Hey Mr B, how about a small 2-8-0 for the Spectrum range?

[Searsport]

I have a PFM brass Maryland & Pennsylvania Baldwin 2-8-0 #26 and I was looking at it over Christmas dreaming of DCC and sound, when it occurred to me that it would be an ideal addition to the Spectrum range.  Reasons are:

The old Bachmann 2-8-0 was the first Spectrum model, but you have judged it no longer meets the Spectrum standard, so you have demoted it.  In any case, it is a large engine for a small layout because of its long tender, and it would look wrong with a smaller tender.

The Ma & Pa bought four small 2-8-0s from Baldwin between 1902–1912, two of which (#23 + #26) lasted until 1947.  They make small models, 8 inches over engine and tender, they have an incredible amount of detail, much antiquated, and went through the phases of wood and steel cabs, and so have all the atmosphere of your other Spectrum antique steam like the 4-4-0s, 4-6-0s and Decapod.  To see the prototypes, visit http://www.maparailroadhist.org/locos.htm and look at #23, #24, #25 and #26.  You might also look at Baldwin 0-6-0s #29 and #30 as future Spectrum candidates.

It would fit your Ma & Pa theme, and many other period railways and shortlines . There is a Roundhouse small antique 2-8-0, but it is way below Spectrum standards.  However, its continued production by Athearn shows its popularity.

Please give it a thought when deciding on your next Spectrum steam loco.

Merry Christmas!
Bill.

[NevinW]

I would love to have a spectrum quality smaller 2-8-0 that is a generic pre-WWI Baldwin.  The railroad that model, the Tonopah & Tidewater bought a number of them around 1907.  Sounds like a great idea to me.  -  Nevin

[Pacific Northern]

It would look great in comparison to the low boiler 4-6-0 which has the smaller drivers and smaller tender.

A natural

[J3a-614]

As a C&O modeler I'm really into the big engines, but I must concur, this was a very common locomotive that ran on quite a number of roads, and of course that included the Ma & Pa.  It would be a great fit with the current Ma & Pa power, along with the new Baldwin 4-4-0 currently offered.

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

I must agree that these engines could be made into many roadnames. Some local favorites of mine would be Northern Pacific Railroad F1 class and D&IR C Class 2-8-0's.

[Rod in PA]

Concur.  A painted, undecorated, 2-8-0 would be great.  Many were used by small branch lines, such as the Bellefonte Central RR, which is part of my HO layout.  I've been looking for an undecorated DCC/Sound version of this loco for some time.  I would purchase a Bachmann Spectrum version of this loco in a heart beat, as my entire roster is currently Bachmann.
Happy holidays to all,
Rod in PA

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

Concur.  A painted, undecorated, 2-8-0 would be great.  Many were used by small branch lines, such as the Bellefonte Central RR, which is part of my HO layout.  I've been looking for an undecorated DCC/Sound version of this loco for some time.  I would purchase a Bachmann Spectrum version of this loco in a heart beat, as my entire roster is currently Bachmann.
Happy holidays to all,
Rod in PA

Exactly, make some that are factory lettered and some that are unlettered but in black or Russian Iron with Gold detail so people can make the unlettered ones into whatever roadname they want as well as number. I would also buy one as my entire fleet of 9 engines is all Bachmann and Bachmann Branchline.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Sounds like a good idea to me, too. 

[rogertra]

The old Bachmann 2-8-0 was the first Spectrum model, but you have judged it no longer meets the Spectrum standard, so you have demoted it.  In any case, it is a large engine for a small layout because of its long tender, and it would look wrong with a smaller tender.

Small tenders?  Like these two: -

[MilwaukeeRoadfan261]

The old Bachmann 2-8-0 was the first Spectrum model, but you have judged it no longer meets the Spectrum standard, so you have demoted it.  In any case, it is a large engine for a small layout because of its long tender, and it would look wrong with a smaller tender.

