Yes, I’m doing another locomotive build. Unlike the others, this one has a bit of my personal On30 history behind it.
When I first got into On30, my first purchases were an On30 Forney and an On30 Shay, both made by Bachmann. This was back in 2010, so the Shay came from one of the production runs which suffered from the split gear problem. It did have split gears, and Bachmann did provide replacements. After swapping them out, the model seemed to run.
Fast-forward to 2018. I’ve run a few operating sessions by this point, and I’ve noticed that the Shay, BVLC #2, seems to have some difficulty running. It could pull itself and its train, but it always seemed to struggle on the gradient leading up to the log loading area at Camp D. Yet the gears weren’t split at all. Things came to a head while I was filming the layout video I uploaded a couple of weeks ago. It was meant to have a shot of a locomotive descending the grade, and I picked the Shay for it. Going up it barely moved, and coming down it lurched terribly.
Upon closer inspection, I found that the clips which hold the driveshaft to the trucks were loose, so the gears weren’t meshing properly. I tried replacing them with new clips, as replacement trucks were sold out on the Bachmann website. However, this failed to correct the problem. The rear truck ended up with the gears not meshing at all. On the test-run following the replacement, the Shay backed halfway up the grade, then started rolling forwards. While the motor was still running backwards. As such, it now lives in a display cabinet in my living room.
This left a gap in my locomotive roster. So naturally I decided to build a replacement, a new no. 2. While my layout currently has locos ranging from 0-4-0 to 2-6-2, I’ve
With the basic body done, the next part was to build the tender.
I started by cutting a sheet of 1mm styrene to the same width as the locomotive footplate. I then placed the locomotive on the turntable, and measured out how much length I had left behind it. (This turntable is what defines the maximum length for my locomotives. If they fit on it, they’ll fit on the rest of the layout.) I then used 3.2x3.2mm styrene strip to make the edging, and 4.8x4.8mm for the centerbeam.
In order to connect the drawbar, I added some 2mm styrene on top of the centerbeam, then cut some 1mm styrene sheet to cover the front of the chassis. After drilling out the holes for the truck screws, I added some 2x2mm styrene strip in line with them.
While that was drying, I made the cab footplate for the locomotive. After cutting some 1mm styrene to shape, I cut two notches 4mm in from each end. I could have used 0.5mm copper wire here, but it comes on a reel and is difficult to get perfectly straight. Fortunately, the handrails from the original HO scale model are perfectly straight. After drilling the stanchions out to loosely fit it, I put them on the handrail wire and glued it into place. When the glue had dried, I trimmed it to length and filed it flush.
I’d done a test-fitting of the locomotive, and it seemed very slightly off to me. The pilot deck seemed to be a little too
After a few weeks, the 3D-printed parts from Shapeways arrived.
I’d printed two versions of the smokebox front, one with bolts and one with rivets. This was the first time I’d printed rivets, and I wasn’t sure if they’d turn out or not. They did, so I decided to go with this version. The pilot also turned out.
After cleaning the parts, I prepared them to be attached to the model. I used 0.8mm copper wire to make the handrails on the round bits for the front of the tender. I also added some brake wheel castings on the top. I also realised that I’d forgotten to put the hinge on the smokebox door, so I added this with some styrene and 1mm copper wire.
I then added the 3D-printed parts to the model. I’d put two pilot holes on the smokebox front, beneath the headlight. Owing to the arrangement of the On30 boiler on top of the orignal body, I had to run the headlight wires before putting the smokebox front on. I didn’t glue the front headlight in place, as I needed to install the LED after painting.
With that done, I painted and lettered the model. The top
