To continue the saga of my current 4-6-0 project, with the driver falling off the drive I was going to use it was time to examine options.

It had been a while since I really evaluated all my Scale-Craft 4-6-0 and 4-4-2 projects and parts. I came to the conclusion that I have two viable frames and driver sets of each engine, and lots of parts. The one below being an example of a very viable frame for a new engine.

The engine this came from was complete, but clearly had never been run, and the point that stumped the builder was the point when he needed to solder the brass washers on the ends of the nubs on each driver. In the photo above you can see that they all fell off. My guess is soldered at too low a temp or without flux.

In my parts I found the correct, tiny washers and cleaned up the nubs (being sure to set things at the angle seen in the S-C instructions).

Next I got the washers in place and set it up for soldering with my resistance soldering setup (which is why there is a clip visible on the driver.

Not very visible, but I have put a bit of paste flux on the nub and also there is a chip of fresh solder on top. A few seconds of soldering with the unit and it is all solid and ready to go.

As I can only use the garage shop briefly in the early mornings now, I have things set up out there for repairing and building more of these S-C drives, maybe all four that I mentioned. It is the toughest single step in building these and who knows, maybe I can get this special 4-6-0 project running this summer?

UPDATE. Looking at all the drives, there was one drive that actually started this project, I have a SC 4-6-0 frame that was shortened to make a 2-6-0 and then, I think, the project was abandoned, as they did not fix a critical error.

In the comparison photo below, you can see the frame just mentioned, with my Newton and Northern 2-6-0. Look closely at the steam chests. What Newton Guerin did was move the steam chest closer to the first driver and alter the main rod and location of the valve gear. It is a nice piece of engineering, one I feel sure that I can duplicate.

Also visible is the boiler I’ll probably use (I have two more!) from a S-C 0-6-0. Note the length is correct, I just need to duplicate the N&N drive. But it does need a bit of working over and repair.

So now I have two projects, a 2-6-0 and a 4-6-0. They will make a nice pair of engines, mostly likely for my Madison-Quincy-Southern short line. I have most of the parts for the boilers, and what I don’t have I believe that I can fabricate. A good engineering project to slowly work out.

Return to beginning of 2-6-0/4-6-0 series