I’m reading about a fairly ofter made conversion of consolidations into switchers when larger machies became available and necessary for freight service.
I own two Spectrum 2-8-0 and would like to convert one into a 0-8-0 switcher. Did someone that already and are there some instruction how to do so?
Some real RR’s just yanked the front truck.
Yeah, if you want to make your 2-8-0 into a switcher, simply remove the lead truck. The CNR had some Mikados that they made into switchers by removing the lead truck, but the trailing truck was retained, as it does support some of the weight of the loco.
Wayne
The pilot truck on a 2-8-0 did support some of the weight of the locomotive, so the shop removing it would have had to check to see if the front driving axle might have become overloaded. I have heard that, in some cases, the front frame was shortened. In other cases, substituting footboards in place of the road engine “cowcatcher” pilot was sufficient. For really severe out-of-balance, the air compressor might have been moved.
If you are modeling a specific conversion, the best tool is a set of before and after photos.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I thought of removing the steps on both sides of the boiler and makeing the front a fraction of an inch shorter. That would result in proportions more like the (P2K) USRA 0-8-0.
Are the steps just steps or do they support the front portion of the boiler?
The Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 is based on an Illinois Central class of engine built in 1909. With relatively little work the model can be turned into one of three versions of the IC engines, of which they had around 85 examples.
The IC rebuilt most of these engines during WWII. The 12 best got turned into a larger, more powerful class of branchline Consolidation, while 25 of the others were turned into 0-8-0 switch engines (the rest got scrapped or sold to the NdeM). All the IC did was yank the pilot truck, add a footboard pilot step, add a second sand box, and changed the coal bunker on the tenders into a clear-vision version. It shouldn’t be too hard to do the same thing to the model.
This is what I found on the web:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=658306
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=658308
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=658310
That should be one of the 3300-3330 (former 651-785) or 3400-3413 (former 941-993). The boiler looks somewhat naked compared to my Spectrum modell. Maybe IC stripped more than only the front truck.
Could someone confirm I picked the right photos?
Uncle John Santa Fe got out of the new switcher game before WWI; from then on they relied upon 2-6-0 and 2-8-0 conversions to meet their switcher requirements which were, of course, considerable. All you essentially do is remove the cowcatcher pilot and graft on a switcher pilot and away you go. There was an article somewhere not too far distant which talked about this very thing.
Of course, if you are going to make an 0-8-0 out of a 2-8-0 you’ve got to get rid of that pesky -2- but there are some railroads which just used their 2-6-0s and 2-8-0s for switchers after doing no more than replacing those cowcatcher pilots.
The IC on the side of this loco is a red herring - the loco has nothing to do with IC and isn’t one of their converted 2-8-0s. The loco you found is ex-Grand Trunk Western 0-8-0 #8300 - it was built by Alco Schenectady in 1923 the first of their P-5 class.
The GTW sold this engine for scrap in 1960 but the scrap plant decided that these 0-8-0s were in better condition than their own locos and continued to use them until 1980 - some of the last industrial steam in the US. This loco became Northwest Steel & Wire #30. In 1980 they were given to the Illinois Railway Museum, where three locos have been rusting away on a siding ever since - this website tells the full story:
http://lostengines.railfan.net/galt.shtml
This is a sister loco at work at NS&Ws plant after being sold for scrap by GTW.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=50254
The cosmetically “restored” survivor (GTW #8300) has its boiler lagging and a lot of other parts missing hence your comment.
The Spectrum loco is based on the #900 class so you’d need to find a photo of IC 3400-3413.
They’re just steps - the smokebox is supported by the cylinder saddle casting. On a non-articulated engine with a conventional boiler that is the only fixed connection between the boiler and frame. To allow the boiler to expand when hot, the waist sheet, foundation bar/mud ring and back sheet supports are flexible.
Cheers,
Mark.
(ex-locomotive boilermaker)
That is also my understanding. Last year I peeked into ON30 and the Bachmann engines had some iron rods where the consolidation has the steps. This iron rods looked very much like a support for the smoke box.
The engine on this picture is an example:
http://on30center.com/on30/gallery/gallery.html
Therefore I assumed US engines are different from German engines in that partigular point.
In my opinion (worthless to some people) I think the one thing you could do to make it convincing would be to add a vertical pilot with footboards rather than the typical pointed road engine pilot. 0-8-0s were primarily yard and transfer engines and you need a place for your crewman to ride the engine.
