So late this past summer my friend Pat, @harmonyards, let me know he had a MTH ATSF Texas that needed some work. He knows I'm always up for an ATSF locomotive project so of course I wanted it. I already have a MTH ATSF Texas, number 5025, so I wasn't necessarily interested in another 5011 class Texas. I wanted to do something different than just restore it back to factory stock. I remembered Gary Shrader on O Scale Kings turned a brass 2 rail ATSF 5011 class Texas into a 5001 class Texas: https://oscalekings.org/WP/gar...f-2-10-4-class-5001/ Being that I don't have as much of a sense of fear as I should I decided I could do the same with this MTH ATSF Texas Pat found.
Now right off the bat I made two compromises. First off was number boards. The MTH model has them in the correct place for the 5011 class. I had two options. First was to move them to the correct location on the sand dome like Gary did on his model. The MTH model presented 2 problems in doing so. First the number boards were epoxied to the shell. Removing them would basically damage them beyond use. Secondly the sand dome on the model is solid die cast metal. It's cast as part of the shell. I could purchase the correct ATSF number boards from PSC but I would have no way to illuminate them. I decided that illuminated number boards were more important to me than having them in them in the correct space, so I left them in the 5011 class location. The second issue is the drivers. The MTH model has the 5011 class Boxpok drivers. They had to stay because there are no 3 rail Baldwin Disc drivers that fit the model, so the Boxpok drivers stayed.
So here's what I started with. Little beat up but with the correct outside bearing pilot truck swapped in (from a Premier Cab Forward).
So to complete the project I needed a 20K gallon tender. Pat had the frame and trucks from a Premier Blue Goose tender and I grabbed a tender shell from a Lionel ATSF 3751 class Northern from another source.
Put it all together and we're starting to get somewhere.
First step was renumbering the tender. Some lacquer thinner removed the numbers. A little automotive polish to make the area where the replacement numbers went glossy, some Microscale decals, some clear overcoat, and ta da, correct numbered tender shell.
Another big issue was MTH used the incorrect stack on the locomotive. The Texas came with the air operated stack used on the 2900 class Northern. The Texas used a manually operated flip stack. Pat, @harmonyards, was up for the challenge of making one of these stacks. I sent him a section of brass stock, some measurements, and he worked his magic.
Pat made the stack fully functional, so it can be positioned up or flipped back.
I also made some footboards so an O scale person could reach the stack to flip it.
As far as powering the locomotive the motor is a 12 volt Pittman 9234 with ball bearings and rare earth magnets. I created a sound file for my 5011 class Texas I liked (which is a factory PS2 3V model) so I ended up using a PS2 3V board in this locomotive. I had a brand new PS2 3V board so why not? I wanted to use the same sound file, and since it was a PS2 file I figured there was no need to use a PS32 board in this locomotive. All lighting is LED as well.
After that it was all put together. Turned out as a pretty decent facsimile of a 5001 class Texas, good enough for 3 rail Hi-Rail.
Running wise this is a bit of a brute. The Pittman I used, in combination with the driver diameter, makes plenty of torque. The locomotive will run at 1 scale MPH without issue. No stuttering at all. It is rare for a DCS locomotive to run that smoothly at low speed with the ease that this one does.
It'll clip along at track speed nicely as well.
Overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I've got the only 3 rail ATSF 5001 class Texas. It runs very well and sounds great. I'll have to try something harder for my next ATSF project 
What clear coat did you use over the decals? Did you spray the whole tender or just the sides?
