This is my ONE piece of brass, a PFM B15 Mogul. A guy on the old Rec.Models.Railroad newsgroup gave it to me, free, years ago. It needed a lot of resoldering to get it back together, and a neodynium supermaget to get the old open frame motor to run without over heating. I didn’t add any details, fearing that anything I could do wouldn’t look good enough on real brass. It runs pretty good, and looks fine pulling open platform coaches on my B&M layout.
I have a couple of IHC moguls which I ought to detail and paint up as B-15’s. They run good, and are about the right size.
Nice to see one done-up in its prototype paint and lettering. The same B&M B-15 was my first brass locomotive, too, but mine wouldn’t run at all. I put a small can motor in her (mounted in the boiler rather than on the frame, as it wouldn’t fit through the narrow width of the firebox).
I changed the headlight on mine, removed the train control box and replaced the airpumps with a cross compound one. I also added brass sunshades to hide the arched window-tops, then painted it for my freelance road…
A couple of years ago, I re-worked it again, changing the Franklin Economy steam chests to better ressemble a standard piston valve set-up:
…and also added some piping and a new cab…
The tender got a bit of modification, too…
It normally runs with this one, an IHC Mogul based on, I think, an Espee prototype. This shows the modifications done shortly after I got it, mostly a new headlight and number boards, along with the tender, which was shortened, then converted to a coal-type, with an open bunker…
It got another makeover at the same time as the 34, mostly a new cab and some additional piping…
The old adage “leave well enough alone” simply does not apply to Dr. Wayne. I lack this sort of creative mind even to imagine his kind of work, much less the skills to pull it off [and photograph it well].
Oh, yes, realism in creating a scale model railroad is what I love the most about the hobby. And steam reigns supreme since I model the EJ&E in HO in the '20s. Ever since my wife-to-be and I rode behind NKP 759 on a Shenandoah Valley excursion in '68 I’ve been hooked on steam power and have dug into all the fascinating workings of the machine. To top it off I splurged on the FANTASTIC experience of operating (yes…hands on the throttle, “Johnson” bar, brake, whistle) Nevada Northern’s 2-8-0 a few years ago.
I’ve detailed a zamac Tyco 0-6-0 kit using Cal-Scale and homebrew parts with a pretty good result, I think. Of course, painting, and more importantly weathering, really give you the texture and feel of the “real thing”. Suggest you look at close-up photos and read descriptions of what the various components and appliances do. A shop tour is informative, too…I’ve seen the Strasburg Railroad’s (their staff is very friendly and knowledgeable)…maybe Scranton, PA’s also has tours. It gives you an appreciation and understanding of the mechanical genius of the steam locomotive. I’ve used Model Railroader’s “Cyclopedia-Vol. 1-The Steam Locomotive”, Alfred Bruce’s “The Steam Locomotive in America” and various other textbooks to gain knowledge of the machine. Yeah, as you can see I love two scales: 1/87 and 12 inches-to-the-foot!
This is my ONE piece of brass, a PFM B15 Mogul. A guy on the old Rec.Models.Railroad newsgroup gave it to me, free, years ago. It needed a lot of resoldering to get it back together, and a neodynium supermaget to get the old open frame motor to run without over heating. I didn’t add any details, fearing that anything I could do wouldn’t look good enough on real brass. It runs pretty good, and looks fine pulling open platform coaches on my B&M layout.
