Steam & Excursion > ICRR: Kitbashing in 1:1 Scale

Okay.  You've just turned a 2-8-4 into a 4-6-4 and have this extra set of running gear around.  Soooo.... what to do with it?  How about putting a two-wheel trailing truck on it and mating it with the boiler from a Harriman Mikado?

This is the end result: 2-8-2 #2199.

The boiler came from 1914 Baldwin #1549, which then became #2020 in July, 1937.  The kitbashed locomotive was released after rebuilding in May, 1942.  The locomotive would last into the mid-fifties, and was scrapped in May, 1955.

Alongside is another kitbashing project: 0-8-0 #3312.  Needing switchers in a pinch, a number of old 2-8-0's were converted.  This locomotive was built as #711 by Rogers in 1904, and she was outshopped as seen here in March, 1942.  After the flood of wartime traffic subsided, she became redundant and was scrapped in 1949.

Many railroads did such major rebuilds and conversions, but the Illinois Central made a science of squeezing everything it could out of its existing fleet and not buying new locomotives after the twenties.

This undated photo was scanned from an uncredited negative in my collection, and was taken at Decatur, Illinois.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/23 08:47 by MaryMcPherson.

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As I recall reading about these, the 2100-class rebuilds were some of the beefy-est (sp?) 2-8-2's running around on US rails. I know they ran on the Gruber (Amboy District) between Freeport and points south along with the smaller Mikado's, as witnessed by this image in Decatur. Thanks for sharing this. 

KC

GRNDMND Wrote:
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> As I recall reading about these, the 2100-class
> rebuilds were some of the beefy-est (sp?) 2-8-2's
> running around on US rails. I know they ran on the
> Gruber (Amboy District) between Freeport and
> points south along with the smaller Mikado's, as
> witnessed by this image in Decatur. Thanks for
> sharing this. 
>
> KC

Keep in mind that this particular locomotive was a one-off, hence the number being #2199.  The rest of the 2100's (2100-2140) combined Mikado boilers with the cut-down running gear left over from the 2-10-2's that were rebuilt into the 2500 class 4-8-2's.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Whether or not they were sucessful, IC always did have some of the coolest rebuilds in the business.

2199 is actually a very nicely proportioned engine, made a swan out of that one!

Out 

This is something else I LOVE about steam.  A good shop could seemingly make anything out of anything. Try turning an EMD switcher into an alco PA.  It's not going to happen. 

I never lived anywhere near the Illinois Central, so I can't say that I'm an IC devotee, but, that said, I think that most of the IC steam locomotives were handsome locomotives.  They just had a "style" that bespoke power and confidence.