newbie with a question

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

I guess I should add a comment from the vendor side of the table... These little American 4-4-0s (whether they are of Bachmann, Pocher, AHM, IHC or whatever) fly off the table at ridiculous prices! A couple of years ago we were selling off parts of a consignment collection (mostly toy quality). The show started at 0900 and by 1100 hrs. we had sold ALL five of the 4-4-0s (+ a Bowker) for the asking price...no dickering. I advertised all these locomotives as being "untested and running condition unknown". The Bowker actually sold for 20% MORE than the asking price as two chaps began a bidding war against each other. 'Go figure.

Ray,

If you see this--do you happen to recall the road name on that Bowker? On the one hand, I'm surprised that it sold for more than the eight-wheelers. On the other, AHM sold a couple of them in some pretty odd road names and paint schemes--York & Peach Bottom (blue as the Little Engine That Could) and Beaufort Morehead (green and orange [eeew  ]).

Strangely enough, the York & Peach Bottom engines often go for quite a bit on eBay.

Someone mentioned (either in this forum or another) that there were extremely small, very efficient electrical motors on the market today. I'm sure someone could design a prototypically correct mid 19th century American (size, etc.) with proper weight and the motor/gearbox in the engine (the decoder - if any - would reside in the tender). This hasn't been done because there is little retail pressure for items from our railroads' Golden Age...but who knows?

Makes me wonder. ... I'm guessing the Bachmann "Lafayette" is oversized, but I wonder whether its power source could be used for an 1860s eight-wheeler--or whether such a locomotive would still be oversized--or underpowered to pull a train.

Anybody out there ever have any of the brass imports of the "Jupiter", "U.P. 119," or the V&T "Reno"? I've only seen them in photos, never in person, and I'm wondering if they were correct scale or oversized?

Jeff

[CNE Runner]

Jeff, I asked my wife (the keeper of all things memorable in our family unit) about the road name on that Bowker and all she said was; "I really don't remember; except one prospective buyer said he had never heard of the railroad on the model." We think it was an AHM product...again, that was quite a number of shows ago.

For the record: I have a Bachmann Jupiter 4-4-0 on display (I don't really remember if it still runs). The locomotive has been relettered for the Newburgh, Dutchess & Connecticut Railroad and renamed/renumbered as "Millbrook #1". This was an early attempt (by me) to run one of the locomotives the real N.D.& C. inherited from the bankrupt Dutchess & Connecticut RR in the 1870s. The prototype Millbrook was actually an 1870s product of the Grant Locomotive Works. Anyway the "Jupiter" resembled the old "Millbrook" so what the hey?

Ray

PS: "Dutchess" (as in Dutchess County, NY) is spelled with a "T".

[Terry Toenges]

I've got one of the Pocher Bowkers and three passenger cars lettered for "Kansas City Chicago and St. Louis".

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Jeff, I asked my wife (the keeper of all things memorable in our family unit) about the road name on that Bowker and all she said was; "I really don't remember; except one prospective buyer said he had never heard of the railroad on the model." We think it was an AHM product...again, that was quite a number of shows ago.

Thanks, Ray. Appreciate your responding to my nosiness. 

PS: "Dutchess" (as in Dutchess County, NY) is spelled with a "T".

Yeah, back in the 1600s, when the English took the territory from the Dutch, someone must have thought that a female Dutchman was a Dutchess.