Those steps would not have the structural strength to support the smokebox durring the stresses of running on the rails. I would think that they would help to support the walkway tho. Those are usually just hung on to small brackets or pins that are welded to the side of the boiler shell and would need some greater support. In that case you would have the cab on the rear and the steps on the front to hold the walkway up. So putting some type of vertical brace in that area would serve a purpose and would most likely have been done by a RR comverting the loco and removing the steps.
As indicated, these aren’t IC 0-8-0s. The only photo of one of the IC 0-8-0s in question is one that I’ve just uploaded:
(sorry about the butterfly; I stole the image from an Ebay auction!)
Properly, the ones that I was referring to were 3400-3413. They were originally 2-8-0s of the 941-993 series of Baldwin engines, built between 1909 and 1911. IC 3405 was originally IC 951, built 10/1909. The engine was rebuilt to 0-8-0 3420 on 11/1937, renumbered to 3405 on 5/1942, and finally scrapped on 7/1952.
Those GTW 0-8-0s had been sitting outside in the middle of nowhere for 15 years, so they were pretty well stripped by the time IRM decided what to do with them. Looking at the above IC 0-8-0 photo, you can tell that they’re anything BUT bare engines!
Just a couple points of clarification:
The IC never used class designations for their engines. Properly, that’d be the 900-SERIES engines.
the 3400 series and 900 series engines were BOTH rebuilt from the 941 series engines. The 3400s look a lot more like the 941s than they do the 900s.
No, they’re pilot braces. They are intended to support or brace the pilot beam and front extension of the loco underframe. They are typical of US practice before the introduction of cast engine beds.
German engines with deep plate frames would not require such braces. But if memory serves the bar-frame variants of the Br50 2-10-0s had similar pilot braces. You’ll also find the same set-up on some GWR engines that had shallow plate frame extensions.
All the best,
Mark.
Unlikely. On most engines I’ve worked on or looked closely at, the steps only supported their own weight.
Conventional practice is for running boards to be supported by quite substantial brackets secured to studs in the boiler barrel. I highly doubt whether any US boiler code during the steam era would permit welding pins or brackets directly to the barrel. As for cabs, they are usually separate from the running boards, and don’t attach to or support them.
All the best,
Mark.
Cotton Belt converted five of its Baldwin-built G-1 and G-2 consolidations into 0-8-0 heavy switchers. The work was done at the Pine Bluff Shops in 1927-29.
I stand corrected [B)] Just like to point out that Lin Westcott’s Cyclopedia of Steam Locomotives calls is a “class” though; so I’m in good company making that mistake.[;)]
Ray - as you clearly know a lot more about the IC than I ever will - can you clear something else up for me? The sand box (together with the placement of the air pumps) appears to be one of the biggest difference between the Spectrum model and ICRR #900 series. In the Cyclopedia it shows a #941 series before convertion which shows a smaller more regular “dome” shaped sand box (but again different to the Spectrum model) and a Vandy tender. In the photo you found of the #3400 series switcher it also has the square sandbox - I had assumed these were introduced at the rebuild of the 900s as the Cyclopedia says - but is that so? The #3400 switchers clearly retained the Vandy tender, but they too have new cylinders more like the rebuilt #900 series 2-8-0s and the Spectrum model.
Hi Jim,
Tracking the IC’s Paducah rebuilding program is a BIG challenge. The IC treated their steamers like a box of spare parts found at a swapmeet: rummage around into you find some stuff that will work together, and cobble up a whole new engine!
But there are some trends. The 941-series were delivered with Vanderbilt tenders, the only ones the IC ever had. They stuck with the 941s all their service lives, being modified down the line to add capacity or even to create one of several versions of clear-vision switching tenders. When the 941’s were rebuilt into the 3400s and 900s, the 3400s kept the Vandys while the 900s received rebuilt early Mikado tenders (enlarged to add capacity).
As for the sand domes, Paducah was mad about those huge boxlike things. I think the design came about with the delivery of their 50 Lima Berkshires, which were exact copies of the A-1. The IC had several different designs of boxy domes, and I have diagrams for six versions (all for the road engines, not the switchers or light branchline engines). Paducah started adding the new domes to rebuilds starting in 1937, and revised the plans well into