Small tenders?  Like these two: -

Another 2-8-0 with a short tender like that was the DMIR K Class 2-8-0's built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1905 with more being built in 1909 for the Duluth & Iron Range as #'s 90-98 (later DM&IR 190-198), 200-208 (later DM&IR 1200-1208) and 209-224 (later 1209-1224). Here is a picture of a K Class 2-8-0.
http://www.missabe.com/gallery2/d/400-2/consol1211
http://www.missabe.com/gallery2/d/452-2/consol1223
http://www.missabe.com/gallery2/d/462-2/consol1221
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/mnsteam/dir1218b.jpg

[electrical whiz kid]

The 2-8-0 that always warmed my heart was Varney's "Old Lady", which was re-produced by Bowser until recently.  Gordon Varney really nailed this beauty on the head.  Her slim lines and somewhat diminutive stature, her pre-WWll looks would really brighten up the yard, small though "go anywheres locomotive in nature, and would really look good on stud of  local freights!  Having re-thought my layout out this far now, my accent is in smallish engines such as the 2-6-0 which just came out.  I have also done two SY conversions to an American-ized look, and, as a smaller mike-almost the size of a K-36 series D&RGW mike, they really look great!  Having said all of that, maybe a smaller 2-8-0 would smack of enough appeal to a wide range of modellers, and be a good enough seller to justify the headlong production leap by Bachmann...
Rich C.

[J3a-614]

I'm not absolutely positive, but I think the Varney-Bowser "Old Lady" was a bit of a mongrel, with the boiler based on the "Casy Jones" 4-6-0 (which was based on a Southern Pacific locomotive, as was a similar 4-6-0 that was offered by Model Die Casting-Roundhouse).  Both could be modified to represent certain Southern Pacific classes, but neither would be typical of most SP 2-8-0s, and in both cases the drivers as offered were too tall (the SP prototypes ran on 57" drivers rather than the 63" ones on the model).  This wouldn't be too much of a problem at Bachmann, however, as our favorite company here has several articulated engines that use this driver size, so there wouldn't be too much tooling expense for that component.

An alternative medium size 2-8-0 (about 100 tons or or) would be a stock Alco design that was apparently based on Chesapeake & Ohio's G-7 and G-9 classes.  This machine was sold to a number of shortlines, and the Nickel Plate had some as well that had been inherited from predecessor roads.  Some were also sold to shortlines from the C&O and the NKP; two wound up on the Bellefonte Central in Pennsylvania, where they lasted into the late 1940s (they weren't replaced by diesels, but by second-hand Pennsy H-9 2-8-0s!), and a little railroad in West Virginia, the Winifred, had one of each!  At least one example of one of these machines is preserved in operational or near operational order; Ohio Central No. 13 was originally Kellys Creek & Northwestern No. 6, then became No. 13 on the famous Buffalo Creek & Gauley, where it ran in regular freight service until 1965! 

I don't have the diagrams for comparison, but an interesting characteristic of this Alco design is a rather unusual axle spacing, with (from front to rear) a sort of intermediate axle spacing between driving axles 1 and 2 (which on the original engines provided space for the links and rocker for Stephenson valve gear), a very minimal axle spacing between driving axles 2 and 3, and a rather long axle spacing between axles 3 and 4, to accommodate the firebox, which dropped down between the two axles and then extended level over No. 4.  Equally interesting is that this same axle spacing and the same grate design was also used on the Pennsylvania Railroad's H-6 class, which was also on the Baltimore & Ohio as class E-24 (B&O being under Pennsy control at the time).  And all these locomotive shared 57" drivers.

Some history of Varney:

http://www.tcawestern.org/varney.htm

Bowser's page for the now-discontinued Old Lady:

http://www.modelrailroader.net/holoco_ol.php

C&O G-9, courtesy of C&O Historical Society:

http://cohs.org/repository/Archives/cohs/web/cohs-13323.jpg

Photos of a brass G-9 model (for illustration only):

http://www.daveayers.com/StuffSales/images/Overland_CnO_G-9_1.jpg

http://www.daveayers.com/StuffSales/images/Overland_CnO_G-9_2.jpg

http://www.daveayers.com/StuffSales/images/Overland_CnO_G-9_3.jpg

http://www.daveayers.com/StuffSales/images/Overland_CnO_G-9_4.jpg

Early version of the G-7, with inboard piston valves and Stephenson valve gear, C&OHS:

http://cohs.org/repository/Archives/cohs/web/cohs-24046.jpg

Rebuilt G-7, with the smaller "sport model" cab:

http://www.cohs.org/repository/Archives/cohs/web/cohs-23890.jpg

Here is Buffalo Creek & Gauley 13.  Her cab is close to that of the G-7s and G-9s as built, and in this case, also has a second air compressor, which I think may have been an addition by BC&G:

http://www.ebpm.com/rr/bigpix/fan_rrsteam081.html

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/281251/

http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/_13_Coal_Train_Below_Widen_DM-Corrected.jpg

