Old Steamers

[twilight]

Wayne, that's another beauty . Did you have an effort in locating the central valley valve gear kit or did you have one on hand? I don't believe I've ever came across one on ebay. Though it's not something I search for on a consistent basis. Need to put it into my saved searches.

The John English & Company was in a town I grew up in, Morrisville, PA. I have English Yardbird kit that says Yardley, PA , also where I spent some of my childhood( towns are right next to each other). For nostalgia reasons I tried finding a street address just to check it out, because today I still work in that area, but was unable to locate one. But, in doing that search, I saw John English recently past away in 2013, age 99.

[doctorwayne]

I've had that locomotive since the mid-'50s, and I believe that my dad got it secondhand from a co-worker. I know that he fabricated and replaced the brass siderod, seen in the photo, and he may also have installed the Central Valley valve gear - it was on the loco when I got it. I also have a John English Yardbird, a gift from another of his co-workers (not the same place of employment), but it's never been a good runner and had spent most of its existence in its box, until I decided that it would make a interesting scene as a derelict loco, behind the carshop in Lowbanks...



Wayne

[gna]

GNA, just noticed in this thread you have a Bowser E6. I have a completed one of those also set up for DCC. Best running Bowser I got. Has a Helix Humper motor in it.

I like playing around with these old locos. I've been tempted lately to pull the trigger on a John English mikado or pacific but I'm holding for one that comes with the valve gear on it already. Good luck with completing your build .

Mark

Thanks, Mark. It needs some details and painting, and it should be good to go. I thought about a steam sound decoder, but my allowance isn't big enough.

I like my E6 on DCC, too. My kit had the newer DC 71 motor with a skew wound armature and isolated brushes, so it was easy to convert to DCC. Some of my turnouts cause it trouble, so all wheel pickup (or powering my frogs) would help. I looked into Helix Humpers for some of my Bowser, Mantua, and MDC locos, but apparently the owner closed up business a few years ago.

I like messing around with these old locos, too, but some of the parts are getting harder to come by.

Wayne, that is a very nice Pacific you have.

[e-paw]

A project that I am working on for Toptrain. I don't know the age (or manufacture), but the factory coupler that was on it pre-dates the X2-f.

   

[gna]

I made some progress on my Connie today. It seemed to be running very poorly, and the only way to get it to run was to bump the tender or put some weight on the tender. I decided to try a different tender, so I pulled out an old MDC Roundhouse Vanderbilt tender someone had given me because it was missing trucks. I had bought a set of Cal-Scale tender trucks from a friend along with a mess of detail parts for $10, so I screwed those to the bottom and hooked it up.

The loco ran great! No stalling, no stuttering, no slipping! It could easily pull twice as many cars, and could creep along! Hard to believe, but maybe the sprung Bowser trucks were the problem. I installed the Cal-Scale trucks on the Bowser tender, and once again, the loco runs great:

   

So now I'm thinking I should try these trucks on my E-6., and if they work, buy more. Cal-Scal/Bowser doesn't seem to have tender trucks anymore, though

I put the Bowser trucks on the Vandy Tender and built it up, but I think I need to find some Tender trucks. Any suggestions?

   

[doctorwayne]

... Cal-Scal/Bowser doesn't seem to have tender trucks anymore, though ...

You're right - neither 190-310 (Andrews) nor 190-311 (USRA) show in their on-line catalogue - I went through all 20 pages, but I'm almost positive that I've seen them in-store, perhaps last year.

Bachmann sometimes has tender trucks, complete with axle wipers, in their Parts Department.

Wayne

[twilight]

GNA, Wayne is correct about the Bowser tender trucks being out of stock. I was buying the Kiesel trucks part 190-318 for my Pennsy tenders, these were a rigid truck and did not have the springs in them. They were produced with what I think is a pickup plate screwed to the bottom. I found these trucks without the springs worked enormously better then the ones with. Again, like Wayne pointed out, I've often considered using bachmann tender trucks from the K4 tender to replace the ones on my Bowser equipment. Just haven't had to go in that direction, yet.

