Somebody has to make this loco: I guess it will be me.

If anyone could would build this thing....it'd be you!!! I too like freaks....I want to see that 6-4-4-4!!

As a dyed-in-the-warbonnet ATSF nut, I applaud your chutzpah.  However, the Santa Fe's nightmare efforts regarding articulated power are actually a blessing to an O3R modeler.  Having successfully spurned the (gasp!) VL 2-10-10-2, I need not be further concerned about accommodating flexible ferroequines.  (Their lease of the N&W Y3's was a decision of Operations, not a design of Engineering!)

 

I, too, have Worley's tome.  One of the best resources for any road.  But the chapter on the beasts that never hit the rails is nearly too embarrassing to look at.  C'mon, a Gumby-like steam engine with bellows???  Good grief, Charlie Brown!!  Nothing in that chapter had the class of Lima's overture to the C&O, a very believable 2-8-8-6, as I recall.

 

Nope, the ONLY Santa Fe articulated that I thought worthy of the name was the figment of Howard Fogg's imagination, committed to paper in water colors.  It was a 4-6-6-4 leaning into the bend with one of their monster tenders with 8-wheel trucks in tow.  It had all the MBB (Made by Baldwin) features that characterized the rest of their rigid-framed MBB power icons.  I would have been first in line to make a deposit for THAT modeled in either HO, O2R, or O3R.

 

Well, as Dave said, if anyone can pull off one of these 'Santafezillas', it's you, Lee.  Keep us posted!

 

Hey, it's either that or an Oscar Mayer Weinermobile for the Streets, eh?

 

KD

 

 

 

Oh, I realize all that.  But for a number of years, I have wanted to build some fantasy locomotive like a 4-8-8-8-4 "Bigger Boy."  Then along comes this monster:it will do superbly - a fun project, and let's face it, if it works, I will have one really strange, unique loco.  If it fails, well, some time spent and I will have five 0-8-0 chassis with nothing to do!

Lee,

From one retired person with too much time on his hands.....Lee you have way too much time on your hands.

 

Lee, I think it's time to pass down the nickname my grandpa tagged on me. Can I just call you, "Choo-Choo"? LMAO

Looking forward to it. 

 

Now I've really got to build that ATSF jointed-boiler 2-6-6-2. Already have the donor

locos...so many projects, and I just don't do them like I used to.

Well, more power to you, Lee!  I know you'll pull it off very well.

 

Around here more than 30 years ago we had a fellow model railroader by the name of Jerry Drake.  Those well steeped in the NMRA may remember him...quite a comic and contributor.  Also, he was a renowned chef of the O Solo Mio Restaurant in Bay City, MI.  He and his wife, Terry, were also quite the entertainers and the restaurant walls were adorned with signed photos of many of Hollywood and Broadway's elite who came to dine, visit, and even co-entertain at the restaurant. 

 

Anyhow, Jerry had much the same passion for the beyond-belief steam for his HO railroad.  He created and built a 2-4-6-8 articulated that was something to behold, indeed.  I regret that I do not have a photo of the beast, but I recall a photo was published in the NMRA Bulletin sometime in the 60's, or so.

 

When he passed away the steamer went with him.  It was his pride and joy and seemed to define his fun-loving nature well.  As sad as his passing was, seeing the 2-4-6-8 sitting beside him as he lay in repose brought a smile/laugh to everyone...something that he insisted on doing all the years I knew him.

 

Hey, it's what the hobby is all about....FUN! 

 

Of course, as always, that's only IMHO.

 

Keep us posted.

 

dkdkrd - you share the same perspective on the hobby as I do.  Very little I can think of would be as ridiculous as a pentuplex steam loco, but I can't see anyone arguing with one point: it would be a sight to see!  I also like the idea of that 6-4-4-2.  Below is my rendering of what it would look like.  If I could find a Lionel T-1 used and cheap, I would make one of those, too.  It would be a very fun locomotive to run.

 

 

The only thing that comes to mind after looking at your concept images is, if you build it, they will come.

Lee...as it was stated above, if anyone can do it, you will be the one!!  I hope you actually do this as it will make for an interesting article for the magazine!!

