engine #425

[RBMN #425 Fan]

Mr. the Bach-man,
can you make a model of reading, blue mountian, & northern (reading & northern) # 425? you already make a pennsy k-4 so it'll only take a few modifications because the 425 is a reading g-1 pacific, and you already make auxiliary water tenders. i can post pictures if you want.

[Guilford Guy]

Is 425 a reading unit? I was under the impression it came from a shortline in the south... (Louisiana Eastern?)

I could go through a long explanation on why not, but to save you time- No, they won't.

[RBMN #425 Fan]

it was originally built for the gulf mobile & ohio in 1928, the only time it ever got on reading tracking was for the blue mountain & reading, or reading & northern. it never was really owned by the reading
(baldwin #60339)

If your long explanation is because its an excursion engine, think of it this was, bachmann already makes susquehanna's 2-8-2 S-Y and if i'm wrong correct me, thats an excursion engine. and athern makes Reading and northern diesels

[ABC]

New tooling is $$$, in order to make a loco Bachmann has to see it as very profitable to even make it worth their time and money. Anything Bachmann does ultimately has to do with economics and if the decision makes "good business sense." So, if something is unique and limited to one or two roads, especially more obscure roads that do not have as many fans or whose fans may be older or no longer with us, ones that us younger folks (less than 30ish) do not recall or know of. With less popular roads a lot of manufacturers take pre-orders on items and if a lot of people order the locomotive then they'll make it, but if they do not get large (and I mean large) numbers of orders then they will not make it or offer it to select clubs and groups for a higher price to compensate for the decreased orders. For example, I have several Atlas Akron Canton & Youngstown H15/16-44s they only made as many as were pre-ordered, therefore they ensure a profit. Or Athearn released new SD40-2s in Wheeling & Lake Erie and SD40T-2s in Ohio Central System, I asked the owner of my LHS to order me 3 of each, but Horizon told him that they were sold out 1 week after they were released (they ensure that they do not saturate the market, think supply & demand), so I was forced to buy some from an online hobby shop (at least it was brick & mortar), instead of my LHS, which is struggling to compete against online wholesale retailers, but they still are doing better than all the local Hobby Lobbies and Hobbytown USAs. The only saving grace fro hobby lobby is the 40% of any item coupons and their clearance when items are damaged or discontinued. Sorry for that tangent, anyways back on topic... 
So hypothetically speaking, say that Bachmann made the item available for pre-order, the end result would likely be that the item would be canceled unless a large club or group would be willing to order several thousand at an increased cost to ensure Bachmann makes a profit.

[RBMN #425 Fan]

the 425 did come in three versions; GM&O black, upper headlight; BM&R blue, upper headlight; and the current version RBMN Blue centered headlight, when the 425 went for an overhaul in 2006-07 in rbmn port clinton shop it was modified to actually look like a reading engine, the g class pacifics went up to 3 (i think ) with only slight modifications to the design of the engine itself

[Guilford Guy]

Don't forget Louisiana Eastern... But still, are 4 schemes on 3 railroads worth it to a manufacturer? No, not really, and there is likely a brass model of the GM&O 4-6-2s out there. The K4 is a much different beast than almost every other 4-6-2 in America, and there are different types of drivers, different driver size, different cylinders and boilers, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, that would make a GM&O 4-6-2 an entirely new tooling. The only 4-6-2 I foresee from Bachmann is a model of the Southern Railroad PS-4 since there is a large following of that locomotive.

[RBMN #425 Fan]

where can i get one of the GM&O 4-6-2's

[ABC]

Approximately 7000 Pacifics were produced for U.S. and Canadian railroads. The largest user was the Pennsylvania Railroad, which had 697, including 425 class K4s.
As far as brass GM&O 4-6-2's, they were made, but in such limited quantities that you'd be lucky to run across 1 for sale semi-locally in a lifetime. There is a Proto 2000 0-6-0 GM&O switcher on ebay, right now that is the only GM&O steam in HO.
If you like N scale, I found this: N GM&O 4-6-2 Pacific red & maroon Con Cor 0001-004306 sold as set with 6 heavyweight passenger cars (Rivarossi), it appears periodically on ebay.
In HO: IHC made a 2-6-0 Camelback, TYCO made a 2-8-0 (red& maroon) in 1982, P2K/Life Like made 0-6-0s  (black), DJH made a brass 2-8-2 (black) in 2005, Athearn Genesis made a 4-6-2 Light Pacific (black). That is most of the GM&O steam that was ever made in HO. Also Broadway Limited Imports made an HO USRA 4-6-2 Light Pacific w/DCC & Sound GM&O #268 MSRP was $250 when it came out.

[Guilford Guy]

BLI never made the 4-6-2s. They were announced but never produced. Athearn is reissuing the Light 4-6-2s in the Roundhouse line with sound and DCC.

[ABC]

BLI never made the 4-6-2s. They were announced but never produced.

See what I mean, this proves my point exactly, not enough interest and pre-orders and they ditch the idea. What this tells us is that the odds are stacked against any of these locos ever being made by Bachmann, but you can always hope, stranger things have happened.

[Doneldon]

RBMN and ABC-

Keep in mind that years ago AHM, Tyco and IHC (and others) made generic locomotives and then painted and lettered them for various railroads, including lines which never owned any.  This was in the days of just having a layout and who cares about prototype if it looks good and runs reasonably well.  Sure, there were rivet counters but the general standards were pretty loose compared to 2010.  So decide how much prototypical modeling means to you before you buy.
                                                                                                                                         -- D

[RBMN #425 Fan]

BLI never made the 4-6-2s. They were announced but never produced.

See what I mean, this proves my point exactly, not enough interest and pre-orders and they ditch the idea. What this tells us is that the odds are stacked against any of these locos ever being made by Bachmann, but you can always hope, stranger things have happened.

i thought it was because BLI bought out PCM before they could produce them
and Doneldon you do have a point, i have a tyco Golden Eagle and i've never heard of that railroad. so i'm gonna buy one of those roundhouse pacifics and paint it. mostly because it already has dcc + sound and because roundhouse is owned by athearn and they do make other RBMN items
and abc, i model HO, N, and G so thanks. and i found aristo-craft makes pacifics ang the painted, unlettered scheme is black and almost looks exactly like the 425 in the black, GM&O scheme. and for future refernce, how do you post pictures?

[ABC]

Upload the to Photobucket or Flickr or another image hosting site. Then copy the image location, do not click copy image, but click "copy image location" paste it on this forum then click on the 2nd button in the 2nd row underneath the italics. You will get this after clicking: {img]http://(paste the image location inside here)[/img]. And then preview it to make sure it has worked.

[Pacific Northern]

it was originally built for the gulf mobile & ohio in 1928, the only time it ever got on reading tracking was for the blue mountain & reading, or reading & northern. it never was really owned by the reading
(baldwin #60339)

If your long explanation is because its an excursion engine, think of it this was, bachmann already makes susquehanna's 2-8-2 S-Y and if i'm wrong correct me, thats an excursion engine. and athern makes Reading and northern diesels

The SY 2-8-2 is one of Bachmann China's offerings. There were over 1,800 of the prototype made in China. Many are still in use today. The SY was only one of many other Chinese model steam engines made by Bachmann China.
The SY was not made because there was of the one in use in the US , they were already made.

http://www.railography.co.uk/info/cn_steam/profiles/sy.htm


There were a few Chinese steam engines of different types sold to US interests.

[RBMN #425 Fan]

thanks ABC and Pacific Northern
and i pretty much got the idea there not gonna make it