Modeling the Colorado and Southern C-3E class part 2

At the end of part 1, we had picked out our candidates for the C-3E class modeling, the bachmann ten wheeler coming out on top of the list for a starting point. Since that article was published, I've built 2 C-3E's and have a 3rd on the shelf of unlikely origin. 

#312, the first victim, er uh, candidate

The first C-3E started out life as one of the new bachmann 4-6-0's in the blue box. This particular one was a NYC ten wheeler I purchased from Amazon. Nothing too fancy here, just the basic model.

#312 started out as NYC 1238

A quick soaking of the old lettering in walthers solvaset left me with a locomotive sans decals. 

#312 now without decals next to K-2 ten wheeler #637

One of the first things I wanted to do was create the headlight on a bracket that the C-3E's all had. I first tried this with a PSC mason bogie bracket and wasn't that impressed.......
 

Mason bogie bracket, not quite what I'm looking for

While thinking on the headlight situation, I proceeded with the sound install. This locomotive received a soundtraxx megabass speaker in the tender along with a Loksound V5 Nano decoder. The speaker is so large I had to do quite a bit of milling on the tender frame and the nano barely fit back there with the speaker. My plan was (and still is) to place the keep alive under the coal load. I also added some coal board extensions at this time. These were done off memory of how I "thought" the boards should look, they never looked right to me and we'll come back to that shortly. At this time I also hit the model with a can of Walschaerts-be-gone (pat pending) and removed the valve gear. This would receive some tidying up before long, I ended up having to order new hardware for the main rods from bachmann, as the normal eccentric crank acts as a washer so a smaller screw can be used to hold everything together. Without the crank the main rod would just fall off, I ordered the larger hex head hardware for the 4-4-0's that don't have valve gear and it was a perfect fit!

312 on the bench with the coal boards and the lack of valve gear.

Around this time, I figured the best way to get the unique headlights for the C&S was to design and 3d print them. So out came 123D and I made up some headlights. I based 312s headlight on the real 312's round style headlight, at the same time I made a box headlight on the same bracket that some of the other locomotives had. I printed these headlights on my Elegoo mars resin 3d printer. They came out very nice, not 100% accurate, but they definitely are recognizable as C&S lights.  

the 3d printed headlight test fitting on the smokebox. Note I've also filed some of the extra valve gear detail off at this time.

With the headlight out of the way, now it was time to work on some other details. When I designed the headlight, I also attempted to design the unique cab that 312 received in the 20's but decided to hold off on that for now. I may revisit this at some point, but I decided having all the C-3E's in their late 1910's appearances would be easier to do. As they later started having odd drivers and tender swap galore occurring.  I also designed a tender bunker that would be a little more accurate than my attempts at building the coal boards. 

#312 posing next to #429 with the other style of headlight. #429 will be subject of it's own post at some point!

In September of 2022, the Pikemasters freemo club hosted its first ever setup at the TECO show in Colorado Springs. I managed to get 312 decaled up on one side with microscale C&S decals before the show and it ran around showing off a short mixed train for the show. 312 did just fine with the 6 car train on this layout, only issues arising were due to some bad trackwork on the return modules and the occasional mis-thrown switch. 

#312 crossing Mike Maline's bridge module.

#312 passing a small 4-4-0 on Mike Malines stock yard module. 

#312's bare side at the show. 

Parked on the spur at Granger on my module.

One thing that bugged me was the decals didn't look quite right. Nobody really makes a C&S decal for standard gauge locomotives pre-burlington lettering that I knew of. But It looked better with the lettering that without it, so a short time later I decaled the other side of the locomotive. 

Now decaled on both sides and with a painted headlight to boot!

I didn't have long to wait until another pikemasters setup bought #312 out to play again in October. This time 312's performance was hampered by a rather stiff grade on the modules, account of the ramp the layout was setup on. 312 spent a fair amount of time in front of 638 showing off my work until, it stopped working about halfway through day one of the show. I sidelined the locomotive on a spur to keep showing it off, at least I could still show the work. On a random chance later that day, I selected it again and it ran. Maybe it overheated or had a fluke? who knows, so I ran it. The next day, same problem, this time straight out the gate. What I was able to determine was there was either a bad connection or a bad spot on the commutator in the motor, as tapping around the motor on the outside of the shell would get it going again. I have heard mixed opinions on the new bachmann ten wheelers because of poor motor quality, so this could be the culprit. Either way, 312 was relegated to double heading for that show because of the grades. 

