Modeling the Colorado and Southern C-3E class part 1

To model the Falcon branch at any point past the early 1920's, one must have the class C-3E Ten-wheelers that plied up and down the line. These were the heaviest locomotives allowed on the Falcon branch by that point in history, and outside of gas railcar #9526, were ubiquitous in photos of the era. Numbers 312 and 309 were the regulars in the last years of service. It was a given that I would have to at the least model these 2 locomotives for the branchline. However, where to find these in model form, nobody has made a UPD&G/C&S Ten wheeler in HO to my knowledge.

History of the C-3E class of locomotives

Under the C&S classification system, C-3E indicated a locomotive with 4 pilot wheels (C), 3 drive axles (3) and the 5th type of this locomotive in the roster (E). The C-3E's were built by Rhode Island in 1890, 11 were delivered to the Union Pacific, Denver & Gulf. These were identical to Ten Wheelers being built by Rhode Island for parent Union Pacific. Numbered 1405-1415, they had 19x24" cylinders and 62" drivers. The locomotives were rebuilt several times between delivery and the formation of the C&S, some receiving 51" drivers for a time. Union Pacific transferred some of these locomotives to its Wyoming division in 1893, however they were back by 1896. At the time of the C&S's formation in 1899 they became #309-319 and were all equipped with cylinders bored out to 20" and 62" drivers. In 1906, they received the class C-3E designation. By this point in history, the locomotives were being bumped to local service by larger, faster locomotives as they entered the fleet.

These locomotives were routinely assigned to Falcon Branch and Denver-Fort Collins-Greeley runs in the 1910's and 1920's. 312 was badly wrecked in December of 1917 and was rebuilt in 1920 along with 309. Both locomotives received new boilers, tires, and complete overhauls. As gas railcars and other locomotives replaced the aging fleet, most of the class was scrapped in the 1920's. 312 and 309 remained on hand all the way until the end of the Falcon branch in 1935, with 309 being scrapped in 1936, and 312 finding a new owner in 1938. 312 would go on to work for the Hayden Coal Company of Haybro, Colorado until being scrapped in 1944. 

Finding a suitable model

I knew I wasn't going to be able to find an exact match. Even if I took a model of a UP ten wheeler, the C&S had made so many changes over time that they wouldn't be 100% anyway. I also wanted something reliable, nothing more frustrating that trying to switch trains (or watch them run for that matter) when they cough, sputter, and trip their way down the track. 

Sunset 4-6-0

Sunset did import a brass 4-6-0 of a similar class to the Rhode Island locomotives. However it comes with a vanderbuilt tender and lacks the modifications that C&S performed to the locomotives. While some of the detail is as accurate as it will get for a C-3E, it would require a lot of other details to be modified to work. The availability and price also dropped this one off my list pretty quickly. I would need 2, maybe 3 of them to get what I needed. 

Sunset 4-6-0 1242. Photo from Brass Trains.com

Bachmann 4-6-0

Bachmann did a 4-6-0 based off a baldwin ten wheeler under their spectrum brand a while back. This one had 63" drivers. Recently bachmann has re-introduced a ten wheeler with 52" drivers under their standard line. Looking at this one, the modern reintroduction was intriguing as it was a good runner, available, and looked like a good stand in. the 10" difference in driver size was a stumbling block until I realized that at some point, the C&S has re-equipped several locomotives with some interesting counterweighted drivers (see the photo of 309 at the top). It would be an interesting project to cast these drivers and replace the bachmann drivers at some point, with that being said, I think I can live with the small drivers until then. The other big difference came down to the valve gear. The bachmann model has walscharts, the C-3E had stephenson. Easy enough to remove I guess. The tender the new model comes with looked like a good starting point to kitbash from, as each tender seemed to be different looking at photos, but started life similar. I did also find a video on youtube of somebody swapping the drivers from the 52" to the 63" and put that idea in my head for future use. 

Bachmann 4-6-0 from the new production

Varney/Bowser Casey Jones 4-6-0

The varney 4-6-0 came to mind very briefly, but the locomotive is much too large and modern to fit the bill here. It would however make a nice stand in for the C&S C-3H #327-329 built by Schenectady. 

Varney Casey Jones 4-6-0

AHM/Rivarossi Casey Jones 4-6-0

So what I learned during all this research is, there's a bunch of 4-6-0's on the market labeled as Casey Jones. The AHM/Rivarossi model has uh..... well it has stephenson valve gear, and it's a ten wheeler. That's the only similarities I was able to find. 

AHM/Rivarossi 4-6-0

Mantua/Tyco 4-6-0

A model of a very different ten wheeler. This one has drivers that have very different spacing and a boiler not at all similar to the C-3E. The lack of detail here is also apparent

Mantua/Tyco 4-6-0

MDC/Roundhouse 4-6-0

The MDC/Roundhouse 4-6-0 is a Southern Pacific prototype and is much too large/modern of a locomotive to model a C-3E. It is a good harriman ten wheeler though, if that's what you're after!

