This past winter I insulated our garage door. The benefit of this is even though I’m in Arizona and daytime highs are around 100 right now, if I cool the garage aggressively early in the morning I can still use the shop all morning. In relation to various challenges of life, working on trains every morning has been what the doctor ordered for me for sure. I’m trying to do as much “dirty” shop work as I can in the garage shop, so I’ve been bouncing project to project, as reflected in recent posts.

This engine is the classic type of project that involves making something complicated with no instructions. It has taken many mornings to now, but a nice puzzle to ponder. The series on building this SW8 starts here.

A SW-8?

One question I had was if the model really was an SW-8, as the built-up example (in TT scale) on the website of Worsley Works has two stacks, and a SW-8 only has one (that model may also be seen in this article). And the model has holes placed for two stacks. I have come to the conclusion though that it is in fact a SW-8, an 800 HP locomotive produced from 1950-54, with one stack. I printed out a number of prototype photos to guide with the build.

I kind of wish it were a bit bigger prototype, that would be slightly easier to get a drive in.

Making the drive as early as possible

Over time I’ve learned that you need to for sure have a drive in mind for any locomotive project before you get too far. In this case, for the SW-8 the basis of the frame is a “blue box” Athearn GP-7. I have done this same general setup several times before; one truck and the motor are from the Athearn engine, sitting in an extensively modified frame, and the front truck is from in this case an AHM S-2. In the case of both engines, they use what would be road diesel trucks, and when used on a switcher in OO they scale out well. This engine will have 8-wheel pickup and run well, if I can get it all to fit. It is a tight squeeze, and I may have to punt eventually and use a different motor or cut down the sideframes a bit. The front truck is the big challenge. But for now, I’m hopeful.

In the first photo I was hoping to use part of the AHM frame, but in the second you can see I made a different frame insert to hold the front truck and keep the frame level.

As I said, this is a kit with no instructions, so you have to think out process over and over. Some parts need to go on before others, some things have to be done in an order you have to visualize while working out the model.

On to the brass frame

Backing up a step, there are a lot of steps to prep the body for assembly. First of course all the parts need cleaned up and bent. After that, there are some choices.

As I had spent so long on the drive (several full mornings!) that visible base was the place to start. One specific challenge was the pieces on the inside of the steps were overly long and needed cut down – otherwise, all the parts were the right size.

Soldering the steps with a torch

While in retrospect maybe not the best choice, I chose to go with a torch for soldering the ends of the frame and steps. The thinking being it would be the best to set it all up and solder in one shot, and it was more familiar to me.

The really challenging part was setting it up, which took quite a while. The pieces and angles involved were not simple to work out. Once I finally had it set up, as seen below, I could set it up again with the clamps in 10 minutes.

I soldered the ends with a torch and the liquid flux I usually use on horns. This may have been overkill.

The whole thing is totally solid (with a bit more solder than I would have preferred), but one of the frame end gussets I did not get on correctly, and I ended up building the cab end of the frame twice and fixing it further with the resistance soldering unit.

Resistance soldering the rest of the frame together

For a project with this gauge of brass my Micro-Mark resistance soldering unit worked well. Careful setup before each soldering operation is essential. The next operation was adding some square brass rod to the frame to make it stiffer and to give a surface to solder the visible edge of the frame to.

I then used clamps again and soldered the visible frame using the resistance soldering outfit. Being sure to solder in such a way that little if any solder is on a visible surface.

And there it is. I’ve already built most of the body, more on that soon.

Continue in the SW8 series