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=280936

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/365482/

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=277922&showexif=1

http://www.antiquesnavigator.com/d-435427/buffalo-creek--gauley-rr-2-8-0-13-slide.html

No. 13 as she looked in 1996 on the Ohio Central Railroad at Sugar Creek, Oh.:

http://forums.railpictures.net/showthread.php?t=2550

BC&G 13's current home:

http://www.ageofsteamroundhouse.com/index.html

Can't ignore Brooks Stover's site on the BC&G and parent company Elk River Coal & Lumber; have your speakers turned on for the home page below:

http://www.buffalocreekandgauley.com/index.html

http://www.wonderfulwv.com/archives/sub.cfm?month=oct09&fea=1

What about that Pennsy H-6/B&O E-24?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRR_H6

http://www.mikesrails.com/2011/09/railroad-museum-rolling-stock-22.html

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U1qaFXVXZ9w/Tk_Rtp-B3tI/AAAAAAAADZ0/f4c2ZAjEu4Y/s1600/PRR_2846_H6sb_DSCN1061.jpg

Earlier version with Stephenson valve gear and slide valves, lettered for subsidiary Northern Central:

http://www.billspennsyphotos.com/photos/Request-Gallery/NCR%20H6%20No.%203013%200-8-0%201024x.jpg

That tender looks familiar, although not typical for this class:

http://www.billspennsyphotos.com/photos/PRR-Locomotives/PRR%20H6sb%20No.%201%201937%20Altoona.jpg

How Pennsy moved bigger trains, at least when wages were lower:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YFvyy0BI_AM/T5Kw6MkwxQI/AAAAAAAAMHo/jK3tMVM9h7c/s1600/PRR+60+car+coal+train+steam+1910s.jpg

B&O E-24 photos, courtesy of Northeast Railfan:

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo2200s.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo2343s.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo2381s.jpg

Like the Pennsy's original H-6 class, the E-24s originally had Stephenson valve gear and slide valves:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/48295

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo2389s.jpg

Like the E-27 2-8-0s, some were later rebuilt to 0-8-0s, in class L-1; like the rebuilt E-27s in class L-2, they got long-frame Baker valve gear:

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo1027s.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo1008s.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo1028s.jpg

Following a renumbering in the 1950s, to clear higher numbers for new diesels:

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo805s.jpg

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/bo1521sa.jpg

Have fun with these photos!

[jim margerum]

Hello All: I, too, would like to add to the Ma & Pa roster from Bachmann. I had hoped that in time Bachmann would offer the 2-8-0 later versions with and without the feed water heater. The brass engines that are on eBay are crude by todays standards and the motors hang out of the back of the cab. The two 0-6-0 w/ slopeback tender would be a welcome addition as well. Thanks in advance, Jim

[electrical whiz kid]

J3a;
I am probably going to sir up a hornet's nest, bit it doesn't really matter if it were a mongrel or petigreed; it has an asthetic appeal, they (usually) ran well for its day, and does meet muster as to being a small-ish 2-8-0.  my thought is that I can usually take a model and re-create from it what appeals to me, I'll give it a go.  I kind of like Linn Westcott's words about John Allen:  "His heart was his own".  I kind of like to take that line of thinking.  Most guys that clambor about with the "it isn't my prototype", or "it isn't perfect" business might want to try looking at it from that point of view.  If you don't want to, that is also OK; but I think life is meant to enjoy a bit now and then.
Rich C.

[RAM]

I used to read another forum, which is no longer, That had a lot of nitpickers.  That locomotive is junk, the cab is one scale inch too long.  I look at things in a different way.  If it looks good, runs good, go for it.