I took a brief hiatus to work on a few other projects and decided to come back to this one today.
First, Lionel did send me a replacement coupler, and it has been swapped out on the truck. I also picked up an L-2 tender shell on eBay and removed the NYC lettering. I'll wait until I paint the engine before I decide whether I'm repainting the tender shell, or just gloss coating and decaling over the factory finish, but the tender is mechanically complete.
Part of the procrastination on my end was trying to locate an Elesco feedwater heater pump. PSC has one in their parts catalog, but I could not find it for sale anywhere. I would also have had to fashion a bracket to mount the pump and the adjacent cab signal box to the location on Lionel's boiler where the original air pump was.
I finally decided to 3D model the pump and signal box as a single piece and have it printed. Below are a few images of the rough model, to get some basic detail and check fitment/mounting. I'll have this printed, make whatever adjustments are needed, and probably add some more details (rivets/bolts, smaller pipes and protrusions, and hinges) before calling this part done.
Dave - summer was always the worst time on the NEB&W. It was all unplated brass, handlaid track, and the temperature and humidity wreaked havoc with it. In my time there we'd have full operating sessions in the fall and spring, when the humidity was under control, temperatures were even, and the students had been on-campus for a month or two to help make sure everything was in order. It could run well though - below is a timelapse video of the three main yards during an operating session, and it's one of my favorites of the layout available on YouTube. I'm not in it - I was the Dispatcher that day, which was a whole other experience.
New England, Berkshire, and Western Yard Ops Timelapse - YouTube
~Chris
