Take a look at the BTS 2-8-0 Baldwin loco kits. I have one. I also have an S Helper 2-8-0 (an Alco B& O)
No one seems to mention those BTS kits. As well detailed as anything else ever in S Modelmaking is enjoyable. It is not like calling yourself an artist or designer because you can string beads or do macrame stuff. Those give satisfaction but do not have "depth". Take your time and build. A Flyer loco is toy and can be dressed up. but are you a MODEL RAILROADER, or a person with a nostalgia for the toys you had as a kid? Maybe I should go to G scale or larger so I can build accessories such as my Erector set steam shovel. I was given that when I was 4. That was the LEGO we grew up with in the 2-0's. It was not a plastic world yet. John Armstrong. ----- Original Message ----- From: JGG KahnSr To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 10:21 AM Subject: RE: {S-Scale List} Scale steam was RE: I get it... I must still be foreign to the S scale ethos, but my initial mental question is "Why bother?" Those who really LIKE the AF superstructures presumably like them BECAUSE they are AF, so the more stock they are, presumably the better. And I suspect there are still sufficient AF collectors around that only a real junker would offer a cost-effective conversion. Anyone with a serious interest in scale would need to rework the AF superstructures so extensively that scratchbuilding would make more sense, as one would end up with a better result for about the same effort. People back in the early days of true S scale did conversions because there really were no alternatives except the Rex kits (and AF was more plentiful and inexpensive back then, too), not because the results were really satisfying. The AM locomotives do seem to be relatively moderately-priced and offer possibilities for cross-kitting or kit=bashing into something else, but at even the best prices I've seen for SHS 2-8-0's, few would want to start major revisions on one merely to end up with a freelance product (and I think the E-27's were already 63" drivers, the same as USRA 2-8-2's, so how would that be a "low-drivered" conversion?). As always, the problem is S scale is that there are relatively few steam locomotive types available, other than brass. The more I enjoy my two SHS 2-8-0's, the more I am impressed with Don Thompson's careful choice of prototype as suiting a major gap in S scale--a mid-size road locomotive based on a real locomotive but credible in a number of other road names. I have turned over in my mind what a follow-on prototype might be, once the shake-up in the PRC is over (and the world economic picture stabilizes) and he and Mike are again able to think about a major investment in time and other resources, and it is surprisingly hard to come up with one which would fit the merchandising parameters of S scale. Perhaps USRA types, but I believe Overland has done the light 2-8-2 and 0-8-0 and River Raisin is projecting the 0-6-0. What seems to make the most sense might be an SP 0-6-0 like the old Roundhouse/MDC kit, as it is very different from a USRA but many other prototype roads had quite similar pre-WWI small switchers. Everyone pretty much can use a switcher, but the question might be whether the market could absorb a quantitiy of $5-600 ones, as it is doubtful the actual cost of production for an 0-6-0 would be much less than for a 2-8-0. I'd guess that all the research and engineering that went into the 2-8-0 would be transferable to another steam locomotive, requiring only (ONLY?) research on a specific prototype and then cutting the new dies. Jace Kahn General Manager Ceres & Canisteo RR Co./Champlain County Traction Co. > To: [email protected] > From: [email protected] > Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:11:18 -0800 > Subject: {S-Scale List} Scale steam was RE: I get it... > > This is an interesting turn to the thread, but I'm left to wonder: > > AF steamers were two versions of 0-6-0, an 0-8-0, Reading Atlantic, three pacifics (not counting lettering differences), a NYC hudson and a UP 4-8-4. I'm not counting the later Franklin and Casey Jones 4-4-0s. > > It appears to me that you could mount any of the pacific boilers on the AM pacific drive for about the same effort, or less, as replacing the wheels. AM also sells the drive with a four wheel trailing truck and streamlined NYC hudson boiler, so that could have the more common non-streamline AF hudson boiler and tender shell fitted. Even the atlantic could have a cut-down pacific drive less one driver set, fitted. The 4-8-4 boiler might work on the AM 4-8-4 drive, or splice two AM pacific/hudson drives. > > I realize this is not a "drop on" proposition, much of the AF boiler shell needs to be cut and replaced. The AM drive is probably not correct in wheel size and spacing or valve gear type for any specific conversion. Still, it is a way to get a scale DC version of your favorite AF steamer. I don't recall anyone doing this although lots of folks put SSL&S drives under AF boilers "back in the day". > > The really adventurous might look at lengthening the SHS consolidation boiler and fitting a trailing truck to make a low-drivered mikado, or splicing two AM pacific drives to make a 4-8-2 mountain type. I have seen that done in hi-rail with a pair of AF pacifics. > > Pieter E. Roos > > > --- On Mon, 11/15/10, Thomas Baker <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Dick has a point: If one wants steam, then an old AF > > steamer is one low cost possibility. Of course, AF has > > at least four railroad specific steamers: the UP Northern, > > the Reading Atlantic albeit with extremely low drivers > > compared to the prototype, the New Haven Pacific, and the > > PRR K5. Not much can be done to rework them to look like a > > prototype for another railroad. Well, maybe the > > Northern could be redone to look remotely like a Milwaukee > > Road S-1, possibly a D&H Northern with smoke lifters, or > > maybe a Rock Island Northern. Any of those reworkings > > would require a change in the tender. Ooops, I forgot > > the NYC Hudson with low drivers. > > > > That is another problem, the low drivers. The one > > that could be kitbashed possibly is the Pacific--I'm not AF > > literate--that came out with a C&NW or a MILW emablem on > > the tender. It's crude, but one might rework the front > > and add detail to the boiler. One thing the tenders AF > > used looked more generic than all the Lionel tenders back in > > the day when every tender they produced except for those on > > switchers which were always PRR switchers had a NYC-look to > > them. > > > > Tom > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! 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