Custom Reading Engines: T-1, E5sa, saddle-tank 0-6-0

I'm much happier with this.

 

Getting rid of that lump of a coupler to mount a new pocket and scale coupler is going to be interesting to do without botching up the rest of the pilot.

Anyone have any suggestions on where to get or what to use as stanchions for the coupler lift bar? I figure I can bend the bar myself out of wire.  I'd confinedonline 700E stanchions but all the places that list them online want $10 to ship $2 worth of parts that cost 50¢ to ship.

Nice job on modifying the T-1.

 

As much as I like seeing modification threads, it's doubly fun when it's a Reading thread!

 

Jim

 

p.s.  No T-1 in my steam roster, but I do have a G1 and G3. 

I eventually want a G1 and G3 but both are a little rich for my blood, plus hard to come by. My next project is more ambitious:  kitbashing a Lionel 0-8-0 into a RDG E5sa.

Weaver did the G1/G2 and SGL did the G3.  Both are brass engines and although not common are reasonably priced.  It took a bit of looking, but I found both engines in the past year for $350-$400 each.

 

I hope your post pics of your next project.  I'm looking forward to seeing the kitbash of the Lionel 0-8-0.

 

Jim

Wowak:
Your T-1 is lookin' Good!

I see you made that piece on the deck between the pumps, that I call the "mantle clock''... because thats what it looks like to me. ( and I have drawn a clock face on the real 2102's - with CHALK - in past years.)
It is the fancy sheet-metal cover over the governor for the air-compressors, and is hinged on the back. When the 2101 was restored for the AFT, that was missing, and they took a TOOL-BOX and welded it in place. Thats why the AFT/CSS 2101 has that box instead of the mantle-clock.

Your number-plate looks good too. maybe round off the corners just a bit more.

If I knew how to post photos on this board, I could have given some real 2102 details. I have been away from the OGR board for a few years.
Your boiler front looks terrific! really gives me the urge to go to the work-bench.

Thanks for sharing, and keep posting!
Steve.

It's much easier now. Save photos on your computer or on a disk. Sign In to the Forum. Click on "Post Reply." A form appears onscreen. Type a message at the top. Then click on "Add Attachments." Click on "Upload file(s)." Click on "Browse" and upload photos. Be sure to check the box that says "Include all photos in text body (large size)." It will place photos in a message instead of putting tiny copies at the bottom. When all photos are uploaded, click on "Finished." Finally, scroll to the bottom and click on "Submit Reply." BINGO! 2102 info on the Forum!

 

I'll post a photo of the new NS Reading Heritage Unit. If I have overlooked any steps I'll add them above before I post this message. 

There's where I'm at so far. Paint is drying on a new bell bracket (the bell from a C&O H-8 looked close enough for me. I need to Fab up the ringer arm and the clapper first though. Next on the list is the coupler lift bar and correcting the pilot grab-iron to include the uprihts at either end. Then I at least want to file down the sides of the pilot step support so it doesn't look comically thick from the side. Still have to add the step below the ends of the pilot beam too.  The T-1 has some cylindrical device hanging below either side of the pilot, I need to figure out how to accurately model that, then I need to find the best castings to replacethe whistle, steam generator, and the pop-offs and drift valve.  I don't suppose anyone has good pictures of those or knows the brand/model of them so I can get appropriate castings?  To my knowledge No one offers a casting of a RDG hooter,  I wonder how much they differ visually from a N&W hooter? Those are available in O-scale.  Also, does anyone know if, in freight service, the expansion links on the valve gear we're painted black or were polished? On all the in-service photos I've found the rods are too crusted with grease to tell.  As 2102 sits today they're painted black.  Last time I saw 2124, EVERYTHING was painted black.

After that I have to decide if/how much money I want to waste detailing the cab.  I know I'm going to fab a backwall out of styrene, but I may stop there, lest I be tempted to grind the window frames out with a dremel so I can represent them in the open position. (Who in their right mind would run a 4-8-4 with the windows shut?!  I think I do want to hang some marker lights on the back of the coal Bunker..

