...a gift from an online friend. They came with the simple drive rods of most toy trains but, for a couple dollars, one could buy the optional full valve gear kit...
Before...
...after.
Sadly, when they were first offered, the slide gear was made with zinc castings that were prone to becoming brittle with age from crystallization or "Zinc-mites", the bane of all model train collectors and enthusiasts. This set was no different, obtained in the usual box lot of goodies I'm always looking for...
However...I found that the later plastic ones were a fairly easy retrofit. The peened rivet that held the original to the slide rod keeps a good grip when carefully pinched into the plastic one and the hole is already predrilled...
A full set of valve gear makes for a much more complete looking steamer, and would please the original giver of the model who, like me, is a tinkerer of the first order and an old school modeler as well...
Yes...this old girl now sports one plastic, and one cast slide rod but, since you can only see one side at a time, I figured no one would notice that the other is of a different material. I do have a plastic south paw rod should this one decide to go south on me in the future.
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