# EBT 3rd #2 (The "Dinky")



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I'll be the first to admit it; I'm a sucker for locomotive projects. So when a friend offered to trade a Bachmann 0-4-0 for some old LGB 4-wheel passenger cars I had lying around, I jumped at it. Didn't really know what I was going to _do_ with it, but hey... a loco for two unused passenger cars? Score!!!

So, what to do with this particular loco? Well, let's start by going back around 20 years, to when I was first "re-introduced" to the East Broad Top RR. I began looking at their roster, and started to build models of some of their locos. A dealer was blowing out Bachmann's 0-4-0 side-tank locos for some ridiculously low price (evidently I've _always_ been a sucker for cheap locos to kitbash), so I bought a few. Before long, both were turned into models of the EBT's diminutive 0-4-0 saddle tanker, affectionately known as the "Dinky." 










_Woodland Railway 0-4-0 #2 sits at Willow Flats yard, awaiting its next switching assignment_

This was one of the two, which still exists, though mothballed on my dad's railroad. (The second one went to my friend who re-introduced me to the EBT. I haven't a clue whether that's still in existence or not.) A few years later, I bought a live steem "Creekside Baldwin," which was another 0-4-0, this one with a saddle tank. Since I had moved away from home by this time, I figured I'd build a live steam version of this loco. (The loco was a great steamer until after I got done with the cosmetic rebuild, after which point it never could keep steam pressure. I sold that one. Don't know if it's ever run since, either.) All three locos looked very similar to the one in the above photo, with only minor detail changes here and there. 


Because I had already built three versions of this loco, I was a bit underwhelmed by the prospect of building yet another version of the same locomotive. I especially was not looking forward to building that stupid spark arrestor (not shown on the above photo). But what else was I supposed to do with this loco? 

In October, I went back east for my annual trip to the EBT for their Fall Spectacular. Behind the station, there's an antiques/railroadiana dealer who sets up shop, with volumes of old photographs from the region. Every year I find something new, and I've probably spent entirely too much money on those photos. But then I saw something I hadn't seen before:










This was EBT 3rd #2 before it officially became the EBT's locomotive. It was originally purchased (used) by the Rockhill Furnace Co.--owned by the same parent company as the EBT--for use as their switcher for the iron furnace. (EBT 2-6-0 #1 served along with it.) This is the only photo I've seen of the locomotive prior to being transferred to the EBT, and was _perfect_ inspiration for what to do with this new 0-4-0. 











After some semi-serious cutting and fitting, this is what emerged. I say "semi-serious" because there were some "significant" changes, and some very minor ones. 












*Construction* 

Here's a look "under the paint." The most significant physical change was cutting the saddle tank back even with the start of the smokebox, as opposed to the front of the loco. 











I carefully cut the smokebox front from the tank, then removed around 1.5" from the tank itself. I cut off the very end of the tank to reuse it, then cut the tank just forward of the steam dome so I could swap the sand dome and water hatch locations to better match the prototype. Sand lines are rebar wire, which can easily be bent to shape on the model, but is rigid enough to hold its shape once bent. Good stuff!











You can see the styrene used underneath as a splice. The aluminum tape is holding lead shot in the domes. 












A styrene wrapper covers the seams on the front part of the saddle tank, and the holes where the grab irons and headlight were on the original tank front have been filled with styrene rod glued in place. The big round patch covers the hole for the headlight wires or something like that. Of course, then I had to build a new smokebox as well. I found a small plastic tube that was the right diameter, cut it to fit over the remnants of the original "smokebox," and filled it with Bondo mixed with lead shot. This, and the lead shot in the domes, was necessary because I put the batteries and sound in the boiler, necessitating the removal of the weight. Without that weight, the loco is loathe to pull its own shadow, so it needed something.











Here's the "guts" of the locomotive. A 7.4 volt Li-Ion pack provides power. Sound is from a MyLocoSound steam sound board. The speaker is a 1.5" speaker that fits neatly into the molded opening.











