Locomotives

The roster for the Thoroughfare Gap Railroad stands at six with a mixture of old and new power.

The 119; the railroad's management has a soft spot for history. When the Union Pacific went to sell off some of its old roster the TGRR was quick to purchase the 119. The model is a newly tooled Bachmann 4-4-0. The model has been repainted and decaled.


The Jupiter is also a newly tooled Bachmann 4-4-0. This locomotive has just had its boiler repainted, some small details added and its decal artwork updated. I used Humbrol's Metalcote Gunmetal colour to represent Russia iron on all my locomotives. It is buffable after it's dried and comes up very shiny. 




The Firefly is a 2-8-0 built in the late 1870s. Management found that the need to run longer trains up grade to Teresaton and purchased a consolidation to fill the gap. This locomotive is an IHC 4-4-0 boiler shell merged onto a remotored Roundhouse 2-8-0 mechanism. The locomotive runs really nicely and can pull pretty well up my steep grades. I've added a Tsunami sound decoder as well. This locomotive underwent a repaint, which you can read about here.



The TGRR found that they needed further locomotives and purchased two modern engines. Leviathan was purchased first and Mountaineer was purchased a year later.  Both models are Bachmann Spectrum models with factory Tsunami sound. Both arrived in plain black livery but the Railroads management takes pride in its locomotives and redecorated them. Leviathan was given a wooden cab and finish in dark green with gold leaf trim.

Mountaineer was repainted in a red-brown and finished with gold leaf trim. She is a large drivered 4-4-0 and is often used to haul express passengers and freight.


Griffin is a big drivered 2-6-0 locomotive with a large wagon top boiler. The railroad's management requested she be finished in black with a varnished wooden cab. She is at home hauling freight or passenger cars on the railroad. This is a kitbashed locomotive, which you can read about here.



5 comments:

  1. Like that 2-8-0. Very nice conversion. Mike

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  2. Your Roundhouse conversion of the 2-8-0 is fantastic. What motor did you use as a replacement?

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  3. Hi Karl, thanks for the interest. I used a small Faulhauber DC motor that I found second hand. I'm afraid I don't know the type. However, any decent small can motor could be used. When kitbashing, I use silicon caulk to cement my motors in place.

    This kit bash took alot of inspiration from Harold Minkwitz's roundhouse 4-4-0 kitbash. You can find what he did here: http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/1905/4-4-0_merge/

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  4. I may have missed this but did you install the DCC decoders yourself in all of them?

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  5. Hi Mark, yes I did. I hardwired the Tsunami 2 decoders into each locomotive, even the DCC ready ones. Once I'd figured it out and done it once it was easy enough. Soundtraxx had some good documentation and diagrams with the products.

    You can read more about my conversion to the Tsunami 2 decoders here http://thoroughfaregaprailroad.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-dangers-of-getting-new-locomotives.html

    Thanks for your interest.

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