Has anyone shortened the huge gap between a TMCC/RS 5.0 Lionel 0-8-0 and it's tender

I've done two of them. After disassembling the tender portion of the drawbar, I cut the steel drawbar piece and removed at least 3/8", then soldered it back together with a piece of sheet brass as reinforcement over the two pieces. It was NOT as easy as it sounds, but the results are most satisfying. 

Another way is to simply cut the tender drawbar and overlap it by 3/8". The drawbar is .050" thick and once recovered with shrink wrap the uneven joint will not be noticeable or effect sensor allignment. I use a mill to remove .025" from each piece after cutting and splice to eliminate the offset but only because I have the tooling.

3/8" is the limit on the tender side. Any more and the slot will end up under the tender body. The engine side can be shortened about 1/4". Any shorter and the sensor will hit the body in tight turns.

Pete

"Any shorter and the sensor will hit the body in tight turns."

Pete - tight as in O-72?

  Chris, I had a guy I use to work with. Weld mine together after I made the cut. I chickened out and bought a spare one from Lionel beforehand. Just in case. I probably took out as much as Hot Water. Any more I think and they would be tough to couple together. Huge improvement. That gap I believe was to make it handle 031 curves. Nothing wrong with that. But in a scale environment it looked awful.

I shortened the tender side. Pretty much as far as you can go. Without hitting the axle.

You have to tip the engine slightly to get them coupled. Below is somewhat of a comparison of before and after.

Below is a pic I copied of the Forum. I saved it as a reference in case I went this route. Showing doing it from the engine side. I went this route on my Legacy engine. I bought both pieces for both. Then decided on my best option.

Thanks to Hot Water, Pete and Dave C....  Dave C. thanks a bunch for posting the photos.... I like the cut it and overlap the two .050 ends option, then bring it back as close to the tender wheel axle as shown in the photo...    

Dave C.... I visited your layout about a year and a half ago, I drove over from Middleboro...  really enjoyed the visit.  Hope all is well with you. 

Here are some pics of the milled drawbar. If you overlap just make sure all the blackening is removed before you try and solder it together. You could file it down a bit if you wanted to reduce the step. The drawbar is off a J3 Hudson but the technique is the same for the 0-8-0s. For those that question the strength of the solder joint I typically pull a dozen or more 18" heavyweights with the Hudson.

Original vs shortened.

0-8-0 Finished.

J, I am not sure how short it can be for an 072. I just shortened it enough so it didn't hit the engine at either end of its swing.

Pete

Thanks for the quick response......nice loco !!

Not only shortened some drawbars but also eliminated those big ugly plastic blocks that the LEDs are mounted in. I removed them from the blocks and  put a piece of black shrink tube around them. Then hot glued them to the bottom of the drawbars. You also have to enlarge the hole up so it aligns to the LED level.