With it being July 4 (!) it’s about time for a few photos of the Bicentennial diesel switcher. And it’s time for an update on the drives for the other two switchers that have been part of this overall project. To review where things last stood, see this post.

Universals and tanks

First off, I was not very happy with the air tanks I had cast in Cerrobend for these engines. The issue was the master was quickly made in wood, so the mold wasn’t real good, and copies can’t be good then either.

Then, of course when looking for something else, I found three (!!!) air tanks that were identical to the one I had ruined that was on the SW-1 when it came to me. All I had to do was make one more that was a close match, and I had an ace up my sleeve there too, as I now had the correct size of brass rod to turn on a lathe. In this first photo below you can see one of the three castings and also the one I made to match.

The photo shows a lot more as well. My idea was to make “L” shaped pieces to represent the fuel tank, leaving a nice open area for the universals. On this engine I soldered the L directly to the frame, and there is a piece of rectangular brass tubing holding the tanks at the correct height.

The universals, which I had stressed about for a long while, worked out really easily, which was a complete surprise. They are parts from AHM SW-1 locomotives. The female end was modified to fit on the original Super-Scale drive shafts. As I write this I’m on the fence between putting a ball inside the middle between the two male ends or a small block. Either way, this is going to work fine. Whew!

The NW-2 has a slightly different floor setup, but there still is enough room for the same general air/fuel tank setup. It will look nice.

On both engines, the frame sits too low on the trucks currently, leaving the couplers way low. I’ll work on that more soon, but these are close to done. Yay!

Bicentennial action

And as mentioned, this is July 4, 2026! I decided to take some photos that were more of a railfan type experience with that switcher. They are not quite as well focused as I usually post, but hopefully reflective of nostalgia for 1976. Which I am certainly feeling, I was 13 that summer, and the Bicentennial was quite a big deal in east central Kansas — the location of my freelanced KCM&O/Orient.

To set the scene, this is the overall area of the photos.

Looking back at things from the right, we have this view.

From over by the road we have this.

I’ll mention also, and this was not intentional but worked out, the matching engine I run it with is number 250!

And finally from over by the fuel pumps we have this. My salute to America.