The
PRR B6 0-6-0 switcher has long been a favorite of mine. American Flyer made
it in S Gauge but they were collectable so I never had one. The closest thing to a B6 in S Scale is Rex, an old school S equivalent of Tyco or Roundhouse white metal kits, and remains the main (almost ONLY) source of any small S steam locos, besides a very few brass locos. They are currently out of business with the last owner, Putt Trains. A down side to Rex locos is they frequently have wobbly drivers. They are code 125, which I prefer code 110, but that was the standard back then. Also note the tender steps are on the wrong side, a big mistake made in the original tooling. |
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In
November 2017 I saw a nicely built B6 on eBay and won it for a very good price
($175.00).
The
eBay loco has 1 driver that has a pretty bad wobble. With the white metal cast
driver centers you are not bending it back to make it better. You just have to
live with the wobble.
This
loco has a Frank Titman build style to it with grimy flat black paint, and some
air bubbles under the decals. When I put it next to another B6 I have had for a
very long time now, (10+ years?) they are both almost identical in build style,
and ironically is also lettered as number 535, which was NEVER a B6! They both
had to have been made by the same person, but I will never know for sure. I
have also had another B6 kit for a long time. That needs a lot more attention
before it gets running. It might become a B6sa without the Belpaire Firebox
PRSL N5 Cabin 200
I
did not know about the B6 I would buy on eBay when I started the build, but
this slide inspired me to make PRSL N5
200. The slide was used extensively for a reference. It was my most recently
completed project 11-19-17 before working on these locos. I really wished I won
the slide but lost it at about $36.00. When I won the new B6 it was just
awesome to sort of recreate the slide.
Everything Below Is Temporary
I
have known a project to upgrade my Rex collection including my Sam Powell built
PRR A5 would happen at time point. All of
the paint on all locos is getting stripped and repainted. I started to make
brass parts in Solidworks in 2009, including lifting rings, a handrail flange
and a replacement tender step casting. Most of the step casting shown below was
waste with casting feeders.
I
got VERY lucky that the eBay win B6 already had a Tsunami and Rex can motor
conversion in it. I did rewire the whole thing to include many plugs, and got
it running in 12-1-17. I will upgrade the first generation Tsunami to a WOW4
with a Keep Alive capacitor bank. It is just a matter of unplugging the NCE
decoder and adding a speaker which unfortunately will be in the tender
On
12-2-17 I got out my older B6, gave it a very quick and very dirty decal job as
1733 by painting and decaling over old decals, since it was duplicated to 535.
I added the can motor, surface mount LEDs for headlights and DCC, just a motor
decoder for now. It is VERY quiet, no gear noise at all. I also had to pull the
drivers out .015 total to get the gauge to current NASG standards.
eBay B6
Original B6 Temporality Changed To 1733
Looking great together
Much more to come….
Updated 2-25-18
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