Mark

[gna]

GNA, Wayne is correct about the Bowser tender trucks being out of stock. I was buying the Kiesel trucks part 190-318 for my Pennsy tenders, these were a rigid truck and did not have the springs in them. They were produced with what I think is a pickup plate screwed to the bottom. I found these trucks without the springs worked enormously better then the ones with. Again, like Wayne pointed out, I've often considered using bachmann tender trucks from the K4 tender to replace the ones on my Bowser equipment. Just haven't had to go in that direction, yet.

Mark

... Cal-Scal/Bowser doesn't seem to have tender trucks anymore, though ...

You're right - neither 190-310 (Andrews) nor 190-311 (USRA) show in their on-line catalogue - I went through all 20 pages, but I'm almost positive that I've seen them in-store, perhaps last year.

Bachmann sometimes has tender trucks, complete with axle wipers, in their Parts Department.

Wayne

I looked at Bachmann's parts site for tender trucks. They have the 2-8-0 tender trucks as an assembly. If I want the K4 trucks all the parts are available separately (truck body, wipers, wheelsets).

Mark, I think you are correct about the sprung Bowser trucks. I have a Boswer Casey Jones with rigid Andrews trucks, and it runs fine, so I'm going to try these brass trucks on my E-6. If it improves it, I will go on a hunt for new trucks. Are Kiesels the correct trucks for Pennsy Tenders? For some reason, I thought Dolphin trucks were correct.

Some Googling brought me to a few places that sell tender trucks:

http://greenwayproducts.com/greenway-pro...d-drivers/

http://bethlehemcarworks.com/Products/Ki...tml#Trucks

I'm interested in the Symington-Gould Tender trucks from Bethlehem, (#1212), but I have no idea if they will work as power pickup for Bowser tenders, so I sent them an email. The Greenway brass trucks look very nice, but the prices are giving me pause, and no one seems to sell Kiesels....

[twilight]

GNA, I just want to put a disclaimer out there first before I continue, I am not a Pennsy expert by any sense of the imagination. As a matter of fact I have a very limited knowledge of the PRR. There are many more out there who could answer your question about Pennsy tender trucks better then I. That being said, I'll see if I can show you with pictures Bowser and Bachmann Tender trucks.

Bowser parts page used to have a picture of all the tender trucks they used to sell separately. Here is a photo of the Kiesel trucks that I used to buy from them. 20 bucks comes to mind, but its been a few years since I bought these:

To my knowledge, Bowser supplied these with all they're PRR tenders (the spring style trucks) except the long haul tender. The Pennsy most certainly could have had other tender trucks.

I was looking in my parts box, because I thought I had a couple of these (still in the package) tucked away for future builds, but I haven't been able to locate any new ones. Shame Bowser stopped producing these. Here is a photo of the Bowser 318 Kiesel trucks(left) next to a set of Bachmann K4 trucks(right):


And this is a bottom view:


I also checked out Bachmann's website after what you reported in your post. At least you can still get them in parts. Maybe they'll do another product run of the K4 and add some more trucks to the parts dept. Or keep checking eBay or train shows for junker Bachmann PRR tenders. They do show up.

As far as, your question about dolphin trucks. If you check out some online photos of the PRR's G5, you can see these tenders seemed to have rode on dolphin trucks. Here is a shot of them on a tender common for the G5 that I have for a future build:


When I was collecting my Bowser kits some years back, these trucks were already sold out at Bowser. I ended up finding these after constantly searching eBay and I got the tender I wanted, too.

Hope I answered some of your questions and good luck with your search.

[gna]

GNA, I just want to put a disclaimer out there first before I continue, I am not a Pennsy expert by any sense of the imagination. As a matter of fact I have a very limited knowledge of the PRR. There are many more out there who could answer your question about Pennsy tender trucks better then I. That being said, I'll see if I can show you with pictures Bowser and Bachmann Tender trucks.

Bowser parts page used to have a picture of all the tender trucks they used to sell separately. Here is a photo of the Kiesel trucks that I used to buy from them. 20 bucks comes to mind, but its been a few years since I bought these:

To my knowledge, Bowser supplied these with all they're PRR tenders (the spring style trucks) except the long haul tender. The Pennsy most certainly could have had other tender trucks.

