More about the tender behind part 3 and other projects

I just found this unpublished draft of more tender behind work....

I have been sidelined from active work on the Port Costa layout for the last 7 months by medical issues that prevent standing for even short periods of time to work on the layout. These same issues have also slowed me at the workbench. Hopefully I am getting better but it is a slow long haul. 

The 90-R-7 tender bash from the Bachmann 2-8-0 tender has finally reached the stage where the only thing left is the wiring for a LocoFi Wifi receiver and stay/keep alive and installation of a backup light.

This is my current 2-8-0 Collection

The brass tender, not connected, behind the unmodified Bachmann 2-8-0 numbered for a fictional engine is a Sunset tender I was given.  It still needs to be insulated and wired for LocoFi. It also needs to be repainted and decalled. I have been assured that the brass shell will not be a barrier to WiFi signal reception. 

The left tender on the front row is a simple bash of the Bachmann 2-8-0 tender with a simple scratch bunker. The dimensions and wheelbase do not match any of the 70-R or 90-R tenders in my SP tender diagrams book. It has the look of the smaller 70-R-1 tenders. It will pass as a stand-in. 

The tender on the right is an early 3D print version of a 73-SC-1 based on the Lomita preserved tender. There are two developers working on versions of this tender that will fit over the Bachmann 2-8-0 underframe/chassis. There is a very long topic on the SP280HO.groups.io groups about the development of this specific tender which was common behind the C-8,9,10 engines in the 1950's. 

The 90-R-7 tender is shown here in the center with 3 other tender options for eventual running with a 2-8-0 that will be modified with parts from Owl Mountain Models to resemble an SP Consolidation (C-8, C-9, or C-10).    Research has shown that in the 1950's the 90-R-7 tender was not assigned to many C-9 consolidations. I have photo evidence of only 3 instances. I don't have postwar photos for about 20% if the C-9's and am still working on the C-8's and C-10's. The results are being made available in a spreadsheet format file available to subscribers to the SP280HO.groups.io group (Subscription is free.)  Hopefully and updated version will be available by the end of April 2024. 

These are photo closeups of the completed 90-R-7 tender after decaling and adding the rear ladder. I still need to find and add a backup light. 

The decals that I have applied are from Microscale's 87-65 set. Mine are dated from 2014 and I have not checked for updates. The lettering appears to be very white but is slightly grey on the backing sheet but then even if it is not "lettering grey" it matches what I see in B/W and color photos from the period. 

I am uncertain but the 90-R-7 may wind up behind one of the IHC 2-6-0 M-4's I own. They were more common behind the M and TW classes. 

I have another topic on modeling yard trackage and turnouts to look as if they were buried in dirt rather than ballast. But this has gone on long enough and I want to do a bit more work on modeling the turnouts before I publish. 

My best to all who have read this far.

This blog is pretty much in temporary hiatus due to medical problems. Hopefully it will return when I can type a simple sentence without 10 or more corrections. 

I still have hopes that the Owl Mountain parts to complete the SP C-9 stand in from a Bachmann HO 2-8-0 will come and I can convert the 3 engines I have waiting to make them available for helper and local freight duty on the ready line at Port Costa. Jason Hill has had medical issues as well. 

My attempts to build a replica in HO of the SP station and engine facilities at Port Costa and the mainline trains running through on the Martinez Subdivision of the Western Division 1950-1955 remains unfinished. It still needs replacement of most of the mockup structures, the turntable and water tank, finishing the mainline track and the rebuild of the east end of the yard with the oil track. 

I started a PA-1 6009 rebuild of a P2K 1998 vintage engine and have progressed to getting the LocoFi installation working and recognizing both the PA-1 and an earlier F-7 installation as active. Both need LED headlights an MARS lights installed but I have not researched the way to add them. For the PA-1 the goal was to model one of the short Oakland-Sacramento services that ran several times a day like the current Capitol services. Now if I can just get that promised Oxford Miniatures HO 1950 Studebaker to add the parking lot between the freight house and roundhouse.

The English railways modeling in 4mm Scale is now just a memory and boxes of OO/4mm equipment  that will probably never run again. I have sold off all the GWR stuff associated with the Brixham branch and Dartmouth/Kingswear line. I still have all of the Southern Railway (1945-47) equipment and structures. Probably the SR N-1 Moguls are the only running locomotives. They have basic DCC installed. All of the tiny 0-4-4 and 2-4-0 DJM locomotives have failed. I never spent the $300 for the recent LSWR Cross Country sets which would have also been used to Padstow in the late SR period.  I still follow the products made for the UK market for the Southern Railway. One of my great grandfathers on my fathers side was the signalman at Sydenham Hill station just the other end of the Penge tunnel in the late Victorian and Edwardian era. 

I had planned to only write the first line of this blog post.  I ramble. It has been difficult as my hands are having a hard time staying on the home keys of the keyboard...

The Tender Behind...An SP 90-R-7 tender for a Bachmann HO 2-8-0 Part 2

I finally have this little tender to the point I need to prep and decal.  

Adding the Archer rivets to the bunker tank was more of a pain than I expected as previously added rows kept getting disturbed when I added a new row. I finally gave up. I sprayed the tender Tamiya ST-82 Rubber Black.  It's a great color for steam engines and tank cars. Thanks to Tony Thompson for the tip. It now needs Pledge (I still have a bottle) for glossing on the center panel of the tender body for post 1946 SOUTHERN PACIFIC decaling. 

I am waiting for a PSC ladder casting on order for the rear 4 rung ladder. I am also looking for an SP style small engine backup light. I haven't found one on the American Scale models list of steam engine parts or the Prantles list from their hobby store in Pasco, WA. The backup light looks like the older larger diameter SP headlights used prior to the headlight that became standard in the 1940's.   

Bunker Rivet rows were based on photos of the 90-R-7 preserved at the Kern County Museum in Bakersfield, CA Thanks to Robert O. Donley for his shots of the top of the tender, bunker top and ends.  I now have photos of the engine facing end of the tender while it was being moved with no loco in the way.  I can fill in the gaps from the Arnold Menke drawings.  Were I to rebuild or build another 90-R-7 I would make some changes.  As it is, this version is not a 100% accurate model. But then the Bachmann tender dimensions are not exact and that is the base for the model. 

I am also getting to the wiring changes in the tender needed to add the LocoFi receiver and speaker. My hands are not as flexible as when I last wired a LocoFi F7 diesel a couple of years ago. 

The tender in Bakersfield is behind 4-8-0 2914. The 90-R-7 tender was not as common behind SP C-8,9,10 engines as the 90-C-1 and 100-C-1 or 73-SC -1 tenders.  However they were used if available at Port Costa for engines in helper service for the eastbound grade up to the Suisun Bridge. east of Martinez.  The helper engines cut off from behind the steel underframe caboose at Bahia crossed over to the westbound main.  

The helper then backed down through Martinez to Port Costa and then crossed over to the ready track in Port Costa to do it again for the next eastbound steam powered freight. The 90-R-7 and whaleback tenders made it  easier for crews to see when backing down the 5-6 miles to Port Costa.