This is a "manual control" loco--something I can just put on the rails and let go around the railroad. Control is via G-Scale Graphics' "Critter Control." The jack on the upper left is the charging jack for the battery. Below that is the direction switch. The switch on the right controls the whistle. Power is controlled via the slide switch at the bottom.










Here's a better shot of the Bondo/Lead shot mixture. It's remarkably easy to drill through, something I discovered once I realized I forgot to include a path for the wires for the front headlight. 










The other major cosmetic change involved lowering the boiler and cab on the chassis by around 3/16". This wasn't difficult, but took some creative thinking to figure out where to cut. You can see the brass hex-head screw that now holds the top to the bottom. 











Pseudo-valve gear completes the changes to the chassis. This doesn't function, but it looks better than just the rods ending at the hanger. 










New pilot beams were in order. As the name implies, this is a very small locomotive, and the coupler sits very near the top of the end beam. Ozark coupler pockets and a cut-down Accucraft 1:32 coupler complete the front.










The headlight is an Ozark casting. Coincidentally, its diameter is the same as the Bachmann headlight diameter, so I used the plastic lens from that for this new headlight. The stack base is Trackside Details, and the stack is from a B'mann 4-6-0. 


*Painting* 










When I went to paint this loco, I hoped to be able to not have to repaint the cab, since I didn't want to mask all the windows. Krylon's "semi-flat black" is purportedly a very close match to the Bachmann black paint, so I used that to paint the saddle tank. The frame of the locomotive was painted with their flat black primer. I'm becoming less and less of a fan of Krylon since they reformulated their paints... The primer is okay, but not as good as their old grey primer. The semi-flat black was garbage. I needed three or four coats to get good coverage, where I used to be able to do it with one or two. Not happy. I ended up brush painting a gloss coat (Future acrylic floor wax) over the tank and cab just to even out the coloration. 











Have I mentioned yet how much I hate decals? Well, if I haven't, let me tell you how much I hate decals. Miserable, unpredictable pieces of..., well, you get the idea. I'll use the same techniques three different times and get four different results. You can see in this photo here where the decal just didn't want to sit down properly, despite being a very smooth, glossy surface. I ended up poking the decal with the tip of an X-acto knife, then brushing diluted gloss coat over the decal letting it soak in through the perforations to sit down properly. 











I did the decals on my Alps printer. I forget what the font I used was, but it was about as close to the original font as I could find. Do you know how hard it is to find simple fonts? I couldn't believe how many curly, cutesy, artsy, what-have-you fonts I had to wade through in an attempt to find something that matched. Ugh! What fascinated me the most about this, though, was the usage of the upper/lower case on the word "The," and the all uppercase on "Rockhill Furnace." Did I mention how much I hate decals? 











The cylinders and end beams got brushed with the same gloss coat as the tank and cab, to give it a slightly different finish than the smokebox, which I wanted to be pretty flat. 

*Weathering*











To start the weathering process, I scuffed the wood footboards and end beams with some 60-grit sandpaper to let the wood show through. This then got washed with dilute acrylic paints, giving the appearance of weathered wood. I went in and highlighted a bit with some dry-brushed grey paint, as the wood was still a bit darker than I had wanted.











Pretty much all I used on this loco was washes of various colors. On the smokebox and frame, I used a dark brown, kinda grimy color wash. I just brushed it on rather liberally, and let it fall where it may, settling into the appropriate places. 











The same technique was used on the cab and tank, though with a bit more black than brown. I did use some brown to simulate rust streaks, etc.

*The End Result*










Once finished, the loco has an overall grimy look like you'd expect to see on a work-a-day switcher. There's nothing glamorous about this loco, and I wanted the finish to reflect that. It's job is to shuffle cars around, not look pretty. 











