McNitt-Huyett Lumber Company, Waddle, Centre County, Pennsylvania operated this
22 Ton Class A Climax, built in 1922.
The locomotive has a steel frame, improved
square tee boiler and large capacity square water tank. The smoke stack on this
locomotive is very unusual and was possibly a home-made replacement done by the
owner.This photo was taken from Ed Vasser's definitive page on the evolution of the Climax Locomotive.
Visit his mine of information here
This is the Toenail Ridge Shortline's version of this locomotive.
This Class A Climax was scratchbuilt from a toy bump&go engine and balsa wood. It rides on a Plexiglass (Perspex) frame. Power is 2 D cell batteries in the water tank. The brake wheel behind the right cab door is the on/off switch
The loco started life as a 6-coupled steamer powered by 4 AA cells.It had a
working h/light, marker lights and sound system.
The rear 2 axles were
powered by gears from the motor, and a spur gear drove a small pair of
wheels that sat between the front drivers, causing the loco to pivot,
swivel etc, typical of that sort of kids toy.
I bought it from the throw-out table at a local discount store, it had
been the demo model and the batteries had corroded inside it, causing the
usual havoc with the battery box and wiring.
Paid $14, normal price $50+.
I cut off the chassis in front of the middle axle, dumped the front
drivers and pivot mechanism. Had to narrow the frames of the motor block
to narrow the gauge by a couple of mm.
Motor Block
The stock wheels were too coarse in the flange so I salvaged some Bachmann freight-car wheels and drilled their centers out to fit the existing axles.
Shortened the boiler by about 2 inches, added junk all over it to make it
look busy and cluttered, and then mounted it in a long slot cut into a plexiglass
frame. The whole motor unit pivots on a couple of elongated slots to allow
a bit of cornering sideplay. Rear truck is standard MDC but the mounting
hole is now an 
elongated slot 1 inch long to allow LOTS of sideplay. The
engine will just make it around a 4 ft radius.
It is geared so low that
running on 2 D-cells it will pull 10 Bachmann freight cars. I've made no
provision as yet for a reversing switch but now that I've got rid of most
of the teething troubles I'll add one, also hook up the h/lite and redo
the sound system.
Return to Main Page
May 10th,1999
