I’ll be honest. Building models for BMR, such as the NMRA and Brickworld exclusives, the bulkhead flatcar, and now six versions of an extended vision caboose, has been fantastic. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. But it’s now been over two and a half years since I added a locomotive, or any piece of rolling stock for that matter, to my personal fleet, coming from my to-do list rather than BMR’s.

This was a topic of conversation between Cale and I at the end of 2018. We were hanging out together over the final weekend of the year getting ready to announce the T-1 and prepare for other things coming up. At that point, it had been a little over two years since I built a locomotive that was good enough to keep. (I did build a 2-10-4 in that time, but I don’t count it because it never worked properly and has been mostly dismantled.) That had to change.

Several locomotives were brought up as contenders for my new project. My primary goal was to select a locomotive which could be built from start to finish with a minimum of custom work and electronics. In essence, I wanted a strong jumping off point instead of having to perfect several new techniques like a drive-train. Cale and I had recently completed the S160 2-8-0 for Brickmania, so I was inspired to build a similarly sized locomotive: a 2-8-0 or 2-8-2 would be the perfect size, it could use the same “golden” drive-train as the S160, and I had no suitable freight locomotives. I began to look through my build list and found a locomotive that met all the criteria.

The Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad

Growing up I was gifted a boxed set of VHS tapes called “American Steam: A Vanishing Era.” These old tapes comprised of old black and white and color film of steam railroading right up to the end of mainline steam power and beyond. My favorite was “Steam Shortlines of the South” which was a collection of footage from numerous small steam-powered railroads in the Southern United States. The Buffalo Creek & Gauley was one of these railroads, although featured for only a few minutes. The tape showed a hefty 2-8-0 switching strings of coal cars at the line’s interchange with the Baltimore & Ohio. That was my first contact with this incredible shortline.

The Buffalo Creek & Gauley was a coal hauling railroad with connections to the B&O in Dundon, Clay County, West Virginia. If there was ever a perfect West Virginia coal-hauling shortline, the BC&G was it. The line ran from Dundon all the way to the mine in Widen, West Virginia with several unincorporated towns along the way.

Hoppers would be loaded at the mine in Widen and run up the line to the interchange, where the B&O would take the cars to distant coal markets. Empty cars were returned to Dundon.

Modeling the BC&G would be a perfect gateway into modeling a coal-themed branchline, which has long been a goal of PennLUG. What’s more, the BC&G owned several hundred copies of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s GLa class hopper car, which is a close cousin of the USRA 55 ton design. So, if I wanted, I already had a fitting hopper design to put behind a BC&G locomotive. I decided to stick with the BC&G, which left me with three options for a 2-8-0 to model.

I had eventually stumbled upon this website by Mr. Brooks Stover, a Master Model Railroader who models the BC&G in S scale. His website is by far the most comprehensive resource available on the BC&G, detailing the history of the line as well as the motive power, rolling stock, operations, and setting in fine detail. When I started to look for a new locomotive to model, the BC&G stuck out in my mind, and I soon found myself browsing Mr. Stover’s website where I stumbled upon what would become the locomotive of choice: 2-8-0 #13.

2-8-0 Consolidation #13

13 stuck out to me for several reasons. The look of older and smaller 2-8-0’s has always appealed to me. The other two 2-8-0’s known for operating on the BC&G, #4 and #14, were too bulky looking. 13 was visually different, and sported many unique features like dual cross-compound compressors and an offset rear driving axle. What’s more is that by December 2018 I had seen this locomotive in person, twice.

13 was originally built for the Kelly’s Creek & Northwestern Railroad and was numbered 6. It operated there until 1954 when it was purchased by the BC&G and renumbered 13. It worked the line hauling coal and excursions until the BC&G ended operations in 1965. The 2-8-0 changed owners several times before ending up on Jerry Jacobson’s Ohio Central Railroad where it once again hauled tourists. It was last operated in the late 1990’s and requires extensive work to the running gear and a boiler inspection before it can steam once again. Today it resides in stall #18 at the Age of Steam Roundhouse, which is where I have seen it in person.

