Another New Locomotive

The Calaveras on its first day of work. The number on the headlight lens is so that opposing engineers can tell which engine they are meeting if it is dark.

As I mentioned in my last post, there was another engine in the works named Calaveras. This is for the county of that name in which Milton and Copperopolis are located. For Engine No. 23, I decided to build a loco which had been order in the 1870s but had been updated in the 1890s. To do this, I used another of the Model Engineering Works V&T moguls and replaced the smokestack with a capped stack. The engine already had the extended smokebox (which followed the prototype which went through this conversion) so this was easy. After it was remotored, I painted the loco a Brunswick Green which I hope is similar to the color used by Baldwin in that period. The lettering is based on Southern Pacific lettering styles of the late 1880s-90s using a multi-colored three-dimensional approach. I still have to add some jewels to the classification lamps but that will be done shortly.

Almost all of the S&C freight locomotives carry a wire rope cable for use in emergencies. 

New Locomotive on the S&C

The newly wiped down Stanislaus waits patiently at Oakdale for the day's work to begin.

After a month of working on it, the Stanislaus, No. 29, has joined the locomotive roster on the Stockton & Copperopolis. I had been waiting for a couple of new brass imports to come in but it finally became evident that they weren't going to show up.This prompted me to come up with two more engines from other sources. The Stanislaus is the first of the two. Both are based on Model Engineering Works imports of the Virginia and Truckee's number 20, the Tahoe.
   When the model was originally imported, it was based on the Tahoe as it now exists in Pennsylvania's railroad museum at Strasburg. It has an extended smokebox resulting from a conversion to coal as its fuel but is fitted with a balloon stack. I decided to cut off the excess smokebox to convert it back to its original appearance. While doing this, I also decided to give it a Radley-Hunter smokestack. Both the traditional balloon stack and the Radley-Hunter were suitable for wood-burners. A 16x20 can motor was substituted as well.
 

A wood load for the tender hides the Tsunami decoder.

Due to the configuration of the tender, the best place for the Tsunami TSU-750 decoder was in the fuel bunker. This was covered with wood to help disguise the decoder. A sugar cube speaker was used in the tender.
   The painting and lettering was based on the original Baldwin paint scheme for the Tahoe. Readers of my other posts may notice that the name Stanislaus appears frequently. This is one of the counties through which the S&C operates and where Oakdale is located. The next engine should go together a bit more quickly. It will represent a similar mogul which has been converted to burn coal and repainted in a paint scheme more typical of the late 1880s. It will be named Calaveras for another of the counties in which the railroad runs.