Saw this one today:
A camelback diesel? Indeed. Converted from a saddle tank steam loco. I first saw this on Facebook, the posting there had additional photos besides the ones in the link which showed a few other angles, including a view of the diesel with the rear ‘tank’ (which was just an empty shell that served as a hood) removed.
–Randy
Wow, it seems like they went through a lot of trouble to convert this thing. I can see Mike L. modelling this in HOn3!
Simon
Hi Randy!
That would be an interesting locomotive to model. The design is pretty simple and the lines are all straight so the fabrication would be relatively easy. Forming the curves for the tanks would just require the right sized dowel to bend the sheet brass over.
It’s hard to see the wheel configuration in the pictures but I’m guessing at two axles. That would make the power easy too.
Hmmmm… I’ll put it on my ‘possibilities’ list. The ‘To Do’ list for the new layout already has multiple pages that will probably take two or three years, but who says you can’t sneak something in between?
Thanks,
Dave
Hi again Randy,
I am not very good at Facebook. In fact I avoid it most of the time. Can you provide a link to the Facebook posts that showed the other views of the diesel camel? If I can see it I can build it assuming that it is a fairly simple design (don’t ask me to do that for a 4-8-8-4!!!).
Thanks,
Dave
I should have never clicked the link.
I WANT ONE!
-Kevin
If I can find it - that’s the problem with stuff like Facebook, it’s all so fleeting, good luck finding something even a day later. But I found it.
If none of that gets truncated, and you are signed in to Facebook, that should work.
It is not the only steam loco to be converted to internal combustion, almost always some DIY job in some backwoods shop, so if you have a small private line linked to your main railroad, you can make up just about anything.
And in searching for some pictures of others, I foudn this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_diesel_hybrid_locomotive Yes, there were several experiments with locomotives that had both a steam boiler AND internal combustion - the Russian example sounds like it was built similar to a 3 cylinder steam loco, except the middle cylinder was an internal combustion cylinder while the outer two worked like a standard steam loco.
–Randy
Knowing nothing of any prototype… this is how I would do it.
I would remove the steam cylinders and side rods, leaving just the main rods. Then I would use a small diesel to run a hydraulic pump. I would use a hydraulic motor to run a chain drive to the main driver axle in the center. Motion would be transferred to the other driver(s) through the main rods.
The diesel engine would need to have an SAE P.T.O. flange to drive an air compressor.
I’ll bet the guys in the backwoods shops that did this had better ideas.
-Kevin
Hi Randy,
Thanks for taking the time to find the photos!
The last picture is really interesting. If I understand what I am looking at, the exhaust pipes were very crude indeed! They are not straight, they are not the same length, and they appear to be just leaning on the back of the cab. That’s got to be some real ‘…just get ‘er’ running! The heck with what it looks like…’ engineering!
The loco has some serious modelling opportunities. What character!!
Dave
Here’s a clickable link to the loco pictures:
Ooops, it’s not working. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, but if you highlight the link and right click, you should have a ‘go to…’ option.
Dave
I just broke down!![:'(][;)] I couldn’t resist!! I just placed a bid on a Life Like 0-4-0 to use as a doner for The Midland RR steam to diesel conversion.
Just what I need!!! Another project!![banghead][swg][(-D] Curse you Randy!!![swg][(-D][(-D][(-D]
Please don’t anyone offer me swampland in Florida right now! I’d probably go for it!![D)][(-D][(-D][(-D]
Seriously Randy, thanks for the idea!
Dave
LOL. I should have run a pool on how long it would take you to decide to actually build one.
–Randy
I cannot wait to see this project!
Well, I just happen to have this deed right here…
-Kevin
Hi Kevin,
It is going to be way down on a long list of rolling stock projects, so don’t hold your breath!
[(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]
I haven’t won the auction yet for the saddle tank engine. It still goes for 6 days. However, I did find a second identical locomotive for a very low price so I bought it. My reasoning behind using two donor locomotives is that I don’t think the saddle tank itself will be long enough to model both ends of the Canada Steamship Lines unit. I thought about fabricating the saddle tanks out of brass but using donors is so much easier. Plus it gets me the running gear.
Dave