Got what was advertised as Overland CMStP&P S3 (4-8-4) at auction. Box said labeled so and made by Dong Jin. Turns out it’s really an S2 4-8-4 and manufactured in Japan. Obviously sent in the wrong box, which is understandable considering it’s age and not being sold by original owner. It has a Pittman open frame motor, non-idler gearbox, brass centered sprung drivers, and seems really well made. Besides having JAPAN stamped in the driver retaining plate, and also in the tender bottom, it has either OLP or OLY hand scribed above the JAPAN on the loco and #482 below.
Anyone able to tell, from this info, who the manufacturer was?
I removed the Pittman and gearbox and the drivers and valve gear work great giving it a roll test on flat surface. Ordered NWSL gearbox and can motor and can’t wait to do the repower.
Relying on my memory here (an increasingly foolish exercise) but I recall a Milwaukee Road brass 4-8-4 that a friend bought – and they had gotten the sand dome completely wrong, almost like it was a different scale. I cannot recall if it was an S2 or S3 but I am thinking S2. I still remember how nervous he was taking a soldering iron to a brass engine to remove that dome.
The only Milw 4-8-4 were made by Fujiyama for both NWSL & PFM, the NWSL one cost $105.00 in 1967, the PFM ones were imported in the 1980’s and probably had a can motor. There were also 8 handbuilts for PFM in 1956 by Tetsudo and these cost $123.45 and are now worth $3500.00.
Anyway, I think you got a deal as the Dong-Jins of that era had bad motors and gearboxes and you got a much better model.
Just a little question. Why didn’t you give the open frame motor and original gearbox a trial to see what they could do. Once the commutator is cleaned and the bearings oiled, Pittman motors generally come back to life. I’ve found they are more powerful than can motors and give a better turn of speed. Of course the can motors are mainaenance free and a bit more responsive to the throttle but I’ve had old Pittmans give years of good service without having to be be changed and this on some pretty old brass pieces.
Pittman will be put to good use in the future, once I clean the gobs of solder off from previous do-it-yourselfer. My plans, for this particular loco, are to install a flywheel as well. I decided to use the project to give NWSL products a trial.