FMIG Lines Newsletter #28 Extracts

Thank you members for suffering through five pages of my ramblings. On the next page you will find a table of dimensions for most of Frisco’s all-time quantity of 310 2-8-0's in 25 classes. The only classes missing are the #293-294 and the #1251-1295. Little is known about the first other than they were 41" drivered switchers built by Hinkley in 1882. According to Stagner's book, they were on the January 1, 1899 roster but were off by January 1, 1902. The little drivers allowed 19,000 pounds of tractive effort, not bad! It would be interesting to learn more about them, as 41" drivered standard gauge consolidations were rare. The other missing class is the famous set of 45 engines that lasted only one year on the Frisco before being sold to the Rock Island as one of Yoakum's deals. None of you have chosen 1907 as an era, have you? If you have, you will just have to go to Rock research sources to learn more about these beasts.

Here is the good news I have long waited reporting to you. Almost all of the remaining 23 classes of Frisco Consolidations are modelable in HO. At least that is what my research has revealed. I requested help from all you members about l~ years ago on this steam loco modeling project and have been aided thus far by only Ray and Alan. If the rest of you find fault or disagree with my findings, you have only yourselves to blame!

The first one on my list has been a personal project for the past year. My dad gave me the Harold Mellor (Box 509, Parker, CO 80134) light consolidation kit for converting the Tyco Prairie last Christmas. Of course, I suggested it as a gift. I then ordered the Prairie from HFM. You have probably all seen this little kit advertised in the Pro Custom Hobbies ads in Craftsman. Upon receiving the kit, I first set about trying to find a proper Frisco prototype for the model. I was not altogether successful, but I got close. The measurements of wheel spacing and much else matches #76 & 77 exactly. The model's boiler and smokebox is a bit too fat, but it looks ok. The only other prototypes that came close were the 1897/99 Pittsburgh #870 & 871 with 51" drivers, the 1903 Brooks #834 & 835 switchers with 51" drivers (see the cover), the 1900 Pittsburgh #950-955 55" drivered engines, and the 1907 Baldwin #970-989 55" drivered engines.

I almost chose the last series, but all were switchers and I would have had to replace the pilot. Also these engines had very smooth boiler jackets from the photos I have seen. I would have had to file much of the detail from the Tyco plastic casting. The model comes with piston valves, but I note that some of the prototype photos show rebuilding with piston valves. I had no photos of the 950 series. They also had slide valves, as did the 870 series.

That left only the 834 and 76 series. Both were seriously considered as a prototype. The 834&835 we eliminated mostly just because so much work would have been required in order to move sand domes around, change pilots, and make inboard cylinder. Actually the real clincher against the 834 series was the Stevenson valve gear. The model came with walsahaerts and I just hated to leave it off the model.

Research on the #76 & 77 series has been interesting and is still continuing! As many of you remember, #77 was on the cover of newsletter issue #4. It also got good coverage in Joe Colias' IN SEARCH OF STEAM book. I have also mentioned #76 quite a bit in past newsletters. They were both originally off the JLC&E as their # 40 & 41. They then went to the Frisco in 1925 as 76 & 77. The Mississippian Railroad bought the two little engines in 1947 upon Frisco's dieselization. They remained active there for a long time before being sold to the rail fan roads the Gettysburg and the North Alabama Club.

The photos at left show #76 working on the Mississippian April 20, 1964. Jerry Hurt took them. He also photographed it again last summer on the Gettysburg. It sure does look good!

I did not have the benefit of Jerry's photos for my model building. The kit comes with a standard Mellor #442 cab wrapper. The prototype has two windows per cab side as modeled by the #441 cab wrapper.

I, therefore, had the wrong cab. I also used the diagram and the photo from newsletter #4 to assume that there was only one sand dome. I very carefully carved off the back Tyco sand dome and covered the hole with putty. I used a BALTIMORE SUN Sunday newspaper article about the Gettysburg to get photos of #76. They did not show the tender adequately to let me know if it was a coal or an oil burner. I guessed wrong and made it an oil burner using one of Wally Decker's epoxy oil bunkers. Jerry pointed it out to me at Memphis.

