Lone Star Baldwin

[Johnson044]

I went to Ally Pally yesterday and had vowed to be abstemious and only pick up parts and materials for use on projects already started. I couldn't resist this, though.

 

I had quite a bit of Lone Star as a child- apart from a blue Princess Elizabeth with much paint loss I have none today- or rather until yesterday. I always fancied one of the 0-8-0 Baldwin locos with the tender drive- but not enough to pay what they usually fetch.

 

I bought this rather colourful one for sixteen quid on the MRC sales stand and I'm really pleased- a lot of nostalgia in a very small item- and the size means the hoarding isn't greatly added to.

 

Seems to be intact apart from the rear coupling hook (I'm not sure if the front coupling ever had one). The drawbar assembly is well and truly missing, however.

 

Someone had added a rather caboose-like enclosure in card on the top of the tender, which fell off in my pocket.

 

My questions:

 

I think I'd like to strip the green and red paint- though actually I'm quite tempted to just keep it as it is. I think it might be Humbrol Nr 2 green gloss but I could be completely wrong. If there IS still a cabside number, and "UNION PACIFIC" on the tender side, then I'd like to save them. What should I use to try to remove the enamel (assuming it IS enamel and not acrylic, whilst preserving the original finish beneath? Is meths worth a try? Any suggestions?

 

Has anyone else got one of these? If so please could I see a photo of the loco-tender drawbar assembly? From looking at the later, non-powered (Treble 0 Trains, Woolies blister-pack variety) versions on Ebay at the mo I think the keeper plate / drawbar assembly is different.

 

Thanks for looking folks.

[Johnson044]

I've just looked at the photos and realised that the cabside number is still there and grinning through.

 

Just found this You Tube clip which shows  the drawbar assembly.... Also shows the loco to be quite responsive to the controller and capable of reasonably slow running.

 

 

[Nearholmer]

Something deep in my dim brain is telling me that the hut on the back, and the livery, are based on something real, possibly on an African railway, certainly some German locos had the guard’s accommodation on the tender.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Player of trains]

The hut is definitely an attempt at adding a doghouse for brake crews to shelter in at the loco end of the train. I think it was mostly Southern Pacific and Santa Fe who employed them in North America. The Lone Star 0-8-0 is just a great big shunter so unlikely to really have it although there were trip working 0-8-0s such as the very attractive locos the Indiana Harbour Belt had 

[BernardTPM]

The metal drawbar is 5mm wide by 19mm long and 1/16th inch thick. At the tender end the pivot end is burred over, so permanently attached. At the loco end there's a shouldered brass screw. Pivot centres are 14mm.

 

[Il Grifone]

I didn't think there were any of these left. (I do have the Woolies version which never had a tender - Must see what i can cobble up.) She appeared at the very end of the Lone Star production, when I think they realised they had launched a non-starter and were cutting their losses. I have the British goods set, though the box has gone - water damage due to flooding and various bits from the American range. I seem to recall (the belts have long since perished) that there were two speeds 'stop' and 'bat out of hell'!

IIRC the box cars were available in UP, NH, KCS, B&M, and ATSF liveries, but I only recall seeing UP locomotives - certainly the 0-8-0, but the F series (F7? - I've never checked) is usually UP yellow likewise the passenger cars  (obviously copied from Tri-ang, like most of the Lone-Star range) there was a coach and a vista-dome, (Memory (in particular mine) is not reliable of course.

 

Lucky the shack fell off the tender! it saved you the trouble!

Hopefully the green* paint is acrylic and meths will shift it.

*Strange colour - U.S. steam freight locomotives, like Ford's Model T, were available in any colour you like, as long as it is black!

Edited March 20, 2023 by Il Grifone

[Johann Marsbar]

5 minutes ago, Il Grifone said:

I didn't think there were any of these left. (I do have the Woolies version which never had a tender - Must see what i can cobble up.) She appeared at the very end of the Lone Star production, when I think they realised they had launched a non-starter and were cutting their losses. I have the British goods set, though the box has gone - water damage due to flooding and various bits from the American range. I seem to recall (the belts have long since perished) that there were two speeds 'stop' and 'bat out of hell'!

IIRC the box cars were available in UP, NH, KCS, B&M, and ATSF liveries, but I only recall seeing UP locomotives - certainly the 0-8-0, but the F series (F7? - I've never checked) is usually UP yellow likewise the passenger cars  (obviously copied from Tri-ang, like most of the Lone-Star range) there was a coach and a vista-dome, (Memory (in particular mine) is not reliable of course.

 

There is a useful list of the items in the range on this page.....

http://www.irwinsjournal.com/a1g/a1glocos/TrebleO.html

[Johnson044]

1 hour ago, BernardTPM said:

The metal drawbar is 5mm wide by 19mm long and 1/16th inch thick. At the tender end the pivot end is burred over, so permanently attached. At the loco end there's a shouldered brass screw. Pivot centres are 14mm.

