Building
a Southern Pacific
Consolidation
This page follows the building of a MDC Roundhouse “Old Timer” Consolidation.
The Project Overview
This page documents the building and modification of a MDC Old Timer 2-8-0 locomotive kit. This kit with some modifications can be made into a very passable C-6 class Southern Pacific Consolidation.
Class C-6 consisted of only locomotive number 2500. The prototype for this locomotive was built by Baldwin in 1891. The model will be painted and lettered for the time of and around 1916.
Here’s a H. L. Arey photo of number 2500 in 1915:
Given this as a prototype photo I modified the kit and added detail as needed. I built this locomotive about a year ago, so this page will be more of a picture show than a narrative.
Key Modifications
The biggest difference between the kit and the prototype is the coal tender supplied in the kit. The tender needs to be converted over to an oil tender to be accurate.
On number 2500 all of the locomotive appliances are mounted above the walkways on the boiler. In the kit the appliances are mounted lower on the boiler such that they are both above and below the walkways. To match the prototype the walkways were filled, and all of the cast features for mounting the appliances were removed.
All of the plastic appliances and piping were replaced with brass castings. The lead truck was replaced with a brass Precision Scale truck that had spoked wheels. The tender trucks were replaced with a brass pair of Precision Scale Archbar trucks.
The kit came with a good quality Sagami open frame motor that drew about the same current as a can motor, so I used the original motor. All of the MDC gears were replaced with gears from North West Short Lines 181-6 re-gearing kit.
I replaced the plastic drawbar with a new metal one that I insulated from the locomotive’s frame. This made a wireless connection to the tender pickup, and also allows the tender to be separated from the locomotive. The drawbar is now setup the same as any brass locomotive.
Kitbashed Photos
Here are some photos of the major modifications to the boiler:
And here are a couple of photos of the oil bunker I made for the tender:
I used North West Short Lines riveter tool along with their SensiPress to create the rivet detail. Note the tender steps in these photos as they show the tender body in its original condition.
Here’s a photo of the finished tender shell, note the steps now, and the railing wall modifications at the back of the tender.
Here are a couple of pictures of the painted boiler shell:
Page 1 – Last updated January 12, 2004