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 Posted - September 02 2022 : 3:19:15 PM
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The Fish Hook and Mussentuchit Railroad sends a transfer train from its yard in Mussentuchit to the Tabor and Waldo's Crowler W. Flahar Yard. Often this job is pulled by a switcher, but occasionally, they use 2-8-0 number 41. It's an old Baldwin built for branchline service, and such engines were made in great numbers by Baldwin, back in the day. In the frugal manner of railroads, when its tender failed, they borrowed a slope back tender from a defunct switcher. The little old teakettle with its borrowed tender is plenty for a couple cars on a short run.
Of course that's in the fictional prototype of a model railroad. The truth is another thing:
First, the world of museums and tourist railroads has its share of little old branch-line consolidations and other wheel arrangements with low drivers and that straight boiler, and I who was born after the world dieselized still have a nostalgia for them. It would be nice to have the MDC Old Timer Consolidation on the line, but I wasn't sure how it would hold the rough track on my layout.
Second, I have long had an MDC Old-Timer Mogul, that's a nice high-drivered engine for passenger duty. At one point, I damaged the motor, causing much wear to the commutator. While I can keep it going, I don't know how many miles it really has in it. At a swap meet, I found a broken MDC Old-Timer consolidation with a good motor and bought it for the motor, which I put in the Mogul.
If those Consolidation parts, the old motor from the Mogul and an old Mantua slope-back tender could be made into working locomotive, I could find out how it fared on my layout. The original electrical pickups on the drivers only picked up on the first and last driver on the right. I made a new cover plate for the driver axles with electrical wipers for all eight drivers. Broken body parts were repaired or replaced. The tender was modified to pick up from both rails, and was renumbered to match the engine. It runs fairly well, but with a slight, barely noticable hitch in its getalong. There is at least one place where the locomotive shouldn't be backed up, but other than that it works. I don't know how much life is in the old motor, but I'd like to see the thing run, once in a while.
The shortest, least demanding run on the layout is the Mussentuchit Transfer, so I decided it should run there. It gets an occasional romp on the rails, without being worn out too quickly. Here it is, in its present form:
Knowing, now, that one of these will run on my layout, I plan to keep my eyes open for one in better shape.
Carpe Manana!
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 Posted - September 02 2022 : 7:43:59 PM
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Very nice engines. Good to run them on your beautiful layout.
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Posted - September 02 2022 : 9:41:30 PM
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Beautiful steam engines. Nice work.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - September 03 2022 : 2:32:47 PM
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Good job resurrecting that 2-8-0. I have one of those I bought for wifey some years ago. She loves steam engines. It's a gutsy little engine that pulls the best out of all my steamers. I've had twelve cars up a 4% grade with it. This locomotive is right at home on steep grades and sharp curves.
As near as I can tell, the MDC oldtime 2-8-0 is a dead ringer for West Virginia Central & Pittsburg #39. The WVC&P is better known as the Western Maryland's Thomas Subdivision between Cumberland, MD and Elkins, Wv. Operating conditions on this line are remarkably similar to those on my layout: grades up to 4%, curves that are too sharp for big engines, and heavy trains that needed to be moved with the heaviest tonnage moving UP the steepest grade.
Hopefully, you can one day find the locomotive you are looking for, or at least a better motor for this one. I think you;ll be impressed with its performance.
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