First up #1394, a Jack Ferris custom built PS4; once the signature engine on the club’s eight car heavyweight green Crescent consist, many years of service on this brutal assignment (8 lighted Walther’s and All Nation heavy-weights) have taken their toll as when I first joined in 2012 it was on “display” duty over the club workbench having been pulled from service due to slow top speed and failing power at grade.
Last year I decided to take a crack at restoring it to operation anticipating brother Jim’s visit to Atlanta and that the engine’s problems likely exceeded my meager skill set with drives, especially with model steam. Sure enough none of the normal tells lead to good diagnosis until Jim isolated a bearing block on the drive shaft that had frozen or seized up; some disassembly, lube and “presto.”
It unfortunately only lasted a few weeks in service and then started to degrade in pulling power again as well as derail through switches so it’s bad ordered awaiting disassembly (suspect same drive shaft bearing) and will likely get a new spring for the pony truck too. Here’s some more “mugs” Jim took with his phone.
None of us were able to determine #1394 provenance until I located the engine roster cards at the club, and hence the “Jack Ferris” ID. Given its age I thinks its faithfully done when compared to the prototype albeit without the bronze trim stripes, “Crescent” emblems and tender lettering it sported in its heyday as per below, as well as those metallic cylinder caps. I believe the original owner intended it to look as in its final years of operation, though it could have been repainted since its build date too. The forward half of the USRA boiler seems a tad smaller in diameter as well when compared with the photo but all in all, pretty nice model.
