The Little River Rail Road in Doc Tom's Back Yard

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Visitors welcome

It ia looking good Tom, I'm going to have to get there some day and check it out

Hi Bill,

Looking forward to your visit. The RR grows about 3 feet per month.

It will seem a little different than the last time you were here. Hope you can bring your Goose with Radio Control.

Tom
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
A BIG HAULER becomes a little Pacific for the Little River Rail Road.

Little River locomotive #110 is a beautiful Baldwin product and the smallest Pacific standard gauge ever built by Baldwin. It was small with a blind center driving wheel (like our model lokies) and a very short driving wheelbase (about the length of a Neon automobile) to handle the very tight curves of the Little River Rail Road snaking through the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee.

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The wheel base of the Bachmann Big Hauler 4-6-0 is just about dead on for a model of this little pacific.

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It does lack the trailing truck that would make it a 4-6-2. Well, I got many ideas on how to attach a trailing truck from fellow modelers here on the Internet. I purchased an older "version 4" Big Hauler from eBay for $41 that ran failrly well and started the project. What worked for the trailing truck was to use a wheel set and bracket cut out of an older lead truck from a very old Bachmann Big Hauler donated by my friend Bill Nelson.

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I used the trusty Dremel to cut out a slot in the chassis to place the trailing truck.

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The wheelset slipped in perfectly and using a large washer held by the screw to the tender "hook" it floats and pivots allowing it to handle the undulating curves of the Little River RR high in the Smoky Mountains

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Tom Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Incredible! I find these photos to be very relaxing to view. Thanks! :)

Hi Zathros,

Glad you liked the pics.
I think what you are noting from the prototype shots is just what beautiful locomotives Baldwin built. It is pleasing to look at something mechanical that just looks good.

Tom
 
Z

Zathros

I think the appreciation for this kind of engineering was what drew me towards being a machinist. :)
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Little River #110 is getting there.

More progress on Little River #110......."a stretched Big Hauler"

It has been so hot recently that most of my RR modelling as been in the shed with the AC blowing "Maximum."

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In the shed I have been advancing the Little River #110 locomotive project and hope to come close to this:

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I have gone from this.

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To this.

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A stretched version of the venerable Big Hauler. I moved the air tanks aft and cut a new groove near the end of the boiler to hang the cab about 4 inches back.

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I think it is approaching the lines of the prototype. I am using junk parts from another scrapped Big Hauler and so far I am out $41 for this interesting project.

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Next up will be constructing the "aft frame" to fill in under the cab.

Here is a short enjoyable video of LRRR #110 in action one hundred years after her birth up in Michigan. Hope to get up there some day and hitch a ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2htOl-Z … re=related


Tom Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
That is looking good Tom.



I know what you mean about the ac. The window unit I acquired from you years ago died about four years ago. I replaced it with one my daughter had at college, but it is getting pretty weak, and I'm trying to figure if I want to try to get it fixed, or buy a more powerful one for the atic RR.


One reason I guess I have been working in the basement on my portable
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
A roomy cab for #110

My Little River locomotive number 110 is getting closer to looking like the prototype.

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Boss Crumb congratulates the hard-working shop crew on creating a roomy cab for this locomotive.

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Seems to be plenty of room for the engineer, firemen and any local passengers.

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Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
looking good

this project is looking pretty good! a good approximation without having to build a boiler, which would be the only way to get any closer.
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
this project is looking pretty good! a good approximation without having to build a boiler, which would be the only way to get any closer.

Thanks Bill. I have learned a lot in this build. The boiler is close but the real #110 had a straight boiler and the B.mann Big Hauler has a taper.

When we build the 2-4-4-2 we will use PVC pipe for a prototype straight boiler. B.mann is releasing 0-4-0 "Little Big Haulers" in Large Scale in the fall of 2012. These will make great donor mechanisms for the 2-4-4-2 model. The Little Big Haulers are going for less than $100 street value.

#110's mechanism is doing well and I am scrounging electronic parts for the RC/Battery power. The crude chuff actually works so there will be some sort of sound.

Hopefully in the next 2-3 months it will be earning its keep on the LRRR.

Tom
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Locomotive #110 gets a "tender behind"

My rendition of Little River RR locomotive #110 continues. I have just completed the paint and weathering on its tender. So I thought it was time for a few more pictures.

Here are the original photos of the Bachmann Big Hauler I bought on eBay for $41. Note the funky cab roofline.

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The model was apparently stored a little too close to a heat source. I later found the heat also affected the trucks to the tender and their frames were quite warped. Fortunately spare parts were available in the scrap box for a rebuild.

