Has anyone attempted to backdate one of the BLI T1's to the 6110/6111 as-delivered configuration?
The scope of work appears to be:
- Scratch build a new nose on the front of the boiler (much longer taper)
- Perhaps shave off some of the raised boiler side panels - they do not appear in the builder photos, nor early service photos.
- Perhaps move some of the boiler bands
- Make new hand rails and grabs forward of where the boiler begins to taper
- Scratch build a new pilot - which runs all the way back to the front of the first set of cylinders
- Extend the locomotive skirt further down, covering much of the valve gear
- Put tender skirts on
- Perhaps fix the front cab windows (6110 appears to have bigger forward facing windows than the BLI model)
- Make a new number plate to go on the pilot
- Upgrade cast on details to suit
- Remove the trainphones??? They do not appear in builder photos, and all early in-service photos I have do not show the tender deck.
- Repaint
- Use the Champ experimental T1 decal set on the tender.
- One of the two engines had a booster truck - I'm not sure how much effort this would be. I do not have close-up photos of the trailing trucks, but photos from near the front end would indicate the trailing truck side frames were the same.
Any Thoughts?
Also, looking through the TKM BLI T1 review, it mentioned that Schuylkill division builder and trust plates were available (5 years ago) and were much better than the oversize BLI plates - is there still a source for these plates? I can't find mention of them anywhere on the Internet.
Thanks,
Dave Evans
The scope of work appears to be:
- Scratch build a new nose on the front of the boiler (much longer taper)
- Perhaps shave off some of the raised boiler side panels - they do not appear in the builder photos, nor early service photos.
- Perhaps move some of the boiler bands
- Make new hand rails and grabs forward of where the boiler begins to taper
- Scratch build a new pilot - which runs all the way back to the front of the first set of cylinders
- Extend the locomotive skirt further down, covering much of the valve gear
- Put tender skirts on
- Perhaps fix the front cab windows (6110 appears to have bigger forward facing windows than the BLI model)
- Make a new number plate to go on the pilot
- Upgrade cast on details to suit
- Remove the trainphones??? They do not appear in builder photos, and all early in-service photos I have do not show the tender deck.
- Repaint
- Use the Champ experimental T1 decal set on the tender.
- One of the two engines had a booster truck - I'm not sure how much effort this would be. I do not have close-up photos of the trailing trucks, but photos from near the front end would indicate the trailing truck side frames were the same.
Any Thoughts?
Also, looking through the TKM BLI T1 review, it mentioned that Schuylkill division builder and trust plates were available (5 years ago) and were much better than the oversize BLI plates - is there still a source for these plates? I can't find mention of them anywhere on the Internet.
Thanks,
Dave Evans
