Large Scale Central

Three New Steamers and ?

It has been a busy winter and the Train Fund is now depleted. First action came when I received Peter K’s Aster Reno.

This is 30-40 years old, and was the third locomotive Aster released. It is quite similar to my JNR 8550 but much prettier. The plan was to convert it to butane firing, but I’ve been unable to find an off-the-shelf gas tank. In any case, it is so good looking I think I will keep it on the shelf, and polish the brass when I decide to sell it as there is no longer any room on the shelf.

Then, from the same source, I acquired a Rishon Mason Bogie. These were built about 20 years ago in Australia, and not many were built, or imported for that matter. It has a wooden cab which fell apart at the seams in shipping. [The Mason Bogies swivel at both ends, like a diesel with 2 trucks. Theoretically they can handle rough and twisty track, which is why I bought it. In practice, both the prototype and model had flexible joints to get the steam from boiler to truck, and they can be problematic.] It’s a model of the “large” Mason, whereas the Accucraft model is of the “small” version.

It has full r/c which I converted immediately from 75mhz to a modern DSM2 receiver (though the servos seemed to die when I powered it up.) It also has a ‘water level detection system’ instead of a water glass. This blinked until I filled the boiler, but didn’t stop blinking until after I started the fire. Hmmm…

I did fire it up even though I had to burn my fingers turning the throttle manually. It ran on rollers, forward was smooth but it’s cranky in reverse. Probably needs the timing adjusted, which I may not bother to do as I have no idea how.

Finally, on Valentine’s Day, a large package from Jason turned up - my Regner Heisler kit.

Of course, the instructions are in German and the contents are all nicely wrapped. I’ll try and take/post photos as the build progresses.

Pete;

Those are some really nice additions to your stable of live steamers. They have me salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs!

Best, David Meashey

Right there with ya, Dave…

Not really live steamers, but my stable just got another couple of additions.

Jack and I went to the local train show here in Fort Myers, and there was a gent selling his brother-in-law’s circus train collection. All Bachmann Emmett Kelly based, but restyled, improved, lots of scratch-built cars, etc. He had 57 circus wagons and 24 flat cars (some carrying 3 or 4 wagons.)
He also had a couple of very neat locomotives that didn’t seem to belong with a circus, but he wasn’t willing to split them. But my pal bought the lot and I had promised to buy the 2 locos from him if he did. Well, he did.

They appear to be Bachmann 2-4-2 Columbia based - one is a 2-4-4-2 articulated (which explains the spare tender.) The seller didn’t think they ran, but we will see.

some nice additions indeed! would love to see some more pics of the Columbia bashes, especially that mallet!

Aaron Loyet said:

some nice additions indeed! would love to see some more pics of the Columbia bashes, especially that mallet!

Your wish is my command. The articulated (not a Mallet - both cylinders are the same size,) has a pair of identical frames and it looks as if the boiler has been extended by judicious chopping from the original 2 locos. Lots of fine details.

I posted a separate thread on the other loco, which is on my bench waiting to be checked.

The tenders are interesting. Both engines have the same type with tiny wheels. They look like New Bright or something - note the shiny piping around the top on one of them. But as there are 3 locos sacrificed here, there is a spare tender, which is clearly an original B’mann Columbia 2-4-2 type.

very nice loco! thanks for the pictures!! gives me some ideas