I completed my Lionchief-Plus-Hudson-convertsion-to-scale-ATSF-1800-Prairie project this morning. After practicing last night some more on the hand lettering, thenI got up early and spent nearly two hours doing the letters on the cab and the numbers on the tender - that's about 7.5 minutes per letter - it goes slowly. I installed windows and figures in the cab, touched up the neolube on the drivers, put a cable to the bell, etc. It is done.
I am delighted: I bought this loco to learn about Lionchief Plus firsthand, and didn't know what to do with the loco once I had played with Lionchief Plus for several days: the loco was traditional size: way too small and compressed to "fit" alongside scale locos. It also didn't have that detailed, "separately applied pieces" look of all my other locos, so it stood out for that reason, too. Now it fits - so well I intend to keep it on the layout and run it a lot.
Here is it, ATSF Prairie 1856 - I picked that number out of the 88 made because 1856 ran in regular service up through 1952 - so unlike many pre-WWI ATSF Prairies, it was actually around during the early 1950s era I model on my layout.
I touched up the buldiers plate (which says "Built by Lionel") with brass paint - it adds a bit of eye candy.
The paint (see discussion below) turned out particularly nice.
The photos below show the dilemma I faced with the original loco. Next to a scale E-6 Atlantic, the Lionchief Plus Hudson looked like a sub-scale model of a much bigger loco: the biggest visual mismatch is the cab - as from the factory it had two scale feet of headroom less than the Atlantic, or any other scale locos). In the real world, the ATSF 1800 class and the E-6 Atlantic were pretty evenly matched and about the same size (lower photo): roughly the same weight and tractive effort, etc., the Atlantic being a bit bulkier vertically and the Prairie being a tad longer, etc. As modified (lower) 1856 "fits" alongside this Atlantic and all my other scale locos. It belongs on the layout.
Modifications included a new, scale cab, made from drawings and photos in E. D. Worley's Iron Horses of the Santa Fe Trail, new sand domes, revised/relocated headlight, new cowcatcher and such, new stack, and "separately applied" pipes and pieces here and there corresponding to "stuff" I see in photos of the 1800s in that book. Sometime in the '40s ATSF converted these to oil and was running them with tenders modified to hold oil: I modified my tender with a tank and fittings to match two photos in the book. Painting was all rattle-can without removing the shell from the loco (just lots of careful masking): Rustoleum gray primer, then Rustoleum semi-gloss black allowed to harden two days, followed then by three thin coats of Rustoleum Hi-Temp black (as for BBQ grills) applied five minutes apart.
Here it is on its first run, pulling eight Map slogan cars and a caboose, all scale. It is running on remote with the speed set on notch 3.
Lionchief Plus is a great system: simple, robust, with very good speed control. On notch one - its lowest speed - 1856 will pull those same cars at ja scale 1.9 mph. Still very smooth. The talk button is interesting, but gets old in a hrrry, Anyway, Lionchief seems to have two different "conversations" for each speed notch that it alternates each time you push the talk button - in every case the dispatcher says something then the engineer replies, or vice versa. When the loco is stationary both message are about permission to leave, etc., at speed reporting it is moving now, etc., etc. BTW - when you push the button and the voices are talking the chuffing ceases.
A note: the loco will run on remote just fine at lower voltages (instructions say to set track voltage to a constant 16-18 volts). for example it will run well at just 12V - quite nicely, as normal, but . . . it will not run as slowly, smoothly. At 12 V, when on notch 1, it tries to move off and then stops. It won't run until notch three in fact.
