The Atom Furnace: Purists Beware: Budget Consolidation, or, making a standard gauge loco look like DRGW NG.

Many moons ago, Model Die Casting produced what remains the only real "budget" entry into HO narrow gauge. A kit, not RTR, it

was a fairly inaccurate, non-specific 2-8-0, which could, with some skill and patience, be turned into something not unlike a few of the larger C class prototypes. I bult one to resemble No. 375, but to this day still have no dedicated place to run it (despite a small collection of rolling stock to go with it).

Fast forward a decade or so. Visiting Durango, CO, and after the always great train ride, picked up a set of D&SNG passenger cars. Yes, they're standard gauge. Yes, they're the wrong car roof style. But hey, I bought them there, so...

Fast forward to 2022. Doing a lot of refurbishing and outright rebuilding of my vintage HO layout, and thought "why not get a standard gauge MDC kit and DRGW-ize it, so I have something to pull those cars.

***trigger warning***

Yes, I am going to build an imaginary engine to pull imaginary cars on an imaginary railroad. No apologies offered. If this bothers you, click elsewhere.

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Still here? OK. Here's where we begin.

Scanned ebay for available kits. All vintage, prices vary, all roughly 50-100 depending on condition. Found one slightly incomplete on the low end, bought it

Missing pilot truck wheels, stack, motor mounting screw. Main gear badly worn down by an ill-fitted pinion. V&T prototype.

1. The Plan

I am using DRGW C19 and C21 class consolidations as a basis for detailing, primarily 360 and 361. I'll probably number it as imaginary 362

Cut down the firebox and steamchest to lower the boiler.

Replace the damaged factory gears with NWSL replacements, which will lower the speed

Option, replace the motor with a NWSL flat can, and prep for future DCC

Remove all handrails and fittings on the boiler. Replace with / add fixtures consistent with the above prototypes, to include working lighting.

Same with the tender, which appears a few ft shorter than I'd like, but we'll make do.

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Here she is with boiler deets removed, puttied up, sanded, and primed. New K27 style stack by Wiseman added. Removed the back of the coal bunker extension and shortened the sides, removed a small air tank, backup light, and cast-on ladder.

Next, we'll dremel the frame as noted to lower the boiler. DRGW NG engines were Railroad Low Riders, and this one needs to come down closer to the weeds to capture that NG look. May require clearancing inside the upper boiler shell to clear the motor, could be tight. We'll build, test, and finish the running gear before we get into cosmetics, I want this to run without a hitch.

Fetch the dremel...

First, lets remove the top 1/8 of the firebox, and re-notch the back to clear the backhead. File smooth.

Now for the delicate bit. The steam chest and boiler saddle are cast as one piece. Drenel the saddle off and file down the steam chest until the boiler sits level. This will take a while unless you have a micro milling machine...

Given enough time, sweat, and patience, you can get it lowered to match the firebox.

Now let's see how it looks.

Before

After

Now, about that gear and motor replacement...

The folks at Northwest Short Line still make re-gear and motor upgrade kits for these vintage MDC locos. A small press is needed to remove your old gears; replacement also includes a stack of thrust washers to prevent the misalignments that ate the teeth from the kit's original gearset. The motor rests on a blob of gorilla glue construction adhesive, so maje sure you have it where you want it in terms of alignment before it sets. The motor fits inside the boiler shell without modification. Then we'll reassemble and run it around the track. Mechanically and electrically it checks out. My only concern is its high starting speed. As soon as you cravk the throttle, she sprints away. Will need to lool for a solution to gradual starts and good slow speed operation.

With the heart transplant out of the way, I csn begin to detail the boiler and tender. My goal is to add details typical to a DRGW NG steam engine of the 40s, specifically the newer and larger C classes C19 and C21, but asheringbto no specific prototype. I will rely primarily on Precision Scale brass details except as noted.

Two prototypes for reference:

I sketched the engine and tender from both sides and began choosing detail bits necessary to capture the DRG look:

Headlamp #3085

Headlamp base #3107

Smokestack cap #32430

Number board #31362

Smokebox braces #31248

Boiler check valves #3099

Sand fittings #3191

Twin air pumps #32584

...and plumbing #3482

Bell #3089

Pop valves #3200

Whistle # 3136

Generator #3148

Injector #3143

Brake cylinders #3194

Handrail stanchions #3303

Valve stem arms #31534

Tender ladder #32435

Tender air tank #32091

As the kit was missing a pilot truck, I raided the parts box for some sheet brass and a inside frame pilot, the 26" wheelset coming from eBay. A bit of soldering and drilling and some plastic spacers and we have a functional pilot truck. The headlight contained clear lenses, but no room for a buld, so I drilled out the back and mounted a flat micro LED. How to get power to it? The kit was not designed with this in mind, and a few broken tool bits later I decided drilling through the mass of white metal inside the plastic boiler wrapper and smokebox was not viable, so I ran.it along the boiler and into the cab. Once the rest of the plumbing and handrails are on it should be less obtrusive.

Here we can see braces, bell, air pumps, pop valves and whistle mounted, and the "361-style" tender, coal bunker extensions scratch built and installed, and a coal load of real coal filched from Durango long ago ;-)