There is another error with the kit in that it comes with Laird crosshead guides and the prototypes have alligator. No one noticed it at Memphis. I have since started rebuilding the model so that it is a bit more correct. I have the #441 cab wrapper and a LeeTown #432-2182 Clear-Vision tender kit. My original tender used the Tyco which is a USRA design. I had cut down the coal bunker to allow for straight sides and put a lot of detail work into it. I may just use it behind #76 until I can get a coal tower built. I also have a new boiler casting so I can redo it with two sand domes as on the prototype. I have a complete write-up on my conversion that lists all the castings and details I added if anyone is interested. I can either send interested members a copy, or write it up in the next issue of the Newsletter. If enough of you are interested, I'll put it in #29.

The diagrams shown on the previous and next few pages are supplied by Ed Heiss, Lee Buffington, Charley Dischinger, & Ray Bullock. Using them and photos in Stagner's book, you modelers should be able to come up with some interesting consolidation models.

I suggest that the Mellor conversion kit be considered as the starting point for most of the more modern small 2-8-0's. I need suggestions for most of the 800's. There just must be a good brass model or two that can be used. Incidentally, the famous Houston House restaurant is shown in the background of the photo above.

The "very tall" Brooks # 851 switching at Newburg, Missouri August 28, 1924. Photo submitted by Don Wirth. 851 4 sister 850 were the Newburg switchers for many years.

The "old-timer" 2700-series engines were mostly scrapped in the 1915-1917 period. They dated back to the very earliest days on the Frisco. The 2700-2715 series Baldwins were delivered numbered 66-81. Photos of two of these engines,on page 4 of Stagner's book, show them to be standard stock models of the day as modeled by the Roundhouse and Locomotive Company old-timer 51" drivered engines in HO. They were next numbered 266-281, then 700-715, before finally getting the 2700-series numbers.

The 2716-2719 Rogers engines were similar looking. Refer to the photo of #2716 on page 26 of FMIG Newsletter #12. It shows a single side window for the cab. Previous road numbers were 82-85, then 282-285, and then 716-719 before going to the 2700's. I could find no photos of the 2720-2723 class Cooke engines, but I'm sure that they were stock models like the others. They were delivered as #86-89, then became 286-289, and finally~4'3 before the 2700 renumbering. I also could not find photos of the 2724-2730 class, but the 1920 diagram book lists the last remaining engine, 2728, on the same diagram as the 2716. Again, a clue that it was a stock Baldwin model of the 1880's They were 59-65, then 259-265, then 724-730 and finally 2724-2730.

We have a photo of 2732 from the Rogers 56-58,then 256-258, then 290-292, then 731-733, and finally 2731-2733 class on page 21 of Stagner's book. It shows a pointed (peaked?) cab roof and large driver counter weights. A photo of the same engine as #257 is shown on page 19 of the January 1953 issue of RAILROAD Magazine (I'm sure you can all just go to your files and pull that honey out I).

We pretty well exhausted the subject of the 2734-2737 Altoona (PRR) engines in Newsletters 18 and 19. I asked Ray Bullock, at Memphis, why he thought none of the group had bought the Empire-Midland Hla brass model of these engines. Ray said he had seen the model and that it was a bummer Still, you guys and gals are becoming famous for taking poorly built brass models and making them presentable. Witness this fact by the large number of 4200-series models listed on our roster. If this model really was bad, then the price should be right to pick one up for rebuilding. I would like to know if any of you try it.

The Locomotive Company idea of marketing universal kits for 1880-1890's era 2-8-0's and 4-6-0's was a good one. The kits had enough pieces that the modeler could make just about any configuration he wanted. I guess the time just wasn't right or else the major principals ran out of money. RMC gave them a great review a few years back and even featured one of them on the cover. We do not have to worry much if we can't find one of the old Locomotive Company kits on our hobby shop shelves because the Roundhouse model is a real gem. Joe Luber, of Pro Custom Hobbies in Cattonsville, has a large Ma & Pa modeling clientele. He had an interesting display a few months ago with one of the Roundhouse 2-8-0's painted up for the Ma & Pa along with one of the brass imports. They both looked good. I will bet that we have more than one or two 2700 models entered in our Roundhouse contest at St. Louis next June.

