Well, with the E5s done and on their way back to their owner, time to work on some of my own stuff for a change.



I picked up this MTH USRA 0-8-0 for a song on eBay. After weighing my options, I've decided this one is going to be an I-8sd (One of the 55½" driver variety)



The first thing I'll have to do is drop the boiler about 18 scale inches towards the frame, then I'll remove the running boards and everything below them, all the domes, and the cab. The smoke box will have to be shortened significantly, as well. The pilot will have to be extended, and of course, a lead axle added. Then I can start building it back up, adding the wooten firebox, and the center cab. This should be a fun one.

There are basically 4 "posts" where the MTH 0-8-0 shell mounts to the chassis. These 2 under the cab, and the ones hidden inboard of the cylinder exhaust. Cutting them (as well as the exhaust pipes on the chassis, and a temporary notch for the rear axle; most of that area will be removed when I get more cut-off discs) and I've got a very close approximation of the vertical relationship I'm looking for.


All - My - Friends - in the Lowrider...






Well it's fair to say I'm committed to it now.

So I've been pretty terrible about updating this, but I've been plodding along. If you want to see the progress you can follow the link to my flickr account and look at the I8sd set.