Big Six Fix
B & O S-1. S-1 A " BIG SIX' 2-10-2
I have offered cosmetic overhauls of the Rivarossi Big Six for quite a
while. They transform the model from a good 1960's " Italian brass"
loco to it's full potential, as a top quality model detail, and appearance
wise. This work continues to be available.
Last November, IHC introduced a generic ATSF-like 2-10-2 with a mechanism
which was a great step forward for IHC. It sold out in a couple of months,
proving to be a very hot item. Why? Its mechanism features a metal frame,
sprung drivers, can motor, flywheel, idler transmission drive, which is
smooth, low current draw, and high output. The wheels are rp 25 contour.
The blackened side rods are fully articulated, and the engine has very
good lateral motion. It tracks well, and it pulls very well. Not only
is it a winner, but I quickly found that it's Big Six dimensioned engine
can be effectivily merged with the Rivarossi Big Six. This is the long
awaited " Silver Bullet" for upgrading the Rivarossi locomotive
into a top performer.
This is not a job for average modelers to undertake however.
In the past half year, two very long threds have run in the B&ORRHS chat room about what to do to fix the Big Six. There are a lot of them out there, and they are frequently sold second hand as owners age out of the hobby. The tooling failed, so the locomotive will not be released again. The Bowser 10 coupled engines will not work under the Rivarossi boiler.
Bruce Elliott, B&ORRHS member, and expert comissioned me to perform the first IHC/Big Six fix. The locomotive is shown here ( with my tender). Sharp eyes will note that Bruce has it numbered for an S class, in the 6000 series. He had wanted to put 57s under it, and convert it to an S class. With my performing the fix for him, he'll now revert to a 6200 S-1 class!
Bruce's opinion of the photos is that it " ain't true that a picture is worth 1,000 words-it's ( the locomotive) better than that !" This shop job combines the needed IHC mechanism parts with Rivarossi pilot, cylinders, valve gear hanger, trailer truck, and superstructure. Also involves some raw materials, and valve gear parts from a third manufacturer. The locomotive goes from 10.9 oz to 21 oz, it gets quiet, draws less, but still doubles, or more the train length, at slow, through medium to a realistic top speed. At near full capacity, fighting 3 curves with a long train with mediocre trucks, I've seen this locomotive just break traction, then dig right in and recover, and continue stomping, sure footed, down the line. It's as though the engineer applied sand !
Set forth below are the work items you can have done to upgrade your
Big Six, to a brass quality looker, a top performer, or both. Note that
the whole shooting match comes in around the cost of many used brass engines…
of lesser appearance, and generally, lesser operating characteristics.
Many brass jobs will also stick you with hidden higher costs for DCC installation,
custom painting, or I hate to say it, but repairs too !
Just because a seller says " it runs" doesn't mean that it runs
well enough to be in service. When I build for you, I break the locomotive
in, and road test it to assure it runs as intended. No other manufacturer
does all
that.