Oh yeah I repaired the damaged cab stripe with stripe from the RDG cab-unit decals I bought for the cab numbers. It's a hair too thick but it doesn't bother me a ton. On the engineer's side I managed to remove the numbers without damaging the stripes.

I wouldn't mind having a model of Reading T-1 2100.  I posed for a picture in her cab.  This was many years ago when she was sitting in Striegel's salvage yard in South Baltimore.   There were quite a few other relics there as well:an ancient steam crane, an ex-military RS-1 with six wheel trucks and the European-style cab, and a set of PRR E-7s.  I walked through the E-7's. 

New bell and hanger.  Boy, the camera sure makes dust stand out!

Looking at this picture and the others, your T-1 has come a long way!

Excellent Job!

 

Henry J.

 

Thanks Henry!  I'm VERY pleased with it!  My desire to spend a bunch of money I don't have on the superior MTH T-1 is waning as this one comes along.  And that means I can look for a Weaver G-1sa or SGL G3 instead.    Plus there is a lot of satisfaction in doing it yourself.  The hardest part is going to be weathering it... I've decided I'm not going to try until I get an airbrush and practice on a few freight cars first.  I really only want to give it a light weathering, not a late-steam beating.

Also, I was admiring the WBB 4-6-0 and lamenting that Reading never really had anything like that to justify getting one, esp. since they're so ridiculously cheap right now, but then I found this:

 

[img]http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/rdg576s.jpg[/img]

 

Shorten the domes, shorten the cab, shorten the stack, move the headlight... and I'm pretty much in business.

 

Then I remember that I've already got another engine to cut up on the bench for a conversion to a RDG prototype.  USRA 0-8-0 to Reading E-5sa.

re the smokebox color...

 

Whatever the Reading used on smokeboxes (assuming it was an oil and graphite mix) it varied widely. #2100 definitely had a light colored smokebox front when built, and I have pictures of #2118 sporting an equally light front in the late 1940's. Most pics show a very dark gray/black color. 

 

The big difference in color was usually the amount of graphite in the mix. When the CNJ went totally cheap in the late steam era, they used little graphite, and thus the smokeboxes were quite black. There are color pictures of CNJ Mikes with freshly done smokeboxes (but not repainted boiler jacketing) where the jackets look light gray and the smokebox looks jet black... even though both were "black."

 

As with many things concerning modeling steam locomotives, before anyone says what is "right or wrong" we need to discuss which roadnumber and what day in history is being modeled. Another confounding factor is gloss. Usually, the paint on the jacketing was of higher gloss than the mix on the smokebox. You can see this a lot in T-1 pics, where it all "looks" black, but the difference in gloss from jacket to smokebox is noticeable (the smokebox being flat, the jacket gloss). 

 

It is nice to think these kinds of things were consistent, but they were not.

 

I think Wowak did a nice job on his. 

 

Rob

Here is a photo of the marker lights.

Thanks, what brand/supplier did you use for the marker lights? Also you just solved my dilemma of how to deal with the tender rear steps.

As for the boiler face, I like it grey, and it's my toy.

Thats the 2124 I did for Pastor Phil.
The marker lights are brass, Precision Scale or something like that.
The rear tender footboard assembly is actually fabricated from a single piece of brass strip, cut and shaped to fit, and not interfere with coupler swing. It is fastened using the screws that hold the corner steps on, and if memory serves, they are the same screws that secure the rear of the tender shell.

Here's a different angle of Phil's tender, showing the marker lights, and the fabricated rear footboards. Behind it is a custom-painted but otherwise unmodified Lionel T-1.

Thanks, that's giving me great ideas.  I sort of wish I had some prototype pictures of the marker hangers to see exactly how they're hung.

Contact the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society at www.readingrailroad.org

Finally getting back to work on the 2102, fabricating the coupler lift bar.

 

Nice.

 What parts did you use? And where did you order them from?

 

 I think I asked you about the coupler and air/signal lines parts you used on a thread, but can't find it now. Could I get that information as well? (Thank You)

 

 Thanks for keeping us up to date!

