# In Praise of Short Locos and Rolling Stock: Please share pictures



## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Tooter recently posted a couple of threads on short locos and rolling stock recently ha reminded me how much I love them. I certainly have my share of big, long locos and cars, but short ones have a charm and fun-factor that makes them a favorite for me, too. I though I would share my short and shortened locos and cars, and hopefully others will show theirs (I hope to learn something and shamefully copy the best ideas without giving any credit!).

The uppermost level of my layout consists of a 56-foot around dogbone (central trunk with reversing loops on the ends) twisted over and under itself, with mostly 36 inch diameter curves. I call it BEEPWorld, because it has a simple rule in effect on it: nothing longer than an RMT BEEP (9 1/4 inches). I've sought out short locos and shorted locos and rolling stock to run here.

My shortest loco I have is this, just 7 1/4 inches long. It is this scratch-built body of a yard-goat that was custom built by some railroad's shop from an old six-wheel diesel's truck. I copied it from a picture posted on a real trains forum. 








Here it is with a BEEP. 








I have six short ore cars that fit within the 9 1/4 inch criterion (easily) and a dozen of more oher assorted cars that I shortened - old traditional stuff bought cheap and beat up at swap meets for the purpose of cutting them up. Most people like the tank cars best. 








I have very few scale locos hat fit within the 9 1/4 inch criteria. The best (the only one with cruise and good sound) is my lovely MTH Premier 2-8-0 steamer - exactly 9 1/4 inches long. It is real jewel. The Lionel 0-4-0 Shifter also fits. I use it to pull a set of three short cars I made from two Lionel plastic Western and Atlantic passenger cars.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I like your yard goat Lee.

My shortest "loco" is probably my little speeder, and the shortest actual working locomotive would have to be the 44-Ton Williams I suppose.


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## Guest (Aug 9, 2015)

This is a short as we have, the beautiful Lionel ten wheeler.

View attachment 67290


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

What cute little short trains! Lee is a scratch building genius. :appl:


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I have that same 10-wheeler, it's a very nice locomotive. :thumbsup:


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## PatKn (Jul 14, 2015)

After a 2 year wait after preordering, I just received a BB1 Engine. I like the small size withe the pantographs. I think it's pretty cool. I also have BEEPS and the same 19th century consolidation as you do Lee. I have the MTH 44 Ton on order and three K-Line Plymouth Switcher sets. . I think the BB1s are my favorite. I don't have any pictures available. I'll try to post some later.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I have a couple of beeps that have been converted to command. The second one was when I was doing the beta test of the then new ERR Cruise Commander Lite. It got sound, cruise, and all sorts of lighting features. It got lighted number boards, directional markers, and separately controlled cab lights and strobe. I couldn't figure out how to get smoke into it as well. 

Here is is on the workbench during the final checkout.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Wow. A BEEP with smoke would be aswesome, but I don't see it happening either. Just no room inside. 

I have that Legacy 10-wheeler, too. Nice small loco, really a good runner with okay sound.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I have a Reading BEEP that I may yet try to add smoke to, stay tuned.


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> I have a couple of beeps that have been converted to command. The second one was when I was doing the beta test of the then new ERR Cruise Commander Lite. It got sound, cruise, and all sorts of lighting features. It got lighted number boards, directional markers, and separately controlled cab lights and strobe. I couldn't figure out how to get smoke into it as well.
> 
> Here is is on the workbench during the final checkout.
> 
> View attachment 67337


That's a neato engine, John. 
How long is the body minus the couplers?


Greg


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

Lee Willis said:


> My shortest loco I have is this, just 7 1/4 inches long. It is this scratch-built body of a yard-goat that was custom built by some railroad's shop from an old six-wheel diesel's truck. I copied it from a picture posted on a real trains forum.
> View attachment 67234
> 
> 
> ...


Lee... that's exquisite modeling... and that little 6 wheeler is superb. 

My standard for a tooter shorty is under 6 inches. Got this tank car down to six by crowding the domes. I originally wanted to make it a single dome but there was not enough room to keep the trucks from touching each other on O16 curves.










The tooter caboose (my total favorite  ) holds the shorty record at just 2 3/4 inches.










There's also guy on the web who does fabulous shortened LGB trains. 










Greg


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

tooter said:


> That's a neato engine, John.
> How long is the body minus the couplers?
> 
> 
> Greg


Greg, the body is 8.25" long at the longest point. It's the standard RMT BEEP body, it's what's in side that counts.


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## Wood (Jun 9, 2015)

Who said "too small for a smoke unit"? This is my KLine Plymouth switcher from the Kennecott Copper Corporation. It is a fantastic unit with smoke, Kadee couplers and unbelievable detailing including a flexible bell rope. One of my future projects is to fabricate the copper mountain and transfer station for this little gem.









Next is my Aristo Craft MOW. I like this over the Lionel Speeders because it runs at a more realistic speed and makes it over all of the switches without kicking the eunit. (Of course the grandchildren love the speeders and drag race them all the time.)









Finally the Lionel 1656. I believe this to be one of the most durable of Lionel's switchers. It has coil couplers, a nice mechanical bell, no smoke, no magne-traction, but is a pulling machine, when loaded down, and runs on 9 volts.


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## Wood (Jun 9, 2015)

Tooter, You do nice work. Excellent modeling.


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Greg, the body is 8.25" long at the longest point. It's the standard RMT BEEP body, it's what's in side that counts.


