#537 in Sn3

[Bill M]

Greetings all,

I thought you might find this recent accomplishment of interest. It's a #537 converted from a PBL C-21 in Sn3. After an extended effort, we are pretty much done. The crew is just letting the paint on them dry and the DCC needs some fine tuning. Enjoy!

Bill

[Mike Trent]

Very nice, Bill. Quite a project.

There's always room for another #537.

This is the first one in Sn3 I know of. I had considered a plow on mine, it's nice to see one on this one. Send more pictures when you can!

Mike

[tonyk375]

Very Nice!  First one I've seen in Sn3 also.  Have seen a few C-21s relettered but yours and Mike's great On3 model are the only ones that have had some real work put into them.  This is my favorite locomotive.  Was walking it's old Black Hills home grade last weekend, just a few miles from my house.  This is my HOn3 version

[Mike Trent]

Tony, you spent some time on your #537 too. Looks great. I remember some time back, Charles McMillan posted a picture of his awesome HOn3 C&S collection he started way back in 1968, the year I graduated High School. Among his array of lord only knows how many engines he has, was what looks like a credible #537. Maybe he will post some more detailed pictures of his collection. Some of you with Denver area roots may know or know of Jim Powers. Jim had a fantastic On3 layout years ago, and he scratchbuilt some really nice stuff, including the Como Depot and Eating House. He also built the "Last" Wood Addition on his roundhouse. I don't know if he built a Rotary or not, but he did build a really nice #537 on the bones of a PSC C-21. He sent me some pictures after he finished it, still unpainted, and it was beautiful. He finally sold it, one of our members here on the C&Sng Forum has it. I won't mention who has it, he may wish to remain anonymous.    

[tonyk375]

I turned the domes and collected the parts and pieces but wish I could take credit for the work.  Mike Horner out in Idaho Springs did the engine.  It started as a PSC C-21 and was stripped completely including the boiler bands.  New cab, smokebox and more.

[Mike Trent]

Duly noted, Tony. I remember Mike telling me both that he was building one and later that he had built one. Last time I saw him was down in Golden at the CRRM when he had finished the Reefer. We helped with the #60 move in Idaho Springs and I enjoyed getting to know him. Hope he's doing well.

[tonyk375]

Mike is a great modeler.  I conspire with him and Steve Swanson on a constant basis.  C-17s are the latest projects.  Was down at their layout a couple of weeks ago and headed back next month.  Nice to have other people in the world who aren't shy to start cutting up a brand new pretty brass engine.

[Mike Trent]

No guts, no glory.....

[Mike Trent]

I found the pics Jim Powers sent of his On3 #537. Taken in '03, I believe, when cheap digital cameras really were cheap. At least by today's standards.... Even though the pictures aren't very good, you can still appreciate how great the model is.











 

[Lee Gustafson]

Mike,

Thank you for the pictures of Jim's #537. I never had an opportunity to see Jim's layout or models so I really appreciate these pictures of his work. I'm impressed with the clean work and quality of his work.

Lee Gustafson

[Mike Trent]

I'll put in one of mine here too. After studying the others and photos of the original one, I have concluded that my cab roof is a bit too tall, my sideboards on the coal bunker a smidge too low, and my tender a hair too narrow. All compromises that had to be made based on what I saw in photos and what I had to work with back in '85. Striving for "feel" as much as accuracy.

One thing I'll say, though, that all of these (except maybe one), #537's have in common. When I was "finished" with this engine to the point that I was ready to show it to a real good friend to look at it against a picture of it, he hadn't looked at it more than a minute before he wanted to know why I hadn't put the "T" valve on the cab roof. "What??" Are you kidding me? Yep, after all the hours and weeks and months this had consumed and I missed that T valve? Yep. And almost everybody else has too. But it looks like Mike Horner may not have  missed it on Tony's.

That is an emergency steam shutoff stem that extends through the hatch from the steam turret directly below. This model got one about a half hour after Erick Nelson brought it to my attention that night in the summer of '85.

Check it out, there it is. And if he hadn't noticed it, I probably wouldn't have noticed it either. But I don't feel too bad, because most everyone else missed it too, so I'm in great company. Yeah, I think Horner didn't miss it...

I still wouldn't trade this engine for the world.

   

[Lee Gustafson]

Mike,

Now that you called it to my attention I see it on your model and on Bill's and Mike's models. It's easy in the "heat" of a project to focus on the big picture and miss small details until you share it with someone knowledgeable who is looking at the model with fresh eyes for the first time. A professional model builder kept a mirror on his bench to look at the reflection as well as reverse the direction of the model to find details and flaws. I think all of the models of #537 are excellent examples of attention to detail and craftsmanship. Thanks to all for posting and sharing.

