US interurban models - steeplecab locos

[marknewton]

So here's where I'm up to with the three steeplecab locos I'm building so far. Two from GE and one from Baldwin.

 

 

 

The GE locos are based on the Model Railroad Warehouse injection-moulded plastic kits. The one in front is almost complete, being a fairly stock kit with just a few modifications to things like the running boards and the cab roof, and a lot of added detail. The second  incomplete loco has been lengthened by building a new underframe out of Evergreen styrene and grafting two kit cabs together to make one. Both are powered by very simple home-made mechanisms that use NWSL Stanton drives.

 

The Baldwin loco is an old MTS brass model that I bought secondhand as a non-runner. I didn't think the original mech was worth repairing, so I removed it and kept only the truck frames. It will also be repowered with Stanton drives. I removed on trolleypole and replaced it with a pantograph, otherwise the only real work to do on the body is to paint it in a less garish colour scheme.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[velotrain]

Very nice work Mark - particularly the handrails and grabs.  I've heard of the Model Railroad Warehouse shells, and might be tempted.

 

However, I've decided that I need to actually build something for my Japanese trams to run on before I get too distracted.

[marknewton]

Thanks for the compliment, Charles. The MRW shells are nicely moulded kits that go together well with a minimum of fettling. The changes I've made are simply things I wanted to do differently, not because of any shortcoming or fault with the kit.

 

So here's where I'm up to with steeplecab number one. 

 

 

 

 

The truck frames are brass castings by Precision Scale which represent the trucks fitted to the earlier production GE locos. They're only stuck on temporarily while I decide whether to use them or the later standard GE frames which I have as whitemetal castings. I think I'll probably use these brass trucks to give some visual contrast with steeplecab number 2, which I'll definitely detail and finish as a later production loco using the GE standard trucks. 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

Edited June 10, 2015 by marknewton