completed engine modification project: 2 MTH 0-8-0s

Alclad II chrome...applied via airbrush only. I've used it before. 

Hangers for ash pan.



This area will be really hard to paint once assembled, so I brushed on some black.


Add a little piping and viola!  Other than adding rivets to the cab, I think the fireman's side is complete.

Just curious, what's your connection to the Reading RR being from TN?

I *live* in Tennessee, but I'm FROM Shenandoah, PA, at one time the epicenter of anthracite coal mining in PA.

Makes sense, I figured you had to have come from here at some point.

Where exactly is "here" John?

Sorry, I live in SE-PA, in the middle of Montgomery County. When I worked for IBM, Reading RR was one of my customers.

And that's the engineer's side!  Next warm day, I'll hit it with a coat of primer, which I'm sure will reveal a few places that need minor adjustment, but overall I'm very pleased.   Looks like it's time to start hacking up the other one.  (But not this weekend, I'm taking a weekend trip with some friends, so don't expect any more work until Monday or Tuesday.    

Wowak,

 The conversion looks great! Will ther be any minor detail differences between the two locomotives when you are done?

 If I might ask, what manufacture and supplier are you using for the detail parts? And would I be correct, that they are made of styrene?

 

Can't wait to see the final product!

 

The goal is to have both engines look the same, only difference should be cab numbers.  As for detail parts... I haven't used any yet.  Anything I've added so far I've made from styrene stock.  I will be using commercial castings for the generator and bell/bracket.

That's awesome Wowak!

 

Great work!

 

Ok I lied.  I forgot to post the pic of the number board.  It's Reading correct 9x27"

 

 

Also during dis-assembly one of the handrail stanchions broke, so I made a replacement, you can see it on the front-most mount.

It's impressive that you can fabricate something as small as the handrail stanchion, nice!

 

I'd have one suggestion for appearance.  You could probably use the slightly shorter electrocoupler on the front to improve the appearance.  It looks like there is room for it to swing in the pilot.

I'll leave mechanical modifications up to the owner, I'm just contracted for the cosmetic stuff.

Good plan, I wasn't sure how deep you were going.  You do some amazing work, can't wait to see this all painted up.

Since I can become obsessive about getting every last detail correct, we agreed up front on exactly what I would and wouldn't be doing.

That makes perfect sense, and it also avoids disappointment at the completion of the job.  You are a wise man.

This is amazing work!  How many hours are you estimating for this job? I grew up in Reading and would love an engine like this but don't think I could ever attempt such a customization.  With my luck right after I did one MTH would produce a Reading correct engine!!  You must possess great patience.   Again, this is a wonderful thread.   

I call your $5 plus Klondike bar and raise you a dozen home made piroghi (pierogi).  Can't be too many of those (not counting the ubiquitous machine made versions that come in a blue box) in TN?  Since you're from Shenandoah, if you prefer the blue box "in case of emergency" type, I'll swap the dozen home made for 4 dozen Mrs. T's.

 

As others posted, your workmanship is amazing.

Keystone,

 You've got to be Polish (Polski)!  Or grew up around someone who was! I love pierogi!

 

 I might have to make a road trip in July or August and look around that area of PA.

 

Keystone, I prefer homemade, but considering the blue box constitutes the only industry left in my hometown, I'm ok with them too.  Plus I know the founder of the company, and not only because my brother broke his window playing street hockey.

Henry, I grew up near the area but have been away for a number of years.  Get back there every so often to visit a few relatives and do a little cemetery upkeep.  If memory serves, you might luck out if you visit the area during mid summer and find a decent church bazaar.  Piroghi, haluski, golumpki/halupki, fried dough, potato cakes/bleenies, sausage & peppers, meatballs, cannolis (plus a little beano) help keep the cardiologists in business.  It's getting harder to find a good bazaar.  If you don't make your own it becomes only a memory because not too many left with the skill, patience and desire to prepare that food.  Not the healthiest choice, but every now and then in moderation...

I doubt there still bars that offer nickle or dime drafts.  Walk in with $5 or $1,0 have a couple of beers and something to eat and walk out with change.

 

Wowak, its my understanding that Mrs. T's and the family have been very good to that area with the company staying local and also being active in numerous local charitable endeavors.  I wonder if they still have fish at the old pumping station in Brandonville?

Keystone,  they dynamited the spillway and drained the "pumpy" a few years ago rather than pay to repair it.   The spawnaries had been shut down for some time and the reservoir wasn't needed to supply water anymore.  The only fish I ever caught were there.  We used to walk the state gamelands near there, and a couple times we walked the roadbed of the Catawissa Branch all the way up to Lofty Tunnel.