You can see the results on the footboards, where the sanded paint is combined with a bit of light drybrushing to give the look of weathered wood under the worn-off paint. The coupler and coupler pocket were hit with Bragdon's weathering powders to give it a more rusty look. The handrails and coupler lift bars were drybrushed with silver paint, then dappled over with some brown and rust colors to soften the look. 










Siderods were first wiped with powdered graphite to give them a slightly metalic look, then coated with a matte finish and weathered with grimy acrylic washes. Bragdon's weathering powders highlight the ash pan of the firebox. Brass paint highlights the oil cups on the siderods. 











Here's what the washes look like once dried. By letting gravity work with you, you get drips and pools where you'd expect to get drips and pools. I drybrushed a bit of rust around the water hatch, then used some powders to give it a bit more of a rusty look. 











A little drybrushing of hard water stains around the safety valves, and (while hard to see in this photo) a little sand-colored paint around the edges of the sand domes. 











The bell stand and fireman's side of the locomotive.











I think I am "officially" done with 0-4-0s. (Okay, maybe not... if I ever find an LGB Porter for a good price, the Harbison-Walker refractories had a neat little 0-4-0 Porter that switched out their brick yards. They also had a neat 0-4-0 siderod diesel that's just begging to be built.) Regardless, I'm very pleased with how this loco turned out. It's not 100% accurate, especially in terms of the shape of the cab roof, but I can live with it. This was never intended to be a "100% accurate" project, and ended up being a lot closer to the mark than I thought it would be. When I compare how it sits relative to an EBT hopper car, it's almost exact in terms of relative height. And for something whose primary purpose will be to run around the railroad clearing cobwebs and leaves from the right-of-way, I'd say it should do its job very well. 

Later,

K


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## takevin (Apr 25, 2010)

Very nice Kevin. The changes you made really sets it out along with the weathering of the loco makes it a sharp little loco. Like the start to finish pics in how everything was done.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Aaah, what have you done to my Porter?!?!







Kevin, great work as always!! VERY nice project, and more than I would have done to it.

I figured you had started something on it, as I saw a couple pix of it in one of your recent sound install articles in GR.


_ I'll be the first to admit it; I'm a sucker for locomotive projects. I think I am "officially" done with 0-4-0s. (Okay, maybe not... _

Again, great work, and FYI, that recent production side tanker is still sitting on the shelf if the urge hits again and the NStLB can always use rolling stock....


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice job! Love the decals ;-)


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Kevin, I'm sooooo dissappointed..... you didn't model that broken spring sag to the rear.

It looks great!


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## cjwalas (Jan 2, 2008)

Wonderful bash, as always, Kevin. Nice to see the new addition come to fruition! 
Chris


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Great work! Realistic weathering and superb detail!


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Nice work, as usual!


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## ORD23 (Jan 2, 2010)

Kev, great work as usual! Where did you get the engineer? 

Ed


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## Old Iron (Jan 2, 2008)

I like it. Me too, I was wondering about the engineer.


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## nkelsey (Jan 4, 2008)

Lovely little tea kettle!


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow Excellent!


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Thanks! The engineer is a GI-Joe figure who fell into Cobra's evil "Sculpey Pit." He survived, but not before losing all of his hand grenades, back pack, and other accouterments. After that harrowing experience, he decided not to re-up, and instead found a comfortable job switching cars on the TRR. 

Later, 

K


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## silverstatespecialties (Jan 2, 2008)

OUTSTANDING, Kevin!! Very nice!! I always enjoy viewing your locomotive projects.


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## Terl (Jan 2, 2008)

Excellent work. Thanks for sharing your photos and techniques. They inspire us all. Hope you had a great Christmas. 

Terl


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## joe rusz (Jan 3, 2008)

You are plum loco when it comes to bashing locos. All look bee-you-dee-ful, of course.


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## Bill Martinsen (Mar 4, 2008)

Very nice job, Kevin. I like the weathering a lot. To me, it says hard-working but well-maintained loco.

Bill Martinsen


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