Here is my interpretation of the Baldwin Pacific in the yard at Townsend Tennessee about 1926.

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I chose this era to reflect 15 years of use on a logging line. Management initially had used this locomotive to haul passengers to the resorts and Wonderland Hotel in Elkmont Tennessee, high in the Smoky Mountains.

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In later years the hard working locomotive was also used to bring log trains down to the mill as the line went further and further into the mountains.

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As the trees played out the holdings of the Little River Lumber Company were sold to the Federal Government to become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the 1930’s.

Little River RR #110 subsequently went to the Smoky Mountain RR and then was abandoned for decades before being rescued and restored for the present day Little River RR tourist line in Coldwater Michigan.

Here it is lovingly restored and cleaned in our most modern of times.

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Thanks for looking.

Tom Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Bill Nelson

Well-Known Member
like all but the weathering.

It looks good except for the weathering. The Little river was very fond of that locomotive, and I have never seen a photo of it where it didn't have a little shine going on.
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Oh Oh

It looks good except for the weathering. The Little river was very fond of that locomotive, and I have never seen a photo of it where it didn't have a little shine going on.

Oh well. One thing about weathering, it is very hard to remove.

At least it is not to the point of decrepit as in the photo below when it was found abandoned and headed up north for restoration.

Tom:cry:
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Track Gang moves the line a little further.

Just like the prototype Little River Rail Road, the track gang loves getting its picture taken.

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Maybe its to show off and strut their stuff.

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Or maybe its because they are proud of all the rocks they moved to make another 3 feet of mainline on the 1:20.3 railroad high in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

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Thanks for looking.

Tom Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Z

Zathros

Awesome, those black and white pictures intermingled with those of your model really are a great juxtaposition! :)
 

Doctor G

Well-Known Member
Awesome, those black and white pictures intermingled with those of your model really are a great juxtaposition! :)

Thanks Zathros. I have really enjoyed "researching" the Little River RR. I found most of the prototype pictures on the Little River RR museum website.

Tom
 

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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
A redo for #110

A Redo.

I had these pictures of well-weathered Little River locomotive #110 reviewed by my good Rail Road Buddy, Mr. Bill Nelson here in Clarksville Tennessee.

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He felt the locomotive was a bit too grungy. He correctly pointed out that the crews had a special pride for this engine in the hey day of the Little River RR in the Smoky Mountains and the engine was more than likely frequently wiped down by the attentive crews.

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The more I thought about it he was right………so it was back to the shops for a wipe down. Of course this meant a repaint followed by an extremely dilute wash for a touch of grime only. I did keep the driving wheels and rods somewhat “dirty” figuring that road dust from the very simple logging roadbed would confound even the most careful of cleaners.

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So now the character of the locomotive is that of a well cared for beast of burden that the crews of 1911 and today’s tourist Little River RR would be proud of.

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Constructive criticism in this hobby is very useful!!
By the way I did keep the grungy cab interior…….sorry Bill.

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Doc Tom :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
The Little River Rail Road Gets Electronics

The Little River Rail Road gets electronics.

Many thanks to Tyler at my local RR club for donating this neat Whiskey River RR Bachmann Box Car done up in the WRRY livery and numbered 37.

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I used this nice boxcar to do my very first battery and RC install.

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My Shay has a purchased install in it, but for my other LRRR steamers I wanted to do my own install. As a “nube” I figured I would start with a trailing battery car as there would be plenty of room to work in and I had two steamers ready to hook up and receive the juice.

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Kudos to Del Tapparo’s ” G Scale Graphics” for the nifty components, the very good install manuals, and the friendly quick response to my emails and questions. It has been a fun project so far. There has been no smoke coming from the electronics after fully charging battery and switching the toggle “on”. I am awaiting the inexpensive Spektrum transmitter, I ordered this weekend, and hope to be moving loads soon over the mountain trails we call a logging railroad.

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Doc Tom Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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Doctor G

Well-Known Member
It's alive.

It’s alive.

After several months of acquiring components and very careful wiring and following manuals my first self made battery/ RC install in a trailing battery car was taken out for a spin on the Little River RR. Fortunately nothing exploded or caught fire and none of the wiring was reversed……….the locomotive actually ran!! What fun.

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Here are a couple of shots of the green battery car powering LRRR locomotive #1 through the mountains of East Tennessee.

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Now #1 can join its coal eating cousin #2147 doing the work of the Little River RR.

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A special thanks to Del Tapparro’s G Scale Graphics for its very well designed Rail Boss components and very well written instructions that allowed me to do a “first” in my model rail road career. Doc Tom and the Little River Rail Road in Tennessee
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