R C & G
10
Number
10 started life as a Bachmann Industrial 2-6-0 supposedly in 1/20.3
scale. In that scale it would be a smaller locomotive than many
amusement park locomotives. Even in 1/24 it's still a very small
locomotive. It does have an appealing look about it at least to me
but it needed some help.
It's
biggest issue was its light weight. It could pull several cars on
level track but it did good to handle one or two on my 3% and 4%
grades. To be viable to me it needed to do better and this meant
more weight. Unfortunately due to its small size room for weight was
at a premium. I removed some of the stock circuitry from the boiler
and cast a new weight from lead to fit over the drivers in the
boiler. The photo below shows ow it fit into the boiler.
I
also cast another weight to fit into the firebox.
Looking
to maximize weight any way I could replaced the original air tanks with
Ozark tanks placing a piece of brass round stock in the hollow part of
the tank, as can be seen below this added another 6 ounces of weight.
Other
changes made to the locomotive were to replace the original plastic air
pump with a cast metal Ozark pump and add some additional piping. Out of
the box the way the bell was mounted it would hit the front sand dome if
anyone tried to ring it so I made a pedestal to mount it on so it
cleared the dome. I also replaced the solid pilot wheels with spoked
wheels.
The
tender also needed some work. It was quite small and it was quiet a test
to get a speaker, battery, receiver and sound card inside. To increase
room the coal bunker was enlarged and raised. A larger fill hatch for
the tank was added as this is were I install the power switch and
charging jack on most of my locomotives. The original trucks were
replaced with the Delton style sprung trucks. A real coal load was added
to the bunker.
And
complete ready for the road.
Updated
4/10/19
