PRR K4 and E6

[RLS]

i have a k4 #3750 which is very nice and i was wandering what do yall think about the locomoive
and also would bachman ever consider making an E-6 which i pretty much a k4 but smaller

[Woody Elmore]

An E-6 is much different from a K-4. Bachmann would need to make a lot of new tooling. However, the E-6, G-5 and H-9s were all very similar as the real ones shared the same boiler. The question is how many would Bachmann sell? I think that only died in the wool Pennsy fans (and Long Island folks like me) would welcome a G-5.

[RLS]

what is a g-5

[OldTimer]

It's a ten-wheeler (4-6-0).  Ten-wheelers were dual service locomotives and apparently the railroads really liked them because I have read that there were more 4-6-0's built than any other wheel arrangement.
OldTimer

[J3a-614]

A G5 is a Ten-Wheeler, or 4-6-0.  PRR's were among the last engines of the type built for US service (some were built as late as 1929), and were something of a specialty locomotive for commuter service, intended to mimmic the acceleration characteristics of an electric MU train with up to six cars.  Reportedly the combination of frame layout, spring rates, and counterbalance made for a very rough-riding engine.  Most were on Pennsy proper, many assigned to the Pittsburgh area (and I have a photo of one with pilot and headlight on the tender, for fast running in reverse on a line with no turning facilities), and another batch ran on the Long Island; the latter had larger tenders, similar to those of contemporary K4s 4-6-2s in the 1920s.  Three engines--one from the Pennsy, and two from the Long Island--survive today, with the two Long Island engines under restoration for proposed operation.

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/prr472s.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/prr1689s.jpg

http://arrts-arrchives.com/foto1.html

Bowser once offered a model of the G5 as a metal kit, but didn't have a correct tender, unless you ordered a Long Island version with a K4 tank.  Most interestingly, Life-Like offered a G5 in plastic, and with the correct tender (!) back in 1970 or so; you could get it lettered for the Pennsy and the Santa Fe!.  I have never seen one, and wonder if anyone else here has and can tell us something about it.  I think it was made in Germany under contract (Roco?), and wonder what became of its tooling.

[jonathan]

Here's the Bowser G5:



I have been tinkering with this thing for quite a while.  It has a Penn Line tender.  Sometimes they show up on ebay.  With a little bullfrog snot, it will pull 30 cars, but requires large radius curves (22" or better).

Regards,

Jonathan

[J3a-614]

General photo links you may find of interest:

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/prr_steam1.html

Have fun.

[hotrainlover]

It would also be acquired by me.  It has the "Bellpaire"  box that the GN used on most of their engines.  I would buy one,  if it was a Spectrum model!

[Atlantic Central]

It's a ten-wheeler (4-6-0).  Ten-wheelers were dual service locomotives and apparently the railroads really liked them because I have read that there were more 4-6-0's built than any other wheel arrangement.
OldTimer

Actually, all time North American production numbers look something like this:

2-8-0    33,000
4-4-0    25,000
4-6-0    17,000
0-6-0    15,000
2-8-2    14,000
2-6-0    11,000
4-6-2      6,800
0-8-0      2,800
4-8-2      2,400
4-4-2      1,900
2-6-2      1,700
0-4-0      1,500
4-8-4      1,000
2-8-4         750
4-6-4         500

Ten wheelers hold third place very comfortably. While many were considered dual service, in the age of the 2-8-0 for freight service, Ten Wheelers were the "modern" passenger power replacing 4-4-0's which could no longer handle ever heavier trains.

And as articulated locos go, only a few wheel arrangements go above 100 or so copies.

The clear winner is the 2-6-6-2 at about 1,300 examples.

Sheldon

[Woody Elmore]

to J3a-614 - I live two miles from the Oyster Bay RR museum and they have a G-5. Well - it looks like a Bowser kit. It is laying on the ground in pieces near the newly restored turntable. Everything is covered in red primer. Sadly, it is a long way from being restored. The cost of redoing the boiler to modern specs and requirements run from $250K to $400K (so I'm told by a member). Plus, if and when it's operational, the museum will need to get insurance, another big ticket item.

They just erected a statue of Teddy Roosevelt in Oyster Bay (his Sagamore Hill home can be visited) and the cost to cast the statue in the original molds was $400,000! Most of the folks living in the area have no idea who TR was!! Oyster Bay is a tiny little hamlet on Long Island sound. Town officials are hoping to get financing for the engine rebuild to draw people into the area. The museum, TR's house and Billy Joel's new motorcycle showroom and shop should hopely draw some visitors.

Incidentally, the G-5s used a tender that was different from those available from Bowser or MDC. There was brass model available once.

Jon - I like the picture of the G-5. Last time I saw a picture the tender was lettered for B&O. looking good!

[J3a-614]

Someone raised $400,000 for a statue of Teddy Roosevelt?  I like TR, he seems to have been a most interesting person, but this sort of thing brings up a sore spot with me, and that is that we in the rail enthusiast community, whether we are in historic preservation, serious model railroading, or even advocates of a form of transportation that can be oil-free and relatively hassle-free compared with driving and now air service, get no respect, no respect at all! 

It's not new.  How many here can recall having others think you were weird because you were interested in trains?  This even goes to the professionals.  John White, who was for many years the curator of the Smithsonian's transportation exhibit in the Museum of American History and Technology, recounts, in his book "The American Railroad Freight Car," how he was at some sort of fund-raising function for the Smithsonian, and he was approached by some matron with money.

White recounted that she asked, "Which art museum of the Smithsonian are you connected with?"  White replied that he was not connected with any art museum, but with the Museum of History and Technology, and that he had just finished a manuscript on the history of American freight cars.  The matron replied, "They don't really make you do that, do they?"  White went on to remark that her inherited fortune had come from a company that built freight cars!

We get no respect, no respect at all!  Phooey!

[Woody Elmore]

There is a name in computers that some may recognize -  Wang. This gentleman, who has a few bucks to spare, is slowly buying up Oyster Bay and restoring some of the old buildings to the way they looked 100 years ago. He bought ther triangle of land that the statue sits on and donated it to the TR Historical Society for their statue.

As for the statue, much of the money was raised by donations and corporate gifts. Teddy's statue shows him on a horse but the history buffs among us will realize that they went up San Juan HIll on foot.

I have no idea of the railorad museum guys approached him for some ducats.

Keep in mind that there is another LIRR railroad museum way out east in Riverhead. As for as I know their G-5 is running but may be in the shop ofr work (I think they are adding DCC!)

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Here's the Bowser G5:



I have been tinkering with this thing for quite a while.  It has a Penn Line tender.  Sometimes they show up on ebay.  With a little bullfrog snot, it will pull 30 cars, but requires large radius curves (22" or better).

Regards,

Jonathan

Nice-lookin' engine.

And I like the li'l bobber caboose avatar. ... 

[NWsteam]

If you have the money...

http://www.divisionpoint.com/PRR-LIRR_G5s.html

I don't.