"If at first you don't succeed..." Indiana Northern #4- Allen 0-4-0

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318J
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"If at first you don't succeed..." Indiana Northern #4- Allen 0-4-0

Post by 318J »

In 2016, at the age of 17, I made the plunge into an Allen 0-4-0, purchasing a drawing set, frame kit, and a few other components. At that time, I made minimal machining progress, but did construct a tender tank (suitable for ballast in the bottom of a scrap bin) and a halfway decent auxiliary tender tank. A couple years later, I moved across the country and lost interest while I was in pursuit of a new career. Sitting in a corner, with no means to continue work on it (and not minding the extra money) I sold the project to a friend back home.

Now, having moved back home, and with a renewed interest and in a completely different situation than I was in high school, I've decided to purchase another set of plans from Allen Models, and restart from square one. This go around (with several years experience in the trades and working on steam, and a real job), I think I have the means to see it through.

Unlike last time, I plan to use the water-jet frame, and drivers from Railroad Supply's B&O 0-4-0. I'll be using those since they better suit the profile of the prototype I'm modeling, and are closer in diameter to what I will need. (44'' drivers scale out to a little over 5 3/4'', RRSC 6'' drivers vs. Allen's 6 3/8'').

So, which prototype am I going after here? There are only four surviving tender-equipped (as built, not tank engine conversions) 0-4-0's in the US. One at Mid-Continent Railway Museum in Wisconsin (Consumers Corp. #701), another in Pennsylvania (PRR #94), the former Reading/Strasburg Railroad Camelback now at Age of Steam in Ohio, and lastly a rather sad looking locomotive outside a depot in small town Aledo, Illinois.

The latter is my choice. It is the Indiana Northern #4, built by Baldwin in January 1913. It operated for the Indiana Northern, a small switching railroad in South Bend, Indiana. No. 4 would have switched cars for two of the I.N.'s most well known customers- Studebaker Automobile and the Oliver Chilled Plow Works until 1948, when it and the other steam locomotives on the I.N. were replaced by a single EMD NW2.

IN4SouthBend.jpg

Against all odds, No. 4 found itself working for a gravel pit in Pacific, Missouri. But by 1960 it was thoroughly worn out and it was pushed to the end of the gravel pit's tracks and off into the weeds, buried up to the running boards in gravel. It stayed there, even after the pit ceased business in 1967, until it was rescued by a Pacific resident in 1982, when it was moved across town. It sat by Route 66 until it was sold to an owner in Iowa in 1992, and later again sold in 2008 to the depot in Aledo, where it remains disassembled and a pretty sorry sight.

IN41987.jpg
Pacific, MO off US 66, 1987

IN4Aledo1.jpg
IN4Aledo2.jpg
I.N. No. 4 In Aledo, IL today.


No. 4 was one of the last steam locomotives to operate in Missouri, and it's storied past spent one step ahead of the torch begs to be remembered, particularly due to it's time spent at the gravel pit in my local area. I hope to do it's history some justice through a 7.5'' gauge representation, and document the build process, as well as the history behind the real-life counterpart here.

IN4Gravelpit.jpeg
I.N. No. 4 working the gravel pit in the 1950s.


It will take time, but this time I have the patience and resources to see this done. As the saying goes: "If at first you don't succeed, try try again."
Last edited by 318J on Mon Mar 28, 2022 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Second Attempt at an Allen 0-4-0

Post by Bill Shields »

I am partial to camels...but then I lived in the middle east for 10 years...and like the large wooten fireboxes in smaller engines.
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Second Attempt at an Allen 0-4-0

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

I think this is going to be a great little locomotive when you get it done. One thing to make sure of before you change drive wheel castings... The Allen locomotives have a 3 1/4" stroke, and the RRSC 0-4-0/Mogul has a 3" stroke. Just make sure there is going to be enough meat around that crankpin when bored 1/8" farther out that you don't have a problem. It probably will work, but you never know. Might ask if anyone else here has increased the stroke using the RRSC drive wheels. You could always change it to 3" stroke with the Allen cylinders. I have heard of people doing that successfully, just using a thicker piston to take up the extra length inside.

