So, what happened to the 2-8-2?

[ebtnut]

Yardmaster:  Any delivery updates yet?

[Woody Elmore]

I can't wait to see Jonathan deconstruct a USRA mike - Hmmm - let me guess - it'll become a B&O loco!

My first brass engine was a PFM/ United USRA mike - I paid the full asking price of $32.50 plus tax (1968 price) . A friend painted it and lettered it for the NYC.  I sold it for $65 when I decided to leave HO (which I never did!)

[ebtnut]

Yes, I remember those days.  The issue with that PFM model was the cab - They used the more square-ish cab that was installed on the first loco, which was a B&O engine.  Almost all of the subsequent USRA light Mikes, including the B&O's, got the more deeply rounded cab style. 

[Woody Elmore]

When I started in the hobby I wouldn't have paid attention to things like cabs - all I cared about was getting the trains to run. My brass USRA mike had a slight whine when going forward but nothing in reverse. When it was disassembled for painting a thrust washer was missing. A Kadee washer fixed the problem. The problem with the brass engines is that they didn't pull very much out of the box.

The Bachmann engine looks fine to me - I'm not a bean counter. There were lots of USRA mikes all over the country so the model may sell out rather quickly.

Now Bachmann has to do a USRA pacific.

[jbrock27]

Bachmann engine looks fine to me - I'm not a bean counter.

Did you mean rivet counter?  I mean, it was always my understanding you were a professor, not an accountant

[J3a-614]

I can't wait to see Jonathan deconstruct a USRA mike - Hmmm - let me guess - it'll become a B&O loco!

That won't be much!  B&O had 100 of them in class Q3.  The original of the class, and the first USRA engine of any type delivered, B&O 4500, is preserved today in the B&O Museum in Baltimore.  Main changes would be a  high headlight, footboard pilot, the ususal plumbing changes over time, and the deep roofed cab (which the engine has now, and apparently got fairly early in its life).

What would be more interesting would be to make it into a Q4.  B&O had a bunch of those, and dimensionally and proportionally they look a lot like a USRA--but what a host of changes!  Domes look different, I think the smokebox front is different, cast trailing truck (which is an option on Bachmann's model), long frame Baker valve gear, and a stubby medium Vanderbilt tank!

That would be a challenge!

[BaltoOhioRRfan]

I can't wait to see Jonathan deconstruct a USRA mike - Hmmm - let me guess - it'll become a B&O loco!

That won't be much!  B&O had 100 of them in class Q3.  The original of the class, and the first USRA engine of any type delivered, B&O 4500, is preserved today in the B&O Museum in Baltimore.  Main changes would be a  high headlight, footboard pilot, the ususal plumbing changes over time, and the deep roofed cab (which the engine has now, and apparently got fairly early in its life).

What would be more interesting would be to make it into a Q4.  B&O had a bunch of those, and dimensionally and proportionally they look a lot like a USRA--but what a host of changes!  Domes look different, I think the smokebox front is different, cast trailing truck (which is an option on Bachmann's model), long frame Baker valve gear, and a stubby medium Vanderbilt tank!

That would be a challenge!

Did someone say B&O Q3 4500?



Pic by me on my last trip down to the museum/kiddy amusement park. Its hard to get decent pics of her as shes tucked inside the passenger car shops behind the 5300. its a bit tight in there though i could get a better shot on the other side but theres a platform so you can get up into the cabs of the 2-6-6-6 and 4-6-2.

[Trainman203]

Now Bachmann has to do a USRA pacific.

Someone else has already made one recently.  Just like the USRA MacArthur.   Time to do Harriman engines, not redundunt models of something already offered very recently.

[austrian]

Now Bachmann has to do a USRA pacific.

Someone else has already made one recently.  Just like the USRA MacArthur.   Time to do Harriman engines, not redundunt models of something already offered very recently.