Modeling 13

Using the S160 as a starting point, 13 came together fairly quickly. I started on February 9th this year after gathering as much information and as many photos as I could of the engine in 1963 and later. The BC&G repainted 13 to feature the railroad’s diamond emblem on the cab, and also extended the coal bunker on the tender and added a mechanical lubricator. This is my personal favorite appearance of 13, and I decided to replicate this on my model. I built the locomotive in Lego Digital Designer and then ordered the parts necessary from Bricklink.

Unfortunately I did run into an issue. The tender was such a design that the LEGO PF rechargeable battery box would not fit underneath the the rear decking. It could fit under the bunker, but that would require moving the IR receiver to the decking, which is not something I wanted to do. The top of the receiver is always more well hidden among the coal, so I opted for a custom battery instead. Fortunately Cale had a spare that was just right, and has similar statistics to the Lego battery but with much higher mAh.

As with most LEGO steam locomotives built in recent times, I needed custom connecting rods. Mine had to be specific given the odd spacing of the drivers, so I chose to design these parts myself. Again, the S160 came in handy, as I was able to use the setup of those rods to design my own. Instead of keeping the LEGO aesthetic, I went for more details on the parts. I printed them using Shapeways and they fit perfectly right out of the box. I did ream out the main crank pinhole for smoother operation, but all in all the parts were perfect. I painted them with Tamaiya TS-100 paint to achieve a nice gunmetal look.

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to keep custom electronics to a minimum. While the battery choice was made out of necessity, I did add another custom item to the model: sound. The failed 2-10-4 mentioned above was the second locomotive I’ve built to feature a Hi-Line Steam sound card from Dallee Electronics. With the engine mostly dismantled, the system (completely wired and in working order) was sitting in a box under my desk. I decided to play around with fitting the system to 13 and it worked wonderfully. The chuff is synched via magnets to the rear axle and the card and speaker are inside the tender.

Pinstriping was done by hand with a Sharpie Metallic Silver oil-based paint pen. Decals were artfully done by Cale Leiphart and printed by OKBrickWorks. That was the final piece to this locomotive; designed, built, and tested in just under five months. Now, it’s ready to be put to work hauling coal, or rather ABS plastic.

I’m happy to say that my new locomotive will be gracing the rails of the first ever L-Gauge Modular Standard layout at Brickworld Chicago this week. I’ll be handing it off to Cale this week and briefing him on proper handling (I’m particular about the way my locomotives are dealt with, but I know Cale with give it the same care that I do.) Anyone who is planning on going to Brickworld will have a chance to see it, and I’m excited to finally be able to share it with the world. It’s been quite a journey.

Future Plans for 13

Having done the legwork in researching the Buffalo Creek & Gauley, there’s much more I’d like to build from it. I only have one BC&G hopper, so I will definitely need several more for an appropriately long coal train.

Of course I’ll also need a caboose to put behind the train, and thankfully BC&G had one of those too: a former B&O I-1 class.

13 was also on the head of several BC&G excursion trains, which featured the railroad’s two passenger cars and the dining car, and a few B&O gondolas. Who knows when I’ll get to all of this, as the rest of my list is still long (naturally), but I’m glad that there’s more modeling opportunity from the BC&G. It’s certainly a railroad with an excellent character.

Wrapping Up

I couldn’t be more pleased with the model. It looks great and performs even better. I’ve run the locomotive for upwards of six hours so far and I have yet to develop any issues – Cale’s drive train works wonders. I’m also happy with the level of detail I was able to add, both in the rods and the rest of the locomotive. I feel my model truly does represent BC&G 13 with fine precision.

I’ve said it already, but it really has been too long since I built something for myself. Working on BMR projects is wonderful, but admittedly I had been feeling burned out on LGEO train modeling. I definitely needed the break, and I can say it was more than worth it. I’m already looking forward to the next few projects I have. I’m now recharged and ready to build again.

Thanks for reading.

Glenn Holland