We have all done it… Bought that loco that seemed like a good idea at the time. Only to find out later that it’s a complete pile of junk that the seller was obviously really pleased to get rid of!

My most recent foray into the world of junk came in the middle of 2012 when I saw a brass 4-8-4 on EBay for a good price. Without thinking about it too much I put in what I thought was a low bid and forgot about it until a week later when I got the “Congratulations on your purchase” message!

 

 

I paid for it immediately and waited for the parcel to make its way across from America.

While I was waiting I started doing a little research into what I had actually bought.

I like to consider that I have a reasonable library but in none of my books or after a good trawl through the internet and going through a friends books on the Niagara’s  turned up a match for the pictures that I had from the EBay advert.

 

When it finally arrived, it was looking a little worse for wear but far more concerning were the tell-tale bands across the boiler that showed that someone had actually gone to the trouble of splicing 2 locos together!

The best part was when I examined the chassis. It looks like at some point this loco was a 4-6-2 pacific…. But someone had taken a second brass loco, sliced off the front 2 driving wheels and tried to glue them to the front of the chassis of the pacific to turn it into a 4-8-4!

Unfortunatly it didn’t work and the result is a complete mess. The 2 halves of the chassis were only held together with the power of prayer and in this case, god didn’t grant the builders wishes!

Needless to say it went back the very next day. But not before I had taken some pictures of this frankly remarkable conversion.

Don’t forget that this mess required the butchering of not 1 but 2 quite valuable brass loco’s!