New motive power

Yesterday, we had full day of 1:1 scale steam railroading. I'll be posting videos and pictures on here soon.

Today, I received three sets of On3 trucks in the mail from a friend in Florida. One pair will be used on a kit which has been sitting unassembled since I was around Liam's age...maybe longer.

Another toy came in the mail as well. On Weds evening, I saw a B-man On30 2-8-0 on ebay for $80 buy it now or best offer. I got it for $69. I was very excited as it is a great starting place for an Oahu Railway 2-8-0...it just needs regauged and re-detailed. It runs well and looks great. It comes with a number of different detail parts...an extended smoke box, multiple fuel loads for the tender (wood, coal, or oil), different smoke box fronts for different headlight locations, different pilots, different stacks, etc. I swapped out the onion stack for the tapered as well as the road pilot and oil load.

With the model in hand and armed with some measurements courtesy of Jeff L. out in Hawaii, I have begun evaluating which OR&L 2-8-0...the little Baldwins, the big Baldwins, the medium sized ALCOs, or the big ALCOs. I think that big ALCO #36 is probably the winner. The driver wheelbase is one foot too tight on the model...and every detail/dome needs changed, but it could look pretty darn cool. Plus, it'll need a new tender. I uploaded a broadside photo of #36 and have taken many key measurements off of it...especially the domes and the tender dimensions.

Now, I'm not so sure about it. I had the misfortune of thinking: I know what locomotive that is nearly spot on for...SG&N/SN #34. I pulled out the book Rainbow Route with a plan for #34, and it is spot on. The piping is correct, the tender is within a couple inches, the wheelbase is very close, the boiler is spot on, the domes are right, the cab is perfect, the turbo generator is in the right spot...it just needs the valve gear simplified and the counterweights removed.

There were really three projects I've wanted to build based off of this model: an OR&L 2-8-0, an OR&L 0-6-0, and SN #34. Now, I have to decide the easy road or the hard road...or acquiring a second and having one SN and one OR&L. I think that I prefer the OR&L locomotive...but It'll also require WAY more work. I know that either way, I'll eventually have both. I'm going to simmer on this decision for a while...perhaps I'll regauge and run her some first. I'm also going to study every photo I have of the two engines. (the 0-6-0 will probably be a project for the future).