The Twarziks have done a lot for the community,  but Shenandoah is in really bad shape.  Plummeting land value has brought all sorts of "undesireables" to town, who brought crime, drugs and violence with them.  It's not good. Old Bopshis mugged in broad daylight..  even the Shenandoah Police are in disgrace after a few officers tried to cover for a few prominent HS football stars who beat an immigrant to death.  No one my age stays there... hence Tennessee.

Back in action.

 

Nobody makes a cast whistle that even vaguely resembles a Reading freight whistle, so I banged out this out of some brass stock.  It's not perfect, but it looks closer than anything I've seen.  

 

 

So that's pretty much it, except for adding a bell (when my supplier gets them in!) and paint, and I'm going to wait so I can paint them both at once, so I'm going to put the guts back in this engine and put it on the hold track while I tear down and start #2.  It's going to be a lot of (ok, exactly) the same stuff, but I'll try to take some more interesting pictures.

 

Can't wait to see these all painted up, the work is truly amazing.

 

Have you ever kit-bashed one from scratch, just take a chassis and build one up?

No, but I have some elaborate future builds in mind.

I'll have to keep you in mind if I need any alterations, clearly the sky is the limit.

Please do.  I think my next project is to build a Lionel Berk Jr. into a Reading class M1sb 2-8-2...  I was thinking I10sa but the drivers are too small.  If I use any of the Lionel boiler shell it will likely be just as a base for the built up boiler to keep the weight of the casting.

That's a good point, I guess if you build it all out of styrene, you need to add weight for decent traction.

Wowak, great work on the engine.  I look forward to following your progress.

 

Good for you in Tennessee.  At least there appears to have a future.  I remember some of that football/police incident and the convoluted relationships.  I still have a few family/friends nearby and the nearby area always had some criminal or political corruption element, but not to the extent of the what has taken place in the past 10 to 15 yrs. (maybe so 110 yrs ago, but some old stories passed down are getting harder to remember).  In addition to the increased shootings, the brazen copper thefts of household plumbing and house and church rain gutters still amaze me.

 

That is a shame about the pumping station.  Nice hatchery with nickel or dime honor system fish food bags.

 

Keep up the great skilled craftsmanship.

Yeah, I haven't been back in a few years, except for a funeral.  I'll be going up for Memorial Day weekend to ride behind #765 over the curve, though. 

Numbers removed from tender from loco #2.  Surprisingly, the numbers on the light (and on the headlight, also) were a PAPER sticker.  Didn't expect that.

 

New numbers applied.  Clearcoat will seal the deal.

 

Engine #1493 - let the hacking begin!

 

More hacking and slashing!  

 

Also, whoever was gluing in the stanchions on the day this one was made was doing a much more thorough job... I broke almost all of them!  No biggie, they're $0.25ea from MTH, I've already got a brace of them ordered.  

Must not have been built on Monday morning.

I reckon not.  The other engine might have been, they popped out like they weren't glued at all.  In fact I'm fairly confident they WEREN'T glued in.

Ok, I took a few days off.  But tonight I'm back at work.  Nothing too interesting.  Realized it would be easier to add the new cab front before I built up the firebox.

 

 

Also I was bored with looking at the other engine with no bell, so I rigged up the stamped bell from my Lionel T-1, just for giggles, until I can get the detail parts in.

 

 

It's shaping up nicely.

Here's something I don't think I documented clearly the first time around: the filing down of the top of the firebox to make the wrapper sheet lie even with the top of the rest of the boiler:

Maybe this time I'll remember to build up the backhead width before I glue the new windows in.

Wowak;  First may I say again wonderful loco's.  I have a question perhaps you could help me with.  I would like to know which Mallets currently on the market you think would be a good starting point for a Reading class N-1sb.  I don't think any commercial engines have been built, could be wrong.  I'm thinking the only way to acquire one would be to bash one.  Thanks for any help.  Jim R

I haven't done a ton of research,  but this guy seems to think a N&W Y3 is the place to start.

http://www.shamokindivision.co.../reading-n1-2-8-8-0/

Given the amount of custom work involved,  I would think a Y6 or a USRA 2-8-8-2 would be workable starting points also.

The rest of my life has been interfering with my modeling,  but I finally got a little more work done this morning before work.  I started adding the front radius curve to the engineer's side of the firebox.  This is one of the trickiest parts. It's made out of tube styrene, which is finicky to get to curve correctly.   This is the area that will require the most filling, shaping and sanding.



Also, the AC converter for my laptop died... it's a lot more complicated to post a picture from Flickr with my phone!

Firebox widened inside the cab.  This was a lot easier to do before I installed the new windows.  Always learning.