Building one of Eddie's "Clocks".

Alright, so it took me several months to getting around to actually sparking some life into this blog... But I assure you that the wait is worth it!

Some of you may be scratching your heads and raising an eyebrow due to the title of this post. That's because this edition is focusing on a very odd, unique, and RARE locomotive. A 4-4-0 type designed by Wilson Eddie of the Boston & Albany railroad. And these engine's were often referred to as "Eddie's Clock's".

One thing that will capture my interest, or inspire me to make a model of a particular locomotive (or base a project on) are locomotives and rolling stock that are odd, strange, and/or unique. And the Eddie Clock locomotives are no exception.

This is probably the best photo of ANY of the Eddie Clocks I've been able to find. These engines were unique that they were constructed entirely of iron, even though steel was available. Also these locomotives only had massive (for their time) strait boilers and NO steam domes! Instead the engine's used steam pedestals, which you can see in the above photo. One just behind the smoke stack and another in front of the cab. The engines also used square sand boxes. The biggest difference is internal. Instead of having a steam dome to allow rising steam to collect and then pipe to the cylinders, the locomotive had a perforated dry pipe that ran the full length of the boiler. This method takes full advantage of the entire steaming space of the boiler. the throttle valve was actually fixed in the smoke box. Although the design elements are a little archaic for the mid 1870s, these locomotives were among some of the most reliable and best performing locomotives on the rails.

However, what I find both depressing and amazing is that only ONE of these engines is left in existence today... barely. The tender at some point fell victim to the scrapper's torch, but at least the locomotive survives. And it's B&A #39, also known as the "Mamora". It's on static display at the St. Louis Museum of Transportation. And here are some photos of this Lone Survivor today.

Okay, not that the brief history is done with, lets move on to the model! Or at least it's progress.

The objective with this project is NOT to recreate this specific engine, but to create an Eddie Clock locomotive. The model is in HO scale and uses a Bachmann Old Time 4-4-0 as the donor mechanism.

                                               (Not this one specifically, but it's close enough)

I've had to do some major surgery to the model and there's still a lot left to do! But first I carefully separated the cab from the stock boiler. The cab was saved, though that's about the only original bit that will remain on this engine aside from the tender shell. Although I did cut off the smoke box and have used it on the new boiler.

Next was creating a new boiler. I cut a length of brass tubing with is about the same diameter as the wagon top of the original boiler. I notched out the rear underside so the chassis would fit inside. The running boards were also removed and will be replaced with new ones made from scratch from sheet styrene plastic. Below is a  photo of the model thus far.

Here you can see that I tried to alter the original running boards to mimic the ones on the prototype. This... didn't work out that well as the photo shows. And that's why I'm working on scratching new ones from styrene. Also the brass stack is just a stand in an a new one that better resembles the prototype will be bashed soon. The new pilot wheels are from a Tyco/Mantua "General" 4-4-0. Eventually they'll be replaced with better looked and performing all metal wheels from Precision Scale Company. The pistons and crossheads will also be scavenged from said Mantua 4-4-0. It won't be needing them anymore as I'm converting it into a "Dutch Wagon" type 4-4-0 locomotive. Though more on that in another entry.

Well that's about it for this post and I hope I've peaked your interest. I bounce between a lot of projects just to keep myself busy and to prevent burning out on any particular project. Well, until next time!