Lionel y6b to y6a conversion

Ok. Well I am game. I have two Y6bs that one would look great converted to a Y6a...

I've been told I'm either brave or crazy to cut this engine up but to each his own. I can buy another y6b any day of the week. I enjoy having something nobody else has. After owning a 3rd rail y6a and it being such a rare engine with only 20 produced, the lionel y6b conversion is the next best thing.

Great project - looking forward to updates.

Other projects have have taken over but this one is almost finished and ready for paint.  I’ve cut the walkways, lowered the walkway past the feedwater, temporarily placed the plumbing in line. It will need trimmed and lengthened. The 2nd air pump needs installed on the engineer side. After a little more filing, sanding, and smoothing it will look much better. 

The lower step gap was filled and filed smooth while maintaining the straps. The lower half of the boiler will need some work to accommodate the new piping that will be installed. 

Looking good - keep the updates coming.

This engine will be 2159. Two confirmed y6a engines received smokebox lagging or sheathing. I made a boiler end to have an unlagged version but decided to keep it unique from other brass y6a engines. 

Interesting. It will be even more interesting to see how you remove the Worthington Feedwater heater tank, up by the stack.

Hot Water posted:

Interesting. It will be even more interesting to see how you remove the Worthington Feedwater heater tank, up by the stack.

It’s already been removed. 

The boiler needed to be shortened by roughly 1/2”. The walkways in turn needed to be changed. The boiler has already been shortened and the smokebox cover installed. In addition to the boiler being shortened it also had to be reshaped. The lower half needed to be made round and allow for the new piping from the feedwater heater. 

n&wsteamfan posted:

Hot Water posted:

Interesting. It will be even more interesting to see how you remove the Worthington Feedwater heater tank, up by the stack.

It’s already been removed. 

How about posting close-up photos of that?

The boiler is still in the rough stages but by this weekend it will be smooth and ready to finish. 

I do my own scratch building and casting but mostly in Z scale. I made a Z scale y6a in brass photo etching at home. I have a shop with all the tools needed to do this project.

I am always open to comments and critiques  

Hot Water posted:

n&wsteamfan posted:

Hot Water posted:

Interesting. It will be even more interesting to see how you remove the Worthington Feedwater heater tank, up by the stack.

It’s already been removed. 

How about posting close-up photos of that?

I just posted another in addition to the two already posted earlier. 

Maybe they didn’t post but they show up on my phone. 

Hot Water posted:

n&wsteamfan posted:

Hot Water posted:

Interesting. It will be even more interesting to see how you remove the Worthington Feedwater heater tank, up by the stack.

It’s already been removed. 

How about posting close-up photos of that?

Should be able to see it now. 

Very cool.

"I enjoy having something nobody else has." 

Absolutely; I understand.

Formerly a brass Williams USRA 2-8-2, now a (fairly accurate) GM&O Baldwin Heavy 2-10-0. Fair amount of work. Worth it. It also has ERR Cruise Commander.

I like the Y3 a lot. 

I rechecked the Sunset/3rd Rail website, and see that they offered models of both the Y6a AND Y6b, however their model of the Y6a did NOT have the lagged smokebox (only the Y6b did). I also remember Big Jim pointing out that the model of the Y6a should NOT have had the Worthington cold water turbine pump, but it was easy to remove.

Piping fully attached and soldered in place. Now the part of smoothing can take place on the fireman’s side. 

How are you attaching the brass detail parts to the die-cast shell?

Hot Water posted:

I rechecked the Sunset/3rd Rail website, and see that they offered models of both the Y6a AND Y6b, however their model of the Y6a did NOT have the lagged smokebox (only the Y6b did). I also remember Big Jim pointing out that the model of the Y6a should NOT have had the Worthington cold water turbine pump, but it was easy to remove.

