August 13, 2013 My new MDC/Roundhouse 0-6-0

Way back in the fall of 1951 I bought my first HO Locomotive, is was a MDC/Model Roundhouse 0-6-0 Switch Engine Kit, I still have it and it is still in prefect condition.  I was cruising E-Bay and saw a New Unopened Kit from 1953, I bid on it and won.  It cost a bit more than the $6.85 my original engine cost in 1951.  Actually I was very happy just finding it.

The kit went together very nicely.
 






I took my time building this kit and it turned out fantastic.  My original engine operates on 12 volt DC, I wired this one for DCC and installed a decoder in the tender.  Both the original and this kit came with sloped back tenders, I found a used Vanderbilt tender on E-Bay and bought it to go with the new engine.  I grew up in El Paso Texas and all the 0-6-0 switch engines had Vanderbilt tenders so I thought it appropriate for my layout too.

I installed connectors for a DCC decoder in both tenders so I could ues either tender behind this engine.



This tender was used and required a complete overhaul.



Because of the small size of the tenders and engine I mounted a male connector on each tender and used a female pigtail on the engine.

The original MDC motors are open frame, very powerful and only draw 800 ma. max so a one amp decoder works very good. I added several SP workers to this engine, they give it a more realistic look.

I referenced the SP Historical Site and found an El Paso roster from 1950 and assigned 1121 as the engine number.

This was like going back in time to my teenage years, I needed that.