cab’s body and extends a short distance into the front of the trailer. I drilled and tapped 00-80 — a vertical hole in this tongue. Into it I threaded a piece of bolt with the head removed. This slides into a piece of brass tubing, fixed to the inside of the front bulkhead of the trailer, providing a secure pivot point between the two por- tions of the vehicle. The bolt needs to be as close as possible to the rear truck king- pin, so that when the trailer is in position, it appears to be sharing the rear truck bol- ster with the motor portion.
The completed locomotive portion, from the front/left. The pilot beam is from the original Roundhouse kit with a cut-down Cal-Scale steam road pilot added. Roof-top details are a mix of Cal-Scale parts, wire, and parts from the original kit’s shell. Brass ladder stock was added below the side ladders but is just a tight fit to allow the unit to operate on tight radii. The roof was “imagineered” by myself, using photos of real units for inspiration.
white metal vent that was found at the bottom of my scrap box. I installed it here because it “looked right.” I finished the installation of all this “stuff” by placing a bell above the engineer’s window, a Pyle- National headlight at the center top of the front bulkhead, and a Nathan five-chime whistle at the front right corner of the lo- comotive. These last three were all brass Cal-Scale castings. With all the handrails and NBW cast- ings installed, I washed the body with dishwashing soap and water, and after rinsing it several times, allowed it to air dry. The sides and ends were painted with Scalecoat II Coach Olive. When that had dried, I masked the sides and sprayed the roof with Scalecoat II Engine Black. In the meantime, I prepared all the various roof details and sprayed them Engine Black also, in preparation to their being re-at- tached. Before adding the roof and front bulkhead details, I drilled two holes up- ward into the bottom of each side. These holes are located under the side ladders on the body and accept short lengths of ladder stock, so our poor trainmen don’t have to “jump for it” when they want to board the locomotive! Note: Even mount- ed into the bottom edge of the sides, there is not a lot of clearance for the trucks to swing. So I made the fit a tight one and did
92 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
not glue the ladders in place. The clear- ance is okay for 24-inch radius and above (my club, for example), but by slipping the ladders out of their mounting holes, the model will run on curves down to about 18-inch radius (a few spots on my home layout). I installed the pilot beam and pilot castings to the “lip” at the front of the sub-frame and painted them Engine Black. The sub-frame was installed onto the Spectrum frame and fastened in place using the same screws and holes in the frame casting that were used to hold the 44-tonner’s body in place. I decaled the boxcab body just before adding the roof details, lettering it for its new owner — the Staten Island Belt Railway — and gave it a light coat of Testors Glosscote. I then added all the roof details, as well as the headlight and whistle to the front bulk- head. The headlight wire was taped to the underside of the roof and brought out through a hole in the rear bulkhead. It will eventually be snaked into the front of the trailer and tied into the battery-operated lighting system. Window glass and a Ka- dee No. 5 coupler finished the motor por- tion. I temporarily reconnected the trailer and put the unit to work for a spell on the club layout to break it in. The sub-frame has a tongue that pro- trudes through the rear wall of the box-
The trailer portion of the vehicle was initially shortened by removing 15 feet from the body. The portion removed was located immediately behind the baggage doors. On the prototype car, when built, this space contained a barber shop and bathroom — that is, a room with a real bathtub, not a toilet! This was a fancy ve- hicle when built. At any rate, I was left with a car body that was now slightly more than 70 feet long. I cut an equal-sized sec- tion out of the roof/window casting, but at a different location, so that all the joints would not line up. I strengthened the body with a few styrene splices inside the bag- gage compartment. I wound up leaving the roof in two loose pieces — something I came to appreciate years later when re- building the beast!
When I started this project recently, I realized that while the original work passed the “Five-foot Test,” the model was a failure when given a closer look. Hence, the additional work done on the boxcab body and the need for more work on the trailer. Disassembly was quickly accom- plished, and I laid the parts out on my bench to see what could be done. I re- used the original AHM truck, minus the Talgo (truck-mounted) coupler box, and replaced the AHM wheelsets with Kadee 36-inch wheelsets. I had done a less than sterling job on the original lettering, al- lowing me to remove it and use the old green paint as a base for the primer. On the sides, I carefully removed the molded- on handrails, drilled mounting holes, and bent and installed wire handrails. I also added a freight ladder to the right side, just behind the baggage door. The main reason for this ladder is to hide a poorly done, 30-year-old splice in the car’s side sheet.
I performed three major jobs on the body. First, I cut away all the molded-on
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