# Pennsylvania Railroad E-6 Atlantic Steam Locomotive



## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Good morning all,


_I apologize for the multiple posts, eventually; all of them will be consolidated and put into my builders log once the project is complete._


 


To start with, the drive rods as supplied from aristocraft were not the right shape so I had to make my own. On one of my previous builds, One of you suggested using English style bull head rail for drive rods, and that advice did not fall on deaf ears. I could not find any rail like that so I did the next best thing. I took a piece of aristocraft stainless steel rail and filed off the base to see how it would look.










Being happy with the results, I cut a couple of pieces to size, clamped them in my vice and file away.










I then glued a pattern on a two pieces of brass to be cut out the form the ends of the drive rod.




















The parts were then silver soldered together.










Finally, I used an electroplating kit that I got from Micro Mark to plate the brass portion of the drive rods.










Here is an overall photo of the project so far.










Joel

Over the past two weeks I have been working on the front of the smoke box, had lamp, keystone, and drive rods.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

How did you do the rivets on the smokebox? I've been tryig to detail an aristo mikado, and the rivets are driving me crazy. I can't find a good way to do them


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## markoles (Jan 2, 2008)

Looking good, Joel.


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## llynrice (Jan 2, 2008)

You're doing a great job of finding alternate materials for difficult parts, Joel.  That was a great idea for modifying some SS rail to make connecting rods.

Llyn


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

The rivets on the face of the smoke box are made from thin slivers of round styrene rod cut by hand. I’ve tried using "the chopper" but found I could do a better job by just free handing it.


The large rivets on the smoke box wrapper were embossed using a nail chucked into my drill press. The finer, smaller rivet heads were done by hand using an compass point and cardboard as a backer.


You can see my riveting arrangement in my Berkshire builders log posted below.

www.mylargescale.com/Features/BuildersLogs/tabid/66/EntryID/16/Default.aspx


Joel


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## itsmcgee (Jan 4, 2008)

Somewhere along the line I missed how you made that wonderful little keystone in the front. Could you possibly elaborate on it a bit?


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Good morning all,


I spent the last couple of days working on the locomotive cab and it turned out to be and easier project than I thought it would be.


I first cut out the front and back of the cab and glued them together to make a box.


I then cut out a paper template for the sides and roof and test fitted it in place. Once everything fit right, I used the template to make the piece in styrene.










I then used the sharp end of a compass to emboss rivets on the plastic and cut out the window openings with an exacto knife.


















I have also finished the window frames which I thought was the most time consuming part of the project.


Here is how it looks so far.





















I almost forgot, the keystone was made out of a sheet of styrene plastic cut on a band saw. I then used some small round pieces of styrene stock to make the edges.


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

Outstanding! /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif

-Brian


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Building the valve gear and drive rods and getting everything assembled properly is the hardest and most time consuming part of this project.


I started by building the crosshead and crosshead guides.


The basic shape was cut out of brass bar stock using my trusty band saw.


The holes were drilled for the piston rod and bolt to hold this piece to the main rod.


















I then used a file to make a slot for the piece to ride between the crosshead guide in.










Finally, I used an abrasive wheel to cut the slot that the main drive rod would ride in.










Below are the finished pieces.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Very cool.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

It's looking really great--I love the proportions of the boiler/smokebox and cab--they're perfect. The way the cab roofline movies into the slant of the smokebox is really effective

And It's great to see the way you make the rods. I love this thread!


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Ok, My computer is just about dead and this is the excuse for few posts under this builder’s log. It’s gotten to the point where I have to open up the computer and "jiggle" the CPU to make it work (NO JOKE)./DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif


I have been spending all of my free time working on the valve gear, which is mostly cut out of brass bar stock and then filed to size. Once it passes an initial test fit, it is plated with nickel. The tow photos below show my progress to date.


















I am now waiting on some 0-80 nuts and bolts from micro fasteners to start putting most of this stuff together.
P.S. Dad, don't worry about the green, it will be painted brunswick green once I get some!


Joel


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

I’ve been distracted for a while with RC airplanes and a new computer (and accompanying games) but now it’s back to work on the Atlantic. 
Work on the valve gear in nearly complete and today after getting everything put together I discovered that a set of rods were about ¼” too short. 
Finding this out is not much fun. Your loco goes thru almost half a revolution and then stops. You wonder why until you look on the opposite side of the loco (it’s never on the side that you are closely examining) and discover that one of your rods is bent like a wishbone! At that point it’s perfectly acceptable to let out a shriek like a high school cheerleader and franticly pull at eh power leads from the transformer to shut off power. Done correctly this wire separating operation will prevent the “special” blue smoke that emanates form a model indicating that expensive repairs will be required. 
Anyway, below is a photo of the valve gear so far. The next step will be to scavenge some HO gauge track to use as new, longer rods. 








http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/rangerjoel/E-6 Atlantic/drive gear/valve gear 3.jpg 
More posts to follow at more frequent intervals now that I have the new computer and don’t have to wiggle the CPU to make it work anymore!


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I've been missing this thread--glad to see it back!