I actually have a 3rd rail y6a 2165. I wanted something more reliable to run. I had to send it back because the brass drive gears stripped out under load. It has become a shelf queen. That’s one reason I went with the lagged smokebox.  

49Lionel posted:

How are you attaching the brass detail parts to the die-cast shell?

I started solder it using my mini torch but soldering diecast is a long process and has to be done correctly or it won’t work. For this I ended up just using epoxy. JB weld works great and is easily shaped with a file. 

This is the piece leftover after cutting. The lower half had to be trimmed and reshaped. A simple piece of brass really helps the lower half in shaping the boiler 

I love projects like this.  Way above my skill level, but neat to watch take shape.

D500 posted:

"I enjoy having something nobody else has." 

Absolutely; I understand.

Formerly a brass Williams USRA 2-8-2, now a (fairly accurate) GM&O Baldwin Heavy 2-10-0. Fair amount of work. Worth it. It also has ERR Cruise Commander.

I like the Y3 a lot. 

Really nice work!

Once everything is attached I’ll strip the paint with my media blaster and have a clean surface to paint. 

I second what Gunrunner said. Very enjoyable thread. I am in awe. Not a lot of people who can cut a half inch slice out of a die cast boiler, among the other things you are doing  Thanks for sharing. 

Great work Steam Fan, please keep your pics coming to us as you progress along until finished and running.....Looks over the top Great...!.....Brandy!

pennsy484 posted:

I second what Gunrunner said. Very enjoyable thread. I am in awe. Not a lot of people who can cut a half inch slice out of a die cast boiler, among the other things you are doing  Thanks for sharing. 

Thanks!. The cutting was the easy part. Making it look like it came from the factory this way is the hard part. Hopefully after a bit more sanding and filing the boiler will be good to go.

Made some progress tonight. Engineers side pumps attached. These are brass and are soldered on. Hopefully it looks ok. I’m limited on parts right now and I’m using the original Lionel pieces. I’ll photoetch a small step for the front walkway down to the cylinder  

Please let me know if you think it’s missing anything. I have dozens of n&w books and google but sometimes I still overlook things 

After talking to Big Jim he pointed out a few differences. The whistle mounting and operation is different on the y6a. The whistle has a support bracket and the rod routing is significantly different. It goes through the sand dome. As can be seen in the third picture. More changes coming  

I removed the ordinal Lionel whistle as it just wasn’t correct. This whistle is from a MTH class a. 

Getting the last detail pieces worked out. A very rough and hand cut front step. I needed a visual piece before wasting time etching the final steps. The brass box will serve as a mounting point for the etched pieces. 

Aaron,
That brass box should be the "Cab Signal" box used on the Shenandoah Div. north from Roanoke to Hagerstown.

Big Jim posted:

Aaron,
That brass box should be the "Cab Signal" box used on the Shenandoah Div. north from Roanoke to Hagerstown.

Thanks Jimmy,

Would it be accurate to model without it? Would engines that had the box went to Portsmouth-Cincinnati? 

I have the drawings completed to etch the pieces with the details for the actual box. 

I am certainly no expert on Y6a vs Y6b variations. However (and you may already know this) one of the differences is in the stack. I think the Y6a stack was a different diameter and is tilted. 

You're a brave man tearing into the Lionel JLC 2200. I have one as well. It is an excellent locomotive. This is going to be an interesting build to follow.

Aaron,
It is OK to do without the box. Only a certain number of engines with the box were assigned to the north end.

Gilly,
All of the Y class engines with the multiple bearing front end throttle had the slant stack. It was something that needed to be done so the throttle would fit between the stack and the flues.

Thanks for the input Big Jim. I was thinking that the tilt of the stack was a variation between the Y6a and Y6b.

Ok so new front steps etched. They still need cleaned and the resist removed. Handrails drilled and sort of mounted. I put them in place to trim the length. Front handrail mounted with new holes being drilled. One final fill of the holes with a final sanding and strip the remaining paint before prime and paint.