# Climax #265



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

In 1901, the Perry Lumber Company began operating in Perry County, PA, connecting with the Newport & Sherman's Valley RR. To provide motive power for their logging operations, they ordered a 25-ton Climax from the Climax Locomotive Works. They did not specify a road number, so when it arrived, they gave it the Climax builder's number (#265). 










They named the locomotive "Alfarata," drawing the name from the poem "Blue Juniata." The Juniata is the river that runs through the area, and Alfarata was an indian princess featured in the poem.

In 1905, the Perry Lumber Co. sold the Climax to the East Waterton Lumber Co., located in East Waterton, PA, just one ridge over to the west. East Waterton also happened to be on the route of the Tuscarora Valley Railroad. 










This is the only known photo of #265 on the East Waterton & Kansas Valley RR. (Big name for a very small logging line.) Despite their desire for such a fancy name for the railroad, they never repainted #265, keeping the Perry Lumber Co. markings.










Well, I was in need of a "put it on the tracks and let it run" steamer for the railroad (okay, maybe "need" isn't the right word), but at the very least, I _wanted_ a steamer I could just sit on the tracks and know it wouldn't derail going over the switches on my reverse loops if left unattended for long periods of time. 










Here's the "before," a stock (updated version) Bachmann Climax. For whatever reason, this one struck much more of a chord with me than the original one did, and converting it to PLCo (EW&KV) #265 seemed a no-brainer, since they were both models of 25-ton Class B Climaxes. 










The most notable difference between the two is that #265 is of much earlier vintage than the prototype for the Bachmann model, having a wood cab and straight boiler. But those are easy things to fix.










I had some 2" diameter acrylic tube which worked very nicely for the boiler. As an added bonus, the stock smokebox fit very nicely with the tube, saving me the trouble of having to build a new one. I was able to re-use the domes and handrails, though I back-dated the headlight using an old kerosene headlight from a Bachmann 4-4-0 that was in my scrap box. The toolboxes on the front deck are from an old Delton C-16 tender kit. 










I caught a bit of a break on the cab as well, this one also in my scrap box from a 2-6-0 that I had built and scrapped a while back. I had to re-build the front wall to fit the smaller-diameter boiler. The fuel bunker is more-or-less stock, except I flared out the sides and built new extensions. 










Control for this loco is via a QSI "Titan" with G-wire receiver. The batteries are in the boiler, with power and charging jack concealed by the smokebox door. The Titan plugs right into the "socket" in the bunker, and there's a 2.5" speaker in the floor of the bunker and a 1.5" speaker in the smoke box. The Titan has two speaker outputs so you can map certain sounds to separate speakers. It's pretty cool to hear the whistle come out from just under the whistle, etc. Alas, to get the bass response from the chuff, I have to rely on the bunker speaker, but it still sounds great. 










The water siphon hose was made from wire insulation, with plumber's solder threaded through to hold its shape. I removed the sand boxes off of the back (which originally hid a series of slide switches), and filled in the openings on the bunker where those switches were. (I removed that board, soldering the appropriate connections since I wasn't worried about needing to change things back and forth.

The lettering is all dry transfers. I created the artwork by finding a close-ish font, importing it into Adobe Illustrator, converting it to vector line art, then adjusting it to match a photo of the artwork I imported as a guide. 










So with a boiler full of steam, #265 is ready to steam along the tracks of the Tuscarora Railroad, where it will do its best to keep trains moving while I'm in the back yard doing chores and otherwise not paying much attention beyond wanting to listen to the quiet chuffing of a locomotive pulling a train.

Later,

K


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

WOW, nice job!


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## Dean Whipple (Jan 2, 2008)

fantastic, very nice....


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## placitassteam (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice kit bash. It will look good on your RR.


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Kevin, another out-of-this-world loco! Crazy good


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