# My chronicle of rebuilding my Berlyn K-36



## CLRRNG (Sep 26, 2008)

*Hello All,*
* I did it, I finally got around to upgrading myself to first class. I figured I would start out my new membership with sharing my venture into rebuilding my Berlyn k-36. I wil start by giving you a brief history of how I obtained my k-36. I, like many of you, shop on Ebay. I noticed this fine loco on a auction. Noted on the auction description was that the loco was missing a eccentric rod. I said HHHMMMM!!!. Could be a deal here. Well I contacted the seller outside of Ebay (yah I know I am not supposed to do that). I explained to the seller the going price he was asking was to high considering I would need to purchase parts from a manufacterer that I did not even know that was still in business. I asked if he would take a best offer. He agreed but wanted to waite for the auction to end. It ended, i contaced him again, we agreed on a price that I thought I was getting the deal of the century. My loco was greated with open arms at my door step. Well I had to have arms open because it came in many pieces. OUCH!! All was not lost because I still had a relatively fine loco for a very low purchase price. And I am always up for a challenge.*
* Below you will see photos of what I recieved. Initial inspection revealed many many many issues with the loco. The, as noted by the seller, eccentric was missing. It did not fall off it busted off. The fire box door was completly busted off, the big [email protected]# lead weight was no longer mounted and was rattling around in the boiler, and the most disturbing of all was the wheels where spinning free as if they where no longer attached to a gear box. The smoke stack was partially dislodged. That was all noted before I started taking it apart. But one thing I was very pleased about was that the outside of the loco was in pretty good shape. No scratches, no dents, no dings. It was all there except in many pieces. *








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* Well I took it apart. And these are the other issues that have come to fruition. The gear box was busted completly off the motor mount. This left the universal shaft seperated. This explaned the free wheeling effect on the moving parts. The engineers side of the loco's running gear was in rough shape. All I can summize is when the prevoius owner was running the loco somehow the running gear bound up and the torque of the motor bent, stripped, busted EVERYTHING except for the main driver rods. Even the frame side members to support the valve gear was twisted and bent. As well there is countless obtruse (nice shinny zinc plated SAE, UGLY ) replacement screws nuts and bolt found that where previously installed to repaire broken of loose parts, all of which are cross threaded leaving me to re tap all of them. UUGGHH I said. But all was not lost because I remained positive to get this poor sick loco back on track. Below are some of the repaires I have made. I re mounted the gear box. I used extruded aluminum (from a Andersen Window mulling kit) shaped to wrap around the gear box and run parallel to the universal shaft and mount to the steel motor mount with Accucraft nuts and bolts. I obtained and installed a replacement eccentric rod and retapped the stripped out mounting pivots. I retapped all the busted & stripped pivot points along the firemans side of the running gear. I straighted the bent frame supporting the valve gear. Replaced all the ugly screws with nice metric Accucraft nuts and bolts. Replaced all the screws holding the pilot truck together with Accucraft nuts and bolts. I also added a few oz. of weight to the front and rear truck to help keep them on the track. 










Well I am glad to share with you my experiances with rebuilding this fine loco. Soon it will be a nice running machine. I will continue to post more repairs. I plan on adding Airwire, Phoenix Sound, and battery power. 

And please provide your input as I am no expert at rebuilding loco's. 

Thanks,
Glen
*


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Good work Glen. I'm sure I could not have done that, you were the right guy to get it!


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Your a braver man than I Gunga Din!


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## CLRRNG (Sep 26, 2008)

*Hello All,*
* Had taken some time away from my rebuild. I figured I would update everone. I rewired the entire loco and replaced all the light bulbs with incondescent bulbs. Installed Airwire, Phoenix Sound, & batter power. As well located a replacement bearing for one of the tender trucks. Bocca bearings in Florida was very helpful. Made a new coal load and relettered it to the Flying Rio Grand logo. See the pictures of the loco before and after I weathered it. I wanted the loco to look very used and dirty. I figured I would keep the theme of the loco to show it in a hard working well used state of condition since it had gone through alot of work to get it to the point it is now. All the weathering was done with a Badger Air Brush. The colors I used where Engine Black, Earth, and Mud. I then sprayed the whole thing with Testers Dull Coat to seal everything in. Can anyone tell what is not original on it from the way it came from Berlyn? The marker lights on the smoke box are from a Accucraft K-27. The originals did not make it in shipping and I could not save them. I plan on bringing it to the open house @ the RGS East for its first run.*


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

It looks fantastic and what a bargain! You now have a more reliable engine than you would have had it not required you to do a rebuild! Well done!!


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## cabforward (Feb 18, 2008)

If you dont mind me asking 
What did you pay for the loco? 
Also do you have a pic of the airwire install batterys etc 
thanks 
matt


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Nice job rehabilitating her. Almost like she just came back from an Alamosa major overhaul...well that is until she got dirty


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## Rabbit1982 (Apr 15, 2009)

I've been watching your progress on the rebuild of your K36. NICE JOB!!! I purchased one brand new back in 2000 from St. Aubins, IL. I haven't used it at all -- only took it out of the box because the wooden box was horribly built. I've also been reading posts regarding the wiring and universal joint. So, I too took mine apart to rewire it . I didn't change out the light bulbs as you did since the wiring past the regulators was OK for the voltage. I replaced the motor wiring with 20 gauge. 

I was wondering what could have bound up the K36 you have to cause the extensive damage. I noticed 2 things with mine: 1) The pilot truck can touch the frame on even slightly uneven track - especially on a curve -- and thus cause a short which essentially puts on the brakes! 2) The reversing lever, if allowed to fall too far forward can cause the valvle gear near the top to become undone and bind up the wheels. I still have only test run my K-36 since my rewiring, but at least I know it will pull a load without burning up! 

Ray


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