Hi, I wondered if this may be of some interest to fellow members.
I built this freelance model back in the late 1970's or early 1980's. It is completely scratch-built and is based [u]very loosely[/u]on the Schwartskopf chain drive loco in Michael Andress' book Narrow Gauge Railways in the PSL Model Railway Guide series, side tanks omitted. For the purposes of this article I will call it a Schwartskopf. See photo (I hope)
The footplate and cab are from plasticard of varying thickness, and the boiler is from brass rod relieved underneath to clear the motor, the diameter being dictated by what I had available. Chimney and dome are from brass rod turned in an electric drill, whistle from BT phone cable with some sleeving removed, handrails and pipework are wire, buffers are end caps from Bic biros, vacuum pipes are copper wire overwound with fuse wire, the crew and footplate tools are from Airfix kits, and the coal in the bunker is....er, coal.
The chassis is from an old Lima Bo-Bo loco which instead of having 2 bogies is simply a 4-wheel driven centre unit with ponies front and rear.
As can be seen I made no attempt to model the chain drive mechanism but simply and rather crudely glued 'springs' over the wheels to hide them.
The model has remained stored for over 30 years and on re-emergence did not run very well on my test track (I don't have a layout although one is in the planning stage). In fact on trying it out the motor emitted some rather pretty blue flashes and a not inconsiderable amount of smoke. Oh dear!
As I had also at the same time scratch-built a steam railcar based on the Egger Fiery Elias in which I used the same Lima 4-wheel unit (no bogies) which is still in working order, the railcar donated its drive unit to the Schwartskopf. The railcar now awaits the fitting on a Kato tram chassis. (perhaps more of that another day)
However, it seems that the chassis, although running quite well, has a distinct dislike for Peco 009 points. On examination it seems that the drive cogs on the inside of the 2 driven wheels are actually larger in diameter than the rolling wheels themselves and are consequently catching on the checkrails of the points. I have tried relieving the checkrails but to no avail. I haven't been able to finfdanother bo-bo chassis of the right dimensions which will go anywhere near the cut-out in the footplate/body, because the loco was virtually built round the chassis/motor.
I have decided therefore to change the loco into a 2-6-2 by using an as-new Minitrix N205 chassis. The chassis length is spot-on but it will take a bit of butchery to make it fit in, this would however be confined to the underside of the cab and bunker. This would retain the gap under the boiler, although the motor would end up in the cab, but the outside appearance of the loco would remain unchanged. I think it will look good as a 2-6-2 but I don't want to damage the body trying to make it fit. Thirty-odd non-modelling years down the line (no pun intended) i would never be able to replicate or rebuild the loco.
I'll post again with an update.
I think you should keep this as a chain drive loco, there's a lot of bo-bo N gauge chassis on the market right now, although mostly for railcars. Perhaps the Kato shorty might fit.
Check out Plaza Japan on evilpay, they have a good selection of chassis at a reasonable price. There's also Greenmax for articulated mechs. I think Wellington Models in the UK have these and they have been available through 009 sales. There's got to be an N gauge diesel that will fit under there!
Mal.
The Bandai B-train Bo-Bo shorty chassis is similar but not quite the same as the Kato which gives another choice in wheelbase. Also the Bandai chassis has false outside frames that clip on though the chassis itself comes without the false frames that come with their clip together kits.
From memory the Lima loco the chassis came from is something like a Class 14? If that is the case then I wonder if one of the European bogie diesel chassis might be a reasonable fit, something like the Fleischmann 7230 (one of these (http://www.reynaulds.com/products/Fleischmann/7230.aspx)). They can be obtained at reasonable cost 2nd hand.
Thanks all for the suggestions.
I've looked at the Kato and the the Tomytec chassis but their outlines exclude them from the equation. The thing is that with the Lima chassis not driving the front and rear ponies the drive unit was confined to the centre of the body. This allowed the boiler to sit well above the footplate leaving a nice gap underneath. By using any chassis with a drive to the front axle, the drive will have to protrude through the footplate. I want to avoid this if possible. The Kato Shorty is too short being only 58mm, and the wheels are too small. The Loco o/a length is 81 mm so I'm looking for something around 74-78mm with a front axle to rear axle wheelbase of around 52mm and wheels of about 8mm dia. The suggested Fleischmann has an o/a length of 78mm so I am going to try to get hold of one of these to dismantle to see if is otherwise suitable.
In the meantime the work involved in fitting the 2-6-2 chassis has proved much easier than anticipated and it has gone in quite well without any change to the outside appearance of the loco. If I can get hold of the Fleischmann or indeed another suitable diesel chassis it won't be difficult to remove it and revert it back to the chain-drive. The search goes on. This is what it currently looks like as 2-6-2.
Many thanks for the suggestions
Keith