I have been without an ongoing loco build now for a month or so since finishing my last build, my C&O K3. This K3, alongside my pair of C&O mallets (An H4 and an H5) are definitely the core of my N scale loco fleet, and I have amassed quite a pile of spare bits. One of those spare bits is an extra VC16 tender, so I swapped it to my H4 - that big Mallet looks better with that big tender anyway. Which means I have this little guy spare: I like smaller locos, those that would be seen on branchlines in PA or WV or OH someplace, so that rules out things like 2-10-4s, Berkshires, and larger mallets like Simons or Alleghenies. But what C&O DID have lots of, and what no good model of currently exists, is 2-8-0s! This is an HO Brass model of a G9, with a VC12 tender; a handsome little connie if ever there was one! And one I believe that I can bash fairly simply out of a Spectrum 2-8-0 and my little VC12 tender. I won't even have to modify the tender connection scheme! More soon!
Looks like a fun project. I will watching for updates... I've been thinking of bashing a Bachmann 2-8-0 into a better match for UP 2-8-0 #618 that ran on the Oregon Shortline, and now resides up in Heber, UT (I am in SLC). I've ridden behind #618 a couple times, as the Polar express when the kids were little. It's undergoing a boiler rebuild now... and had been for a few years now. Hope it's "back on track" soon. I found a little Model Power vandie tender for it, and will try and squeeze a sound decoder into it after the holidays. The trick on the loco conversion will be removing/moving the sand dome and associated piping...
Is that tender all wheels live? When MP started to sell their tenders separately, many SP modellers bought the Vanderbilts, as they are SP Vanderbilts. They tried to add them to the B-Mann consolidated. In the half-wheels live configuration, the things ran poorly. When made all wheels live, they ran fine. You must apply Miranda's Maxim as explained by ke: The poor performance of many N scale steam locomotives is almost always directly attributable to poor electrical contact.
And we're off! Removing the pilot and leaving the footboards is very easy, and helps it look much more like a G9 already. I have also begun the process of removing some of the details i need to eliminate, the front walkways past the edge of the smokebox to be precise. Next the existing sand dome needs to be removed, along with the molded in sand lines. Not quite sure how to do that bit yet...! Alas, MP tenders are not yet all wheels live, though I expect they will fix that shortly; their locomotives are, by all accounts, excellent runners now, rivalling the Kato 2-8-2 and Bachmann 2-8-0 for quality. The Bachmann Spectrum short vandy tender is indeed all wheels live. As this tender was sold only with the H4 mallets, it seems frustratingly rare; I bought an H4 and swapped it to a VC16 to free up this VC12. Of course, I must now put a decoder in the VC16 tender. Ahh, fun with steam!
I am having a similar problem with finding all-wheel-pick-up, 2-axle trucks to use on Vandy tenders. I have some trucks that have the little metal contacts sticking up out at the wheel positions, and I am thinking that I may be able to modify them to move those contacts back toward the center of the car, like the ones designed for Vandy tenders. Before I spend time and money "re-inventing the wheel", I am asking here if anybody has already done that and what they learned about how to do it and make it operate reliably.
I believe a former poster on here, Skipgear, has done modifications to tender sideframes with thin nickel silver rod, using carefully bent and soldered doubled up thicknesses of that rod in place of the somewhat more fragile stamped "ears" that stuck up from the sideframes.
Bachmann is out of spare shells, urgh. I badly need a 2nd steam dome; if anyone has a shell or broken 2-8-0 they'd like to part with, let me know!
This is 100% true. I make sure every loco I work on gets all wheel live tenders, at least. My 2-6-6-2 with the VC16 tender has 12 wheels per side live, which means it NEVER stalls or hesitates; even the smallish ones like the 2-8-0 from Bachmann have 8 wheels per rail live. My brass H6 has only 4 wheels per rail live, and that leads to some hesitation and even stalls on turnouts. There is no excuse anymore for anything else from the manufacturers but all wheel pickup on steam (Trailing and leading trucks excluded ofc)
That build looks very similar to the one I am doing now, save that the walkways are straight (and thus, likely easier) and it has a very distinct Harriman type Vandy tender. I wonder if those tenders have ever been made in N?
Maybe. There's a SAL one on there for 85 US, the cheapest I see at the moment. As mine already has a decoder installed and runs well, I'd hate to get a 2nd one I'll not use. I wonder how hard resin casting the dome I have would be.
I was thinking that I would turn a new sand dome out of a piece of styrene rod, when the time came. I saw the bigger problem as removing the existing dome and molded on pipe details. I planned to dremel off the dome (I have a variety of bits, but don't know which would be best) , and then use a sharp modeling knife to carefully scrape off the piping. Sounds like I waited too long on getting a spare shell to perform the surgery on... The MP Vandy tender I got was NOT all wheel pickup... so I bought a pair of Bachmann 2-8-0 tender trucks with all-wheel pickup, and have been working on fitting them to the tender. Not as simple as I planned, as the Bachmann trucks have a large hole in the truck bolster that slides over a post on the tender frame, rather than a simple screw hole. They also needed a shim for the truck frame to clear the tender frame (the MP trucks had a shim mlded on the bolster). I used styrene tubing and sheet to make such posts/shims on the MP tender... but don't yet know how robust they will be (haven't shot any photos yet, but plan to). I trimmed the long contact strips off the truck, and planned to directly wire the wheel pickup strips thru small holes into the tender (hopefully, not too visible on the underside of the tender). By my measurements, the decoder will fit in the tender's water tank, with the smallest sugar cube speaker in the oil bunker. I also got a Bachmann 2-8-0 tender drawbar, and have it fitted to the tender... tho' I plan to use wires to carry rail current from the loco loco back to the decoder in the tender... using the spring wires on the drawbar to pickup from the split drawbar post on the engine frame, but then soldering lead wires from these back the decoder (I REALLY dislike the way the loco pickup is carried back to the tender in the stock Bachmann tender). My biggest worry (aside from how everything will fit) has been getting enough weight added back in so that the tender will track well (thinking tungsten putty?). I am also thinking of a surface LED for a backup light, and will also use a surface LED to replace the headlight. By the time I'm done, I'll probably have spent more on this tender than I paid for the original loco... Everything's on hold for the holidays, now... but I will report back once I start working on it again...
I just noticed that Bachmann mis-marked the VC12 tenders; they are 12000 Gallon / 15 ton capacity, but the models are marked the same as the VC16 tenders, 16000 Gallon / 20 ton. Small thing, but... come on, Bachmann. At least I've got plenty of decals.
