Spectrum 4-6-0 driver sizes

[richg]

A question in another forum gave me the thought to check my two Spectrum's with a digital caliper.
The  high boiler is advertised as 63 inch driver. Mine measures out at 63 inch.

The low boiler is advertised as 52 inch drivers.
Mine measures out at 55 inch.

In case there are any rivet counters here. Not a big deal for me though.

Rich

[Doneldon]

Rich-

Thank you for the information, although it is a little surprising that the wheels are larger than stated.

Advertised wheel sizes usually are for the prototype rather than the model and, if anything, model drivers tend to be smaller than prototype because our over-scale flanges spread the wheelbases too far. This means tight model curves restrict the number of people who can run steam. Just think about the number of posts about minimum radii on this website.

I have to say that I appreciate today's manufacturers' efforts to get their models around our tight curves. I have a brass 2-10-2 which struggles with 30" curves while we can buy good looking plastic models of very large locomotives (8- and 10-coupled drivers and even artics) from Bachmann, Proto 2K, BLI and others which can negotiate 18" curves. To put it in perspective, 18" radius curves are roughly the equivalent of making a three-point turnaround with a car at the end of a dead-end alley, only with a Northern.
                                                                                                              -- D