From Daylight to Red Square

Would love to see how it turns out!  Such a beautiful locomotive.  And welcome to the forum!

My kind of project. Good place to start for a reasonable approximation. Keep it up.

I am an admirer of the Soviet P36 "Northerns", myself. They have a vague New York Central Niagara look about them (though the Niagara was less, ah, gaudy in its paint scheme), and, of course, they favor some Chinese steam.

Speaking of which: notice the pilot on the "O" loco below (it's 3-rail; track is not), one I scratch-bashed a couple of years ago. I got it - the pilot - on eBay; it is a brass casting. I still see them occasionally. The Soviet and Chinese loco factories copied the US design. The design was common in the 20's and later on Northern Pacific RR steam locos; also used elsewhere.  The P36 used the Soviet copy. It would sure look nice - and accurate - on your P36.

Always like to see projects as someday I may get a idea from them.  Please keep posting!

Please keep up posted on your project!  It's very interesting and your English is fine!

-Greg

Nicely done. Please keep posting.

Thank you so much for the friendly feedback! D550's pilot would really be a nice feature. I'll keep an eye on Ebay.

Beside the removal of marker lights and the keystone, only few details had to be adapted. A typical P36-feature are the smoke deflectors. I have a friend, who will laser-cut them for me from sheet metal. So far, I have cut patterns out of transparent plastic, to get an impression of how the thing will look, when finished.

Painting the drivers and the rods made a very striking visual improvement.

That is extraordinary, excellent work and imagination.  Bill Makel

As for the paintjob, I first had to remove the layers of old paint. That was really a pain in the… Well, I guess, you know what I mean. I have no idea what paint the guy used. I tried professional paint remover, alcohol, gasoline, paint thinner… Nothing worked! It only turned the paint into some odd sticky black goo. At the end, I decided to sandblast the whole body, which turned out perfectly.

Fascinating! Please continue your reports and photos! Thank you!

What a great project!  Never seen one of these.

If I ever go to Russia, I want three things:  Buy a real fur hat, buy a loaf of their classic brown bread, and go to the famous WWII Museum!

Russian industrial machinery alway sseemed to be way overbuilt, and always followed function over form or comfort.  But they worked.  Their tanks were built like, . . . er. . . tanks!

Mannyrock

Wandering in other countries, or just watching Rick Steves (travel TV) in assorted countries, l am often startled by people of many languages who speak far better English than l can stammer in theirs. So do not be concerned, as your unique and different project will be followed with interest.

Yes, looks great!  I have been casually thinking of a Chinese QJ in 17/64 scale.

Nice thing about modeling Russian trains is 1/4" scale fits the Russian track gauge.

Swisstrain, welcome to the forum, that's going to be a really neat locomotive when you get done with it.  It's got to be great, you're starting off with one of my favorite locomotives, the GS class.  I really like what you've done so far and look forward to seeing you continue, by all means, please keep posting to the forum and keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks for posting this!  Very interesting!

Please keep us informed.

As for the green color, I choose a shade, that seemed close and that I liked. I doubt that there is a shade, that one can consider really accurate. If you look for pix of P36, there seem to be as many shades of green as there are locomotives. There even is at least one painted blue! Even the lining is different on many engines. White, red, yellow: You can choose, what you prefer. Personally, I like the yellow lines. Until now, I have painted the locomotives body, and I think, it really looks smart. Or what do you think of it?

The yellow lines are my favourite

Swisstrain: I enjoyed your story of and history of the P-36 Northern-type steam locomotive.

As an aside, I recently purchased some Russian-made die-cast vehicles in 1:43 scale, primarily because they were almost exact replicas of late 1920s and early 1930s Model A Ford coupes and Sedans, and because they were relatively inexpensive (with low-cost shipping which was surprising). After doing a little research on the internet, I realized that American, Russian, and even some German vehicles of those years are practically indistinguishable from each other, leading me to believe the manufacturers copied each others designs 'back in the day.'  As the P-36 bears a striking resemblance to the SP GS-2 and GS-4, built in the late 1930s and early 1940s, I wonder if the Russians did the same thing? Imitation is a sincere form of flattery.

fyi: in the event you have not seen the 2020 Lionel catalog, that company went full-bore making a countless variety of color schemes for the GS-2s and GS-4s, all in their Vision Line (which has all the proverbial bells and whistles). I am not suggesting you should scrap your current project and begin with one of these, rather am pointing out that apparently, the SP and WP streamliners are more popular than I ever realized, apparently in Russia, too   They're not cheap, however, but nonetheless a fun catalog to look through. The 1930s was a fascinating time for steam trains. fyi, that same catalog also lists the Reading Railroad Company's famous T-1 steam locomotive (also a semi-streamlined Northern design), which ran in my home state of Pennsylvania, among the same Appalachian stream valleys where I currently roam on my motorcycle when time and health permit

Good luck with your project and keep posting!

Great project.  Keep us posted.

As the mutilated GS-2-torso came without a tender, I had to find one on Ebay. Unsurprisingly, there is no Lionel-tender, being an accurate reproduction of the Soviet original. So I choose the one, that seemed close enough: the 12 wheel-streamlined tender, of which I found an inexpensive Williams-reproduction. The water scoop under the frame was removed, as Russian tenders did not have them.

With its new green paintjob, it does look kind of unusual, but still quite nice, doesn't it? I'm not sure yet, what lining I will choose. There are so many variants...

No lining...

Lining on the tender, that lines up with the locomotive...

Lining a bit lower on the tender to line up with following coaches - with this very dynamic Z-shape on the cab. I really like that, but it's surely more complicated to apply, then just a straight line. But the Russian lettering will be challenging anyway...

By the way: This engine has been repainted for the 75 year end of the war celebration, with not only yellow lining, but yellow and white. Geat look, I think!

I added some red to the engine - as well as a non visible Seuthe smoke generator, the original generator one had idiotically been removed by the previous owner. The tender looks fine with the engine. But I got to do something about these spoked wheels! They are so far away from the original P36. It literally hurts my eyes!

Trinity River Bottoms Boomer: Thank you for the kind feedback! As for the SBB CFF FFS-Crocs, one can't find those in the region I live. But narrow gauge RhB-Crocs pass my home four times a day with nostalgic trains, that replace regular commuter trains and that one can use with regulat tickets as I live in a touristy place.