Weekend Update 12/18/22

[brokemoto]

early Electro Motive 1936 Model SC. There were only 43 built

Chicago River and Indiana (NYCS) got seven of those SCs.  They lasted into the early 1960s.  At that point, likely that they were so worn out that it was not economically feasible to rebuild them any more.  Further, GM probably wanted to discontinue stocking the parts for the Winton engines.

Nice job on that Crab Grass and Weeds SC and transfer caboose.  I am assuming that the caboose is a bash, as well, especially since I have not seen another one like it in N scale.  Do you have another photograph of it?  Was the prototype a home-built?

For more realistic Great Western track, put the weeds between the rails.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Here’s the latest switcher project I just finished. It’s an early Electro Motive 1936 Model SC.

Man, those SC's are some uncanny valley *****! They look like you'd expect and SW to except they're different. They remind me of video game representations of railroad locomotives. Most of the parts are there, but they're off.

Great model! If you're ever out this way, there's one in use on the Allentown and Auburn.
https://allentownandauburnrr.com/

[wcfn100]

I’m particularly intrigued with the companion rolling stock behind the loco … looks like a caboose, with some genetic traces from a British brake van!   More details please & thanks.

CGW transfer caboose 176 is the product of a couple different rebuilds.  It was originally a Duluth and Iron Range caboose that looked like this.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]


It was rebuilt by the D&IR to have a bay window.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

The CGW rebuilt caboose 354 into transfer caboose 176.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]


Jason

[kiwi_al]

I’m a bit late to the party this week.
Here’s the latest switcher project I just finished. It’s an early Electro Motive 1936 Model SC. There were only 43 built with few survivors but there is one at the  Illinois Railway Museum which I saw last summer. I believe the CGW rostered 3 of them purchased new.
It doesn’t look like it but it’s a pretty involved bash. It’s a LifeLike sill and hood with an Arnold SW1 cab with the early arched windshield, the rear sand box was trimmed off and the one from the LifeLike sill was grafted on allowing the use of the stock latch to the sill. The radiator was shortened and the front sand box scratch built from styrene, the top hood screen was sanded smooth and four vent hatches added, mesh grilles were added to both sides above the long rail. It has wire grabs and turned brass exhaust stacks. The headlight is a modified Shapeways piece on a styrene bracket. It also has a Kato NW2 fuel tank with the correct square end air reservoirs.
The chassis is a stock LifeLike which was remotored with a 7x16 coreless turning Tomix worms to make room for the LokSound Nano decoder. There’s an Iowa Scaled Engineering powerkeeper in the nose and an 8x12 Soberton speaker in a homemade enclosure in the cab. It also has canvas sunshades, brass trainline hoses and Z scale couplers. I turned down the flanges on the LifeLike wheelsets and the trucks are hardwired to the decoder.
The prototype was powered with a 600 hp 8 cylinder Winton engine which there is no ESU sound file for so after watching a YouTube video of a stationary Winton I loaded an Alco 6-251B and slowed it down as the Winton only turned 750 rpm. The sound is somewhat close.
Paint is Modelflex, Tamiya and MR Hobby clear flat. Decals are Microscale.
So far so good.

(Attachment Link)

Thanks for looking,
Jim

That's very nice!!! Could you post a picture of the SC front on? I did one of these 10 years ago and kept getting told the long hood should be flat, I notice yours is like mine - has a slight roundedness to it.

[wcfn100]

That's very nice!!! Could you post a picture of the SC front on? I did one of these 10 years ago and kept getting told the long hood should be flat, I notice yours is like mine - has a slight roundedness to it.

The SC has a very slight pitch to the long hood.

Jason

[Jim Starbuck]

The SC has a very slight pitch to the long hood.

Jason

Thanks Jason,

I’m going to rework the top of the hood. It should be a fairly straightforward fix.

Jim

[Jim Starbuck]

That's very nice!!! Could you post a picture of the SC front on? I did one of these 10 years ago and kept getting told the long hood should be flat, I notice yours is like mine - has a slight roundedness to it.

Other than sanding the grill off, it’s just the stock shape of the LifeLike shell. I did sand off the small bump where the headlight used to mount and fill in the hole on the front after removing the stock headlight housing.

[mandealco]

There's a Lackawanna SC-1 at Steamtown.  Here's a link to a top-down photo.  I'm thinking it doesn't have its original Winton engine, but someone else may know.  The "S" is for six hundred and the "C" stands for cast frame, "N" is for nine.  Apparently "F" was for fifteen hundred and "E" was for eighteen hundred.   The "W" in SW was for welded frame. 
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/dl426a.jpg

Cheers
Steve

[Jim Starbuck]

There's a Lackawanna SC-1 at Steamtown.  Here's a link to a top-down photo.  I'm thinking it doesn't have its original Winton engine, but someone else may know.  The "S" is for six hundred and the "C" stands for cast frame, "N" is for nine.  Apparently "F" was for fifteen hundred and "E" was for eighteen hundred.   The "W" in SW was for welded frame. 
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/dl426a.jpg

Cheers
Steve

That’s the one I used for reference on my build.

[brokemoto]

CGW transfer caboose 176 is the product of a couple different rebuilds.  It was originally a Duluth and Iron Range caboose that looked like this.  It was rebuilt by the D&IR to have a bay window.  The CGW rebuilt caboose 354 into transfer caboose 176.

Protobashes are always interesting.  It looks like the Arnold or RoCo caboose would be a good starting point for #355.  I would use the shorter one.  One of them is shorter than the other, but I forge which one it is.  What makes this really funny is that I have two of the longer and one of the shorter, all of which I run all the time.  According to Spookshow, both are based on a Union Pacific "Harriman non-Standard" caboose.  Uncle Pete built those from retired short wood coaches.  AS they were "non-Standard" and likely built from various cars, it is no surprise that there would be cabooses of different lengths.

Thank you for those photographs.  It is no surprise that CGW bought used cabooses.  Railroads are cheap as it is.  The Crabgrass and Weeds was REALLY cheap.

[wcfn100]

Protobashes are always interesting.  It looks like the Arnold or RoCo caboose would be a good starting point for #355.

The 355 ended up like this:

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Jason

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The 355 ended up like this:

(Attachment Link)

Jason

You know, I kinda think that maybe the "Lucky Strike" that they were patterning the logo off of might've had some "whacky tabaccy" in it...

[C855B]

Every time I look at that picture my gut reaction is, "Aww. Isn't that just adorable."   

[Tom L]

Well, it’s not 355, but how about 353?  I don’t remember why I picked 353 but I built one of these several years back.  It is a sliced and diced MDC/Athearn wood caboose.  I haven’t  had it out of the box in a long time, stubby little thing….I was going to try to get a set of Bachmann caboose trucks, Andrew style with leaf springs, but never could find them separately or cheap enough including the caboose. It probably would have had arch bar trucks and a truss rods when it was it the paint scheme I used. I think someone offers this style on Shapeways or used to.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Tom L
Wellington CO

[Jim Starbuck]

Well, it’s not 355, but how about 353?  I don’t remember why I picked 353 but I built one of these several years back.  It is a sliced and diced MDC/Athearn wood caboose.  I haven’t  had it out of the box in a long time, stubby little thing….I was going to try to get a set of Bachmann caboose trucks, Andrew style with leaf springs, but never could find them separately or cheap enough including the caboose. It probably would have had arch bar trucks and a truss rods when it was it the paint scheme I used. I think someone offers this style on Shapeways or used to.

That looks great Tom!