Spectrum 4-4-0 Modern American Richmond prototype

[jleight]

Can you tell me what Prototype was used for the #83401 Spectrum 4-4-0 Modern American Richmond Locomotive?  Is it a D16sb or other? Thanks.   

[J3a-614]

This model is based on a Richmond (Alco) 4-4-0 design built for the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad.

The prototype had three such engines, all built in one order in November of 1901.

The model with the wooden cab represents the engines as delivered, although if you are really fussy  you would want to backdate some of the plumbing on the engine.

Bachmann also had a modernized version with a steel cab, sheet steel pilot, and piston valves, representing No. 6 late in its life.

Click on the engine numbers in this link to see photos of these and other M&PA locomotives; note that Bachmann's low drivered and low boilered version of the 4-6-0 is also based on a pair of M&PA 4-6-0s.

http://www.maparailroadhist.org/locos.htm

It's quite likely all of these engines were standard models produced by their respective builders, so it wouldn't be too unusual to find very similar looking engines on other railroads.  This would apply in particular to the 4-6-0, which was a common Baldwin product on many shortlines in the Deep South.

[jleight]

Thanks for the info.  I had hoped to find a reference to a PRR engine of the same design but I know that might not be possible.

[Trainman203]

The 52" driver 4-6-0 is also a Ma and Pa prototype.  The ma and pa 2-8-0 has been offered in brass and in times past was staple motive power on many layouts.

Not bad for a less than 100 mile shortline that hardly anyone ever heard of.  Actually though, these were pretty much catalogue engines similar to many prototypes, one reason they have been popular forever.

[ebtnut]

I believe every piece of motive power the Ma and Pa bought (not counting the second-hand power the road began with) has been produced in HO:  The three Richmond 4-4-0's from Bachmann; the modernized No.6 from Bachmann and Alco (brass); the Ten-Wheelers (Bachmann; Olympia/Gem and Olympic Express (brass); the old-time Connies (PFM brass); the 3 modern Connies (PFM and Overland (brass); The two 0-6-0's (Westside (brass); plus the gas-electric (Gem (brass).  Gem also did brass models of a passenger car and caboose.  Westwood made a 2-car craftsman kit to build the arch roof RPO and a coach.  My first brass model was the Olympia/Gem Ten-Wheeler, which was advertised in RMC for $29.95, circa 1963.  At one time I had the complete collection of Ma and Pa brass models, except the Oylmpic Express version of the Ten-Wheeler, which was pretty crudely detailed compared to the Gem version.  Sold traded almost all away when I went into O/On3. Kept the Alco No. 6 which I had spent about 30 hours redetailing to make it correct.   

[Trainman203]

I had the same Gem 4-6-0 and probably got it at the same sale you did.  I also had a brass Wabah mogul got around the same time for the same price.

I won a prize at the 1965 NMRA Lone star convention  for detailing and painting them.  They were the power for my first Midland Western Railroad,  the original Midland Route, preceding Tony Koester's Midland Route by 20 years or more.

They were both destroyed in a household accident in 1971, a huge heartbreak if there ever was one.

[ebtnut]

Yes, understand about household accidents.  In addition to the Alco model, I have the Bachmann versions of Nos. 4 and 6 and the Ten-Wheeler.  I've joined an HO club near our second home and like to have some items to run there.  I also kept the Westwood passenger set, which looks real good behind any of the locos.  Those kits built up very nicely, but were something of a pain to assemble. 

[Trainman203]

I really like the center headlight versions of these, having both Southern variations and Maine Cental 83 and 84 reassigned to the original Midland road , the Midland Western.

[Searsport]

Hi, I did a note on this forum back in July 2012 about the Spectrum 4-4-0s for the SAL which might be of interest, as the Richmond 4-4-0 model includes a wood load for the tender, and the SAL model is a legitimate candidate to use this. A lot of SAL 4-4-0s migrated south to Florida branchlines later in their lives, and at least some were converted from coal to wood burners as wood was locally available. The conversions used smokebox spark arrestors, not smokestack arrestors, and so do not require a change of chimney. I have slightly modified my original note on the 4-4-0s and have pasted it below:

The real SAL #159 (the number used by Bachmann for the "Richmond") was one of a pair (159 & 160) built 1898 by the Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey for the Florida Central & Peninsula Railway.  These two seem well inside wood burning territory, and I have also found a photo of an FC&PRR 4-4-0 with a straight chimney and a tender loaded with wood, so I know I don't need a smoke-stack spark arrestor for a wood burner, though most of the FC&PRR wood burners shown do have smoke-stack spark arrestors fitted.

The real SAL #106 and 108 (the numbers used by Bachmann for their "Baldwin") were a pair built 1889 and 1890 by the Rhode Island Locomotive Works for the Seaboard. I don't know where they operated. The info I have is that many SAL coal burning 4-4-0s which moved south when relegated to branch line work were converted for wood burning. The Bachmann wood load is designed to fit the "Richmond" tender, not the Baldwin.

I also know that by the mid-1920s the Charlotte Harbor & Northern, one of the smaller Florida lines that the SAL inherited, had converted a number of its locos from coal to to oil, e.g. Baldwin 4-4-0 #8 (very similar to the Spectrum model ), Baldwin 4-6-0 #28 (which was one of four off-the shelf small-driver Baldwin 4-6-0s very similar to the Spectrum model), and Baldwin 2-8-0 #18 (a small 2-8-0 not represented yet in the Spectrum range, very similar to the Ma & Pa small Baldwin 2-8-0s #23-26). The reason they did this is not known, but may have been related to it being easier to have oil delivered by sea to Charlotte Harbor than coal by rail.

My references on the SAL are Richard E Prince "Seaboard Air Line - Steamboats, Locomotives and History", and on the CH&N Donald R Hensley's Tap Lines website (for all things Florida) and book "Charlotte Harbor & Northern Railway - The Boca Grande Route"

Hope this helps,
Bill.