2 More Unauthorized Standard Gauge Boxcab Electrics

Excellent work! Boxcabs seem to be making their way out of the woodwork this year left and right!

Nice job David!

Love that 217 conversion simply brilliant! Nice cowcatchers��

ARNO

very nicely done 

Awesome!!    Love the 200 series caboose!   Well done! 

Authorization granted

The caboose is the star

I think those are great! Awesome work!

hojack posted:

... Then, at last October's York meet, I picked up a somewhat rough Lionel 217 caboose from Arno (modernerasg).  The original idea was to make a work caboose out of it, but that never materialized; instead I fitted it with a Build-a-loco motor, a couple pilot trucks, pantographs, and what-all, and came up with another different-looking electric locomotive:

  

Cool !   It looks better as an electric boxcab than it did as a caboose !

Very nice, David!!

What did you use for insulators under the pantograph?

Thank you for the positive comments.  I find doing this kind of thing an awful lot of fun.  It's great to get feedback from all of you.  

Interesting to me that most of you are liking the Lionel 217 caboose locomotive.  The idea came to me from something Arno had pointed out to me once, that Fred Mills used variations of the same cab stamping to make both his CMT caboose and box cab electric locomotive.  Hmmm...

When I finished it and put it on the layout for the first time I was a little disappointed, to me it still just looked like a Lionel 217 caboose.  Which, I agree with Ace, wasn't all that inspiring. Then I realized I had forgotten something: there were no windows in the ends... that won't do, the engineer won't be able to see where they are going!

With the loco all painted and decaled, it was a little late in the game to be cutting windows with my Dremel.  Fortunately, I had just picked up a new toy: a Greenlee 3/4" square knockout punch.  It punched some nice clean windows in the ends without messing up the paint – and helped the beast look more like it's new identity.  Surprising how much that one detail helped.

I keep scavenging parts and trying different combinations.  Rob, the insulators for the pantograph on the McCoy are upside-down brass knurled nuts.  On the Lionel, I needed something to hold the feet higher because of the roof ridge. I found some "antiqued" 8mm round brass beads that worked!  The feet of the pantographs have a tiny hole - fits a #2 machine screw, and the brass beads came with a similar hole. They came in a bag of 25 for $4.69, so now I have a supply!

You notice in the video that I have to run the McCoy with the pan down to get under cross bridges and such.  So I decided on the Lionel not to put the pan on top of the cupola.  And so on: I like the bigger-wheeled pilot trucks on the McCoy a little better than the smaller-wheeled trucks on the Lionel, but they both work. The guys that sell used parts on eBay are getting to know me well.  And I'm getting a lot of mileage out of the CMT cowcatchers from Arno, they turn out to be just right for a lot of these units.  El Classico, you know what I mean: this kind of tinkering is way too much fun!

david

Great job, what a imagination. I love Greenlee punches.

Are you using build a motors for all?
What panthograph are you using, would you have the part number and distributor.

Amazing! First time I've ever seen a 2-B-2 caboose. You could put one at each end of the train and have a "Pushme-Pullyu."

Here's the original Pushmepullyu, a Dr. Doolittle creation.

Ron, this is the pantograph  I use most often, I believe it was used on postwar Lionel GG-1's.  The link is to one of Harry Henning's eBay listings, he also has them in his online store. There are bigger ones available, but this is a nice size for an operating pantograph for standard gauge. Like other parts, sometimes you can find them used.  Back in the 1970's, McCoy used a similar one on their E2 locos - not sure if McCoy made their own or used these Lionels, they are practically identical.  I like these pans because they are ruggedly built, and snap up and down with no finicky latches to get bent out of shape.

The Lionel 217 caboose loco has a Build-a-loco motor in it, with a working e-unit for reversing.  The McCoy kitchen car box cabs have MTH proto-drive can motors but without the PS2 electronics; I use a Williams reversing board in them to provide both sequential reversing and also the bridge rectifier required by the DC can motor.  Like I say, it's a matter of scavenging and using whatever parts are available and work best in a given project.  All the locomotives I make, I find a place inside for some lead weights, otherwise these lightweight tin cars have no traction.

SWHi, I remember the pushmepullyu!!!  That dates me I guess, but you're right, the 2-B-2 Piedmont & Northern definitely has that characteristic!

david

Southwest Hiawatha posted:

Amazing! First time I've ever seen a 2-B-2 caboose. You could put one at each end of the train and have a "Pushme-Pullyu."

Here's the original Pushmepullyu, a Dr. Doolittle creation.

When I was a kid, I referred to a Lil' Joe or GG-1 as a Pushmepullyu 

It was good for laughs then too      

   It could be just a matching paint caboose too.

Or a dummy. But tail-end painted  to match with just those 2-3 cars sandwiched between the units for an "extended version" of that Pushmepullyu look was on my mind too

   Top 5 things I like about it:

#5 The "coop"  (naturally)

#4 Bell choice & placement

#3 Proportion & Stance (lower& longer looking)

 #2 Headlight being on the underside of the overhang.

#1 The roof overhang itself

Fantastic !! I'm keeping an eye on your box cabs so I can do something similar. I have an American Flyer 4644 that I have turned into a 4-4-4 and want to do more like you have done. Thanks for letting us see your great work.

JohnnieWalker posted:

 I have an American Flyer 4644 that I have turned into a 4-4-4 

Thanks for reminding me! Last year I posted a video of a 2-B-2 Swiss Crocodile that I made out of a Flyer 4644.  In that thread, someone suggested I try different trucks under the articulated "motor compartments".  I finally got around to doing that; black, 6-wheel Lionel State Car trucks, plus adding some red cast iron cowcatchers... the modifications make it into a 3-B-3, and I think it is an improvement.   Here's an updated video, with the revamped Tinplate Croc pulling some Bing 1-Gauge cars with Standard Gauge trucks under them.  Enjoy!

david

Beautiful! 

you have inspired all of us,thanks ,terry

The krocks are an all time favorite of mine, but I've never ran across one anywhere near my price range.

Side rods and pantographs! What. could be better?

Not just a good idea building one, more like a revelation turning a box cab into one.

I fell asleep watching Buster Keaton.....I mean "Crazy Gary's" tin  plate videos.

(He reminds me of Buster when he dead pans into the camera with those glasses on )

Id ran across them once or twice before, that guy's a lot of fun. I only wish he spent more time on the build portions. You know you'll learn something new from a mind like that.

Thanks for sharing the updated krock. Not that the old version wasn't great, but the new does look better the more the gaps are filled with something.

A jackshaft counterweight even sans-rods and static might be a nice touch for the NEXT one