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Here's a locomotive that to my knowledge has never before been made in O Scale: the Westinghouse Manufacturing Company's early "Visibility Cab" diesel. WEMCO provided parts for many of the early (1920s-1930s) diesel locomotives, and at times they sold them directly-- here is a webpage documenting some of their products. Although their 70-ton "Visibility Cab" engines were fairly standardized, the larger engines were made with several styles of body provided by different car builders. The particular model that I chose to depict is a Baldwin-bodied 110-ton locomotive prototype. Here is an image of the exact engine.

IMG_20230714_130940070

I started off with the donor engine: a brand new Lionchief 44-tonner. I liked the locomotive's sounds and track performance, but was underwhelmed with the simple body. I was impressed with the compactness of the Lionchief electronics though.

IMG_20230610_135523780

Dismantling the donor engine required removing 6 screws from the underside. The interior and headlight harness was tacked in with a tiny screw and a few dabs of hot glue, which I was able to pop free with a screwdriver.

IMG_20230707_173757299

Using my usual technique, I made a 3D CAD model of the Lionchief donor chassis and then designed a new body around it. I divided the body up into 3 parts that tab together for ease of printing. I considering designing new bumpers and truck sideframes, but the original Lionel parts seemed reasonably close to the prototype.

WEMCO N&B on LC+ 44T frame v67

After a couple of days of running my printers, I had the whole body made up in sturdy ABS plastic. I had some Lehigh and New England decals left over from another project, so I decided to go with their white-on-black livery. Although I don't think the LNE ever owned a WEMCO locomotive, they interchanged with the small local line Northampton and Bath, which did have a couple of these exotic engines in their roster. Here is a nice article on the N&B, including a photo of one of their WEMCO engines (apparently with some interesting modifications to the body).

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Here's a view comparing the original Lionel shell to my custom 3D printed one. There are 3 screws holding each hood end to the frame, each hood overlaps the center cab section so it is held tightly in place.

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I installed handrails, clear-coated the whole assembly and finally assembled the WEMCO. I was very pleased to find that the original Lionchief lighting harness (which does have directional lighting) fit the new body without any modification. Sounds, lights AND Bluetooth control with no soldering required!

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Here's a view of the other end. The locomotive is symmetrical on the outside, although the screw bosses are slightly different on one side to make clearances. I made the radiator grate mesh on the hood ends out of scrap material from a misprint.

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Check it out running on my layout!

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Images (8)
  • IMG_20230714_130940070
  • IMG_20230610_135523780
  • IMG_20230707_173757299
  • IMG_20230707_173328754
  • IMG_20230707_174156026
  • IMG_20230713_054030439
  • IMG_20230713_054037070
  • WEMCO N&B on LC+ 44T frame v67
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Here's a locomotive that to my knowledge has never before been made in O Scale: the Westinghouse Manufacturing Company's early "Visibility Cab" diesel. WEMCO provided parts for many of the early (1920s-1930s) diesel locomotives, and at times they sold them directly-- here is a webpage documenting some of their products. Although their 70-ton "Visibility Cab" engines were fairly standardized, the larger engines were made with several styles of body provided by different car builders. The particular model that I chose to depict is a Baldwin-bodied 110-ton locomotive prototype.

Check it out running on my layout!

Um, this is amazing...

Last edited by Allan Miller
@Bill Swatos posted:

Um, this is amazing...

@Khayden93 posted:

Fantastic it looks great

@dk122trains posted:

Very cool!!! Great job!!!

Thank you for the kind words everyone!

@D500 posted:

Way to go. I have always thought that the Lionel so-called "GE 44-tonner" (it is not one, in size nor features) would be a great platform for other center-cab diesel models. Never did one myself.

I've never been too impressed with the postwar 44-tonner due to its wildly overscale size, but it does make a good donor chassis for projects. A shorter wheelbase frame would be needed for the 70-ton WEMCO "Visibility Cab" locomotive, such as the Armco Steel engine at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum-- to my knowledge the only functional WEMCO engine left. I'd like to try making one of those if I can get my hands on a suitable donor chassis.

@RSJB18 posted:

Excellent choice of RR's. Nice work.

While not as involved, I'm converting a MTH ALCO S1 SOO chassis to L&NE.

2023-06-17 08.44.49

Bob

Wow, your S1 looks really nice so far! I have a devil of a time getting pinstripes right, it's my least favorite part of painting and decaling customs.

Nicely done! Would have made a great how-to-do-it article for OGR readers (those with access to a decent 3D printer) and gotten you some $ to buy another 44-tonner.

That's an interesting idea, I've never thought of publishing any of my projects before. When I start my next locomotive build, I will try to get in touch.

Thank you for the kind words everyone!

I've never been too impressed with the postwar 44-tonner due to its wildly overscale size, but it does make a good donor chassis for projects. A shorter wheelbase frame would be needed for the 70-ton WEMCO "Visibility Cab" locomotive, such as the Armco Steel engine at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum-- to my knowledge the only functional WEMCO engine left. I'd like to try making one of those if I can get my hands on a suitable donor chassis.

Wow, your S1 looks really nice so far! I have a devil of a time getting pinstripes right, it's my least favorite part of painting and decaling customs.

That's an interesting idea, I've never thought of publishing any of my projects before. When I start my next locomotive build, I will try to get in touch.

It's a factory paint job on the shell. I wish I could take credit for it.

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