Building Western Consolidated No8, Page 1

   It all started when I purchsed a Bachmann Outside Frame 2-8-0 Consolidation (Affectionately known as Connie). After careful examintation, I decided that I can do a little something in 7/8 scale with it. Since turntables are absent on the WCNG it would have to recieve a trailing truck for backing movements. So why not add a whole new superstructure, bigger boiler, bigger firebox to justify the trailing truck.

     There she sits,all pristine, straight from the box. (Figure 1) Looks scared doesnt She?
I started by stripping off everything that I didn;t want fer this bash.That pretty much took it all the way down to chasis, and then some. (Figure 2) With this much done the plotting and planning begins! By the end of the evning I had roughed in a boiler.(Figure 3)

Fig 1

Fig 2
Fig 3

Fig 4 Yea, trailing behind in more ways than one.   I had intended
to be a lot farther along by this time, but the real world has this habit
of butting in all the time. I have managed to find the time to cobble
up a trailing truck, so the conversion to a 2-8-2 (Connie to Mickey) is
official. Fer those interested, remeber that I removed the ash pan and all the electronics leaving the firebox an open square.   I secured a piece of wood cross ways in the the firebox to serve as an anchor for a trailng truck.
Remeber, in addtion to improving tracking while moving in back motion,
the purpose of a traing truck is to support a larger, wider firebox.
In instances like this the ashes dropped though the frame of the truck
into the ashpit. I took a piece of .040 styrene and cut it to a rough outside dimension. Then I cut an opening in it big enough to accomodate the wheelset, yet close enough that the axle ends won't let the wheelset fall through. (Figure 4) Once this was established, the styrene card was futher cut and formed.

Once I was this far along, I thought I 'd check the dimensions to see how
it looked. Looks good so far!!! Figure 5
With that much done, it was time for journals.   I cut a couple
of wooden blocks, and then eyballed an appropriate angle in them.
I then drilled a hole in the back and fit a brass tube into it. The
axle ends slip right in and then the bottom of the blocks were glued
to the styrene frame. Figure 6
Once the glue was dry, I started building up the rest of the truck.
Bfeore I did this, I traced the basic outline onto a second piece of styrene
to use for the top.   I then took some thicker styrene and built
up the edges. Note the wood shim glues to the styrene cars.
This will be the anchor point for the screw to go through to hold
the truck in place. Figure 7

Fig 5

Fig 6
Fig 7

After all this came the easy part. I glued the top on and then added som journal cover castings that I made in house. A few bits of styrene made up mounting plates then I added some nifty spring castings that I resurrected from a previous project. Once those were in place, the trailing truck was basically done

Fig 8
Fig 9

PAGE 2

There she sits,all pristine, straight from the box. (Figure 1) Looks scared doesnt She? I started by stripping off everything that I didn;t want fer this bash.That pretty much took it all the way down to chasis, and then some. (Figure 2) With this much done the plotting and planning begins! By the end of the evning I had roughed in a boiler.(Figure 3)	Fig 1
Fig 2	Fig 3

Fig 4	Yea, trailing behind in more ways than one. I had intended to be a lot farther along by this time, but the real world has this habit of butting in all the time. I have managed to find the time to cobble up a trailing truck, so the conversion to a 2-8-2 (Connie to Mickey) is official. Fer those interested, remeber that I removed the ash pan and all the electronics leaving the firebox an open square. I secured a piece of wood cross ways in the the firebox to serve as an anchor for a trailng truck. Remeber, in addtion to improving tracking while moving in back motion, the purpose of a traing truck is to support a larger, wider firebox. In instances like this the ashes dropped though the frame of the truck into the ashpit. I took a piece of .040 styrene and cut it to a rough outside dimension. Then I cut an opening in it big enough to accomodate the wheelset, yet close enough that the axle ends won't let the wheelset fall through. (Figure 4) Once this was established, the styrene card was futher cut and formed.
Once I was this far along, I thought I 'd check the dimensions to see how it looked. Looks good so far!!! Figure 5 With that much done, it was time for journals. I cut a couple of wooden blocks, and then eyballed an appropriate angle in them. I then drilled a hole in the back and fit a brass tube into it. The axle ends slip right in and then the bottom of the blocks were glued to the styrene frame. Figure 6 Once the glue was dry, I started building up the rest of the truck. Bfeore I did this, I traced the basic outline onto a second piece of styrene to use for the top. I then took some thicker styrene and built up the edges. Note the wood shim glues to the styrene cars. This will be the anchor point for the screw to go through to hold the truck in place. Figure 7	Fig 5
Fig 6	Fig 7