 

Brilliant- thank you BernardTPM. The entire drawbar assembly including the nylon front cross piece for the bogie is missing, so I'll contrive something which will hopefully work- and I'll get some new drive bands. No idea what to do with paint yet. I might even just leave it as it is!

[Il Grifone]

Very interesting Thanks!

I see reading this quote:

"If you have access to a re-magnitiser, then it's not a really big deal. There was an article in the September 1972 issue of Model Railroader by Ben King about how to build a re-magnetiser from old television filter chokes. "

I remember the article. The trouble was that, even in 1972, TVs had long stopped using filter chokes. Large wound components are 1. heavy and 2. expensive! - both criteria for their abolition.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Il Grifone

[33C]

I have quite a lot of success with Mr. Muscle oven cleaner. Spray a bit on a cotton bud and work it in to the paint. If it starts to lift you either keep going that way or place the bodies in a self seal bag and spray the lot, squeeze out the air and seal up. Check every 10 minutes by rubbing the models through the bag to see how well its lifting. Remove from bag then you can wash under a cold tap. The original finish should remain behind. I have a 98% success rate this way. Leaving it in for an hour or two can take it back to bare metal if you so wish. Some car sprays may need two goes. I have successfully removed SEVEN coats of thick Humbrol from a Triang princess body this way, Leaving it looking like new. Good luck!

[Johnson044]

Thanks 33C. So far, from reading this and other posts,  my options seem to be meths, Dot4 brake fluid, Mr Muscle and Modelstrip. I'll try Mr Muscle with cotton bud and maybe try meths in discreet areas and see how we go.

[33C]

I've been drinking brake fluid. I can stop anytime......

[Johnson044]

........I can!..........Can't I?

 

[Johnson044]

Ebay is amazing! You can get absolutely anything (within reason). Thanks to LoneStarRoger the Baldwin tender has a replacement front bogie, new wheels and drive bands.

 

What, oh what shall I do about the livery?

[33C]

A blow over with red oxide primer, then matt black. Silver smokebox and lower firebox sides. Letraset Road name and then a light blow over of fine road dirt. Dirty, coal black on all top surfaces. Maybe a few limescale patches and dribbles. Real, pulverised coal in the tender or plate over for oil firing. OR, go yellow, orange, vermillion and white of the Chessie system. That would be a massive eye catcher!

[Johnson044]

Words of wisdom indeed 33C. I do like the Chessie system idea. I've also contemplated (and dismissed!) the Ledsham & Hereford Railway livery. Becoming more likely is the possibility of adding some false front pony wheels and footplate (bolted above and below the front coupling bar to avoid cutting anything), a front buffer beam and painting it grey with TRANSPORTATION CORPS U.S.A on the tender.

[Il Grifone]

Adding a front pony seems a good idea. As to livery - you can have any colour you like as long as it's black! Silver/grey decorations on the smokebox are optional depending on the chosen road.

[33C]

1 hour ago, Il Grifone said:

Adding a front pony seems a good idea. As to livery - you can have any colour you like as long as it's black! Silver/grey decorations on the smokebox are optional depending on the chosen road.

Hey! Rule one! 

[Robin DL]

Whole load of Lone Star stuff here on my Flickr page:  

 

[Canal Digger]

Please can you tell me, was there a plastic tender to go with the plastic Princess? From what I can make of your photos you have paired a metal tender to a plastic loco?

[BernardTPM]

As far as I know there was never a plastic Princess by Lone Star. The red 'Impy' version was still diecast with plastic wheels but it never had a tender to match. The different gauge of the early all-metal Lone Star Locos and altered rear coupling on the Impy Princess made it difficult to use the old tender with the late model.

[Johnson044]

No- the plastic princess is completely new to me. The Baldwin is metal. BernardTPM is exactly right about the later Impy Princess, which used the original body casting (or a very similar one) on 9mm plastic wheels as opposed to the Lone Star Locos one, which was to 8.5mm gauge. The Baldwin was always to 9mm gauge, being originally equipped with a metal, motorized tender and metal connecting rods, then re-issued as a push-along loco without tender.

 

RobinDL's Flickr page is excellent.

[BernardTPM]

All the Treblo-O-Lectric locos were new tooling, even the F7, much better than the old Tri-ang lookalike they previously did. Three formerly electric powered locos made it back into the new 9mm gauge Treble-O-Trains series, the F7, Baldwin (without tender) and the Derby Type 2 (Class 24), though the latter was a late addition.

[Canal Digger]

Please find below some photos of plastic and metal Princesses and Baldwins (missing a few wheels!) 

[Johnson044]

Interesting! Didn't realise how much the Princess had been re-tooled- mainly to remove the dummy valve gear.

 

A thing that struck me whilst looking at RobinDL's Flickr page is the variation in Baldwin castings. My version too has a hole in the middle of the smokebox door- but no sign of any kind of bulb holder- I wonder what the intention was? Maybe a car headlight jewel might have been fitted or were some versions equipped with working headlights?