1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

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tyleire
Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:18 pm
Location: North Hollywood, CA

1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by tyleire »

Hello all,

You might remember me from the build thread "Restoring an Allen 2-4-0 barn find." After spending the better part of a year running the heck out of that little thing, I starting craving another project, this time something a bit more prototypical. This impressively machined Atlantic project came up for sale on DLS for a good price, and growing up next to the SP Porterville subdivision tracks, I jumped at the chance to model something familiar to my home town.
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My buddy and I made the 6 hour drive up to San Jose where we met the wonderfully hospitable retired machinist who showed us the locomotive. I made an offer, he accepted and I brought it home.
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That was the end of 2019. Will post photos shortly of progress over the last year or so.
Berkman
Posts: 679
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 7:55 pm

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by Berkman »

very cool, look forward to seeing the progress!
tyleire
Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:18 pm
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by tyleire »

Disassembly began in January 2020. I tried my best to document and label each part (clearly didn't do a good enough job at this in hindsight but more on that later) while stripping the locomotive down to the frame, saddle and cylinders.
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Some wire wheel time to clean up rust and mill scale before a few coats of Eastwood's epoxy based chassis paint.
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Making quick work of gasket cutting with David Lazarus' handy laser cutter.
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While the frame was lightweight and somewhat easy to flip upside down, I began work on the cylinder jacketing and drain plumbing.
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Test fit of the new gaskets.
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Berkman
Posts: 679
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 7:55 pm

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by Berkman »

Looks like a fully water jet frame, don't see many LE 4-4-2s with a solid frame like that.
tyleire
Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:18 pm
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by tyleire »

Berkman wrote: Fri Jan 29, 2021 4:37 pm Looks like a fully water jet frame, don't see many LE 4-4-2s with a solid frame like that.
Thats part of what drew me to this project. There were a lot of improvements over the standard LE model including many machined parts instead of castings.


Turning new aluminum cylinder covers
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Covers will be sent off to be nickel plated along with the rods and valve gear.
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JBodenmann
Posts: 3855
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2003 1:37 pm
Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
These Atlantic's are great engines. Looking forward to watching your progress.
Jack
tyleire
Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:18 pm
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by tyleire »

Here's a sweet little trick I learned from my friend David Lazarus. LE heart rockers tend to over extend after derailments and fall over, so we silver soldered ours in place. Then we cut a notch in the top for a ball bearing. Smooth sailing.
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I pulled out a scale to weigh the weight built into the frame by the previous owner. 110 lbs. I have a feeling this Atlantic will have some traction.
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The odds and ends to be nickel plated arrives back looking all pretty. I contemplate for a while whether or not I should have media blasted the cylinder covers. Oh well, the show must go on.
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Another paint session with that nice Eastwood paint
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Assembly! Only took me about twelve evenings in a row to figure out where all the little pins are supposed to go.
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tyleire
Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:18 pm
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by tyleire »

As cool as the original smokebox front was, I felt the need to 'ESPEE-ify' it a bit to better match an A6.
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The makeover involved removing the outer door hinges, adding an outer bolt hole pattern and new smokebox dogs. It was a compromise to essentially improve on what I had available, and while I'm happy with the end result, I may end up redesigning the front in the future.
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Weld up the old holes and pray you don't have to drill and tap through many welds. (The DRO hole pattern feature on this mill was so handy)
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tyleire
Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:18 pm
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by tyleire »

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Next up are the branch pipe covers. My first version of these was a 1" to 1.25 copper pipe coupler I trimmed to fit inside the LE castings. I realized later that 1.25" copper pipe OD perfectly matched the OD of the branch pipe castings, so I cut up the pipe couplers to make a sleeve that I silver soldered into the inside of the new pipe.
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Then after several hours of trimming and test fitting the pipes, I summoned all the bravery I could muster to cut notches into the base for the dummy roundhouse valves.
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The flange fittings came from Eccentric Engineer. The center is 3/8 cold rolled I drilled and tapped for 3/16 MTP. I've temporarily attached PM Research 3/16 valves, but they look a little large so I might swap out for the Brian Keim's dummy valves at some point.
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I silver soldered the flanges to the branch pipes, then filled in the gaps with JB weld to reinforce. The base of the 3/8" rod that slips into the flange was filed at an angle, so if a viewer's eyeline was at the same height as the top of the cylinders, the 'pipe' looks like it comes right out of the cylinders.
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Berkman
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Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by Berkman »

Did you use a propane torch to silver solder that or go full oxy acetylene?

Would love to see some detailed photos of how the weights sit down between the frame.
tyleire
Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:18 pm
Location: North Hollywood, CA

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by tyleire »

Berkman wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:01 am Did you use a propane torch to silver solder that or go full oxy acetylene?

Would love to see some detailed photos of how the weights sit down between the frame.
Just propane. Took a bit of time to heat up, but it worked.

The weights are a bit tricky to photograph now but they're all designed to be removed from below the locomotive with 3/8" countersunk holes in an offset pattern. There are 6 layers of weights with the first 3 layers separated into a front and rear group to accommodate the driver axle. The two long weights sit at the bottom of the frame. A top plate sits above the frame where all the weights are anchored into.
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JBodenmann
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Location: Tehachapi, California

Re: 1.5" SP A6 Atlantic

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
Lookin' Good!
Jack
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