What to do with an o27 Atlantic?

Thanks for the ideas.  I've one in Great Northern colors, some things to do if I ever run out of projects.

Your engine looks great!  Shows you don’t have to spend thousands to have fun in this hobby. JohnA

Love it, very in line with an old tradition of "scaling up" toy rolling stock. This is something you would have seen back in the 30s-40s, even back in the 1920s with people super detailing tinplate stuff. You did a great job on this, thanks for sharing it!

Nice little engine, Greg. I have an older ATSF Atlantic from my original Lionel Train Set (from 2004) that I often use on my layout for excursion passenger service with my Nevada Southern RR Museum boxcar, a 4-pack of Lionel ATSF O27 passenger cars, and the caboose from the original set. My little steamer runs great and has sound. She is conventionally-controlled but I do use Legacy Powermasters so I can use my Cab-2 Remote.

By the way, is your engine conventional or does it have command-control?

Probably the only Lionel 4-4-2 of this design with Kadee couplers, or a scratch-built tender, or owned by someone who would care about proper switching.

Commendations.

Dylan--I didn't mess with the electronics, so it's still conventional.  I played around with DCS a few years ago, but I never have multiple operators so it didn't seem worth the expense.  I do use a CAB-1 though.

@Greg2 posted:

Some pics of my re-modeled Lionel O27 Atlantic.  Small, but just what I needed to pull a short mixed freight/combine 20 miles out to Clarksville and back.  At Clarksville (staging) this guy is required to do his own switching, hence I needed a truck mounted Kadee on both ends.  I added valve gear from an A-5, a proper outside bearing trailing truck, applied grabs, operating(but non-functional) cut levers, and squared off the front cab corners to give a more east coast look.  Also a scratch-built tender.  Got rid of that ugly Elesco feedwater heater too.

It may be fair to ask why anyone in his right mind would put this effort into what is still really a toy.  Setting aside my mental state (I do play with toy trains) there are maybe 3 reasons:

1.  I had it.

2.  I like to tinker.

3.  I'm really cheap.

Greg2,

Add:

4. A talented modeler

Thanks for sharing your work!

It warms my heart to see basic traditional trains that have been detailed and/or upgraded!  Your Atlantic definitely looks like a local freight engine- the footboard pilot is a nice touch.

It looks great as-is but one thing that personally bothers me about Lionel's train set 4-4-2's made from the mid-1980s onward, are the aluminum driving wheel rims.  Disclaimer: I don't own an airbrush, and I've never painted a train in my life!  But it seems as though you could mask the running surfaces (wheel treads) with tape, and then spray the hubs, sidewalls, and rims with a dull dark grey.  This would preserve electrical contact while yielding a homogenous and more realistic appearance.

Thanks for sharing your hard work on the Forum!!

Ted S--You've got a point--like a garden, a railroad is never finished.