#312 double heading with #638 at the October TECO/PMRA show.

#312 on display after it stopped running, it ended up cycling in and out of this pocket until the end of the show.

Two more? #310 and #309

One thing I haven't mentioned at this point in the article is I acquired 2 more ten wheelers towards the end of Summer. In August, one of our former members at Pikemasters passed away and his family donated a bunch of items to the club. Included in this I found a brass Gem/Olympia Maryland and Pennsylvania ten wheeler. What I didn't know up until that point is the Bachmann ten wheeler is loosely based on the Ma&Pa ten wheeler. It was a basket case, with some valve gear missing, no drive train, and lots of loose parts and bodywork that needed to be soldered back on. I decided that this would become my #309. Since these photos I have removed the remaining valve gear on this one as well 

#309 next to #312 for comparison. 

Not long after the October show, I ordered a Bachmann Spectrum 4-6-0 from the original run of models. This one a UP model. This would become my #310 and would allow me to put to use some of the methods I had figured out with #312 to practice. First thing that occurred was to equip this one with a sugar cube speaker and Loksound V5 micro.

#309, 310 and 312 all together. 

One of the things I wanted to do at this point was change out the pilots on the locomotives, the Gem model had a a different small style of cow catcher with steps that was very close to what the real 309 had, so I decided this one could stay as is. The other 2 locomotives had bachmann's wide running board across the front, not exactly prototypical for the C&S (or for many roads for that matter....). So I searched for a solution. What I found was PSC #2962 brass pilots were pretty close to what the C-3E's had in some photos. I ordered 2 of these pilots and set about swapping out the pilots. 

310 mocking up one of the pilots. Looks like I'm going to have to remove that cast coupler pocket part......

#310 now equipped with the pilot and a kadee scale head coupler installed. I don't use trip pins, so this will couple to just about everything.

#312 with the new pilot. I think this actually made a decent addition of weight to this thing..

The pilots went on nicely, I had to remove the bachmann metal coupler box to make them fit and look right. I'll make a 3d printed draft gear part to sit here to look the part. I also painted the pilots at this time, and while I was at it, I painted the smokeboxes silver to match the prototype. 

Both locomotives now sporting new pilots and painted smokeboxes. A huge improvement!

One thing I mentioned earlier in the blog is that I wasn't happy with how the decals from microscale looked. I ordered sets from several manufacturers and found the ones from thinfilm were just about perfect! To top it off, they were actually silver, which is correct for the post 1908 era versus white. I destroyed the first set, turns out thinfilm decals don't like solvaset....... But I managed to salvage enough to finish #310. This was a HUGE improvement. I went back and removed the lettering off 312 and replaced it with thinfilm decals as well. 

310 with Thinfilm decals. This set I ruined with solvaset.

312 and 310 showing off both styles of decals, 310 with thinfilm, 312 with microscale. 

Both engines with the thinfilm decals

What's next?

Ok, so both engines look pretty good at this point. What's next? Well there are a few items on the list I'd like to knock out.

    -Redo the coal bunker on 312 and make one for 310. 

    -3d print a headlight for 310. 310 had a rather unique headlight I still need to design. 

    -Install keep alives in both 310 and 312 (insert your brand of capacitor if that's not your cup of tea)

    -backup lights for both engines, 310 had a rather large box headlight, 312 I don't have any clear shots of, but it seems to be a more modern round design. 

    -Install linkage for the unmodeled Stephenson valve gear on all 3 engines. 

    -Repower and repair #309, it needs some real TLC!

    -design and print a draft gear box to cosmetically complete the front of the locomotives. 

    -add crews and piping detail. 

    -add class lights

Whew, that's been a lot of work done in the article at this point! I have an offer from a friend to purchase one more of the spectrum 4-6-0's, which will become #317 in my fleet, this one will be equipped with the large pilot snow plow. 4 of the C-3E's allows me to pretty much accurately model the Falcon branch comfortably. 

Until next time, keep on modeling!

J. Patterson

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.