Customising the Aster U.S.R.A. Light Mikado
(This article was submitted by the late Rick Runyon and has been left on the site as a tribute to Rick)
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Rick Runyon’s Aster USRA Mikado has had
a modest transformation to a Southern Pacific MK1O. Rick lives in Los Angeles
and models the Southern Pacific Railway, which by the way didn’t directly own
any USRA mikes. The S.P. bought two Mikados’ from the abandoned Minarets and
Western Railroad in 1935 that looked similar to the USRA mike, both visually and
in weight.
Rick modified his USRA mike to represent the S.P. MK1O, which was one of the S.P.’s lightest mikes.
The tenders of these MK1O’s were not of
the Vanderbilt type, which was common to the S.P., used with oil burners. The
S.P. had few coal burning locomotives in the later steam days and this tender on
the MK1O was from an earlier period and converted to oil.
Rick’s first modification to his Aster
URA was to remove the coal area in the tender. The vertical walls in the forward
part of the tender facing the cab were then made level with the side panels of
the tender. The tender top over the water tank was then replaced when a new
tender pump from Aster was installed. The old tender top was then used as a new
top for the oil tank area of the soon to be oil carrying tender. This fits
perfectly, width wise, and is simply cut off at one end to fit this area.
The piece was then hinged and affixed to
the tender itself, thus giving access to the alcohol tank below, which still
remains in the lower part of this area. Aster gives you a little water tank to
go with its new tender water pump. Rick removed this small tank and used the
entire back of the tender as his new water tank by siliconing the holes and gaps
in the tender closed. This old brass water tank, which was supplied by Aster,
now becomes the new tank top for the oil tank on the tender after it was cut
down to a shallow depth. This tank now fits on top of the hinged top that we
have already installed and represents the tank of the prototype that was
typically installed in old coal burning tenders to convert them to oil.
Next he added detail, by adding a
Precision scale back up light, toolboxes, rerailer and brake detail.
The locomotive detailing to S.P. prototype
is straightforward. First, move back the bell, add sand lines, toolbox, coupler
lift bars and piping. The headlight Aster supplied is useless for a S.P.
prototype and therefore we have replaced it with a Precision scale headlight
with number boards. We have added the number boards near the stack (which are
made by grinding down rerailers and refacing them) and then added marker lamps
to the area above the smoke box. No S.P. engine ran on the main line with out
these marker lamps or number boards.
The cab needs the windows opened up (S.P.
never operated these with the windows closed) and while you’re at it, fill in
part of the window area with brass to get the correct proportion of window area.
Add an armrest for the engineer and grab irons for him to get in the cab. Fill
in the center roof vent. Also add some cooling tubes on the side, which are not
on this model yet (below the walkways). Add a sunshade over the window for those
hot California summers.
Painting: S.P. engines have silver smoke box fronts, white or silver lettering. A small MK1O in bottom rear corner of the cab (not on the model yet) a few other transfers, painted dirty underbody and wheels and you’ve got a S.P. prototype.
In looking at the photograph you will
notice that the firebox is not as angular as the USRA prototype. This was
because a shield was put on the side of the firebox and the ash pan was removed.
The shield was on the back 1/4 or 1/3 of the firebox and for the most part was
horizontal, giving a more pleasing profile. This shield was to keep the fire in
and to keep the wind from distracting the fuel oil atomizers efficiency during
operation of the real locomotive. This was added to the model by a small sheet
of brass, which was bolted into the firebox of the Aster model.
Further addition can be added on oil
burners (not all were visible) that being a tube approximately 4” in diameter
on the prototype, running on the fireman’s side below the firebox. This tube,
with one inside of the other, supplied steam-heated oil to the fire for better
combustion.
The prototype didn’t last all that long
on the S.P. It was sold to the Longbell Logging
