Morehead & North Fork 0-6-0 No. 12

[Glenn Holland]

The Yard Switcher

 

 

 

 

 

It's hardly a secret that I'm a frequent visitor to the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek, Ohio. I take every opportunity to get out there, most notably for days when they have trains operating. Age of Steam is the legacy of Ohio Central Railroad founder Jerry Jacobson, who built the OHCR system before selling to Genessee & Wyoming in 2008. This sale helped fund a new-construction 18-stall roundhouse in Ohio Amish country to house Jerry's growing collection of steam locomotives and railroad equipment.

MNF 12 was built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in Pittsburg (no H) in September 1905 for the Southern Railway as A-7 class 0-6-0 no. 1643. Acquired by MNF in 1952, it was put to work on the Kentucky shortline until 1963 when the road dieselized. 12 was put away in the engine house in Clearfield.

Jerry had a long-standing interest in #12 and finally acquired it and moved the engine to Sugarcreek in 2011 and 2012. In July 2018, with restoration completed, 12 was fired up and became the first locomotive restored completely from a "derelict hulk" at the Roundhouse. It can be seen on any regular tour program at Age of Steam sitting Stall 1.

Having visited the museum so frequently and seeing 12 literally every time I visited, the engine grew on me substantially. Along with the fact that I've been able to ride in and behind the locomotive a few times, it's become one of if not my single favorite 0-6-0 in preservation.

I recently decided that I needed a dedicated switcher in my collection. Most recently I've been building road locomotives or road-switchers, but not a single dedicated switcher. I had to correct that, and decided to model 12 as preserved at Age of Steam.

The design came together over the course of about three months starting at the end of January 2022, and I ordered parts but then set them aside for quite some time. Deciding to just go for it, I assembled and decaled the locomotive in June 2022. During the first half of September, I decided to finally bring the engine to completion, fixing some details and adding just a few more, painting the rods, and installing the electronics.

I'm using a Power Functions M motor to drive M.5 size wheels at a 3:5 ratio, geared for torque, appropriate for a switcher. Originally I wanted to install a fancy DCC-like system in this engine, but after two unsuccessful attempts, I decided to stick with PF for now. Of course, I can always go back and upgrade this engine when the time is right, and I plan to do so in the future. Lastly, I'm using a 700mAh 7.4 volt battery due to limited space in the tender.

 

Artwork has been faithfully created by Cale Leiphart and printed by OKBrickWorks. Thanks to them for their assistance with this project.

12 is a strange one. The design and proportions of this locomotive definitely make it stand out from most other 0-6-0's I'm familiar with. Capturing the spirit and essence of the engine was challenging but fun, a sure departure from the mid to large size locomotives I've published.

I'm sure I say this about all my models, but I'm happy to call this one finished. I've had a lot of WIP models on my plate recently, so checking one completely off the list feels good. I'm excited to have this one in the fleet and I already know I'm going to thoroughly enjoy using it.

 

More photos here: 

Video here: 

Thanks for reading, and happy building.

Glenn

 

[Feuer Zug]

Magnificent work on your 0-6-0 switcher. Being able to see it with the real locomotive in the same picture shows how much attention to detail you put into this. I enjoy seeing the guy on the tender kicking his feet back.

[AbleChristopher]

Gorgeous model, Glenn!  I love those hand pieces holding up the railings along the smokebox. And well done on the protruding front plate at the head of the locomotive, very detailed and looks like it was a pain to stabilize. What would you say was the most challenging part of this build?

[bogieman]

Beautiful work as always. Appreciate the backstory, too.

Dave

[Glenn Holland]

3 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Magnificent work on your 0-6-0 switcher. Being able to see it with the real locomotive in the same picture shows how much attention to detail you put into this. I enjoy seeing the guy on the tender kicking his feet back.

Thank you very much. The comparison is always really nice to show off. The brakeman on the tender certainly adds more character and life to the model.

1 hour ago, AbleChristopher said:

Gorgeous model, Glenn!  I love those hand pieces holding up the railings along the smokebox. And well done on the protruding front plate at the head of the locomotive, very detailed and looks like it was a pain to stabilize. What would you say was the most challenging part of this build?

Thanks! The boiler was definitely challenging given the unique proportions and sections that were necessary. Working all that around the motor was interesting.

42 minutes ago, bogieman said:

Beautiful work as always. Appreciate the backstory, too.

Dave

Thanks very much Dave. Glad you like it.

[Shiva]

Nice :)

[GoHabsGo]

So great ! Are there any instructions somewhere?

[Vilhelm22]

Beautiful MOC as always @Glenn Holland!  I’m always astounded at how much detail you manage to pack into such a small space.  Your steam locomotives are true beauties and the story behind them that you give is always so interesting.

4 hours ago, GoHabsGo said:

So great ! Are there any instructions somewhere?