Neat history on that little #4. Would love to see her put back together in operational condition. Probably won't ever operate again, but hopefully it will at least not get scrapped. Would be tragic for it to survive for 60+ years after the end of steam and then get scrapped out.
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Second Attempt at an Allen 0-4-0

Post by Bill Shields »

or just go with the 3" stroke with a longer piston...won't hurt anything
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Second Attempt at an Allen 0-4-0

Post by milwiron »

Welcome to the group, lots of helpful people here.
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Second Attempt at an Allen 0-4-0

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

or just go with the 3" stroke with a longer piston...won't hurt anything
That's what I said.

Point is: the drive wheels you want to use and the cylinders you want to use were not designed to work together. Just making sure that you realize that it is quite possible that you will need to modify one or the other to make everything work correctly.
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Second Attempt at an Allen 0-4-0

Post by Berkman »

Still have your two 0-4-0s Pontiacguy?
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Second Attempt at an Allen 0-4-0

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

Only one now. Sold the other about 8 years ago to a fellow out in California. He runs it sometimes at Riverside. It is based on the Mercer 0-4-0, but with Little Engines' 0-4-0 drive wheels, which are bigger in diameter. The one that I currently have really isn't mine. Myself and another guy owned two of them together. When he moved away, we split them up. After 2 or 3 years, I sold my locomotive. He kept his up where he moved for about 6 or 7 years, and never took it anywhere to run it. So, about a year and a half ago, he brought it to me to keep for him so that it would at least get run once or twice per year.

Great little locomotive, and sometimes I wish I hadn't sold mine. Had some bills/debts to pay, so I sold it.
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Second Attempt at an Allen 0-4-0

Post by JohnHudak »

Thats a nice looking 0-4-0 and it looks a lot like the Kozo design..
Have you looked at the Kozo A-3 in 3/4" scale? In his book Kozo has a chapter or two devoted on scaling his 3/4" model up to 1.5" scale, and if I'm correct doesn't someone offer castings (cylinders and drivers) for the larger one?
If this is your first locomotive it sure would come in handy to have the entire build seralized in book form...
318J
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Second Attempt at an Allen 0-4-0

Post by 318J »

Yes, those were my thoughts as well. Just use a shorter stroke and thicker piston to make up the difference.
-Sam
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318J
Posts: 164
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:27 pm
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Indiana Northern #4- Allen 0-4-0

Post by 318J »

Now gearing up to begin work machining the frame components, I'm using Allen's water jet frame kit. Has anyone been through setting up, or have a prefered order of operations for doing them? I'll be starting out with the smaller basic parts, and tackling the large water jet side frames when I'm ready for it. Still a few weeks out on starting with them, but I want to work out and have a pretty good idea how I'm going to approach and complete them.

What are some things to look out for and be careful of when setting up such a large piece? I have some decent machining experience, but I am definitely not a pro at it. Only one way to learn, and that is to practice, make mistakes, and make scrap.
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Re: "If at first you don't succeed..." Indiana Northern #4- Allen 0-4-0

Post by Mike Walsh »

The Webb mill in the shop will do just fine, Sam.

Give yourself plenty of vertical clearance between the frames and the table so that you can machine the frames in one pass - don't clamp directly to the table.

Clamp on top of your spacers, not elsewhere.

I used a few pieces of known dimensional material to help space the frame away from the long edge of the table, to get it as close to parallel as possible. Don't waste too much time trying to indicate it. Reason being is you'll need to clean up that top edge anyway... so just take a skim pass off the top edge of the frame rail, and then reference everything off of that.

If you would like a second set of eyes when setting this up, don't hesitate to reach out. I'm sure I can find some time to come down and offer my insight, if so desired.

Oh, don't get too hung up on trying to indicate all of your hole locations - such as your binders. Fixturing is beautiful for that.
framehorizontal.jpg
framevertical.jpg
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