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For a while I have had a New York Central Ten-Wheeler, Lionel 6-11150, which I've found to be a great engine. It is an accurate model of a NYC class F12e. However, two things have always bothered me about it:

1. The tender text reads "New York Central Lines", when on this engine it should only read "New York Central"

2. This road number (827) was regularly assigned to the Putnam Division, which required small tenders due to weight restrictions, while the model used the class F12e's original larger tender.

Easy solution to both - switch tenders. I found Lionel's mogul tender is a close visual match to the one I wanted, and I was able to get a shell. Prototype photo can be found at the link below.

Slide - New York Central train on the Putnam Division heading south at the Yorktown Heights station | Westchester County Historical Society (pastperfectonline.com)

Here's a comparison between the original tender shell and new one.

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All the electronics were stripped from the original tender and trucks removed. Then a new tender frame was fabricated out of a sheet of polycarbonate and reinforced with some styrene I-beams. I used the original frame as a template for the PCB mounting holes, and measured out locations for the truck bolsters and speaker.

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A common problem on this batch of Ten-Wheelers is sparking on the drawbar between engine and tender, caused by poor grounding through the wheel bearings. A set of wipers were made out of phosphor bronze wire, and this eliminated the problem.

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There was no room in the much smaller tender for the original speaker and enclosure. I got a few speakers off of Digi-Key to try out, and this is the one I ended up going with. Original speaker and enclosure on left, new speaker on right.

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I designed and 3D printed a new enclosure. The new low-profile speaker and enclosure fit under the PCBs, between their mounting posts and the front truck bolster. The smaller speaker is of course quieter than the original, but with the enclosure and tender shell on it still gets to the volume I normally like running at. Unfortunately, there is much less bass, but this is a compromise I am willing to make.

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A YLB replaced the 9 volt battery.

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Now I'm on to the cosmetic changes - detailing and repainting the new shell.

~Chris

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I did the same swap to make a better representation of a Southern 4-6-0.  The smaller tender does a great job of changing the looks entirely on this engine.  See this OGR forum link  Correcting Lionel Southern Railway Colors (plus) | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum (ogaugerr.com)

The new legacy electronics are much smaller and were no problem to transplant.

Does the new electronics have a grounding issues as well.

@NHVRYGray posted:

I did the same swap to make a better representation of a Southern 4-6-0.  The smaller tender does a great job of changing the looks entirely on this engine.  See this OGR forum link  Correcting Lionel Southern Railway Colors (plus) | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum (ogaugerr.com)

The new legacy electronics are much smaller and were no problem to transplant.

Does the new electronics have a grounding issues as well.

Wow, what a coincidence! Great work on that repaint as well, looks sharp.

Did you move trucks over to the new tender as well as the electronics, or did you use the stock mogul tender shell, frame, and trucks? I bought the sheet metal frame for the mogul tender, but found that it would have required too much modification to accept the ten-wheeler trucks - the polycarbonate piece was my back up. 

Dave, Pat, Rider, thanks for compliments - I will for sure update as I detail and paint the tender.

~Chris

Quick update - I stripped the tender shell and added some detail parts.

Tender was stripped with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol - everything came off within a day's soak with some light brushing.

I removed the original headlight, which was on a tall bracket on the tender deck, and moved the stock ladder from centered on the back of the tender to the far right. The previous mounting holes for the ladder and headlight were filled with JB Weld and sanded flush. A NYC tender backup light from PSC was glued to the back of tender, along with some wire to represent conduit.

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~Chris

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Missed a question that needed a reply back on 7-10.

As far as shell, frame, trucks, drawbar.  I try to keep on hand complete units, as I buy at the normal parts sale in the fall.  Small tenders are hard to find.

Wish someone would make a small modern 2-8-0 such as SR630, Lionel's 2-8-0 is close enough in size, but too old in running gear (I digress).

So I had a complete mechanical unit to use.  I now have the original tender as a complete spare.

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