@GoHabsGo I see you’re fairly new to the forum - instructions are unavailable 99% of the time.  MOCs are generally designed only for the creator’s personal benefit, so people keep them to themselves for most of the time.  One of the few exceptions is Tony Sava - his MOC instructions  can be found on his website Sava Railways.  Otherwise, instructions are unavailable unless stated otherwise.

[zephyr1934]

Another great build.

From the length of the display stand will there be a train coming to match the loco?

[GoHabsGo]

@Vilhelm22 i know that most of the time there is no instuction but who knows :)

[Glenn Holland]

On 9/30/2022 at 6:27 PM, Shiva said:

Nice :)

Thanks!

On 10/1/2022 at 11:22 AM, GoHabsGo said:

So great ! Are there any instructions somewhere?

 

On 10/1/2022 at 3:32 PM, Vilhelm22 said:

Beautiful MOC as always @Glenn Holland!  I’m always astounded at how much detail you manage to pack into such a small space.  Your steam locomotives are true beauties and the story behind them that you give is always so interesting.

@GoHabsGo I see you’re fairly new to the forum - instructions are unavailable 99% of the time.  MOCs are generally designed only for the creator’s personal benefit, so people keep them to themselves for most of the time.  One of the few exceptions is Tony Sava - his MOC instructions  can be found on his website Sava Railways.  Otherwise, instructions are unavailable unless stated otherwise.

Thank you both very much. I enjoy building what I like, the stories that are attached to each piece are part of that and is what helps make something stick out to me.

Vilhelm is correct in this case - no instructions for this model. It is a bit finicky, as many of my models tend to be, so it is not a great model for instructions anyway.

9 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Another great build.

From the length of the display stand will there be a train coming to match the loco?

Thanks very much. I have at least two cars in progress to match the locomotive and I need a fitting caboose, but those will come in good time. 

The display track itself is right out of my Brickmania Mohawk kit. It's the nicest (only) display track I have so it gets used when photographing new models. 

[domboy]

My favorite part is the driver wheels! I was wondering where you got those, and after watching the video was impressed to hear you designed them yourself. They look awesome, and a very good match to the real life drivers! 

[Glenn Holland]

3 hours ago, domboy said:

My favorite part is the driver wheels! I was wondering where you got those, and after watching the video was impressed to hear you designed them yourself. They look awesome, and a very good match to the real life drivers! 

Very glad you like the wheels. I enjoy going the extra step in modeling the wheels accurately, even if it can be a pain sometimes.

[Ts__]

The "small" 12 has turned out really well, the prototype very nicely captured.
I find the image "small vs large" best. There you can literally feel the steam ;-)

Thanks also for the video. What a great fleet!

Thomas

[Glenn Holland]

On 10/15/2022 at 4:37 AM, Ts__ said:

The "small" 12 has turned out really well, the prototype very nicely captured.
I find the image "small vs large" best. There you can literally feel the steam ;-)

Thanks also for the video. What a great fleet!

Thomas

Thomas, thanks very much. It certainly is a nice change from the locomotives I have recently published!

[Ropefish]

Wonderful work glenn, Always love seeing the accurate running gear in place.

[Man with a hat]

Oh, that's a beauty. Excellent job!

[Glenn Holland]

On 10/24/2022 at 7:38 PM, Ropefish said:

Wonderful work glenn, Always love seeing the accurate running gear in place.

Thank you! Making the running gear accurate and tuning the operation can be challenging but is always worth the effort.

On 10/26/2022 at 9:59 AM, Man with a hat said:

Oh, that's a beauty. Excellent job!

Thanks very much!

[Darkkostas25]

Great engine and model, good amount of small details and especially with crewmate on top of tender :D  

[Glenn Holland]

17 hours ago, Darkkostas25 said:

Great engine and model, good amount of small details and especially with crewmate on top of tender :D  

Very glad you like it. The brakeman on the tender adds so much character for how easy it was to include.

[Paperinik77pk]

A real beauty, which absolulely recalls the real one resting in the Museum! 

I also love the video of it in action ... great job !

Ciao!

Davide 

[Glenn Holland]

On 11/6/2022 at 5:08 PM, Paperinik77pk said:

A real beauty, which absolulely recalls the real one resting in the Museum! 

I also love the video of it in action ... great job !

Ciao!

Davide 

Davide, thank you very much. Being able to photograph the model with the real engine was a treat.

[dylanfarrow]

Superb! Well done

[Glenn Holland]

On 11/8/2022 at 7:03 PM, dylanfarrow said:

Superb! Well done

Thank you!

[Supplement_Creatif]

Fantastic looking locomotive. It is so captivating seeing the engine run and preform switching in your video. Steam modelling has so much life to it with the connecting rods moving. I am sure it's not an easy undertaking getting to work.

cheers,