Lima Transfer Project

David Rosser

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Sep 15, 2003
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Our layout has a whole section devoted to PRR, with quite a few types of locos, but no Transfer Locomotive! It seems that no has bothered to create a plastic version, and the occasional brass item on eBay is way, way over budget. The only solution was to "do it yourself". We started with a Mehano chassis from an Alco Century. This gave us a low cost (we already had one, but they are still cheap), a unit that would close to the correct length, and six axles.The truck side frames would be wrong and the couplers are not frame mounted, but it is available and easy to work with. A local RR flea market supplied 2 dummy Alco switchers(same manufacturer, I think). The first attached picture will show the first steps. Both hoods were cut about 3/4 inch from the cab end, the Alco stack was removed, a Lima type stack was put on, and angled number boards were added.[My intention was to use a series of pictures-each stage,starting here, and then the finished result. I can not seem to get them in a size/format that will go through.I keep getting an "Invalid Post" notice.] While I work on it( the problem), if anyone is curious, I can e-mail the final picture; let me know. Dave