Thanks, John. I was considering a shorty beep shell for powered handcar I stripped down to the base.










But while I was looking for one, I came across this trashed Lionel trolley shell...










...and decided to have a go at making a tooter shorty trolley. The handcar chassis is only 4 inches long so it'll be really *short*. 


Greg


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

Wood said:


> Tooter, You do nice work. Excellent modeling.


Thanks, man. I have no end of fun doing it. 


Greg


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## rrbill (Mar 11, 2012)

I like your tooter caboose, Tooter. Its Lionel lineage is very evident; neat work on it.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Wood said:


> Who said "too small for a smoke unit"? This is my KLine Plymouth switcher from the Kennecott Copper Corporation. It is a fantastic unit with smoke, Kadee couplers and unbelievable detailing including a flexible bell rope. One of my future projects is to fabricate the copper mountain and transfer station for this little gem.


When you cram the sound and command with cruise control into the shell, the BEEP is too small for smoke.  I have the K-Line Plymouth, and I'm going to see if I can cram basic TMCC into it. The smoke unit in that locomotive takes up most of the front body, it's actually fairly large for the size of the engine. The control board is a tiny board for just conventional control. I'm hoping I can fit at least the ERR MiniCommander II somewhere.

My "upgraded" RMT speeder has excellent low speed performance, the TMCC board gives it 100 speed steps. The kids at modular shows do like these little units.


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

rrbill said:


> I like your tooter caboose, Tooter. Its Lionel lineage is very evident; neat work on it.


Thanks, it's become the tooter trademark. 

I got a cheap stripped caboose and added the ladders and smokestack to make it completely accessorized.










I never could figure out how to make a single truck with a coupler on both ends, so it has only one.

Greg


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Tooter - you have me beat as to "shortest caboose in the world." I thought I had the shortest possible caboose. Like you, it is built on a single two-axle truck, but it's a longer truck than your caboose's. Mine is a completely scratch built caboose body.















I made his caboose several years ago, as part of a home-made logging train for my BEEPWorld loop. 








The logging train loco is a SHEEP (SHay bEEP) and one of my favorites (which explains why the dang thing is so dusty - it has been sitting on a hself and I have not run it in several months!). The SHEEP's chassis and guts are from a BEEP. The loco body is scratch built. The three-cylinder Shay drive mechanism actually "works": the long shaft spins and you can see the crankshaft counterweights bobbing around and the piston rods going up and down and the valves (shiny metal things on each cylinder jerking up and down wih each revolution, too. (The mechanism is not connected to the drive wheels but powered by a separate, very small motor inside the boiler shell).


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## PatKn (Jul 14, 2015)

Lee,
I love the Sheep. do you have a video of it running? I also like the crane car. Is that scratch built too?


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

Lee Willis said:


> Tooter - you have me beat as to "shortest caboose in the world." I thought I had the shortest possible caboose. Like you, it is built on a single two-axle truck, but it's a longer truck than your caboose's. Mine is a completely scratch built caboose body.
> View attachment 67537
> 
> View attachment 67545
> ...


I really like that old timer look, Lee. It's* far* beyond my skills. I only know how to cut stuff up. :laugh:


Greg


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## callmeIshmael2 (May 28, 2012)

I'll be interested to see what further magic you can cram into your Plymouth switcher, GRJohn. One of my faves is my little Plymouth in the Western Pacific scheme. With the running lights (green ahead, red on the sides) it's a very dramatic and scale-creeping beauty. Can't pull much, but looks great with just a few cars and smokes very nicely


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Beautiful scenes CallmeIshmael2 - a nice layout. And thanks for bringing up Plymouth switchers. They certainly have to be the smallest loco made. Although tiny, the real ones were very useful around a train yard. The models fit many places where even a small "real loco" is just too big. You are right that they can't pull too much - the locos in the photo below were challenged to pull six tiny cars loike those shown up inclines on my layout, one reason I run the six cars are two trains. 

A couple of years ago I found this Kennecott Copper Corp. train set at a TCA meet, with far too low a price to pass up. I've come to really like i. The yellow Plymouth in the photos below came with all six cars - both yellow and green. But the green cars matched a green Plymouth I already had, and as I said six cars is a challenge for them, so I typically run them as two trains, like this. There are probably the shortest trains I actually have.


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

Lee Willis said:


> The yellow Plymouth in the photos below came with all six cars - both yellow and green. But the green cars matched a green Plymouth I already had...


As if that match wasn't a good omen! :laugh:
I think it's fascinating how things like that happen. Who sells those two axle mining cars, or were they modeled?

Greg


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## Wood (Jun 9, 2015)

> Tooter Posted: Who sells those two axle mining cars, or were they modeled?


Kline manufactured the two axle mining cars and the engine to pull them.


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## cshabino (Jan 8, 2013)

Any ideas where I might find the K Line two axle mining cars and the two axle slag cars. Have searched E Bay without success

Thanks--Very much enjoy the knowledge shared on the Forum


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## Wood (Jun 9, 2015)

Their have been quite a few on the internet. Go to eBay or Bing and type in K-Line Plymouth Switcher. There are 4 sets listed on eBay. It is no longer produced since Kline is gone. 

I will say it is one of the best small units I have ever owned. Well painted, very detailed and they run well. They even come with Kadee couplers which work super.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The K-Line Plymouth also has fan driven smoke, something that you don't find on a lot of small units. The K-Line Porter is another really neat little locomotive, this one was upgraded to TMCC with chuffing smoke.


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