 

Alan

That should look interesting running nose to tail on a circle of 0-27!

(or will it take 0-198?)

I have a book by Ed Alexander called "American Locomotives 1900 to 1950" (or something like that) and in that book is a photo and description of a Santa Fe articulated 2-6-6-2 with a flexible boiler. It was more conventional looking than a dual cab 2-8-8-8-8-8-2. The book mentions that the boiler failed on a curve when cinders got caught in the bellows section

 

Check this site for info on the flex boiler 2-6-6-2.

http://www.aqpl43.dsl.pipex.co...lexmallet/mallet.htm

I would so buy one.  Perhaps you can do a how to article so that the rest of us can follow along and build our own.  Or you could start an assembly line and build several and sell of all but the 1st.

Oh yeah.  I'll take pictures, post them as I'm doing it, then wrap it up with something folks can download.  

Lee,

 

Here are some photos of a fantasy SP Cab Forward.  This model is G gauge and is live steam.  It runs.   Note the dual cabs.  The person who built this is a member of the Bay Area Garden Railroad Society's live steam group.

 

 

That is a neat looking steamer, get your Dremel tools ready.

 

Tin 

Oh that is nice.  Just really, really nice!

Wow, that fantasy cab forward (and rearward) is certainly cool!

 

Lee, I can't wait to see how your ATSF quintuplex unfolds.  Given the quality fo your other projects, I'm sure this will impress!

 

-Dustin

Thanks.  I've started some preliminary investigation on making it now.  I will be a fun if perhaps pit-fall filled project: I'm not quite sure how to mount the body, etc., well, but we'll see how it goes. 

Lee,

Two Erie Triplex locomotives could be the basis for your project.

I thought of that.  I will keep things simple - and cheap, and use five Lionel RTR 0-8-0s.  

I look forward to seeing this monster on the rails!   What an impressive locomotive that would be!

Hmmmmmm......now that I own a NICE SCALE PRR T-1 I think I may have an idea for my Lionel Lionmaster PRR T-1 that had issues from day one.......

 

This Santa Fe 6-4-4-4 loco will be done long before the 2-8-8-8-8-8-2.  I decided yesterday that, while I like my scale TMCC T-1, I would love a scale model of this.  So I started disassembling the T-1 yesterday.  

 

The Baldwin design for this loco makes conversion very easy.  The 6-4-4-4- would have been very nearly exactly the same size as a T-1 if slightly longer, but about 30,000 lbs heavier but with 5,000 lbs less tractive effort available (59,000 vs 64,650 -- mostly simpler plumbing for lower maintenance, lower top speed no doubt but still a 100 mph cruise).  I have a six-wheel truck that fits the Lionel T-1 nicely.   I have a scale MTH Premier F3 body of just the right width that will contribute the front cab (the loco would have been Baldwin-built, not EMD, so the cab would not have been exactly F3-like, but I can handle that with some plastic, etc., - I have a picture to go from).  That and removing the cab at the rear of the boiler (easy), and changing the tender over to oil instead of coal (also easy) are all that needs to be done before the paint: Warbonnet, of course!

 

Overall, this will be a fairly simple transformation, not nearly as complex as the 2-8-8-8-8-8-2).  The hardest part was getting over my reluctance to use my T-1 for this purpose, but I'm past that, now . . . .

I'll admit it, as much as I'd love to see a model of that, I cried knowing a nice scale T-1 lost it's life for it.

Sinclair, I understand how you feel.  As I said, I thought long and hard about it, but I'd rather have the Santa Fe 6-4-4-4- than the T-1, lovely as it was.  And I can get another T-1 if I ever want one.  This is the only way I will get the Santa Fe.

 

So I crossed the Rubicon this afteroon: there is no going back now!  I put the T-1 and an old scale Premier F3 (a dummy)  "under the knife."  Here they are preped for surgery . . . . 

 

 

For the first time ever, I used an angle grinder with diamond blade on a diecast loco body: it cuts metal literally like the proverbial hot knife through butter - allowing me to "sculpt" the exact profile of metal I remove with surprising precision.  Where has this tool been all my life?  At the rear, I removed enough of the cab that I will complete the streamlined boiler to the rear of the loco, etc.  At the front, I sculpted off just enough metal, in the right places, so the new cab slips on . . .   I did not remove the T-1 body to do the surgery: I just thought long and hard about each cut and stroke and was really careful.  All of it took 17 minutes - that tool truly is amazing.  