I was looking in my parts box, because I thought I had a couple of these (still in the package) tucked away for future builds, but I haven't been able to locate any new ones. Shame Bowser stopped producing these. Here is a photo of the Bowser 318 Kiesel trucks(left) next to a set of Bachmann K4 trucks(right):


And this is a bottom view:


I also checked out Bachmann's website after what you reported in your post. At least you can still get them in parts. Maybe they'll do another product run of the K4 and add some more trucks to the parts dept. Or keep checking eBay or train shows for junker Bachmann PRR tenders. They do show up.

As far as, your question about dolphin trucks. If you check out some online photos of the PRR's G5, you can see these tenders seemed to have rode on dolphin trucks. Here is a shot of them on a tender common for the G5 that I have for a future build:


When I was collecting my Bowser kits some years back, these trucks were already sold out at Bowser. I ended up finding these after constantly searching eBay and I got the tender I wanted, too.

Hope I answered some of your questions and good luck with your search.

Thanks Mark. There are some SPF on other forums, so I can ask there, but what you say makes a lot of sense. The E-6 trucks look like Kiesel trucks:

   

The Bowser trucks from this kit were stripped off a different Bowser Tender, which may have come from an H-9 kit. They do have a brass pickup strip, and they work about as well as the brass Cal-Scale trucks. It stalls on turnouts no matter the trucks. My K-4 kit has similar trucks.

I tried yet another set of trucks on my Vandy tender, this set from an old New One/Aristocraft 2-8-2. The other trucks have 33" wheelsets, and these seem to be 36", but after cleaning they pickup fine and my Connie ran well, though the tender looks like it's on stilts:

   
   

Oh the tinkering...

[twilight]

Here you go, got this in my email yesterday. Bowser is trying to reduce more of they're old stock:



Will be even more harder to come along those little special pieces when you need them. I don't see anything mentioned about Bowser old stock, but last year they were doing "fire sales" on the old steam locomotive parts and other items. Not quite sure where Bowser ended up with that, though.

[gna]

I got that email too--at first I thought I would be able to stock up, until I read that's for ALL the parts. Bowser has some parts left for their steam locomotives, but they're starting to run out. There was a place called Yardbird Trains, but the owner retired and they're not selling anymore. There's always eBay...

[gna]

I'm interested in the Symington-Gould Tender trucks from Bethlehem, (#1212), but I have no idea if they will work as power pickup for Bowser tenders, so I sent them an email. The Greenway brass trucks look very nice, but the prices are giving me pause, and no one seems to sell Kiesels....

Bethlehem emailed me back and said these trucks have insulated wheels on one side and will conduct electricity to a tender. The side frames are white metal castings and should be oiled to prevent carbon build-up. The #1209 looks like an archbar truck with leaf springs, suitable for a tender. They don't seem to have Dolphins or Kiesels, though.

[toptrain]

A project that I am working on for Toptrain. I don't know the age (or manufacture), but the factory coupler that was on it pre-dates the X2-f.

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Hi steve
That is A Ma and PA old time 2-8-0 made by Akane. I located it in a 1962 catalog on HOseeker.

[gna]

I was running my Big Boy the other day, and it was running badly. It got to the point where it would only move forward about a foot, then reverse a foot. I thought maybe the motor was stuck, so I took it apart, but the motor was fine--the front set of drivers was grinding badly. The gears looked bad, but rather than try to change the gearbox, I took a front driver assembly off this junked one:



Installed:

   

Whoever had it, though, painted the driver tires and rods white, and the drivers black, and they laid it on thick. I'd like to remove it, but alcohol doesn't seem to touch it. would Lacquer thinner work if it's enamel?

My cat likes to sit in my lap while I work, but few days ago I found her on the layout and shooed her off. She left some cat hair behind that I cleaned up (or so I thought), but I ran my Big Boy and it got stuck again. "I just fixed this," I thought, "how can it be jammed again?" Then I saw the cat hair wrapped around the cranks.... half hour with the exacto and it's running smooth again...