Custom G Scale Christmas Steam Locomotive

This is the story of a custom steam locomotive.

[thomas0]

In late 1997 KayBee Toys was offering a G scale battery operated train set, featuring a smoking steam locomotive with sound effects, a tender, gondola, caboose, and oval track for less than $30. Since I am a train fan, I picked up a set "for the kids". Then after Christmas, it went on clearance so I got another set in a slightly different color scheme for more track and more freight cars.

In late 1998 my oldest son was still heavily into Thomas the Tank Engine. It hit me one day: rather than have two almost identical steam engines, I could possibly alter one into something different...

Assessment

[thomas1]

Out of the box, the steam engine is loosely modeled after a wood burning 2-6-0 tender steam engine, but with Early American styling (large flared funnel and prominent cow catcher). On the other hand, Thomas the Tank Engine is a coal burning 0-6-0 tank (no tender) steam engine with European influences. I needed to make some pretty drastic changes in order to make the transformation. Any sane person would have given up. So naturally, I began...

Changes and Shortening

[thomas2]

The first step was to remove the leading set of wheels. That was easy, but then I had to figure out a way to shorten the entire locomotive. After some inspection I determined that some sections of the locomotive could be removed, but in different ways depending on the location. I began with the chassis. I first shortened the piston rods, and removed a similar length of the chassis forward of the main wheels. This allowed me to move the nose of the boiler closer to the main wheels and towards the rear. I discard the smoke and sound equipment, then apply liberal amounts of Krazy glue to keep it the altered parts together.

[thomas3]

Next step was to shorten the body. First I removed a section of the boiler immediately forward of the cab, which also required the removal of the aft steam dome. This has the effect of moving the cab forward. I also sliced off the rear section of the tender and attached it to the rear of the cab. The cab was further modified with the addition of doorway openings, one on each side. I removed all stickers, handrails, and fittings, added a new funnel, and modified the headlight and roof. I modified the remaining steam dome to accept the original on/off switch, and added "saddle" (water) tanks to each side of the boiler using material from the tender. I used more Krazy Glue, then epoxy cement to fill in the holes and smooth the bumps.

Electrical Modifications

[thomas4]

The original toy engine is powered by 6 "C" batteries held in the tender with power passed forward to the engine via an electrical plug. I power my custom with three pairs of "AA" batteries held in the boiler. I retained the power switch and mount it so it can be activated from the steam dome (like the stock version). I used the electrical plug to allow easy disconnect between the chassis and main headlight.

Finishing touches

[thomas5]

A trip to Home Depot provides gloss blue, gloss black, and gloss red spray paints. First the blue goes on, then it is masked so that the black can be applied. One more mask for the red stripes and the paint job is done. I added some "1" decals from a 1/25th scale tank kit, and the original driver and stoker are mounted in the cab. I glued some "coal" pieces in the bunker.

[thomas6]

So here is the final result. Not bad, but someday I'll have to change that cowcatcher into a set of respectable buffers.

My wife just shakes her head, but my sons love it. They like to race "Thomas" against the other (stock) engine, and the variety this custom provides makes it all worthwhile.

HOME