I worked a good deal of the winter and into early spring on figuring measurements and building wooden molds for this project. I started building the frame and chassis last week at welding class, and gave it a coat of primer to protect the steel earlier today. It weighs about 80 pounds so far, but will get much heavier as the locomotive takes shape. Here is the chassis and several of the smaller pieces that are currently fabbed. I have been collecting dead lawn mower engines, junk auto parts, and tool housings, to accrue scrap aluminum to begin castings. The two ends of the locomotive, the characteristic Century faces, are done, but I forgot to photograph them today. Yesterday, I took the molds and headed over to Odd Duck Foundry, in Orrington, Maine, and spent the day casting ALCO "B" truck parts for the loco. These have not yet been milled, but have been heavily filed and cleaned. You will still see considerable flash and excess aluminum on these. I have the other parts, just not cleaned up quite yet. I'll post more as the project makes steps toward completion. Power will be two electric wheelchair motors and and two 12 volt wet cell batteries. Both trucks will be "workers'. Dick
Right now, I have her projected as #206, an old friend who seemed to turn up wherever I was railfanning on the Island. She'll be painted in the World's Fair gray and orange swoop, and that is a rock solid certainty. Random thoughts on numbering: I thought about 215, because my friend, Ed Schleyer, was driving her the day she overturned in the Hamptons and was badly damaged. I thought about 217, since she was the first to be desecrated with MTA blue and yellow. 221 was the last in the series of L1's, and for a long time, was the newest locomotive on the Island. 221 is also in preservation, but in Mexico. 200 was the first in the C420 fleet, and is, likewise, a survivor, at least for now. Funny, but I never developed a connection with the L2 fleet, although they were fine locomotives. It also kills me that the L2's were functional and in operable condition when retired, yet Naparano couldn't find buyers and cut them up to recover their investment. Doesn't seem right, does it?
Dick, your workmanship and goal is wonderful. I was never that close to the Island or its RR while growing up 40-50 miles north in Bedford Hills. But I love to follow folks like yourself who create beautiful and accurate models from scratch, especially in 1:8 Scale.
