Author Topic: ATSF 2-8-0 engine 664 (conversion of a N scale MDC/Athearn consolidation)  (Read 4259 times)

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Dirk Jan Blikkendaal

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This engine was one of the last consolidations employed by the Santa Fe. Built around 1900 (E.D. Worley, IRON HORSES) it was donated to Travel Town, Griffith Park, LA in 1953 were it is still on display.
I try to model Oklahoma around the 1950's and these little engines were used extensively overthere......
Model started as a MDC/Athearn old time 2-8-0, a rather toylike engine but and excellent runner and puller. The conversion consists of a completely new tender (8,5 K oil, plans from Frank Ellington's STEAM LOCOMOTIVES of the SANTA FE), featuring a coreless 8 x 16 mm 12V motor, a ZIMO MX648 sound decoder and a 8 x 11 mm sugar cube speaker.
Also a new 3D printed cab and stack and changes to the running boards (phosphor bronze etchings). Its not a rivetcounter replica but the general dimensions give it a credible Santa Fe outlook (in my opinion) and a very good operating model. 
See WWW.ATSFNSCALEMODELS.COM for more pictures and building information (go to AVAILABLE MODELS and scroll down).

Happy SANTA FE N scale modeling in these strange times!!!
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« Last Edit: April 09, 2020, 03:25:12 AM by Dirk Jan Blikkendaal »
SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
1950-1960
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mmagliaro

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Very nice looking improvement over the stock engine!  The startup is slow and smooth, really nice.
Can I make a suggestion?  When I look at it, the pilot wheels with the little holes in them jump out
as not belonging.  Is it hard to change the wheelset on the pilot truck?

I am encouraged by this.  I have one of those with some extra parts tucked away to do an NP
or SP&S late 1800's  2-8-0 someday.

Dirk Jan Blikkendaal

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Good suggestion!
I just didn't notice... oeps.
Should be easy to do (and ! will do).

Thanks, regards, Dirk
SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
1950-1960
ATSF N Scale Models

Chinapig

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Excellent conversion, Dirk.
I've got one of those Athearn 2-8-0 locos and was wondering which way to go with it but now I'm decided :)
Also, thanks for pointing out the WWW.ATSFNSCALEMODELS.COM website.  That'll keep me quiet for a while.
Cheers, Ted
Ted

Member of Gosport Model Railroad Club, England: www.gosportrailroadgroup.org.uk
modeling oNeTrak modules.

Simon D.

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I can attest to the excellent quality of Dirk's products - another tender on the way...


Simon





randgust

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Wow, that's great work.

I really liked that video, and my jaw kinda dropped with your 'unit train' of the TK-g tank cars.   I got one of Dirks as a retired water car for my work train, but seeing an entire train of those is most impressive.

Is this the same or similar class to the 761 preserved in Wickenburg, AZ?

http://www.rgusrail.com/azatsf761.html

Ed Kapuscinski

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I really dig this!

Have you thought about blackening all those tires?

Cajonpassfan

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Nice work Dirk. I had never given the loco a second look because of its toyish appearance, but may need to reconsider seeing what you’ve been able to do with it. I would offer yet another suggestion: I’d paint or blacken the driver faces to minimize the visual difference between the flanged and blind drivers...
Two questions if you don’t mind: you didn’t replace the whole tender, just the shell, right? And what kind of sound file does the Zimo decoder come with?
Thanks,
Otto

That tank car train is da bomb! I got to build me some of these that I bought from you a while back... :facepalm:

mmagliaro

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Nice work Dirk. I had never given the loco a second look because of its toyish appearance, but may need to reconsider seeing what you’ve been able to do with it. I would offer yet another suggestion: I’d paint or blacken the driver faces to minimize the visual difference between the flanged and blind drivers...

...
...

The blind vs non-blind drivers was always something that bothered me about this engine.  I agree blackening would help.  Grinding down the flanges a little would also help.  As an aside, years ago when these models were more current, I was able to call Athearn and find out that the drivers are all interchangeable, so I ordered 2 more flanged sets with the intent of swapping them into the center axles.  So if you happen find a "dead" one, you could harvest the drivers out of it and get all flanged drivers.

Nato

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                :|  Dirk,As others have commented, a very nice job. I have a couple of these locomotives and will have to consider doing something with at least one of them.Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.   :|

randgust

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Even though it rubs off easily, Neolube is great to darken up the tire edges and the rods.   I've done that on most of my steam unless it's really obvious that the prototype rods were polished...or something.

Tearing a mechanism down to blacken or paint stuff is risky enough, Neolube is a very low-risk proposition.

Class photos I've seen show at least some rod polish away from the crankpin/bearings but the tire edges look pretty dark.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2020, 03:12:53 PM by randgust »

peteski

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Very nice looking improvement over the stock engine!  The startup is slow and smooth, really nice.
Can I make a suggestion?  When I look at it, the pilot wheels with the little holes in them jump out
as not belonging.  Is it hard to change the wheelset on the pilot truck?

I am encouraged by this.  I have one of those with some extra parts tucked away to do an NP
or SP&S late 1800's  2-8-0 someday.

Little "holes" in the wheels?  Thanks for a good chuckle Max!  I'm not trying to be cheeky, but those wheels are supposed to represent spoked wheels, and the holes are the spaces between spokes.  Well the fact, that the spoke thickness is out of scale, and they are quite small in that photo, I guess the wheel might look like it has holes in it.

Dirk Jan, you did a great job of making a very toy-like model look quite presentable.  I do agree with Max: lose the wheels with holes!  :)
. . . 42 . . .

Dirk Jan Blikkendaal

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+1
Thanks for all the comments!

See pictures: truck wheels have been changed to FVM 3310 (grinded the cones off) and blackened.

Will try if to get hold of spare main wheels to change to flanged wheels.

Whats a good way to blacken the tires/rods (besides the Neolube suggestion)..... until now I never found a good solution......

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SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
1950-1960
ATSF N Scale Models

peteski

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Looks good!
I think NeoLube is probably the easiest option for darkening the siderods.  You could also use a chemical blackener, but for that it would be best to remove the siderods from the model.  In USA we have Jax Chemicals and others, I'm not sure what brand chemical blackeners are available.   You coudl also just paint them, but not sure how durable that would be.

As far as replacing the drivers with ones that have flanges, that will be difficult because there is no flanged driver with large counterweight (unless the model has same size counterweights on all drivers, which is not accurate).
. . . 42 . . .

Dirk Jan Blikkendaal

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Otto,

Almost forgot to answer your questions...
1. I did replace the whole tender. The original one is no good in my opinion. If you go to my website www.atsfnscalemodels.com and then to available models you will find the tender and the conversion.
I took the liberty to use the plans on page 230 of Ellington's SCRAPBOOK......
2. Sounds silly maybe but I am not sure which prototype the soundfile represents..... I selected this decoder because it was the smallest around (at that time) and it doesn't need a capacitor (not enough room in tendershell). It has a number of different steam/bell/whistle sounds embedded and with the help of a friend who has a Zimo programmer we selected the sounds that came closest to what I believe is Santa Fe or US steam sound.....

Regards, Dirk

 
SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
1950-1960
ATSF N Scale Models