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Good moarning all. Yesterday consisted of making longer side rods for the loco and painting the boiler steam chest and cab the proper Brunswick green. Below is a short video of the side rods in action. 




I still have some minor details to add to it like a reversing rod and linkage but these pieces should not interfere with the operation of the rest of the parts. 
Joel


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Chugga chugga chugga /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/tongue.gif 

Looks great! Cant wait to see the finish product!


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

A couple of "Nitpicky comments" and silly question... 
Nitpick #1... I think you are working on the "Main Rod", not the "Side Rod". The Main Rod runs from the Crosshead to the Drive Pin on the main Drive Wheel. The Side Rod connects the drive pins on each wheel to each other. 

EDIT: No, your are talking about the "Eccentric Rod". The rod from the Eccentric Crank to the bottom of the Link. 

Nitpick #2... The pivot point for the "Link" should be in-line (along a parallel from the Valve Rod) with the connection to the "Combination lever". You have it too high. Since your Combination Lever is mere decoration, then if you draw a line off the end of the valve rod the pivot point of the Link should be on that line. The Radius Rod should move equally up and down in the Link (when shifting to reverse/forward) the same angle from the Valve Rod. 

Or... extend the Combination Lever top high enough to be at the same height as the Link pivot point (this makes the connections to Combination Lever more correct also). But I think that would make the Combination Lever too long, so maybe a compromise of lenghten it some and move the pivot point down some. 

But, then again, MOST people won't notice it at all, 'cuz they won't know what it is all about anyway, so since it is not a real valve gear, who cares? Sorry I brought it up. 

Silly question... Why are the rollers not centered under the rear driver?


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

You are correct; it was the eccentric rod that I was working on. 
Most of the time I don’t know the proper name of the things that I make. I simply put them on the metal spinny thing and then use some squeezers or a pounder to put them together! 
This is one of the reasons that I have not delved deeply into live steam. When you do that, you have to start worrying about mathematics. 
Joel


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I have several odd "representations" of steam locomotives... porcelain, wood, jade, pewter, glass, paper, etc. and some are very poor at "realism", yet for some odd reason can "imply" enough realism to be something I was willing to part with my money to get them. 

"Art" is in the eye of the beholder and I subscribe the the Red Green definition of "art"... "If I can do it, it ain't art!" You and your "squeezers" and "pounders" are producing something "I" cannot do, so I suspect it is a piece of art and it looks pretty good to me.


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## Terl (Jan 2, 2008)

Joel 

Good to see you posting again. I always find your work inspirational 

Terl


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Cool workings. I love all those moving parts. And to think, you made them yourself.


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

More progress to report today. 

To start with you will see by the photos below that the locomotive is now the proper Brunswick green and I chose to go with a darker, graphite color for the front of the smoke box. 

I also built a set of steam pipes for the sides of the cylinders. They are made of brass rod cut to size and then sanded to the proper contour using my lathe mounted drum sander that was also used on the turrets and stack. 

























The running boards are 1/8” styrene sheet and are held in place with 0-80 machine bolts. I have discovered that if I use wire cutters on these bolts, it turns them in self tapers. 










The air tank in the photo below is made of brass end caps turned on the lathe and a piece of ½” copper pipe. 










Once one end was caped, I filed the tube with lead to add some weight. As of now, the locomotive is very front heavy to the point where there is little if any weight on the rear driver or trailing truck. I suspect it will need more weight in the future. 
Joel


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Good morning everyone, 
I have a brief update for today. I spent last weekend doing a little more work on the running boards. The air tank is now in place and painted, and the air compressor has been installed on the other side. I cheated a little bit by cutting the compressor in half, and gluing half to the top of the running board, and the other half to the bottom of the running board. The next portion of this project will involve fabricating a pilot which I hope to start on this Saturday.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I love your "cheat"!


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Joel 
Ingenuity and inspiration are your trademarks. Your projects and techniques are priceless, offering even the minimal skilled hobbyist the "can do" attitude with quality results.


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Good afternoon everyone, 
I havestarted work on the pilot, pilot beam, pilot deck, and chicken coop Cow catcher. The pilot being was made in my usual fashion of gluing paper on to 1/8 inch polystyrene plastic. The shape was then cut out using my band saw. 









I then made a couple are pocket using polystyrene and a little bit of brass. 










Below is a picture of the pilot being with copper pocket glued in place next to the pilot deck. 








The chicken coop Cow catcher was made from some HO gauge track soldered together and then bolted to the front of the pilot. 









Below is a photo of the work so far.


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

This morning I added piston guards in the toolbox of the from the locomotive. See photos below.


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Good morning all,

In some of the books I have read written by live steamers, they refer to some of the boiler fittings and other accessories as jewelry. So, I too have started work on the Jewelry. I started with a generator.

I could not find a suitably sized generator in my scrap box, so I quickly turned one on the lathe.

I then cut a slot in the body to fit the exhaust pipe to.










The exhaust pipe was then silver soldered into place.










Next I built the support legs and silver soldered them into place.










Below is a photo of the finished generator before and after painting.



