I, too want a Bachmann USRA pacific. I think it is not important whether a model has been done by another company as Bachmann is a bit different:
!) Bachmann tends to offer its locos for some years what makes it easiere to build a fleet. For example now I have 7 sound value Bachmann F7, not bought at the same time. When funds allow I will add one or more F7B units. Some companies force me to pre order and buy at once or risk the chance not getting the ABBA consist I want.
2) I love to play with my trains and run them a lot. So spare parts sometimes are necessary. I have never experienced a company that made it easier fot me to get spare parts.
3) Value/detail/sturdiness - while there are locos available with more detail on them for me Bachmann look good enough and I do not have to search the layout for parts falling from locos. Painting and lettering is fine. And sound value locos are great value for money.

So whenever possible I stick with Bachmann and only buy locos not available from Bachmann. I even waited for the 2016 Bachmann announcement until I ordered my first Alco PA, my favorite diesel as I hoped Bachmann could do it but Bachmann brought the E7. Unfortunately the Santa Fe did not have the foresight to order E7 but I hope that Bachmann will use the chassis and in the next years we will see E6 and E8.

Thomas

[ryeguyisme]

Now Bachmann has to do a USRA pacific.

Someone else has already made one recently.  Just like the USRA MacArthur.   Time to do Harriman engines, not redundunt models of something already offered very recently.

I, too want a Bachmann USRA pacific. I think it is not important whether a model has been done by another company as Bachmann is a bit different:
!) Bachmann tends to offer its locos for some years what makes it easiere to build a fleet. For example now I have 7 sound value Bachmann F7, not bought at the same time. When funds allow I will add one or more F7B units. Some companies force me to pre order and buy at once or risk the chance not getting the ABBA consist I want.
2) I love to play with my trains and run them a lot. So spare parts sometimes are necessary. I have never experienced a company that made it easier fot me to get spare parts.
3) Value/detail/sturdiness - while there are locos available with more detail on them for me Bachmann look good enough and I do not have to search the layout for parts falling from locos. Painting and lettering is fine. And sound value locos are great value for money.

So whenever possible I stick with Bachmann and only buy locos not available from Bachmann. I even waited for the 2016 Bachmann announcement until I ordered my first Alco PA, my favorite diesel as I hoped Bachmann could do it but Bachmann brought the E7. Unfortunately the Santa Fe did not have the foresight to order E7 but I hope that Bachmann will use the chassis and in the next years we will see E6 and E8.

Thomas

But see the thing is there's ample room for other prototypes that haven't been produced outside of brass with all that you say in mind..

[electrical whiz kid]

Just a hair off-subject, but was there ever a 4-10-4 locomotive built in this country?  Off-hand, I wouldn't see the need, as it might be a bit clumsy, BUT...  I have a Bachmann 2-10-4 "TEXAS", and will, sooner or later, disturb it's somnolent posture, and proceed to "alter" it...  But a 4-10-4 does evoke thoughts of quite a mill!!

RIch C.

[ebtnut]

No 4-10-4's in the US, unless you want to count the Pennsy's Q-class locos.  They were duplexes, similar to the T-1.  The one-of Q-1 was a 4-6-4-4, the Q-2's were 4-4-6-4's.  Duplex drive locos had two engine sets, like an articulated, but they were in a ridgid frame.  I believe the largest ridgid frame locos in the US were the UP's 4-12-2's.  Believe it or not, the Russians buiilt a 4-14-4 back in the 1930's.  They tried running it on the Trans-Siberian line and rumour has it that it spent as much time on the ties as on the rails.  The designers also took a trip to Siberia, but never came back.

[RAM]

There was never a 4-8-6, but almost. Lima designed one, but 2 or 3 years too late.  It would have been a great locomotive.

[electrical whiz kid]

WOW; that must have been one hell of a firebox to have three axles holding it up.

Rich C.

[ryeguyisme]

The Union Pacific had 4-10-2's which is like the smaller sibling of their 4-12-2's, they're really neat overland looking engines

I was contemplating buying one in brass and modifying it to seem more like it hung around the Rockies(even though the curves in the Rockies wouldn't fare well with that kind of wheelbase..