The name John Armstrong carries a lot of weight in the hobby. “The Dean of Track Planning,” John was most famous for his books and contributions to Kalmbach publications. John was an O Scaler, and his railroad, the Canandaigua Southern Railroad (CSRR), was his lab for radical new ideas. Have you ever walked around the layout following your train? John was the first to think of designing a layout for that. How about modeling operations? John contributed many articles discussing how to model operations. Ever heard of the phrase “Layout Design Element?” While Tony Koester coined the phrase, John wrote extensively on “modeling by scenes,” which was the early stages of this idea.
His locomotives were an extension of his operating philosophy. The CSRR was a regional railroad with a lot of bridge traffic, and needed motive power to move large fast freights from Canandaigua to Pittsburgh. The locomotive featured, 1206, was the main heavy freight locomotive on the CSRR.
John built all of his engines from commercially available kits and imports. The CSRR was a protolanced railroad, and he modified his engines to follow his own strict prototype rules. The locomotive is made from a US Hobbies/KTM Imports PRR J1, with a heavily modified tender, both made of brass.
The locomotive was due for an overhaul in 2021. The last time it had been upgraded and maintained was 2004. The main issue that brought the locomotive in was cogging in the forward motion, but issues with the sound and motor control indicated the decoder and some wiring were going to need to be replaced. Above, the model is disassembled and ready for work.
Th maintenance started with assessing the mechanism. The gearbox had thick browned grease in it, caked against the sides. One of the teeth on the worm gear was worn down, and the Delrin U-Joint was deformed. I cleaned out the gearbox, replaced the worm gear with a brass one, and replaced the Delrin U-Joint with a brass U-Joint. After some adjustments , lubrication, and testing on DC power, the mechanism was operating smoothly.
In 2004, most DCC decoders were rated at 2 amps. Early DCC decoders in O Scale were 2 amp decoders that were modified to take 3.5 amps via a rectifier board and heat sink. Over time, this was going to fail by design, and when you start to see performance issues in sound quality or motor control, it’s a clear sign your decoder is being overworked. Never modify your electronics to perform past their specs.
Today, the market is full of 4 and 5 amp decoders that are designed for these motors. We chose to use the Soundtraxx TSU-4400 with a Keep-Alive for this engine. The locomotive originally had only a headlight and sound. A back up light was added to the tender.
The superstructure of the locomotive was in good shape. All that was needed was some straightening out of some brass parts, a quick resoldering of the cab post that connect to the frame, and some touch up paint.
The engine was put back together and sent out of the shop for its shake down run two weeks after going in. This was my first major project, and we couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.
John took a lot of inspiration from the Pennsylvania Railroad, being that CSRR was a regional carrier right next door. A lot of his locomotives and rolling stock are “surplus PRR stock.” The J1 this locomotive was modeled after did not have a Balpaire firebox, it was a radial-stay design. But John added a Belpaire firebox in accordance with his strict prototype standards. Unusual for a freight locomotive, John had his engines’ tires white-walled.
One of the more famous scenes from John’s CSRR was the Nighthawks-inspired café overlooking mainline into Cattaraugus.
Photographer’s Curve was featured on the cover of Model Railroad in the 1970’s. This shot, while not an exact replica, is an homage to the original (which featured L1 1411).
L1 1411 and V1 1206 in Stepek Yard on David Vaughn’s Nickel Plate Road/Canandaigua Southern model railroad.