Locomotives: 2-8-0 #60
Reference
Builder's Plate
Built in 1937 by the American Locomotive Company, #60 was originally the property of the Great Western Railway. Purchased by the BR&W in 1963, the Consolidation pulled their inaugural train on 16 May 1965, and she's been the workhorse—and a principal draw—for the railroad since then, albeit with some long gaps while she received several rounds of refurbishment and repair.
Above she's seen in her original livery on the GW in Colorado; below is a classic shot of her on the BR&W, taken in 1966.
Fred Springer
Lucky for me, she was running during my modeling era. Here she is about to take on water in November 1978—note the black smokebox:
Doug Lilly
The Model
My version of #60 won't be nearly as faithful to the real one as I'd prefer, but the only way to achieve that would be to scratchbuild, which I'm not inclined or prepared to do, given a number of limitations I'm facing. So, mine will be a compromise built using items from two commercial models that'll bring me close enough to be recognizable as the iconic locomotive.
The starting point for my version of #60 will be the mechanism from Walthers Heritage Series 0-8-0, mostly because of the drivers: the real ones are relatively small (her top speed is around 20 mph). The valve gear isn't quite right, but that's not especially noticeable. The hardest part will be reducing the height of the chassis so that the boiler snuggles down on the frame, which meant completely dismantling the mechanism, something I'd have preferred to avoid.
The shell and tender will come from a Bachmann Spectrum Consolidation, modified as needed. Why not use the chassis, too? The drivers are too big, and they don't have open spokes—which sounds picky, but they do look pretty bad up close and in person. I will, however, use the pilot wheels.