 

 

Below, all the major parts meet for the first time, and it already looks good!   The MTH Premier F3's cab slipped on nicely where I had removed just enough metal at the front.  It is exactly the width of the T-1 at its widest: it and the T-1 body fairings meet flush and perfect!   Look carefully and you can see the extra axle for the front truck near the cab - I will add a third, leading axle to the T-1's front truck rather than find another six-wheel truck that fits there - that course seems easiest.   

I hope you took the engineer and fireman out of the cab before you started cutting! Lol

Lee, I love those big military guns you did for your Army train.  So, if anyone can do this project I believe it could be you.  Want to see pics of progress.  Good luck.

 

By the way, how many people does it take to carry that monster in G scale?

 

Rick

Lee, you are too much! Another great project that will be a hoot to see on the rails!

 

I may have to arrange a field trip to NC to see some of your creations, it boggles the mind what you are doing!   Maybe when Lionel has another open house in their new location...

 

Lee....you got GUTS!

Um, just wanted to point out you put the cab on the wrong end of the T-1 body.  From the drawing you posted earlier, the cylinders are to the rear of the driver sets, not the front.  Therefore the F3 cab should go on front of the T-1 cab, not the T-1's nose.

Yes, this way is more "accurate," I think, and certainly much easier to do.

 

The drawing was done before I did more research and really thought about it.  I can find no actual ATSF drawing of what it would have looked like. As far as I know, none exists.    Most of the "artists renderings" I have found were done years if not decades after the loco was proposed.  All show it with the cylinders on opposite ends: the front cylinders powered by a leading cylinder, the rear set by one behind them.  But I think all the various artists just copied the first sketch put out in Train magazine.  I doubt Santa Fe would have gone for that arrangement: simpler and much efficient to keep plumbing simple and short and put both cylinders where the T-1 had them.  Besides, its so much easier to make the model this way.  

 

A worst "mistake" is the cab.  I have used an EMD F3 cab because, a) one of those artists renderings shows it with such a cab and b) I love the look of the F3/E9 type cab, particularly in warbonnet.  But other artists renderings show it with more of a Baldwin shark cab, and certainly that would have been much more likely.  This loco was apparently concieved and designed by Santa Fe's shops, but Baldwin built most of their steam and I think it most likely that had it been built, Baldwin would have built it.   But, it's my railroad and my fantasy loco, and I love the EMD cab, had a spare F3 body and no a shark I could have cut up, and so . . . . 

I am enjoying following along with this project and really look forward to the final product. I love these types of creative projects.

Lee I have Willams T1

don

Very well then, carry on, and I can't wait to see it.  What sound set are you going to use?

The TMCC T-1 had a pretty good sound already; a heavy multi-cylinder sound, with what for the time, ten years ago or so, was a premium speaker, so I will stick with it.  The tender is currently steamlined but has a coal load: I will remove that and enclose the top, etc. and convert it to oil but otherwise leave it and the sound alone. 

Following this great build.

Lee wouldn't the boiler be turned around to be functional.  Just a thought.

I've wondered about that and am undecided about which end to put the firebox, etc.   I can easily move the firebox to the front, smoke stack to the rear, etc.  It would be an hour or two of work.  All the artists renderings I have seen show the firebox at the front, smokestack at the back, etc. - SP cab forwards were like that and I think the artists got the idea from that.  But SP cab forwards, as I understand, were built like that because they started out with a cab-rear design which had the controls, instruments, etc., on one end.  Making those locos cab forward was easiest to do by just turning the whole engine around and running pipes from the now "back" of the loco to the front.  

But this Santa Fe loco was an entirely new design, and I really see no reason why a cab forward of this vintage - WWII/postwar, could not have had the cab in front and firebox, etc, to the rear: certainly engineering existed to make the controls, instruments, etc., that remote.  That is how I would have done it, I think.  I still can't decide.   

Lee, That's going to be 1 mean machine,keep opsting your progress!

 

Doug