# Vintage NYC 999 on eBay



## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

All:

This eBay item is of interest, as my family ownes a locomotive made out of the same casting set by a company called "Drake". This is the third one of these I have seen, the other one is here in a museum in Nashville.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-Live-St...27af912ba6

What little I know was it was a casting set for home model engineers, hence each of the three is somewhat different in details. LBSC/Curly Lawrence built one back in the 1900s per Brian Hollingsworth's book on LBSC.

I have always wanted to find out more about them. The one our family ownes was unfortunately "modified" into a electric model with the valves and pistons removed and the pot boiler and meths burner gone too. The loco is now in the possession of one of my father's cousins. 

Thanks-


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## Slipped Eccentric (Jan 2, 2008)

There are two more, if you're interested. There's one in my basement, that, as of now is still an unfinished set of castings. There is also one in New Jersey that had at least the locomotive finished. There is a thread on the two of them here http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist...ht=mystery (you'll need a loging to view the pics). ANY info you have would be appreciated. I'd love to see a completed model, or even detail pictures.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

wow! thats quite a model!  
very unusual.. 

its not *quite* NYC 999..but obviously based on it.. 
quite a few details dont match the real 999..but still, there arent many live steamers like it! 
its a very unique model.. 

Scot


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Very interesting loco. I'm not an e-bay nut but the shipping is sure high. Later RJD


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## livesteam5629 (Jan 2, 2008)

Justin, 
Well now we know what the mystery engine is. Finish it up after you do mine. LOL Seriously, I would clean and fix up the chassis , make new parts such as boiler (coal fired of course) and have a barrel of fun with it. 
Noel 
PS You have mail


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

The only catch is all the movement is brass, or at least was on ours. I imagine wear over time if one were to make a go of it. 

Thanks for the insight and info "Slipped" you have answered a third generation mystery in the family. THe last family member who can remember it running died last summer. 

As for the shipping costs, the model is 3/4" scale, weighs a ton and this seller says it will be in three boxes. Ours was in a huge wood crate with hold downs cut to tuck it in and clear parts, it did not move once it got in there. THe pilot faced (what would have held) the tender. We had tender bits, but no tender.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Yeah, I calculated the scale from the 3.5" track gauge he reported... nice BIG loco, so $200 shipping sounds reasonable... 

Regards, Greg


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## Slipped Eccentric (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks guys, and glad I could help. The casting set was actually patterned after the 870 series Buchannon locos, which was the production run of the 999 class with smaller drivers.

I do plan on finishing it and running it. Not hard mind you as the wheel surface and flange aren't actually cast but look rolled and are very thin. Mine are actually dented and cracked in several spots and will require fixing/brazing to run true again. The whole frame, cylinders, running gear and details are all brass or sandcast bronze. The stack looks nothing like that one, though and is actuallya very pleasing capped straight stack. The frame in particular is weak and bend VERY easily being cast bronze. It will get a proper coal boiler though, but from what I can tell some of them were made with Smithies type boilers. There was an article in an old Modeltec by Marshall Black on an engine he had that I'm about 90% sure was one of these engines. I cannot, for the life of me, find the article though. I do remember it having a thin wire-type pilot and a Smithies boiler though. He restored his only cosmetically, though.

The shipping is fairly high. The engine and tender would fit in two of Accucrafts loco shipping boxes. But then considering the rest of the packaging, and insurance on a fairly rare, possibly 100+ year old engine...

In case you can't see pics on the other site, I'll include some here.

















































































I do have some spare LBSC Virginia castings that I can use to finish the engine, and I started making a CAD drawing to help finish it all off.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks for the further updates. 

Keep in mind, I have not actually held the loco in my hands in 15 or so years.....what the mind rembers and what is real are two different things. 

Did not realize that the frame was a casting, I had assumed it was brazed up bits. Talking about being brittle, ours did have two sections of (also brass/bronze) rail brazed up in the frames. 

The siderods were VERY soft material, easily bent even picking it up. 

As I said, ours was (not sure if completed) modified for electrical operation for a shop window for somewhere up in Yankee land. Had bakalite (SP?) "tires" on two of the drivers, but talking with dad, we both remember the pilot truck having all brass/bronze wheels. The actual valves and pistons were long gone. I think (remember time passing) that the cylinders on ours were actually cast aluminum or some other non bronze casting. The valve chests and cyldiner ends were brass/bronze. 

Ours had a nice stovepipe chimney. No "bulb" on it. The headlamp was a work of art, down to the hinge, latch and glass with brass frame that was used as a "monocle" more than once buy us kids. 

THe domes were identical, safety valve in the steam dome. The sand dome was a dummy, had two sand lines down to the drivers. Ours looked better than the one in the auction and the one here in Nashville. 

Ours had a pot boiler. Flat bottomed, but had been removed so not sure if it had any other protrusions, pipes, etc. Pressure gauge sans siphon pipe (German or Swiss made) that had BA threads (we used it on a Mamod stationary engine a couple times). Assumed meths fired. 

Thanks again for all the info and clarification on the protytope. We quit looking for a protytope when we found NYC 999. What happens when one ass-umes!


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 22 Feb 2010 04:07 PM 
Yeah, I calculated the scale from the 3.5" track gauge he reported... nice BIG loco, so $200 shipping sounds reasonable... 

Regards, Greg 

One person could move ours, but it was really a two person carry with the case. 

Part of this makes me wonder why 3.5" and 5" gauge live steam is not more popular here in the US Vs. 7.5" gauge. Maybe a stupid question in the land of Ford Excursions, 4000 square foot houses and all you can eat french fries!


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

....and with the data of the maker (not Drake) it appears that Hollingsworth may have got that unfortunately incorrect (along with the 999) in the book along with LBSC/Curly's family histor, made difficult with apparently frequent name and an apparent gender identity change.

http://home.fuse.net/jasdot/LBSC_chronList.html


http://www.mcsme.co.uk/pubdocs/Who%20Was%20LBSC.pdf 


Regardless, I did finally find Brian's book from a S/H shop on the web, and once it arrives, I look forward to giving it a good read. We small scale live steam fans all owe LBSC at least a look afterall.


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## Slipped Eccentric (Jan 2, 2008)

There seems to be a trend toward the smaller scales again recently. The big engines are great, but not everyone wants to load and unload them instead of just taking the smaller ones in the trunk of the car. Thanks for the links on LBSC, I'm going to enjoy reading up about him some more.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

No problem. I had an interest in his ideas, but would be hard to get a complete set of all his books and works (in the thousands!). 

One other thing after talking with dad on the phone..... 

We do not remember the wheels having the stamped tires and treads. And ours came with scads of extra wheels. Now, some of those wheels were sans any tire, so maybe these were the press on ones? We assumed these had been turned down with a lathe for the electric conversion. But the other wheels had (again, by memory) solid (not stamped) brass/bronze wheels. 

As for the smaller stuff, I would think a 4.75/5" gauge US or UK outline tank and a small loop in the yard (well, not mine, I live on a two acre hill) would be pure bliss. I have thought about an LBSC Tich, but then, you are talking about a live steam loco not much bigger than a personal cooler!


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