It might be interesting, at this time in this long narrative, to list the Consolidations that were on the four roster periods I know about. The July 1, 1917 ICC roster was loaned me by Ed Heiss 11/2 years ago and three other rosters were included in the Stagner book. The first was January 1, 1899: 29 2-8-0's numbered 266-294. The next was January 1, 1902: 62 Consolidations numbered 801-818, 950-955, and 2700-2737. Ed's July 1, 1917 roster lists 212 2-8-0's as 801-835, 850, 851, 950-965, 970, 976, 979-981, 984, 986-989, 1208-1345, 27l6, 2728 & 2729. It is interesting to note that the other ten engines from the 970-989 series were sold to the MoPac (#1001-1010?) in April and December of 1916. The last roster shown in Mr. Stagner's book, January 1, 1944, shows a whopping big 168 Consolidations: 806, 807, 813, 819, 850, 956-965, 970, 976, 979-981, 84, 986-989, 1200-1213, 1215-1238, 1240-1312, 1314-1340, 1342-1345 (the 1313 and 1341 had become 2-8-2's 1350&1351).

The 1200-1265 Baldwins are quite close in dimensions to the AT&SF 1950 series. There have been more brass models of this engine produced than any other. Don Wirth, Jan Jester, and Alan Gagnon all have models based on the 1950. Alan is building his with the original slide valves. My research indicates that the 1200-1225 were never rebuilt with piston valves, but that the 1226-1265 were. It is ok to build them as either coal or oil burners.

Baldwin 2-8-0 Frisco #1265 at Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1950 Photo is from the Charles E. Winters collection.

A good friend of the newsletter editor got his nick name "Polecat^" while firing this engine with engineer Harry Walker as a helper engine on the Dixon (MO) Hill. The story involved some smelly animals they ran across on one of their light trips back down the hill. Several of the FMIG members know H Lee "Polecat" Heflin, retired engineer.

We have now progressed to a very fun class of Frisco Consolidation, the 1293-1305 and the smaller (slightly) 1266-1280 that were rebuilt to the same performance specs. They have the cleanest lines of any of the Frisco 2-8-0's. The old Varney, now Bowser, Old Lady; the MDC Harriman Consolidation; and the Hallmark 100-series MoPac brass models all have lines similar to these engines and may be used to model them. variations were many between engines. Some were configured as switchers with foot-board pilots and smokebox top mounted headlights. Others had the more familiar road configuration with tender top brakeman doghouses and smoke-box front headlights. All had Walschaerts valve gear. Both single and paired air pumps could be found. I looked through about 20 photos before I arrived at #1295 as my favorite prototype. Variations found were: welded tender on 1266, oversized sand dome on #1271, #1272 was a switcher in 1940-road in 1947-and back to switcher in 1950, switcher 1303 had two sand domes, and front mounted bells were found on 1268 and 1271.

I don't think the 1281-1292 Brooks engines of the same specifications were as attractive. The boiler shape and dome locations were different. Don Wirth has used the brass MoPac model for one of these engines.

The last class, the 1306-1345's, were adequately covered in Don's article in the August 1977 issue of PROTOTYPE MODELER. Only the doghouse was wrong. A nice model, this one!

That pretty well exhausts my knowledge on Consolidations. I am anxious to start getting your letter responses to this feature with additional prototype and modeling material that should be passed along to the membership. We have a new member who is building either a 970 or 1200 series in live steam. It will be interesting to follow his progress through his future letters. The next newsletter will feature the Mikados. It will be easy since every class of Frisco Mike has been modeled by you folks in HO. The Mikes will be followed by another easy class, the Mountains. I really dread the Ten Wheelers and Americans. Mention of the Ten Wheelers reminds me of a weird fact about this study. I concluded that the KCFS&M did not like Consolidations. Only the 950-955 came from that road. They did, however, love the ten wheelers. They had hundreds of them....Doug Hughes

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	FMIG Lines Reprints: Consolidations (2-8-0)