Silver platting some shiney bits

[Glenn Brooks]

Hello all,

Thinking about redoing the nickel plating on the steam dome, sand dome and other shinny bits on my Ottaway. I think,it’s nickle. Could originally have been chrome -not really sure at this point. Anyway, original platting is nearly gone, and some rusting and flaking are starting to show up on various parts.

Any thoughts on if Nickel platting is a viable home shop method, using an electrolysis tank?

Alternatively, perhaps I might go out and see if their are any plating shops still in existence, nearby.

Thanks for any input!

Glenn

[Patio]

Hi Glen,
American Plating
524 N Gold St, Centralia, WA 98531
(360) 736-0052
Just down the street from me.

[BAdams]

I don't know if you have ever seen this site before:
https://www.caswellplating.com/

I've never used their products and it might be cheaper to take the items to a shop.

[ccvstmr]

Glen...for what it's worth...think your loco is kind of "busy" looking. Black cab sides, red cab roof, green (?) loco lagging and silver/gray smokebox. Then there's the nickel or chrome domes and cylinder covers (and more), brass flag stands, brass boiler bands, etc. In my opin...think the loco might look better if you go with something that approximates the silver/gray smoke box. That means...some kind of brushed chrome or nickel. If you want something darker, consider pewter. Get your domes and other other brass trim ALL plated the same (leave the plumbing alone). Should provide a more uniform look on the loco.

On my Rutland, the builder (now deceased) did NOT want to spend a lot of time in the steaming bays polishing brass trim. He opted to go with stainless steel boiler bands and cylinder covers. Had brass cylinder covers that were painted silver...and more. Sent the cylinder covers off and had them plated with a brushed nickel (if I remember right). Was very pleased with the end result.

Best I can tell you...go visit a plating shop. If they take you into the back where the plating tanks are located...you'll see much of the metalwork is rusted/corroded from exposure to plating fumes. It's nasty stuff. These folks will be better equipped to handle your parts. In particular when you have a lot of "one-up" parts. HOWEVER...fefore turning over any parts to a plating shop...document your list of parts, take photos of all the parts and provide that documentation if you decide to have the shop do the plating work. It's easy for them to misplace stuff. In particular when they're running lots of 1000's of parts for their regular customers. Just sayin'...

Hope you'll share the end results with us. Carl B.

[SteveM]

HOWEVER...before turning over any parts to a plating shop...document your list of parts, take photos of all the parts and provide that documentation if you decide to have the shop do the plating work. It's easy for them to misplace stuff. In particular when they're running lots of 1000's of parts for their regular customers. Just sayin'...

Might be good to have a sheet with pics and descriptions of all the parts on it and have them autograph it.

Let them keep a copy so that they can be sure to know it's yours when they find it on the floor!

Steve

[rkcarguy]

Glenn, a quick google image search shows most of the GN loco's with a green boiler also having green domes. A few were also showing black domes. It's your locomotive so do what you like, but if it was mine I'd be painting/powder-coating the bling with matching green.

https://www.google.com/search?q=great+n ... 5707172041

Most of these are models, but one would think they are accurate from a prototype.
If you do plate, take pictures of each part and attach them to the work order, also make yourself a copy. We've had our parts given to other customers, left to dissolve in the acid tank, you name it.(At the galvanizing plants).

[Glenn Brooks]

Just an update on what I decided to do for electroplating. I found several local metal workers through our Seattle metalheads group that recommend electroless platting technique for the home shop. Good nickel electroplating apparently is difficult due to line of site deposition, requirements to maintain near boiling temperatures for the nickel bath solution, and some serious biohazards associated with the chemicals. On the other hand, for small parts runs, elextroless platting does not seem to have these disadvantages. So apparently more suitable for the home shop. So I am told.

Apparently Caswell ( I think) sells plating kits with the necessary chemicals, albeit expensive at $275 for the smallest size “kit”. So probably will try that and see how it comes out.

Re: color scheme. Park gauge trains, which this one is, are usually always dressed out in bright livery. This livery represents close as I can get to the traditional color scheme adopted by the Northern Pacific in its heyday - green boiler, black cab, and red top.

Interestingly, The bronze and nickel scheme on the Ottaway, showed up after I stripped all the old, dead, flat black, end-of-life, depression era paint the loco had on it, when I bought it. Apparently Ottaway rolled a number of engines off their production line back in the 1950’s with this chrome/nickle/stainless boiler lagging and matching cylinder end caps. This loco was one of those original all silver livery schemes. Hence the silver shinny bits on the steam chests, and the two domes. The original boiler lagging still is stainless steel, under the green powder coat, although pretty beat up and scratched, etc. As park gauge trains are by nature, painted with lively, bright colors, I decided to preserve the shiney parts that showed up when I stripped the old paint and polished the brass for a technical inspection. I plan on keeping the bronze fittings polished at least until I get tired of keeping the brass up. Then maybe it gets painted again. Or not. Depends on how long the exposed bronze will last once the loco goes back into operation.

So, long winded paint scheme. But I would like to preserve what I can of the original heritage of the loco, plus maintain my snappy little backyard NP theme. Overall,it’s pretty well decked out for the various summer holidays I will be running it, giving rides to the neighborhood kids.

Glenn

[Dick_Morris]

I plan on keeping the bronze fittings polished at least until I get tired of keeping the brass up.

Some have gold plated brass and bronze fittings. Many years ago this treatment was done to the calliope whistles on the Delta Queen.

[NP317]

Glenn:
To preserve the shiny brass colors you can rattle-can spray on a coat of clear gloss lacquer paint.
I've practiced that method for years and it works nicely.
I restored all the original brass fittings in our old Queen Anne (Seattle ) home that way.
'Still looked good when we sold it, after living there 28 years.
~RN

[rkcarguy]

Ok that makes sense Glenn. Not only that, but I did find more pictures with them done in red and gold, so apparently there is a lot of variance there.
I have limited experience with any type of plating, but here it goes for what it's worth.
One of my prior work places was a marine cooling system shop, and they had a giant plastic vat of salt and vinegar water for "pickling" the yuck out of the exchangers. It was well used(expensive to dispose of it), and had a lot of copper dissolved in it. Out of curiousity I ended up taking the parts to a radiator support that were all crusty, stripped them bare, and then pulled the forklift over by the tank and used jumper cables to "charge" my experiment. It worked, rather quickly, and in about 5 minutes I had copper looking steel parts. I painted over it black of course, and over the years the paint started to wear and peel again, but I was surprised that the copper plating still held up well as long as I owned the car.

[Glenn Brooks]

Ryan, while choosing the color scheme, I looked around for some background info on the GN historical site regarding red roofs. NP and successor GN management (James Hill - same owner ) both stipulated cab roofs would be painted mineral red, as it best masked the constant damage done to the tops of the cabs from burning embers blasted out of the smokestack. They chose a local regional NW hardware store supplier of the day -can’t remember the name at the moment - so that local back shop crews could just go down to the closest store and buy a gallon as needed. It’s possible some freight cars were also painted this same shade red. However, reportedly, there was lots of color variation up and down the line.

Glenn