Lee Gustafson

[Charles McMillan]

Here are some photos of my 537 in HOn3 . My model started out as a Custom Brass C-21. Using that as a starting point
created some compromises in the final build. I used the original smoke box front and this set the diameter of the boiler. I would later find out that the boiler is a little on the small side and sits too high . The original motor dictated the placement of the boiler. I would later go back in and replace it with a can motor and new NWSL gearbox. This allowed me to create a
new back head that would cover the motor and fill in the cab detail. The model only used the frame, drivers , side rods, pilot and lead truck ( which I remodeled too.) from the original locomotive. I made the tender and all of the other parts over a period of 8 months. Please excuse the photo quality , camera is not up to using florescent lighting for the main light source.









I too missed the T handle on the cab roof, I thought it was an artifact in the photo background. I will have to add this to my model now. Thanks for sharing this detail

Charles McMillan

[tonyk375]

Thanks for the great pics Mike and Charles!!  I sure love that locomotive. So nice to see the fabulous efforts of others working on it also.  
Mike, the picture of your loco in In Hol's Burlington Bulletin was the first model of one I had seen. Speaking of the emergency steam valve, it was nice of Matt to include it in the drawing he did in the Bulletin.

My 538 is getting closer also.  Made from a WSM C-25.  

[tonyk375]

And thanks again for starting the thread with pics of your great Sn3 model Bill!

[Mike Trent]

Thanks, Charles. Very nice job!

My #537 also started out as an old CB C-21.

I also reused only the frame, drivers and running gear, modified the pilot truck, and the original boiler. The smokebox front was turned to resemble the C&S flat front.

I, among others, assisted Matt with the drawing. Last night I looked to see when the Burlington Bulliten issue was published, and the answer is 2002. So that issue and Matt's drawing probably helped influence and inspire a lot of these great models.  I sold mine to Overland Models in 1994, and never saw it again for 19 years. All I had were some pictures, which I copied and sent to Matt for some particular details. He used HW Ridgways notes from Hol, along with measurements from CyZ #1, which I measured in 1988 in Campo CA, and Mark Valerius measured again for the drawing in Iowa, where it is today. #1's builder's number is closer to #537 than the C-21's.

Rick Steele has commented the stack is offset above the cylinders,  perhaps Matt can correct that and we can put the drawing in our archives here.

[tonyk375]

Grant was kind enough to thank me on his drawing also.  All I provided was a working drawing I had modified from a Maxwell C-21 drawing.  It was rough and just made to assist in building a model.  I used a folio of  537 Hol provided years ago and a WP&Y 7/57 Klondike Mining #3 spec sheet to fill in some missing information. And some pictures from Dick Dorman.  

[tonyk375]

Sorry, Matt, not Grant.  Had Grant Houston on the brain instead of Matt Hutson.

[D. W. Bassett]

The #537 was overhauled in Denver in April 1925 at the Q's new shop.  All the other Black Hills n.g. power was sent to the Q's big Havelock shops in Lincoln, Nebraska, why the #537 was the sole Black Hills engine sent to Colorado for shopping is a mystery. in any case, the engine came out of the shop more or less as she went in: a 3 window steel sheathed wood cab, a single horizontal  splitting the 3rd window,3 very mixed domes, first sand dome a Baldwin in 1876 era, the steam dome a scalped Baldwin like the SP n.g. #9 has, and a normal "modern Baldwin 3rd dome.  She has a wooden pilot, a headlight casing like the good old #69 and a generator squeezed between the steam dome and last sand dome, with an exhaust stack extending back over the cab.  

On a cold December evening two years later she derailed near Nemo, S.D. and rolled down a 25 foot embankment, crushing the wood cab, killing her engineer and fireman and nearly completely stripping her boiler of parts.  She was sent to Haveloclk shops for rebuilding using 0-6-0 parts into what we see on the C&S in so many photos.

In #537's post 1925 class 2 appearance, I myself find my favorite version.  The funkier it is, the better I like it (within reason) and a have a somewhat worn PBL C-21 on my hands…I guess I'm more a prototype freelancer by nature and don't care too much if I tweak history here and there…so maybe this will be my #537.

[D. W. Bassett]

Hmm, Tried to post a 1925 photo, followed the instructions and zip. Oh well, perhaps my operating system needs upgrading a generation or 3.  Anyway all the #537s here look fantastic.  Lots of work involved and they all look great.  I know old 537 was considered a rather ugly duckling but I just love outside frame 2-8-0s.