Thanks Rick and funny you should ask. As soon as I finished the depot I started in on kitbashing a 4-4-0 for the branchline. This is my second attempt at modeling Ol' number 97 which is what I call the little steamer that's in an old 1920 photo I have of the area I model. My first attempt was fair but the prototype had a straight boiler and my model has the humped boiler. So I bought a new Bachmann Old Timer, straightened out the boiler and added the brass detail parts from my first attempt and now I'm working on the tender. I even put real wood running boards on the engine and I've hung chains along the bottom frame of the tender. I'll post up some photos of the kitbashing process soon on a new thread. I only model an 8 mile long branch but there's a lot of things to do nonetheless. I guess I'll have to scratchbuild everything because I haven't found any kits that will do. No funk around here brother!
Jim Earlier I was looking at doing something using the Bachmann 4-4-0 (non-Frisco, but I came to my senses). None of our local hobby shops carried these and I didn't want to take a risk. How does it run? John
To be clear, this is the Bachmann Old Timer 4-4-0 and not the Bachmann Spectrum modern 4-4-0. I've always liked these little stout 4-4-0s and I've had several through the years. Like any other it needs to have clean wheels and clean track and they perform well at slow speeds through switches. They aren't as quiet as some but that settles after use. They only cost about $56 at the Trainworld website. I ordered #51116 CB&Q because it has black wheels already and the extended boiler. I'll start a new thread. Don't be afraid to get one for a cheap kitbashing project.
