GE Diesel Electric 0-6-0 Industrial switcher

[Old Coyote]

Here are before and after pictures of the diesel electric switcher I have bee restoring from my father's "O" Gauge model railroad collection. When I found the switcher in a box, it had been disassembled and gutted. I remember this unit from when I was a kid. I scrounged parts from his boxes, modified some, and scratchbuilt some parts to get this beast back into display condition. This switcher was originally built (and run) back in the early 1950's. The piece is all metal with the exception of the wood base I built to attach the driving trucks to the metal body.

 

[cobraman]

Pretty cool.

[shoopdog]

Pretty awesome restoration!

[stavanzer]

Great Save!  What a superb tribute build.

[SSNJim]

Very nice build. Is it powered? I haven't seen Reddy Kilowatt in years.

[Old Coyote]

58 minutes ago, SSNJim said:

Very nice build. Is it powered? I haven't seen Reddy Kilowatt in years.

No sir, it is not powered. The unit was gutted before it was placed in pieces in the box where I found it. My intention was not to get it to running condition but just to get it to display condition.

I had to scour the internet to find the image of Reddy Kilowatt. The unit is decorated to resemble the little switcher which plied its trade at the Southwestern Public Service plant in Amarillo, Texas back in the late 1940's and early 1950's.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Old Coyote

[Classicgas]

Very cool. Isn't O gauge close to 1/25?

[Old Coyote]

1 hour ago, Classicgas said:

Very cool. Isn't O gauge close to 1/25?

No sir, from what I can find out it was originally set to be 1/48, although some model railroaders display O gauge trains with 1/43 automobiles.

[Classicgas]

I'm thinking N gauge.

[Dave Van]

1 hour ago, Old Coyote said:

No sir, from what I can find out it was originally set to be 1/48, although some model railroaders display O gauge trains with 1/43 automobiles.

I model O 1/48 scale. The reason for use of 1/43 vehicles is the VERY few 1/48 vehicles available. Even in the 50's there were plenty of 1/43. And trains are so big the difference was accepted.  Today we are starting to see more 1/48 vehicles but they still way behind. 

[peteski]

On 12/1/2019 at 11:51 AM, Classicgas said:

I'm thinking N gauge.

Then you are way off. N scale (9mm gauge) is 1:160. Tiny!  G-gauge (aka LGB) is in the 1:25 scale range.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_transport_modelling_scale_standards

 

Nice job on the restoration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Warren D]

Interesting loco.  Looks to me that someone many years ago scratch built it from a few different parts.  The body looks like a switcher that had the hood radically shortened and the truck looks like it was from under a passenger car. 

[peteski]

9 hours ago, Warren D said:

Interesting loco.  Looks to me that someone many years ago scratch built it from a few different parts.  The body looks like a switcher that had the hood radically shortened and the truck looks like it was from under a passenger car. 

Yeah, that definitely is a "fantasy loco".  No such beast exists in any railroad. In O gauge there are other examples of whimsical models. I recall seeing a car made up from 2 rounded ends of an observation car, riding on a single truck. Looks like an egg. I see them sold at the train shows.  Can't find any online photos (not using the correct search terms).

 

Then, in a similar style there is also

 

[Warren D]

8 hours ago, peteski said:

Yeah, that definitely is a "fantasy loco".  No such beast exists in any railroad. In O gauge there are other examples of whimsical models. I recall seeing a car made up from 2 rounded ends of an observation car, riding on a single truck. Looks like an egg. I see them sold at the train shows.  Can't find any online photos (not using the correct search terms).

 

Then, in a similar style there is also

 

There was a similar beast made in HO scale, IIRC it was made by Walthers and called Oscar.

[Old Coyote]

10 hours ago, peteski said:

Yeah, that definitely is a "fantasy loco".  No such beast exists in any railroad.

 

 

Sorry to burst your bubble gents, but these little 0-6-0 diesel switchers did (and still do) exist. They were used mostly by heavy industry companies (power companies, steel companies, etc). See below

Edited December 5, 2019 by Old Coyote

[Classicgas]

On 12/4/2019 at 3:26 AM, peteski said:

Then you are way off. N scale (9mm gauge) is 1:160. Tiny!  G-gauge (aka LGB) is in the 1:25 scale range.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_transport_modelling_scale_standards

 

Nice job on the restoration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's what I was after lol.