MDC-Roundhouse 4-6-0, model by Thomas of the Redwood and Pacific

Aristocraft 4-6-0

Yeah, this one was a surprise to me too, Aristocraft did HO scale 4-6-0's at one point, I see a bunch of them online as B&O royal blue locomotives. It has drivers that are far too large for a C-3E. The drive on this one is questionable for my use case as well. 

Aristocraft 4-6-0

Verdict: the choice

After looking around online for my options, I ended up going with the bachmann 4-6-0 as my starting point. It was actually a pretty close looking model, plentily available, and a great runner. I purchased a New York Central model from the new run, and proceeded to remove the lettering and contemplate how to achieve what I wanted to do. I picked 312 to be the model I would create, as I had a nice photo side view of it, it looked fairly straightforward, build a wooden coal bunker extension, change the headlight, and move the bell. However I realized after I started down this path, that the photo I was using was of 312 on the deadline some time after the 1917 wreck. I found photos of 312 from after the 1920 rebuild and it had received quite a few changes, including a new cab, different tender, and one of the oddball tire weight drivers on an axle (no really, go look at the photo of 312 and tell me that doesn't look like they stuck tire weights to a spoked driver). Ok, so still not too difficult. 

Bachmann 4-6-0 sitting on the rolling track, N scale bachmann 4-6-0 in front.

My model of 312 so far has been equipped with a loksound V5 Nano and a soundtraxx Mega Bass speaker in the tender. I found a headlight bracket to pattern a new one after is the Precision scale Mason Bogie bracket. I'll eventually 3d print a version correct for 312. I also ordered a spoked pilot wheel pilot from bachmann and swapped one axle out from the smooth sided pilot wheels. Some photos of 312 show it with one smooth and one spoked pilot wheel, as does 309, so each will have correct pilot trucks. 312 had a pretty basic headlight, the bachmann one is correct, just needs a shade. 

I tried just removing the valve gear from the get go on the locomotive, but alas, the screw when placed back in the center driver did not have a large enough head to prevent the main rod from just falling off. The eccentric acted like a large washer and without it, the rod would not stay. I ended up ordered driver bolts from bachmann for the 4-4-0, these threaded right into the holes and were designed to retain the main rod from the beginning. Thus I was able to cut the rivets and drop away the valve gear entirely. What remains is to add the handful of Stephenson components and trim the lower portion of the Union Link.

I've also been working on creating 3d components based off photos of 312, Ie the cab and tender bunker. The cab is pretty unique to 312 as I've never seen one exactly like it on anything else (the old cab was probably written off in the 1917 wreck). It has a single large window that goes across the center of the front of the cab. The dimensions of the bachmann cab were measured and a new cab based on the photo and those dimensions was created. 

First rough render of the cab for 312. Some changes to be expected.

Likewise, I used a photo of the tender to create a bunker model. Looking at the photo it looks like I can just trim off the flared lip that runs around the entire tender to get the flat top tender, and then add the bunker. 

While examining the bunker I also realized that 312 has a backup light that peaks up just barely behind the bunker. I cannot find it in any other photo of 312 (because who takes a picture of the back of the locomotive?). In the shot of 312 being sold to the Hayden mining company, there is a conduit box and tubing that runs back along the engineers side of the tender and up on top of the rear deck. Of course, there is nothing to see up top here, the C&S removed all the fancy jewelry from the locomotive by this point in the sale (it even has a box headlight again). However in photos of sister 309, there is a U shaped tower on the engineers side with a headlight mounted on top of it. 309's is just more visible as it did not have an extended coal bunker. I'm pretty sure both locomotives had this setup and will recreate it on the model. 

Electronically still left on the plate for 312 is to install a cab light, potentially a firebox flicker (because why not?), wire in the headlight and backup light, and one thought I've had while inside the locomotive is to add another speaker in the void up in the smokebox. 

Mini-me, the N scale 312

Don't worry, I wasn't going to forget about this little guy! Bachmann also produces a ten wheeler in N scale that's pretty nice. Unfortunately, the tender they provide with it is massive! It would look more at home with a mountain or a pacific than a little ten wheeler. Outside of that little bit though, the model is virtually identical to the larger HO cousin. A nice coreless motor inside provides for a smooth running model. 

I purchased an undec bachmann 4-6-0 and started brainstorming ideas for the little fellow. Later I found a bachmann USRA short tender that was a much more reasonable tender! I use this ten wheeler on my micro layout inside the house, so I did have to remove the front coupler (the pilot wheels would hit the screws). I used HOn3 C&S lettering to letter the tender and cab, this model of 312 is done as the pre-wreck and pre-burlington lettering version. I haven't changed near as much on this particular model. I would like to equip it with one of the large C&S plows to move the pilot forward to give myself even more room up there. Right now the model is equipped with a Lokpilot V5, I would like to swap it with a loksound nano and put a small speaker in the tender of this little guy. Maybe even a firebox flicker. 

Engineers side of the N scale 312

Firemans Side of 312

End of part 1

Well, that's everything I have for part 1 of modeling the C&S Class C-3E. I'll be back with additional parts as we wrap up HO 312 and N 312, as well as start on 309.