camelback
Take a ride on the Reading
About 30 years ago I wanted to build a rather unique Reading diesel engine, the only center-cabber the road had, and it was a truly awful prototype. But I fell in love with it and I knew I had to have one someday. Well, thanks to modern technology, my dream finally came true. Here are a couple of pictures of the newest addition to my stable of Reading engines. This one was built by the St. Louis Car Co. with two F-M 300 hp prime movers, one in each hood, delivered in 1939 as #35, but renumbered to 97 less than a year later. It had super problems from day one, and the experiment was never repeated on any road.
Tech details: it was designed on AutoCAD and printed on a Prusa I3 MK2S, using a 0.15mm nozzle, with Paramount PLA filament. There are about 80 total printed parts in the engine, and about 20 more for assembly jigs, etc. It rides on an old HO scale Athearn SW chassis I picked up at a meet probably more than 20 years ago. Other than the handrail stanchions, the only commercial parts are Cal-Scale headlights (GE 44-ton), bell, and hoses. Oh, and Special Shapes etched brass grilles, but I also printed some of my own as well for the prototype shell. Painted with Floquil, and lettered with Champ EH-31 decals. It was fun, but lots of tech problems to overcome. Next I'll have to do a steam engine.
I included a prototype photo, the one I worked mostly off of, right out of the factory, by the looks of it and the number. It's not perfect, but I did fit it to the chassis, not the other way around. Reading's official specs show an air horn mounted on the rear hood, but I couldn't confirm that from any photos, so I left it off. I also didn't know if there are four doors on the cab or only two, as the spec drawings only show one on each cab end, but why have steps leading up to the cab on all four walkways if there are no doors to go in? Oh, well.
At some time in its life, it also appears that they put taller exhaust stacks on, so I made mine taller. All you nitpickers may notice that on each side the fuel fillers are in a different location (one is higher up); why that should be is beyond me, but I have photo evidence. And in the photo, you can also see that the end handrails are connected to the upright ones attached to the hood, but that was beyond my ability, so I left those out. I guessed at the design of the headlight housings, and they are lighted by a 1.2mm bulb. It has an Ernst regear kit, and it runs almost as lousy as the prototype! I still have to paint the journal box covers yellow per Reading practice, but I'm out of yellow paint at the moment.
A shot of the printed loco before painting. The windows are covered with latex.
Tech details: it was designed on AutoCAD and printed on a Prusa I3 MK2S, using a 0.15mm nozzle, with Paramount PLA filament. There are about 80 total printed parts in the engine, and about 20 more for assembly jigs, etc. It rides on an old HO scale Athearn SW chassis I picked up at a meet probably more than 20 years ago. Other than the handrail stanchions, the only commercial parts are Cal-Scale headlights (GE 44-ton), bell, and hoses. Oh, and Special Shapes etched brass grilles, but I also printed some of my own as well for the prototype shell. Painted with Floquil, and lettered with Champ EH-31 decals. It was fun, but lots of tech problems to overcome. Next I'll have to do a steam engine.
I included a prototype photo, the one I worked mostly off of, right out of the factory, by the looks of it and the number. It's not perfect, but I did fit it to the chassis, not the other way around. Reading's official specs show an air horn mounted on the rear hood, but I couldn't confirm that from any photos, so I left it off. I also didn't know if there are four doors on the cab or only two, as the spec drawings only show one on each cab end, but why have steps leading up to the cab on all four walkways if there are no doors to go in? Oh, well.
At some time in its life, it also appears that they put taller exhaust stacks on, so I made mine taller. All you nitpickers may notice that on each side the fuel fillers are in a different location (one is higher up); why that should be is beyond me, but I have photo evidence. And in the photo, you can also see that the end handrails are connected to the upright ones attached to the hood, but that was beyond my ability, so I left those out. I guessed at the design of the headlight housings, and they are lighted by a 1.2mm bulb. It has an Ernst regear kit, and it runs almost as lousy as the prototype! I still have to paint the journal box covers yellow per Reading practice, but I'm out of yellow paint at the moment.
A shot of the printed loco before painting. The windows are covered with latex.
