3: Tomales
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NPC Engine No 3 - Tomales

Among the first engines purchased by the North Pacific Coast were five Baldwin 4-4-0 Americans.  These engines, purchased in 1874 and 1875  were Baldwin Class 18-8-Cs.  They had cylinders with 12 inch diameters and 16 inch strokes, and driver diameters of 42 inches.  Total wheelbase was 18 feet 7 inches with a driver wheelbase of 7 feet 6 inches.

Baldwin 18-8-C from original Baldwin catalog in 1876. 

Of the five Americans purchased by the NPC from Baldwin, this project will focus on Number 3, the Tomales.  This engine was the only original 4-4-0 converted to an oil burner by the North Shore RR. The Tomales was retired in 1913.

Prototype

The following are photos of the Tomales.

This shot shows the Tomales in Picnic Service at Camp Taylor in 1893.

Source - "Narrow Gauge to the Redwoods" Graves - - p63
This shot shows No 3 pulling a passenger train near San Geronimo in the 1990s.

Source - "Narrow Gauge to the Redwoods" - p67
In this photo Number 3 is shown at Sausalito in 1900.

Source - "Narrow Gauge to the Redwoods" - p136
This photo shows the Tomales after renumbering to No 83 on the Northwestern Pacific.  Note the oil bunker.

Source - "The Northwestern pacific Railroad" - p167

Specifications

This is the specifications card for a Baldwin 8-18C from the 1876 Catalog.

Click photo for a larger image.

Base Model & Drive Train Selection

Prior to the price of the Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0 falling to close out levels in the $250 range, I seriously considered bashing one of the NPC 4-4-0s out of a Bachmann Big Hauler.  That bash, which actually got under way, involved removing one of the driver pairs from a Big Hauler and shortening the wheelbase of the drive unit.  Here's a photo of the bash.

In this shot, the drivers have been pulled off a Big Hauler.  The rest of the drive train is complete.
In this photo the drive train has been bashed by removing the middle driver pair and cutting a section out of the frame.  The wheelbase of the front truck has also been shortened and side rods have been bashed for 4 coupled drivers.

I offer this example as an indication there is more than one way to attack modeling an American 4-4-0.  Given that prices of Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0s are likely to rise once their close out is finished, a Spectrum could be outside the constraints of your budget for a project like this.  Bachmann Big Haulers, especially those with damaged or missing parts, are often available for less than $50 on eBay and at swap meets.  This bash would have worked, although it would require extensive superstructure modifications to pull off, taking it to a level 3 project. 

About the time the drive train bash was complete (May of 2003), the Bachmann Spectrum 4-4-0 went into close out pricing in the range of $250.  This highly detailed engine is modeled after a Baldwin 8 - C, the very engines purchased by the North Pacific Coast in the late 1870s.  I set my Big Hauler drive train aside and picked up an unlettered Bachmann Spectrum, which became the base model for this project.  Here is a photo of an undecorated American similar to the one I purchased.

 

(c) 2007 Iron Horse 1:29