B&O STEAM

[BandO GLENNWOOD]

now that you have announced the EM1 is any other B&O steam being considered I would like to plug for a Q4 the parts could also be turned into a P6 they could be done at the same time You also announced a northeast caboose that caboose has been done by everybody starting with Hobbyline in the 50s a much better choise would have been a B&O wagontop it could be done in red or blue or chessie colors

[ACY]

You'll find out if any other B&O locos were in the works in about a year at next year's convention.

[Doneldon]

BandO-

It would be a lot easier to read your posts (and you'd have a
lot more credibility) if you used a little punctuation. I try not to
nit pick about grammar or spelling on this informal medium but
you came across to me as just too careless.
                                                                         -- D
       

[jonathan]

BandO,

I share your enthusiasm for this great railroad.  I have found ways to convert the Bachmann Heavy Mountain into a T Class 4-8-2.  If I do another Mountain, I will probably attempt a T-2, as the measurements are pretty darn close as well.  Likewise the 2-8-0 will convert into an E-27, with the exception of the bell and dome placement.  I have converted the 2-6-2 Prairie into a fairly reasonable D-30.

B&O may have been the first American railroad, but it wasn't the largest, nor is it the most popular with modelers.  Also, their equipment was so unique, it's hard to mass produce.  Perhaps that's true with most railroads.

The Q4 was done in brass... a bunch of brass.  They turn up on fleabay all the time.  I wouldn't hold my breath for a Q4.

My point is, if you love the B&O as much as I do, you will discover that kitbashing and expensive craftsman kits are routine for building your fleet.

Here's an idea (I haven't done it yet, but others have):  Take an old Rivarossi S1a (2-10-2) shell and put it on a new 2-10-2 mechanism like a Bachmann or even an old IHC mechanism.  The IHCs ran well, just didn't look anything like a B&O locomotive.

If I had more time, I'd search the forum and show you all the B&O projects I've done using Bachmann equipment.  The threads are there, try a search for my name and B&O.

Hope I didn't scare you with my enthusiasm.

Regards,

Jonathan

[jward]

for what it's worth, b&o diesels are extremely well represented. you may have to do some custom painting, but the s4, fa2. shark, ft, f7, h16-44, gp7, gp9, gp30, gp35. gp40 and sd40-2 were all owned by the b&o. from a mid 1970s perspective, you could convincingly model b&o just with the gp models alone, as they'd coover almost 500 of the approximately 1000 locomotives b&o owned during this era.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

I'm not particularly a B&O fan, but as far as I'm concerned the B&O's "Presidential" Pacifics were the best-looking locomotives of that wheel arrangement ever built.

[jward]

i grew up near a major b&o yard during the chessie-penn central era (1970s) so i have a very soft spot for both the pennsy and b&o. in real life, the pennsy was king and the b&o a distant second. but the b&o had far better scenery. and, during the steam era, far more impressive locomotives like the em1 to overcome the severe mountain grades which plagued many of its lines.

in the diesel era, b&o's diesel roster was somewhat boring as opposed to the pennsy who seemed to buy small batches of everything available. but by the 1970s the b&o was years ahead of the pennsy-pc-conrail in terms of what locomotives they had. b&o was for all practical purposes an emd only road, with the only alcos a small fleet of switchers. they had wisely passed on the ge u series locomotives whose high maintainance costs plagued so many other roads. the standardization of pennsy's steam fleet had disappeared with dieselization to be replaced with a nightmare of oddballs it would take decades to replace. the standardization during the diesel era belonged to the b&o....

i miss the old b&o blues, and even the chessie yellow. but they live on on my layout.

[ebtnut]

B&O did have some variety in the early diesel years.  They had small fleets of both Alco FA's and Baldwin Sharks; even a few F-M units.  But most all of the "odd-ball" stuff was gone by the early 1960's, leaving the road a largely-EMD operation.  I can barely remember the original blue and grey paint; the solid blue, some with the sunburst, was what I remember from my early railfan years.  Then came the Chessie cat and on to the various CSX schemes.  Was not a fan of the grey "stealth" scheme. 

Agree with the comments about Pennsy diesels.  Their problem was that once they decided to dieselize, their needs were much greater than any one builder could fill in a reasonable time frame, so they shopped wherever they could get delivery in a shorter time.  Don't forget that the PRR once had almost 10,000 steam locomotives, so replacing a roster that size, even given that you could essentially replace two steam engines with one diesel, it was still a major replacement task.