[peteski]

On 12/5/2019 at 8:00 AM, Old Coyote said:

Sorry to burst your bubble gents, but these little 0-6-0 diesel switchers did (and still do) exist. They were used mostly by heavy industry companies (power companies, steel companies, etc). See below

Yes, these are contemporary locos that are currently being used - you are correct.  They use a 3-axle truck from a larger locomotive and a diesel engine with small generator. One of my friends build an N scale model of it.

But the model Lee restored has the hood and cab parts from a larger Diesel switcher like SW9 (from the 50s and 60s).  The other thing that makes it a fantasy model is that (as mentioned by Warren earlier) it rides on a passenger truck (which in 1:1 scale has no traction motors), so it would not be able to travel under its own power.

[Old Coyote]

12 hours ago, peteski said:

Yes, these are contemporary locos that are currently being used - you are correct.  They use a 3-axle truck from a larger locomotive and a diesel engine with small generator. One of my friends build an N scale model of it.

But the model Lee restored has the hood and cab parts from a larger Diesel switcher like SW9 (from the 50s and 60s).  The other thing that makes it a fantasy model is that (as mentioned by Warren earlier) it rides on a passenger truck (which in 1:1 scale has no traction motors), so it would not be able to travel under its own power.

You are correct. I misunderstood your original post. I thought you were saying the little switchers never existed.

As for this particular unit, I have no clue what my father cobbled together to originally build it in the late 1940's. I do remember as a child seeing it running on his club's huge layout (and I remember him taking me to see the real switcher at the Southwestern Public Service plant). After my father's death in 1976, I went to the club to collect his builds and I found a lot of his stuff disassembled and in pieces and some of it totally missing (like his Southern Pacific 4-8-8-2 Cab Forward). I used whatever I could find in his parts boxes to semi-restore the little switcher into a display piece. I realize it is not 100% accurate, but it is a memory of my father's work.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Old Coyote

[Warren D]

2 hours ago, Old Coyote said:

You are correct. I misunderstood your original post. I thought you were saying the little switchers never existed.

As for this particular unit, I have no clue what my father cobbled together to originally build it in the late 1940's. I do remember as a child seeing it running on his club's huge layout (and I remember him taking me to see the real switcher at the Southwestern Public Service plant). After my father's death in 1976, I went to the club to collect his builds and I found a lot of his stuff disassembled and in pieces and some of it totally missing (like his Southern Pacific 4-8-8-2 Cab Forward). I used whatever I could find in his parts boxes to semi-restore the little switcher into a display piece. I realize it is not 100% accurate, but it is a memory of my father's work.

It was never my intent to bash your father's memory, it's great that some of his stuff survived and that is more important than historical accuracy.  I was merely pointing out that it was a "home-made" critter and not something that was purchased and disassembled.

[Old Coyote]

19 hours ago, Warren D said:

It was never my intent to bash your father's memory, it's great that some of his stuff survived and that is more important than historical accuracy.  I was merely pointing out that it was a "home-made" critter and not something that was purchased and disassembled.

No offense taken sir, I just misunderstood your first post.

[Brian Austin]

That switcher is neat!  I wonder if it started out as an All-Nation EMD NW2, and was cut down by the builder.  https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/all-nation-scale-nw2-diesel-switcher-127936342

I happen to have a smattering of 0 gauge:  some Lionel 3-rail, and some Atlas, Weaver, etc. 2-rail.

FWIW:  The precise scale of "O" can vary.  1:48 has generally been favored in the US, while the UK favors 1:43 (7mm to the foot), and continental Europe often goes with 1:45 (all retaining the ancient tinplate track gauge of 1-1/4").  In the mid-20th century there were a small number of manufacturers offering products in the US in the wacky scale of 17/64" to the foot (just a hair short of 7mm).  This scale is closer to correct in relation to the track gauge compared to 1:48.

Note that the "0" should actually be a number: "Zero".  The early tinplate gauges (from over a century ago) were catalogued with numbers, ranging from #0 at the smallest, to Gauge #4 or #5 or so at the largest (very rare collector's items). #1 was later chosen for the LGB range of large-scale trains, launching the garden-railroad industry.  Other sizes came later, at random. "HO" is literally half of 0.

I happen to have a wind-up Marklin O gauge train set I inherited dating to circa 1903, and it even came with a period catalog!  The artwork is wonderful, but the paper is somewhat fragile.