Donor Boiler

I managed to acquire a Bachmann On30 4-6-0 off of eBay last week. As I pulled it from the box I saw all the things wrong with it; missing pilot, broken front coupler, broken and missing hatch on the cab roof and the tender is missing two sets of wheels. The truck is there but the wheels are missing.

Initially I was a bit put out that I hadn't read the description carefully enough beyond it was a good runner. Then it hit me, I don't care if its missing those parts, I just need the boiler! This is the donor locomotive to convert the Bachmann On30 2-8-0 to represent a Colorado & Northwestern 2-8-0 which means I don't care about the broken details. I'm going to strip the boiler down of all its components and fit it to the Bachmann On30 2-8-0, now I just need to find some detail parts, new steam dome, new sand dome and a few other pieces for my first locomotive conversion.

The Colorado & Northwestern in On30

I really enjoyed working on the D&RGW switching plan (Warehouse Row) in 3D. Since I "completed" that model I have been contemplating doing it again. When I decided to do the Malinowski tribute kit builds I thought it would be an opportunity to do it again this time for the On30 layout. 

While I would love to have a layout the does the Colorado & Northwestern justice I don't have the space and I don't want a second switching layout. I envisioned a figure 8 layout with a few places to switch cars but the emphasis on scenery, good sight lines for photography and letting the trains just roll.

There are a couple of parameters. It has to be less than 4' wide and breakdown in to at least two sections so it can be moved and stored easily. Being able to make it come apart definitely adds complications to the build but I'm not going to worry about that for the model. Scenery needs to be lightweight and relatively tough so the bulk of it is going to be carved out of pink/blue. The C&N, like many Colorado railroads, ran along stream banks so a stream, and the opportunity to build a few bridges, are required features.

Looking at a few maps and a lot of pictures I decided that the little mining town of Salina would fit the bill (other than the figure 8) for the location. The station is a bit separated from the town itself and the town kind of straggles up the gulch with at least one of the mines, the Black Cloud, dominating the gulch and the town. Plus the switching is more extensive than a lot of other spots on the C&N and practically everything is on a curve.

 With that in mind I started doodling around with the compass and curve radii. I settled on 20" radius which, in theory, should accomodate the 2-8-0s that I finally managed to acquire. However, the problem with the radius is it really shortens up the passing siding to the point of making it almost useless if I limit myself to an 8' length. To combat that I stretched from 8' to 10'. The compromise is to break the layout down into three pieces, instead of the 2 pieces I was hoping for; 1 6' long and 2 2' long. For the width I needed 40" to accomodate th radius plus a couple of inches on either side which brings us to 44" wide. I'm not sure that only saving 4" from the less than 4' requirement is actually worth it and maybe in the end I'll just go all the way out to 4'.

I went through 5 or 6 iterations before I arrived at one that, mostly, fit the bill. Here are a few pictures to illustrate.

The "final" iteration of the track plan

I photocopied it so I wouldn't mess up the original when I glued it down to a sheet of PVC.

I used some contact cement to glue the paper down to the PVC and cut the whole thing out. This actually didn't work out very well. The paper started to peal away from the PVC pretty quickly as I started to cut it out. The happy accident was that the contact cement actually transferred the track plan right to the PVC so when the paper pealed away the drawing was still on the PVC.

I then cut a piece of Gatorboard to serve as the "tabletop". Its 1/4" thick so I'll have to add some more foam, of some kind, so I can really carve down below the track level.

I glued down the areas that would be elevation 0" that establishes my baseline level.

I then added some risers for the grades. The issue is I need to go from 0" to 5" in about 8' so the grades are steep. However, the C&N averaged about a 4% grade and in the area of Salina there was a section that was close to 7% (not for a long stretch but its still quite the obstacle).

A look from the side.

A closer look at the bridge crossing and the spot where I "cut in" another switch. Originally the train was to enter from the right side, but that created an awkward spot with the grades. By cutting in the switch on the 0" elevation I got around the grade issue on the right.

Now I just need to find some foam to cut up to make create a bit of scenery.

Acquisition - Finally!

I have been trying to lay my hands on a Bachmann On30 2-8-0, at a reasonable price, for years. Well, it finally happened and I managed to lay my hands on one. Granted it was not in the original box so all the little extra pieces were missing and it had a load of lumber in the tender instead of coal. I can live with all of that. What I might have trouble with is that it appears to be a DCC locomotive which I was not prepared for. Now I'm going to have to do the work and convert my smaller locomotives (a 2 truck Shay and a couple of Porters) over to DCC. Nothing like a challenge!

Museum Visit - Colorado Railroad Museum

If you are longtime reader you know that this is one of my favorite museums in the area to go to. Its definitely a love hate relationship though. I took my wife for her first visit and was pretty excited as I hadn't been there since the Goosefest in 2012. That was also the year the museum had acquired C&N #30 (also C&S #74 and RGS #74). It had been determined that she could not be returned to operating condition without replacing like 90% of the parts, although I would certainly love to see her run again. So I was quite excited to get to see her again.

The museum has gone through a lot of changes since 2012 and most of them for the good. The issue I have is that they restore a piece of equipment and then don't seem to be willing to follow up with regular maintenance. C&N #30 is a good case in point. Check out the photo I took in 2012 and see how she looks six years later in 2018. I'm a bit put out by that. I see it happening in a number of places around the museum grounds. Equipment that a lot of time and money was spent restoring, now just weathering away in the harsh Colorado sun.

But there are good things happening as well and the roundhouse was full of equipment that was going through restoration. The one locomotive I was looking for, RGS #20, was not to be found though. Apparently it has been sent back to Strasburg, PA for restoration to operating condition. It has been a long project but it seems it might be coming home sometime in 2018. We shall see. Currently #318 is sitting in the spot where I expected to find #20.

I couldn't really get to the geese that day, they were outside at the roundhouse but in a fenced off zone. So no really good pictures there. Still it was a good time and my wife enjoyed it which is always a plus.

Part of this trip was to try out the new camera and get ready for a vacation coming up that includes a couple of museums that I'm really looking forward to seeing. More on that at a later date. Here are some pictures from the visit though.

C&N #30 in 2012

Looking pretty out of sorts from this angle. What ever covering they have put over the boiler is looking decidedly out of place

The logo is rapidly disappearing and the paint is peeling away in a fairly straight line. 
A little correction here, this is not paint but a vinyl wrap as pointed out by Darel Leedy. Now that I look at the pictures a bit closer I can see it, I think I was so ticked off at the time I just assumed it was paint.

I don't think I have ever seen paint peel away quite like this. I would guess that the surface wasn't properly prepared for the new paint.

She was looking pretty good from this angle

At least she the steam chests are still tilted out instead of in like her two sister 2-8-0s (C&N 31 & 32, C&S 75 & 76).

Here is a look at the rest of the museum:
The Garden Railroads, both electric and live steam. There is a lot of bridges crossing that stream! I love the use of pine trees but that has to be a lot of work.

And now for the real thing:
Locomotives

And a little bit of rolling stock

The inside of the standard gauge UP dining car

C&S 1009 was running behind the small train that was operating that day

I think RICO was repainted in 2011 or 2012, she is in desperate need of a new coat of paint at this point.

A few random elements

A pretty good Saturday all told.