# 1666 Prairie Locomotive Cab upgrade



## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

I have a 1947 Variation B unit that's still a good runner and want to do some mods to the cab for future generations. Anyone notice the 1666 has a double firebox? Researching it, I found that technique was tried mid 1800's and deemed ineffective. So I'm surprised Lionel built a model with it. Anybody know anything more about double firebox locos?

You can see the cab in a photo here:
http://www.tandem-associates.com/lionel/lionel_trains_1666_loco.htm


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Before mechanical stokers, some locomotives had twin fire doors, not double fireboxes. As you said, that may have been an experiment in the 1800's but I've never heard of it so it never caught on. Double fire doors allowed a fireman to more easily cover the large expanse of the firebox. We have a 1902 ALCO built Michigan Central 4-4-2 on display in the roundhouse I work in and it has twin fire doors. Obviously the invention of mechanical stokers negated the need for that feature

This isn't my image, but is the locomotive I was talking about


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

I didn't know they were rare. I have an old shopworn one. It runs, but I really have never done much with it - Personally I am not a fan of the locos that had the three-position direction switch sticking out of the boiler.


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

Interesting. Love the photo of the twin fire doors. That's probably what went into the Lionel Prairie design. 

This is the paragraph that threw me in the direction of double fireboxes. Excerpt from: http://www.railway-technical.com/st-glos.shtml

"Coal burning locomotives were tried by Joseph Beattie in 1854 on the London & South Western Railway. He designed a double firebox and combustion chamber to this end. Various other devices were tried over the next few years in an attempt to improve combustion, including the use, by some engineers, of centrally divided fireboxes fitted with a mid feather to improve circulation."

And from the book "Perfecting the American Steam Locomotive" p166 ... the Lionel 1666 doesn't have the Belpaire "double bubble" that would indicate dual fireboxes.
https://books.google.com/books?id=A...age&q=double firebox steam locomotive&f=false


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

The 1666 is a nice little engine , I got the pre and post war models. Did not know about the Firebox what mods do you plan on doing?


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

ErnestHouse said:


> Interesting. Love the photo of the twin fire doors. That's probably what went into the Lionel Prairie design.


I'll say, it's got a massive firebox. I've been inside of it and you can practically stand up inside. Something I definitely can't say about our operating locomotives.


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

sjm9911 said:


> ...what mods do you plan on doing?


This is a practice project for me. First mod is painting walls, ceiling, firebox and windows to make it more interesting. I haven't painted models since I was a kid. Never did like it. I can't get straight lines. Holes in the boiler are prep for flickering firebox and cab lighting.









I used this Pacific as a reference.


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

Steamfitters, painters and electricians have been busy.


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## teledoc (Oct 22, 2014)

Looking great so far....nice additions with the pipes. Now just finish it.....LOL!!


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

Crew on hand for test fire of boiler. Hi fives all around.


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## teledoc (Oct 22, 2014)

Now that's what call excellent work. Looks great, and hope you are happy with the results. :appl::appl::smilie_daumenpos:


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

Thanks. Yes, I used flickering LEDs and I'm very happy with fireboxes. The steam control lined up perfectly with the engineer hand position. Need to make seats. Will post tutorial when done. Discovered the hard way that satin paint shows brush strokes much less than glossy.


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## rdmtgm (Nov 25, 2011)

awesome!!!:appl::appl:


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## AG216 (Sep 28, 2011)

wow.
Pretty nice looking details!
make the engine look a lot better.

Andre.


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

I've grown to appreciate the details in the 1666 casting. The area around the windows has separation between the window framing and cab body ... the double firebox doors, separately applied handrails, bell and whistle. I'm going to do some work on the tender as well.


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## rogruth (Mar 6, 2012)

The Pacific cab interior you show seems to be on a British loco.
The driver is on the left and fireman on the right.


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

Leaving some of the casting details untouched ... going for the hand painted look. Pretty much cause I can't get the "good as factory" look. I suppose that's the point of stripping it all down with brake fluid, primer, air brush....


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

Crew seats were the final thing needed. I set out to model them after this real world seat:








I used wood screws, sheet aluminum and spackle.








As a handcrafted renovation, I wanted my crew to be more engaging than the store bought trains like this:








So I installed them with the crew swiveled to the side. When I reassembled the shell and motor, the engineer got knocked off so I used a small ball of epoxy to glue him back and shaped it into a based for his seat. Probably will have to do the same for the Fireman someday.








Each firebox is lit using two flickering 1.8mm LEDs. One is red and the other orange. But the red overpowers the orange and overall, the fireboxes are too bright. I think I'm going to dab some black paint on the red to tone it down.


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## teledoc (Oct 22, 2014)

Excellent job!!!:smilie_daumenpos::smilie_daumenpos::appl::appl:


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Very cool, where did you get 1.8mm flickering LEDs?


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

I used these from Evan Designs:
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/flickering-led.html

They also have very handy male/female plugs for separating shell from chassis. However the wire is too thin for any stripper I have so a razor is the only way I've found to strip them. 








The electronics to make them track powered is built into the leads. I find there's an abundance of excess wire to deal with. For the 1666, I used wax on the inside the firebox wall to hold it all and covered it with black tin foil.















The black paint dabbed onto the LED's and wire "grate" did the trick. It makes it much "dirtier" looking inside the firebox.


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

Here's a video of the flickering firebox in action... the thick firebox wall is very shiny after drilling it out. It's about 1/4" thick and that shiny tunnel reflects the light and adds to the feeling of depth of a firebox as well as realism IMHO.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

WOW! It turned out Great! :thumbsup:


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The flickering LED's are great for the firebox. I've done a couple of PC boards so that I can add them to upgrades. I use the 3mm LED's and grind the tops flat to diffuse the light. Then I mount them about 1/8" from the plastic lens and use a plain white bond paper inside the red lens. The effect is similar to what you get with four independent areas flickering.

The smaller one runs on 5VDC, I get that with a Super-Chuffer installation, the larger one has a track power supply build-in and runs from any track power, AC or DC. The capacitor on the track powered one conveniently provides the right spacing from the firebox lens, so I just super-glue that to the boiler in the correct alignment.


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

10 miles round trip to Hobby shop. I hate it when metallic paint is filed in the Satin rack of similar color. Went with it for the tender's tank covers but it's not going to work for my boiler ... looked better to the eye than the photo .....Grrrrrrrr


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