Re: C&S #30, a C-16 conversion

Posted by Rick Steele on Jan 09, 2020; 7:35pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/C-S-30-a-C-16-conversion-tp15055p15072.html

Hi John,

The dimensions for both of those classes of locomotives came from a Publication of the NMRA Rocky Mountain Region called "The Helper". The initial date of publication was May, 1958 for the D&RG 2-8-0's and November, 1958 for the C&S locomotives. The interesting thing is that the wheel spacing on the drivers for almost all (the B-4-F class being the exception) of the consolidations was the same, for the drivers it was the same except for the 74-76. The pilot truck spacing varied from class to class.

Of course, back then in HO, you were lucky for anybody to give you any notice. Fortunately, Larry Kazoyan at Kemtron came up with his C-16 kit and it became the defacto standard until PFM and Balboa started importing HOn3 from Japan. Back then the C&S 2-8-0 from PFM was the unheard of price of $49.95 and the C&S 2-6-0, also a PFM was $39.95. Kemtron also had an On3 version of the C-16.

I didn't realize that those dimensions had been enshrined by the NMRA. I got to know both Emil Schmutzler and Billie Bowen when I was just starting in the hobby. If you look at the original sheets, it is stated by both Emil and Billie that they use folio sheet dimensions only and made no attempt to check them against any of the prototypes.

Let me get on CorelDraw and see if I can make up a couple of comparisions.

Rick