B-4R #605 Build
What started the C&S project
In the beginning of 2022, I had found the C&S Falcon branch through Jim Jones's "In the Shadow of the Rockies". I had initially dabbled in it with N scale, however that did not entirely go to plan, the lack of available small steam in that scale coupled with my fat fingers and Micro-trains couplers didn't go over very well. Around April was the TCA show in Denver and I had usually operated on the Colorado Rail Link layout in the past. I was on the verge of deciding what to do with these model plans when my friend Leighton mentioned he had some C&S steam for sale. Specifically it was a BLi 2-8-0 that had a cooked decoder, along with a short C&S passenger train. He gave a good price, so I ended up buying the 2-8-0, a BLi SD7 in CB&Q colors, and the short passenger train from him.
At the time I wasn't entirely sure what era I was going for that early in my modeling of the C&S, I knew the locomotive was a touch bit modern for the branch but the Burlington logo and C&S sublettering was actually something I was planning on doing at first. My initial plans were to model the branch as it was in its last few years of operation leading into 1935. These plans would change, but for the time being #638 was my only bit of C&S steam motive power. It would be joined in the Fall of 2022 by C&S #312, my first bachmann 4-6-0 rebuild.
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#638 running on Rail Link at the April 2022 TCA show. Running behind it is the short passenger train I bought from Leighton.
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| Passing the water tower at Granger, October 2022 PMRA show in Pueblo. |
After the October 2022 PMRA show in Pueblo, I acquired a few other locomotives to operate with #312 that were much more era appropriate. This moved #638 to sort of back burner status. I displayed it on my shelves along with the Zephyr Connection passenger train as it was the only largish locomotive that could go with the passenger cars.
At some point in Early 2023, I redecaled 638 as #605, a B-4R which the BLi model was much closer to. #605 also has the morbid curiosity bit of being the locomotive present at Ludlow. I still didn't know exactly what I was going to do outside of the decals, though I did 3d print a headlight and bracket for it.
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| #605 at TCA in April 2023. Now sporting the re-decaling treatment. |
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| #605 on the Eastonville wye at TCA. |
I had no definitive plan for #605 outside of occasional backup power use at shows until I saw a very nifty post by Tintic Range Railway on Facebook about a bachmann 2-8-0 that had been backdated to represent an early 20th century locomotive. I had the inspiration at that point to do the same thing to #605.
First was to come up with a plan, I figured to make a more accurate 605 I would need to do the following.
-Replace the cross compound with a single stage
-Install some inserts to make the cab windows arch topped
-Lower the running boards to bottom of cab height
-install a wooden pilot
-build a tender insert to simulate wood extensions
-Install an older headlight.
-Swap the large tender watch hatch for a smaller one.
-Put a spoked pilot wheel on the front of the locomotive.
I started with the basics; the air compressor before the PMRA show in October 2023
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| now with a single stage compressor. |
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| On the Falcon wye at the PMRA show. |
After the show I installed a wooden pilot. This took some trickery to get right, the coupler had to get swapped to a long shank to get the entire coupler head to clear the pilot when it was installed at the correct height on the pilot beam. I may come back and tweak this at some point, but for the time being, it's installed! I also found a spoked pilot axle in my stash of spares and installed it.
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| Mocking up with the new pilot. Note spoked wheels too. |
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| Now with a painted pilot. |
I need to swap the headlight over for a box headlight at some point to really sell the look, but just the pilot swap by itself really backdates the locomotive. At some point I'll go back through the list and get more work done on 605, but for the time being it really is looking the part.
stay tuned for part 2 when the rest of the detailing work is completed.
