An N scale K4 in the works

[ncbqguy]

David-
Funny to run into you here!!!
The AME7 laid an egg for Atlas in both HO and O.... so I would not promote it as a project in N Scale.....  I don't see any big factor that would make it a good seller in N when it has failed in two other scales.    There are better projects that would be surefire winners... like the K4.
Charlie Vlk
Railroad Model Resources

[in_eden]

What is an AEM7? I really don't know... so please fill me in!

You have to look at a K4 as a nice jumping off point... like the O scalers, MTH, Weaver did... make a K4, then use the running gear and basic boiler design for B&O, AT&SF, SP, Southern, NYC, Erie, NP, CP, and probably 20 other roads that ran fairly similar heavy Pacifics.

I NEED the K4 and the B&O P7. A couple of each. I'd buy one in NYC as well.
For steam era passenger service, almost every major road ran a Heavy Pacific. Should be a seller.

[Franz T]

 The AEM7 is an electric loco used by Amtrak on the NE Corridor fondly referred to as "the toaster"  due to its odd appearance.....

[David Leonard]

Here's an illustration of an AEM7--in this case, New Jersey Transit.
It does resemble a popup toaster in some ways.

I think there may have been two additional contributing factors to the Atlas AEM lack of sales. (1) Not much contemporary passenger equipment was available at the time of its release. Subsequently Bachmann has come out with both the Acela and the HHP8. (2) Atlas could not offer the AEM7 as part of a set. A lot of purchasers (especially beginners) are attracted to train sets.

But, to keep this on the main topic (and to keep the thread alive), this is what we're mainly interested in here:

[in_eden]

I want my P7. My roster is probably 70% B&O, 15% PRR, 5% NKP...
I'd buy probably 3 P7's... at least a K4, probably 2...
I bought a pair of the Life-Like NKP berks because I loved them...
I have a Model Power Pacific that is in no way similar to anything B&O ran, but it's a runner...
Please Mr. Bachman...
Hear our cries!

[1218classa]

Went to a train show in Atlanta and I found only two Minitrix K4s for sale Neither were priced under $90.  These engines are commanding these prices only because there are no other manufacturers making these models today. Not to mention the fact that today's steam locos offer much higher detail, smoother slow speed response, and are more DCC "friendly" than the older models. I would much rather pay $125-150 for a up to date loco than $90 for an engine that is almost twenty years old and runs erraticaly. I do have a Minitrix K4 myself and I have seen others run as well. I don't like to have to run an engine at 60 to 70 miles an hour through my yard to keep it from stalling when my newer engine can creep through prototypically!

[David Leonard]

Time to bump this topic back to page 1. Some of us really want a PRR K4s--prewar and postwar versions. We have the GG1 (Kato), we have the Big Boy and Challenger (Athearn), we have the SP GS4. We have some diesel models of locos that only a handful of proto railroads ever owned (SD26, DL109, etc). It's time for a PRR K4s (Bachmann)!

[in_eden]

Yes. Please. Anyone. Make a K4. And a heavy pacific in B&O. A heavy pacific can be run in more roads than the heavy mountain... and will sell at least as well... if it is made as well. MAKE IT!!!

[taz-of-boyds]

Besides the B&O, I could also use a Pacific that is a good match for the Western Maryland along with matching heavyweight passenger cars.  I believe a bunch of us who model the WM would be thrilled to get these RTR.  We have been missing decent heavyweight's for a long time!  (We still need the Ten-wheeler and Russian Decapod too!)

But some 4-6-2's up to the 2-8-0's standard would be great.

Charles

[in_eden]

I have a decent set of con-cor heavyweights in B&O, and a terrible set from model power in PRR livery... neither stack up to what Kato just did with the Daylight and Broadway Limited.
As for a Pacific... I just can't understand how a mainstay for passenger power for nearly every road out there is missing from the N scale pantheon. Sure there is the Model Power light Pacific, which is good, but a front line locomotive.
Looking at the sales of the Kato GS-4, with a limited market (only one road name to produce, and the train only ran from Portland, OR to Los Angeles), coupled with the success of the Bachmann heavy mountain, there is plenty of reason to believe that a well made, easily DCC compatible Heavy Pacific would be well received.
If someone would go as far as to make road specific adjustments, which Model Power has not, like high mounted headlights, belpaire fireboxes, feedwater heaters, etc., one could REALLY make a great model that could become one of the top level releases in N scale... right there with the Kato Mikado.
Base the prototype off of ALCO's "50,000" prototype that was the basis for most heavy pacifics that railroads used...
It is a can't miss.

[James Hail]

AME7toaster or K4........

DUHHHHHHH

Gimme a K4.......I love my HO version.........

