Question , I had three of the Stewart VO-1000's.


Blues909

Active Member
If I recall they didn't have much weight to them and I think they made a S12 or one like it yet never saw one. Did the S12 have a heavy metal frame with more weight or was this Bowser who now owns Stewart?
 
Alan, I think the Baldwins were done by Aijin.
You are correct. I had to check the box, but Ajin it is. At any rate, the weight is good, and the ones I have pull quite well. They were not available with sound at that time but as small as sound decoders and speakers have gotten, it shouldn't be any trouble to fit sound if you are so inclined.
 
This one has DCC and Sound, found it at the local Train Show last fall.

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As far as I know, the Stewart versions made by Aijin all hadcast frames and had good weight. The newer Bowser with DCC & Sound are lighter, but they pull a fair amount of cars on level track.
 
It's been so long ago I don't recall what the frame was . I know it was metal I don't recall the metal frame sitting up inside the shell adding the extra weight. Like was done with the stewart F-3's yet I've seen photo's of the frames. I may not have ever removed the shells to look. They just felt lite to me.
 
It's been so long ago I don't recall what the frame was . I know it was metal I don't recall the metal frame sitting up inside the shell adding the extra weight. Like was done with the stewart F-3's yet I've seen photo's of the frames. I may not have ever removed the shells to look. They just felt lite to me.
If you're comparing their weight to an F unit, they will be light. They're meant to be switch engines, so they're not really meant to weigh and pull a lot.
 
I just got a Athearn S12 shell and frame and power trucks , Thank you Greg. I used to be able to deal with the hood width. I found scale drawings of both the VO 1000 and S12 and as far as I can tell the VO1000 has a 5' 69" wide hood and the S12 is 6' at least from the drawings . I was able to size the drawings so I could match the scale feet to my HO ruler so they lined up perfect, since the S12 drawing doesn't state the width yet both drawings do have a front view with a grid with a 0 on the center line out to 10' and I get 6' for an S12. I thought all the Baldwin switchers were the same hood width. If I get close to 5' 9" rather than 6' it will pass in my book. Even 6' will pass since the Athearn S12 is 7' wide.

I can remove the cab , slice the shell down the center and remove 1 scale foot then add with walk way's back to 10' the total width. I did this to make a VO 1000 years ago. I didn't remove the walk ways I just added styrene to bring them back to 10' across like the cab . I did remove the pilots because I needed them the proper width. I can do the same with this shell and I think to stock frame with a bit of narrowing where the frame fits in the shell leaving the area under the walk ways alone and the stock Athearn motor is 5 scale feet wide so it will fit. I see the frame where it fit the front is narrow enough it's just a bit wide near the cab and part of the front yet will still be strong enough. I can add some brass along the frames top if I need to stiffen it up some the trucks will clear . I could make the brass tall to add weight.

It's a lot of work yet I feel it can be done. I'd prefer an old Stewart S12 and there are some new ones out there yet I can't afford $100. If I recall Athearn later made a SW switcher maybe SW 1600 one had two stacks other had one and they were the scale EMD hood width on a different frame yet used the same power trucks different side frames.
 
Ajin is the one behind all the beautiful Overland Models brass diesels. While not a Baldwin, the Atlas/Roco Alco S2/S4 and the Walthers SW1's were good pullers. As was the Kato NW2's Mike
 
Just picked up a Stewart Baldwin DS 4-4-1000 new never opened for just under $60 shipped. Won't be here for about a week. I had a choice of a VO-1000 and S-12 yet the DS 4-4-1000 just seemed like a better choice for me. Some were new some were used yet never assembled. I liked the design of the DS-4-4-1000 better it has the supports bottom of the walkway to the pilots and I never had one. I have an Atlas S-4 and it's a good puller. I made a VO-1000 even though it does not have the tapered grill I had three Stewarts before and they were nice. Besides it's the last new diesel I'll be able to get. I have the Athearn SW7 all done that gives me 4 switchers. I had 4 of the Walthers SW-1's and H10/12-44's sold all of them not because I didn't like them . I like the metal chassis/frame combination the Atlas S1-S4 have and the other Atlas GP7 and RS 1 have I had a few of those as well all sold. The SW1 had the same type of chassis the H10/12-44 didn't yet it was 1 lb and a great puller. I had quite a few PK2 yet never cared for the warpy handrails the FA2 were the best ones.
 
If I recall they didn't have much weight to them and I think they made a S12 or one like it yet never saw one. Did the S12 have a heavy metal frame with more weight or was this Bowser who now owns Stewart?


Athearn/ Varney made a universal switcher chassis which could be either an SW7 or Baldwin S12 ( the shell may actually be a V-1000) , These could be either re-geared (Earnst ) re-powered or both. Bowser/ Cary sold metal shells to convert to an S2 and 1500 ? to get the weight up.
 
Athearn/ Varney made a universal switcher chassis which could be either an SW7 or Baldwin S12 ( the shell may actually be a V-1000) , These could be either re-geared (Earnst ) re-powered or both. Bowser/ Cary sold metal shells to convert to an S2 and 1500 ? to get the weight up.

I never saw the Athearn /Varney chassis yet I was familiar with both Athearn and Varney. I did have a Cary metal shell for a FM H10-44 it used an Athearn SW7/S-12 frame the frame was not long enough if you just shoved the shell on so I cut the frame before the tank to move it for the proper bolster to bolster and screw mounted it to the shell . I moved the fuel tank with the rear part of the frame back and the cut off front frame section forward . The shell details were ok and it did have decent handrails the only part was the radiator on the top front was not cast well. That was in 1990 and one train shop happened to have a NOS Cary shell.

I'm sure the Stewart DS-4-4-1000 will be heavy enough I think all bowser did at first was use the original Stewart units then later made their higher end series with DCC ready and DCC equipped . I found a list of the early Bowser parts and they were the same as the Stewart then Bowser changed the motor brand. Think Stewart used a canon can motor and Bowser a Bueller later on. Here's a link to that info.

 
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