Wanted to let you guys know that I bought the parts and tooling for the Harmon Line and also his 28" long smooth side passenger cars. I plan to build a minimum of 5 of the Challengers (4-6-6-4), and can build a couple of the Hudsons or Pacifics as well. Will have Bob's engine to run at the TTOS National in early August.
Jim,
Any chance you might build a Mallet? I'd buy one of those along with a full set of smooth-sided cars.
Bob Nelson
Hi Bob - the question is going to be how detailed it will be. I see a few things that set this loco apart (in it's various mods) - cab, tender, coffin water heater, placement of domes and their shape, pilot design.
I can send you photos later of a Hendricks mechanism that might better fit this loco. I can get the overall look of it pretty close, but it might not be exact. and 'scale', but it will be 'BIG'. Probably still have to use Lionel steam chests, but might have better drivers at some point.
Neither will be very real term. What I have is 5 partially completed Challengers, and a bunch of parts. If you can stand using the bild a loco motor style spacing and look, I can get closer to a yes. Looking to build and sell these first.
As to the smooth side cars, gotta hit up the caster. These cars are pretty heavy, I'll be looking to thin out the aluminum castings. Window spacing is probably doable. You probably still want a beaver tail, right?
jim