Jim

[eric220]

Although many of you will probably recognize me from other forums, I joined this one just to chime in on this thread.  I'm definitely good for a couple of these in the pre-war style.  I've already invested in the HO version.  I still think it's ridiculous that the N Scale world is without a K4.  How many different companies make them in HO?  I'll refrain from going into a full rant, as most of the merits of a K4 have already been mentioned.

C'mon Bachmann!  Let's see some PRR K4s!

[in_eden]

Eric...
How do you join the Atlas forum? I've tried about a thousand times, and no matter how I enable cookies, I never get a reply from the moderator! He probably thinks I'm stalking him!

Every time I walk passed the HO display case at my local hobby shop I have to pause and shed a mournful tear as I look at the line-up of locos... It's just not fair!
How is there not a K4 or NYC Hudson?
B&O President? Atlantic?
The steam vacancies in N scale are overwhelming... and now that quality is sharply on the rise, hopefully those openings in our steam rosters will start filling in!

Broadway Limited made a mistake by beginning their N steam line with the M1 mountain, because of it's limited scope and on the heels of Bachmann's great Heavy Mountain model. However, beginning with a K4, and using that to model a variety of heavy pacifics would have been a much more cost-effective way to go...

I really just want a K4.

[1218classa]

     There has to be a way to convince Bachmann or somebody that offering a K4 would be a move in the N scale market that would pay off in more ways than one. After reading through this thread there are a lot of people interested in seeing one of these models coming to the shelves of our local hobby shop.
     Bachmann has been producing some good quality models in both major scales. I know that times are a little tough for all of us right now, but this is one of those opportunities for someone to produce a product that just may ease the pain of the daily grind and help us forget our troubles for a little while. I don't expect that it would take too much tooling to get the ball rolling on this.
     I just wait for the day when I open up my copy of MR or RMC and see in the new products section a "preproduction" version of this model in N. That would make my day as well as many, many others as well!

[brokemoto]

I have a Model Power Pacific that is in no way similar to anything B&O ran, but it's a runner...

The Model Power pacific is a model of a USRA light pacific.  The Baltimore and Ohio had thirty originals, class P-5, ten ALCo-built and twenty Baldwin built.  B&O went back to Baldwin for fifteen copies, which it received in 1922, class P-6.  The P-6s did have Vanderbilt tenders and had different trailing trucks and other items that reflected B&O practice, such as the high-mounted headlight.  When the railroad rebuilt the P-5s over the years, they changed some of the features to reflect B&O practice, such as moving the headlight from the middle of the smokebox cover, which was where they were when they showed up in 1918 and 1919, to the top of the smokebox.

Two other roads had originals of the USRA light pacific:  Atlantic Coast Line and Louisville and Nashville.  The former used theirs for freight as much as passenger, the latter almost exclusively for passenger.  The B&O used theirs almost exclusively for passenger.  The other two roads also bought copies of their USRA light pacifics.  There were copies made for other roads, as well.

The MP pacific comes in B&O with both the USRA Standard and the Vanderbilt tender.  There are two different numbers on the B&O MP pacific with the USRA Standard, neither of which are correct for a P-5.  I am not sure about the number on the B&O with the Vanderbilt.

MP's Vanderbilt is based on a Harriman model that ran behind smaller steam, mostly on the SP (4-4-0 [what few SP E-classes had them], 2-6-0, 4-6-0, 2-8-0 and switchers), thus it does not look much like a B&O Vanderbilt.  The Vanderbilt that Con-Cor uses on some of its steam models is based on a B&O Vanderbilt.  The MP locomotive is, however, a model of a prototype that the B&O operated.

The MP mikado is a model of a USRA light 2-8-2.  The B&O had one-hundred originals of this, class Q-3.  The first USRA locomotive built was a USRA light mikado that was delivered to the B&O.  That locomotive still exists; you can go to Baltimore and see it.  The sad thing about MP's treatment of the mikado is that they put a Vanderbilt behind it and gave it a Q-4 number.  The Q-4 was a heavier locomotive, that had sixty-four inch drivers, as opposed to the sixty-three of the USRA mikados (not that the inch is that noticeable in N scale).  B&O also equipped them with steam lines and signalling devices (subsequently, when CTC was installed) so that they could be pressed into service for passenger duties.

I would not mind seeing a better version of both USRA lights.  A quick upgrade is to buy B-mann's SPECTRUM USRA Standards (available lettered for the B&O) and swap out the MP stock tender for the B-personn.  The weakness of the MP is its 1970s construction methods, especially the half-wheels live tender from which current is collected by means of wipers.  This compromises the electrical pick up and the wipers do create drag on the locomotive.  The Bachmann tenders are all wheels live and have needlepoint axle pick up.

However, I would like to see Q-4s and P-3s and P-4s, as the last two worked the Washington-[Brunswick] Cumberland locals as well as the Washington-Baltimore locals, and, the first worked system wide and were frequently pressed into service on Washington locals.