Upon Seeing the new K-27

[Lee Carlson]

Folks,

I just got home from staffing the Friends of the East Broad Top Railroad display at the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Portland, ME.

The Bach Man and others from Bachmann were there, with many of Bachmann's narrow gauge offerings, including the new K-27.

All I can say is WOW!!!  What a beauty of an engine.  It will blow
all the competition out of the water!  In addition to all the beautiful
and accurate detail of the model, it has FULLY EQUALIZED wheels,
a special Pittman motor, and was truly the classiest locomotive
in the show.   

I sure envy the people who model the D&RGW and other Mudhen
lovers, and look forward to the same quality being put forth in
the (hopefully) upcoming Bachmann EBT Mikado and other B'mann
models.   

Lee Carlson   

[zubi]

Lee, a fully equalised chassis? Are you sure? This would be the first plastic engine to have that, well, if it is plastic of course;-) But not many brass electric engines have it either. Best wishes from Tokyo, Zubi

[Lee Carlson]

Yes.  Fully equalized.
Lee

[gbbari]

How abut explaining for those of us who aren't quite fully conversant in engine / model lingo what "fully equalized chassis" means? 

[tac]

It will blow all the competition out of the water! 

Dear Mr Carlson - there is NO competition.  Nobody else makes a plastic K-27.

tac - with a tin one.

[Perry Ottoman]

And a very nice tin one it is too

[gbbari]

Dear Mr Carlson - there is NO competition.  Nobody else makes a plastic K-27.

tac - with a tin one.

tac  - I thought TOC has a plastic K-27 in 1:22.5 from Magnus

-GB

[zubi]

Gbbari, Magnus is not plastic. It is pot metal;-))), Zubi

[zubi]

Yes.  Fully equalized.
Lee

Lee, Thanks, I just saw the photos in the Photo Gallery - WOW WOW WOW. This is a REVOLUTION, Zubi PS now if we could only convert this loco to live steam............

[calenelson]

"and look forward to the same quality being put forth in
the (hopefully) upcoming Bachmann EBT Mikado and other B'mann
models"

DITTO!

*emphasis mine

[r.cprmier]

Just out of curiosity, I have seen the term "Mudhen" tacked on to C-25s as well as K-27s.  What is with that?  Incidentally, the C-25s I mentioned were part of the Crystal River Railway; and the term did come up when I was doing the "Roundhouse" version of this same engine in HOn3.  I still have one of those kits-unopened box!  I wonder what it might be worth now...

RIch

[the Bach-man]

Dear Rich,
They were nicknamed "Mudhens" because they waddled down the track.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Charlie Mutschler]

Rich, the Bach-Man has it - the big Class 125 locomotives (later K-27 Class) were bigger than anything else on the D&RG narrow gauge in 1903, and their movement down the track seemed to mimic the waddling gait of the coot duck, or mud hen.  Hence the name.  Now, I don't know if this appearance was due to the outside counterweights, or the poor condition of some of the track, or both.  The Marshall Pass line had to be re-laid with heavier rail to allow their use. 

The "little mudhens" were the three outside frame 2-8-s the D&RG acquired second hand from the Crystal River Railway in 1916, first through lease, then purchase.  Two of these, CR 101 and 102 were twins, and CR 103 was larger.  All were smaller than the Class 125 locos.  In the 1924 D&RGW locomotive reclassification / renumbering, the two smaller locomotives became D&RGW Class C-21, Nos. 360 and 361.  The larger ex CR locomotive became D&RGW Class C-25, No. 375.  All three of these retained their slide valves and Stephenson valve gear.  Nos. 360 and 361 spent virtually their entire careers on the D&RGW based out of Gunnison.  No. 375 started there, but finished her service life based out of Durango. 

The MDC H-On3 kit was advertised as being like the mudhens, but it was something of a compromise.  Much of it utilized parts from standard gauge 'old-timer' locomotive kits MDC had developed.  However, the MDC H-On3 kit had a tender which was a K-27 tender; and the outside frame locomotive came with both outside counterweights and just the cranks, allowing a modeler to choose which prototype he wanted to approximate.  Which is probably a good word here.  The counterweights were correct for the K-27's, the boiler and cab were close to the K-27, the tender as good as the brass ones except for the cast on end ladder, but the engine was too tall, and the drivers, at 38 inches, were a little under the K-27's 40 inch drivers.  However, since many Baldwin outside frame 2-8-0s had 38 or 39 inch drivers, the size was a good compromise.  Several people lowered the boiler, made up the trailing truck and ash pan, and reworked some of the details and came up with a fairly close model of the slide valve Class 125 / K-27.  It was a lot of work, but at the time it seemed reasonable.  Unless you really like the challenge of building, today's modelers have very good quality K-27s available in H-On3, and the MDC kit is probably pretty much a collectable from the past. 

Rebuilding the outside frame kit to resemble the C-21s or many outside frame 2-8-0s required a new, smaller diameter boiler, usually starting with copper or PVC pipe.  The same situation applied for any of the inside frame 2-8-0s one wanted to make from the kit - the boiler was close to correct for the K-27, but too big for most of the 2-8-0s they were trying to approximate.  Yes, I think I have an unbuilt one of each, inside and outside frame in the basement. 

Happy modeling
Charlie
-30-

[r.cprmier]

Charlie;
I believe that the lowering kit was by a company named either Patmore or Patco-something close anyway.
When Malcolm Furlow was into HOn3, and built the "San Jaun Central" he had a couple of these engines that had been lowered.  I have seen a completed model one in the window layout of the Hobby Gallery in Wolcott, Ct, and it runs well.  I had not had the occasion to ask Steve how much fanagling he had to do with it if any; but judging from the two I had built, WOW-what a task!!
I had used the large counterweights on both; didn't like the looks of the smokebox in relation to the frame, so I added some support framing between the smokebox and the pilot deck.  Looked better than it ran, but it did get me back into this hobby, so I won't complain.  I have had a lot of fun and success with trains since then.

Stay well.
RIch