couldn't find any.
I have McHenry couplers coming so that they fit into the truck pockets. I put a different truck on the front so I could have the temporary coupler for now.

[Terry Toenges]

I don't recall ever seeing a 4-4-0 with 6 wheel tender.
I wanted a five car consist because I'm doing my passenger trains with five cars. I have five for my 2-4-0 KC StL & C train, five for my F40PH Amtrak train and seven for Bachmann A-B-A F7 Santa Fe passenger train.
Since I couldn't find another green Santa Fe Overton to go with my Bachmann Santa Fe 4-4-0, I came up with the idea for a wood and water car for the fifth car and made it Santa Fe. I also thought about a horse car but couldn't find an old time SF one. I didn't think a box car would look right. A flat with crates was another option, but I figured doing this one was unique.
As hard as it was to do the lettering, I wasn't about to spell out "Santa Fe".  That would have been a disaster.
I'm thinking about looking for a couple extra cars for John Bull, Dewitt Clinton, and Lafayette so I will have five for those too.

[Terry Toenges]

Jupiter was included with the Union Civil War set years ago.

[Len]

This folks have some, let's say unique, castings. About 2/3 of the way down the first page is a hand crank sharpening wheel. You should be able to 'borrow' the crank from that for your pump.
http://www.besttrains.com/castings_ho.html

Len

[Searsport]

As the tender appears to have a coal (or lignite?) load, shouldn't the extra fuel be the same? OTOH as the "coal" in the tender looks distinctly plastic you might be well to replace that with wood too. I have always liked the wood load in the Richmond, but two together look too much the same so some variation is needed. If you are burning "emergency" wood you could put some old furniture and a piano from the lounge car on the pile??

BTW Hornby have intriduced a SteamPunk range (ugly critters, I won't be buying any!), so maybe you have started the US version??
https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/bassett-lowke-steampunk

Best Regards,
Bill.

[Terry Toenges]

Bill - If you read my post, I'm not using it with the USMRR loco. The Santa Fe loco I'm using it with is a wood burner. I'll probably redo that load with match sticks to "match" the car.

[Len]

The fuel in the tender supposed to be wood stacked on end so it takes less space. And yes, it's very plasticy looking.

Len

[Terry Toenges]

Thanks for the link Len. I think that would work. I wasn't aware of that company.
I like the "not so squared away" look of the wood in the tender. I've seen pics of it stacked in a variety of ways.

[Trainman203]

The 6 wheel tender on the 4-4-0 was apparently a one time special deal  to extend distances between water and wood stops on a timed chartered train from NY to San Francisco in the early 1870's.  There's a photo of it in one of my Beebe books back home.  When I get back I'll post full information.  I'll have to figure out how to post photos here.  I've been unsuccessful in the past.

[rich1998]

I tried this era maybe fifteen years ago with link and pin couplers. They were over size and a real pain. I could easily lose the pins.
Hminky had solution but I finally gave up and went with Kadee old time couplers. I took off the glad hands. No air pumps then.

Rich

[Terry Toenges]

I tried Google too for the tender and no luck. I have Beebe books also so I'll look.

[Trainman203]

It's in Hear the Train Blow.  I'll get the page number and report back.