I then built a set of safety valves by turning a master on the lathe and then stamping it into clay. I then made resin castings and glued them together. I could have turned these items on the lathe, but I know I would not have been able to make perfectly matching pairs.


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

More detail work over the past two days. 
To start with, I turned a bell on the lathe and then used pieces of a Bachmann big hauler bell as a pattern to make some resin castings for the bell stand. 
















The marker lights were a little tricky and required some creativity. I used 8mm plastic pearls as the body. 








I then glued thin slivers of plastic tubing on the sides to represent the metal rims around the lenses. 








Finally I took some wall anchor bolts and cut a piece off each one that resembled the base of the lamp. 
















It’s a lot of fun coming up with solutions like this that actually look half way decent. 
Below is a photo of the finished marker lamps in place. 









Joel


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Good morning all, 
I have started work on the tender of the Atlantic. My idea is to put two aristocraft rail bus motor blocks under it to boost the power of the engine. The truck frames are of an unusual pattern and had to be made from scratch. In order to get them to line up properly with the motor block, they had to be shortened by about 1/8”. To make the pattern, I cut some parts off of a Bachm**n passenger car and fashioned some coil springs by filing down the threads of some bolts. 
Below are some photos of the work in progress. 
Joel


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Joel, 

I don't have anything useful to add to this string so I was waiting until it was finished but I have to say that you're exhibiting incredible talent on this project. The Pennsy look is unmistakeable too. Great project. Thanks for showing us so clearly how its done.


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

It is my impression that the tender is the most difficult portion of a scratch built project. The reason being is that I usually start with the locomotive and by the time I finish it, I have lost interest in doing more work or investing time in details.
I have taken a long break from the Pennsylvania Railroad Atlantic locomotive due general apathy but I am now getting back to work.
I’m now finding the discipline to go back to work in the shop and I find that if I spend just twenty five minutes in my shop every morning before I go to work, I can accomplish at least one task.
Below is the progress that I have made this past week.

To begin with, I have added dummy side frames to the sides of a pair of Aristocraft 44 toner motor blocks. 










I took a tip from Bryan’s EL 2-B project from a few years ago and used a piece of band iron to connect the motor blocks. 










The blocks were then wired together for improved electrical pickup. Eventually, they will also be wired to the locomotive which will give me twelve pickup points and should ensure smooth running.
The next step was to mount the tender body to the band iron and motor blocks. This was easily done by simply using the original molded bolsters form the motor blocks. 










A short trip on the track shoed that it works fine and the polarity of the motors matches the loco.
Next project will be to do the rivet work on the sides of the tender.
P.S.
Thanks to Jerry Barnes, Ralphbrades, Bryan Smith and GN Rocky for providing me with the inspiration to get off my tail and get back to work.
Joel


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## Terl (Jan 2, 2008)

All right look forward to seeing the rivets on the tender. This tender will be more prototrypical than the one behind my Lionel E-6. Have you tried running the powered tender with your engine? How are they matched for speed? 

Terl


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Great to see this project back online--I've been looking forward to seeing the completed loco


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

More progress to report with a little side line.
I just received my first real Milling machine the other day.
It came in a wonderfully heavy box (375Lbs) made of wood and marked as “fragile machine tools”.
I was very excited and spent two days rearranging my shop to fit this thing.
See photos below.



























I was also able to start the rivet work on the E-6 tender.
I started by making photo copies of the tender and then reversing them so I would have both a right hand side and a left hand side.









I then used a homemade rivet die (really nothing more than a nail chucked into my drill press) to make the large rivets. 









I then used a compass with the point sanded down to make it dull for the small rivets. 




















Hope to have more done soon.
Joel


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## Terl (Jan 2, 2008)

Very good. Remember to count the rivets as you do them









Terl


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

Boy, this is one baby of a project that is long overdue for delivery! 

-Brian


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

Work on the tender is progressing. I finally bought a plug to connect the tender to the locomotive and both seem to run well together. Because the tender wheels are powered and linked to the locomotive drivers, I have excellent electrical pickup. So far I have tested the loco with 3 aristocraft heavyweight passenger cars. I’m having some problems with the pilot truck derailing so I added a compression spring and played a little with the wheel gauge. It is currently too cold to play outside, but I sure am anxious to see if my fix worked and if it will haul all seven of my heavyweights.


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## Nicholas Savatgy (Dec 17, 2008)

Glad to see this project come back to life, i cant wait to see the outcome nice work....


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

YES! Keep going, Ive been waiting for this one


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Good to see this continuing, I've learned a LOT.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

*Wow.*


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

I got the problem with the pilot truck taken care of now and the loco runs great. The tender got a coat of paint and still needs to have the lettering put on, but the end of the project is in site! I was able to hook it up to my freight consist and it had no problems with the weight or the bad track conditions. I really need to add ballast and level the track.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

That's really looking great! Needs some sandlines, and some piping....it's going to look great. I especially like the way the valve gear tuned out--it was worth all the work.

Great idea to have the tender trucks be driven. I may have to steal that!


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## rangerjoel (Jan 4, 2008)

[No message]


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