Another Brass Repair, Detailing and Painting Southern Ms-4 Class 2-8-2

[ACL1504]

Speaking of whiny customers.  I had an episode yesterday of a fine brass locomotive, custom finished/tuned by someone we all know that had issues on the layout.  Before cursing out said builder.  I looked at the trackwork.  One area had a very slight angle between a turnout and the following track and the other was a turnout where somehow the center of the turnout was very slightly lower than the edges.  The 4-8-4 would derail at the one turnout and the drivers would "float" over the one with the dip.  Just sitting there stuck with 3 sets of wheels in the air turning, the fourth set unable to propel the loco forward.  All my other locos (short steamers and diesels) are fine on these areas, but a long wheelbase steamer won't get thru them.  Absolutely nothing wrong with the loco, it's the trackwork.  Ever get an angry customer call on that Tom?  Or Thom?


Jeff

Jeff,

Yes, and you brought up a great point. There is no substitute for reliable track work.

As beautiful as the F&SM is, I noticed some areas on the layout where the track work is or could be a problem.

I try extremely hard to get the "perfect track work". It doesn't always happen and I've had to tweak mine from time to time. I have so many locos, brass and plastic diesels, that I can't run them all through every turnout.

My biggest two offenders are both USRA Santa Fe type 2-10-2s.

The one thing Thom didn't mention is the manufactured turnout like the Walthers Shinohara ones. Well, he did and he didn't. I've found that about one out of every product run, there is a bad one. I seem to be the one that gets the bad, brand new turnout.

This is going to be a long answer I'll continue the answer below.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Hi Tom,

This is great stuff.

Steve,

Thank you very much, happy you are enjoying the thread.

I'll have more of the repair this evening.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Jeff and others,

I have a Walthers #8 left hand curved turnout behind the new lubritorium. The Walthers #8 has an outside radius of 36" and an inside radius of 32". This is anolther reason I'm going to try my hand at the fast tracks turnouts when I get to the third level. That story is for another time.

Anyway, both of the 2-10-2's ride the rail going through the turnout and derail. I'm going to say when up hill they derail and when down hill they don't

Here is a photo of the offending turnout.



You can also see that I have a grade difference of 1/4" (the thickness of cork roadbed) in the middle.



When running left to right, derail and rides up on the outside of the rail. When running from right to left, no problems.

Just to let all know the track is in gauge.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I automatically assumed the turnout was slightly twisted or kinked. I made every test I could think of and I still got derails.

I checked the wheels and gauge of the wheels using the NMRA gauge. All wheels were as they should be. I had the Judge run the locos back and forth for about an hour and there was no binding of the side rods that caused the problem derail.

Both loco hit that one spot and popped up on the outside rail. I then pushed the loco to the right as it ran left to right through the turnout. No problem, no derail, no bumps - no nothing.

I checked the level of the turnout and turnout rails.

Right side/end of turnout.



Middle of turnout.



Left end of turnout.



Consistent all the way through the turnout.

Your turnout must be absolutely level in all areas. No exceptions, period.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

My solution for you is to try and level the turnout or see if the loco has a problem on ALL turnouts.

If the turnout can't be leveled, replace it before you get to far in the build.

Here is how I fixed my problem.

Remember above I mentioned that when I held the loco to the right going through the turnout, it didn't derail or ride the rails?

I decided to add an additional guide rail to the inside rail to help guide the 2-10-2 through the turnout and frog. I used a piece of stock code 83 rail and extended the guide rail.

It worked and I've had no derails on this turnout since.

[ACL1504]

I'm only going to do this one update as I've been on the turnout and phone for the last few hours.

I started with what I considered the hardest part of the repair.

In the repeat photo below, you'll note the cab smoke deflector is missing.



If I was in the forum mode back then I would have taken probably no less than two dozen pictures of this repair. Instead I'll just have to explain what I did.

I measured the length of the deflector image on top of the cab. I then used .030 Evergreen Styrene to make a sample. It took me several tries but finally I got one that looked decent.

I then used the styrene one to copy it on a piece of thin brass sheet stock.

The result is shown below.



I very lightly tinned the bottom of the deflector to give me an advantage when soldering.

Using a small C clamp, I clamped one end of the wind deflector in place making absolutely sure I had it aligned properly. I then "tack" soldered the one end in place.

I then clamped the other end onto the roof again making sure it was aligned properly. I used the original solder line as my guide. I soldered the other end to the cab roof.

I left the two clamps in place and applied solder to the rest of the wind/smoke deflector.



I used the Micro-Mark mini butane torch for the repair.

Thom mentioned the missing left side cab grab iron. This was an easy fix. I used solid brass wire and made a mirrow image of the one on the right cab side. No picture of this repair but you will see it on the painted version.

[MAP]

Another great thread Tom!  I'm following along.

[GPdemayo]

.....In the repeat photo below, you'll note the cab smoke deflector is missing.....

I wondered what that was.....

[ACL1504]

Another great thread Tom!  I'm following along.

Mark,

Thank you, great to have you following along.

Tom

[ACL1504]

.....In the repeat photo below, you'll note the cab smoke deflector is missing.....

I wondered what that was.....

Greg,


Yepper, now you have the Paul Harvey version of "The Rest of the Story".

Tom

[ACL1504]

The whistle appeared to be in place but as Thom mentioned, it was laying flat. The whistle was broken off at the steam dome. The previous owner or whom ever made the non-repair, used 5 minute epoxy to epoxy the whistle flat on the boiler jacket.

When the loco was stripped in Acetone, the whistle came loose and the epoxy was a gooey mess. I had a new whistle from Cal-Scale for the replacement. I needed to drill out the old whistle tab so the new whistle could be installed and soldered. Again, more pictures would have helped you here.



The front pilot was slightly bent. This repair was fairly simple in nature. Using two pliers, it was realigned. Also, on the pilot, the two air hoses were unsoldered. The area on top of the pilot where the two hoses were initially soldered, was polished and the hoses were resoldered on the original position.



More later this afternoon.

[ACL1504]

The steam pipes leading to the Elesco FWH, both sides and top rear, were either unsoldered or bent. They were bent back to the FWH and resoldered.





More in a few.

[ACL1504]

All the piping under both sides of the cab were either broken/unsoldered or missing. These were all fixed by replacing them with new Cal-Scale parts and or resoldered.

[ACL1504]

Both versions of this PFM model came without back head details. However, PFM pre-drilled holes in the back head blank and gave a list of parts needed to add the detail. This was PFM, Owner Don Drew's effort to keep the price down a little.

I used the information from the sheet in my own model's box to add these parts. I either soldered them in place, the ones on the cab deck, and from behind on the back head as seen in the photo.

You can also see on the left the new slip grab hand rail I made.



At the time of this photo, I couldn't find the firebox doors. I since found one and you will be able to see it in the photo of the painted loco.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

Here are some needed repairs completed but not shown in photos.

1. The bell bracket was broken and bell was missing. Cal-Scale parts were used to replace these. The new bell            bracket was soldered in place.

2.  All the piping under the air tank located under the left running board was loose. These were all resoldered.

3.  The draw bar was not the correct one. It was after market. I got a new one from PFM.

4.  The side rods on both sides were jammed due to both eccentric cranks being well out of position.

5.  Three of the tabs holding the doghouse on the tender were unsoldered. Repairs made.

6.  The small brass rim around the top of the doghouse was unsoldered. Repair made.