Over the years I’ve slowly been accumulating parts for the Nason 2-8-0. It took a long time, but I’ve got essentially a complete model now.

Probably the key part to find was the frame. To see the “donor” engine, see this article. It was in a vintage On3 locomotive, with non-Nason drivers. I’m planning to keep those, as for sure the engine ran and was used a good bit. Which gives me hope that when I’m done this model will operate well! But what I found was that the builder of that model took a lot of material off the Nason frame, which I will have to fabricate and solder on. One especially unfortunate modification was deepening the slot where the cylinder saddle fits.

Below are most of the locomotive parts as they are right now.

Over to the left, in the bags, are a group of mostly valve gear parts from Jeff’s OO purchased on Shapeways — parts that are no longer available, since July of 2024, so I’m glad I have them to use.

About half the parts I have multiple copies, but not the frame! I have the original Nason instructions and they are full scale, I can duplicate the missing portions of the frame. I’m really only missing a couple things, which I can fabricate if I can’t locate them in my various parts supplies. I may have them somewhere, it is a puzzle to solve.

I have a HO version of this same prototype, non-running and purchased cheaply, that I thankfully can use as a source for a few parts as well.

The tender is essentially complete.

For the missing railings I’ll use parts from that HO model, and I have nice NWSL wheels to use in the trucks.

This is going to be a slow project. The one thing I’m hoping though is that I can end up with a model that runs really well. As the project progresses, I’ll have more updates.