 

Henry J.

 

 

 

I got all the parts from eBay except for the coupler, which a forum member sent me.  The coupler pocket and air lines are from Wiseman Model Services, the headlight is a Selley PRR headlight, the bell is a Precision Scale C&O H-8 front mount bell.  The coupler lift bar I made from brass stock and the stanchions are from the UK (and took 3 weeks to get here.)   The upright handles on the pilot are brass too.  The number board and the top of the pump shroud (with the "mantle clock" are from styrene.  I still want to make the small step loops on either end of the pilot beam.  Then I can start thinking about what, if any, details I want to add or change on the rest of the locomotive.  I know I want to at least build a cab backwall and add a crew, but I think I will skip on detailing the cab, at least for now.  I might try to expand the tender deck a little too.

I see you found Wiseman Model Services. He also has a bunch of different whistles to choose from in O-scale. The RDG hooter is a stumpy little thing (and sounds like it too) with a curved top-mounted handle.

Another detail that I have done to several Lionel T-1 engines is to RE-SHAPE the hand-rails at the front and at the cab. To me these are some of the details that set off a good T-1 model. The wire is pretty tuff, and will withstand some bending. I use a small pointy pliars with teeth. The front has that slight curve to it. 2102's current handrails are wrong. They were fabricated after the D&H disguise was removed, and they are too high. The shape of the handrails at the cab is difficult to describe, as it is a combination of twists. Consult photos of the real ones, such as 2100 when new.
The Reading Lines Diamond logo on the front should not be there on a freight-era T-1. They were only added for the Rambles. Unfortunately, it is cast in on the Lionel model. Some major grinding and filling/fabricating will be needed. I have yet to go that far. The Lionel Chessie version might be easier, if the CSS sign can be removed, maybe leaving holes to be filled.

If you leave the Diamond, re-decal it. They were never green, except on box-cars. The RDG Diamond is black, with gold or silver or white letters and border.
Really Great Job so far! Keep us posted.
3rd Rail Mike, how is your project going?

 

Is this the right whistle for a T-1?

 

Work on the front end is almost done.  Just need to add the steps on either end of the pilot, and whatever those cylindrical appliances are hanging below the pilot deck. Then I have to decide just how much detail I want to add to the rest of the locomotive.  I know I want to replace the blob steam generator, and probably the whistle and pop-offs/drift valve, but I sort of want to find good solid information on them before I buy the wrong castings.

The whistle in your photo looks like a P&R 3-chime.

That pre-dates the T-1 engines by several decades, and was used as the passenger whistle before they started making the 6-chimers.

I have some photos of G-1 Pacific #105 when brand-new, and this whistle is plainly seen.

The T-1 inherited the ''Hooter'' from the I-10 it was morphed from.

If you draw an imaginery line across it about half way up the bell, the top half is what the RDG ''Hooter'' looks like.

If you haven't seen this website before, here is a great source of photos of Rdg steam,

and you should be able to find some views that show the arrangement of the stuff on top of the boiler.
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/rdg_steam1.html


Your project is looking great!

Yeah, I've been through those, as well as Gottschall's book, a lot of shots of the T-1 from low and front, no good detail shots of the works behind the steam dome.  

 

Working on some piping detail.

I think I'm about done with the fireman's side, save for some under-cab appliances.

I probably should have asked Reading Steam Guru if 2102 was ever equipped with the automatic train control circuit box before I built it, but it's a neat detail.

Still a little bit of cleanup to be done on it but it's mostly there.

I've only test run it on an O-42 carpet loop but I had no problems with it.

Yours is a MTH ,they might have improved the connection from the engine to tender. the Lionel versions problem was the tether wires being too stiff. Does the MTH version have a wireless tether? 

No... I'm quite certain mine is Lionel.  I wouldn't be doing all this detail work if it were an MTH, it would already be done.

No cab details yet, but I added the back wall, and the back of the roof.  I at least will add an engineer and fireman, not sure I want to go crazy detailing the cab.