The LNER Encyclopedia

Look what I found in Fort Worth yesterday!

Alas due to school schedules it wasn't possible to see her (him?) in steam on Friday, and heading south meant it was impractical to see it leave this morning.

And wow - there was a huge crowd came out to see it - pedestrians blocking the road all the way from the main Downtown parking areas near the Intermodal (TRE/Amtrak) station and the Convention Center. With the local TV stations tracking it with their helicopters, I think there was a lot of advance publicity.

Quite a nice looking loco to be honest.

About 15 or 16 years ago I bought a Bachmann big black American loco possibly a 4-6-0 + 0-6-4 without having the loco in front of me to clarify the wheel arrangement and similar to the loco in the picture above which I still have and I was going to buy another big black American passenger loco that had a ball front end or a rounded smokebox door or front end but didn't buy it although I wish I had done so.

The Big Boy is a 4-8-8-4. There were a range of Mallets. The Challengers were 2-8-8-2 - UP have one of those as well although it is no longer in steam. They usually had big smoke deflectors, and also had a smart look to them.

Could be a few with a rounded front. The Southern Pacific GS-4 (may have the wrong class number) is currently produced by Kato in N.
New York Central had something rounded as well - very old style streamlined (think US posters from the 30s). I have Lionel's 40s-era take on this - makes a good entry level vintage loco!

Thank you for the superb picture of a superb locomotive.

richard wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 2:16 pm ...Could be a few with a rounded front. The Southern Pacific GS-4 (may have the wrong class number) is currently produced by Kato in N.
New York Central had something rounded as well - very old style streamlined (think US posters from the 30s). I have Lionel's 40s-era take on this - makes a good entry level vintage loco!

That's te famous J3 Hudsons (4-6-4) of the NYC with the Dreyfus streamlining, and the Norfolk and Western J class 4-8-4, are other notable examples of the 'something rounded' treatment. A little fossicking around on Utoob will find in-service colour film of these monsters doing their thing.

About 20 years ago I nearly got onto north American steam locos after seeing some amateur colour film footage of the BIG BOYS working over the Sherman hills during the 1950s which was very impressive. I saw a couple of north American steam dvds on sale back around 2000/01 in the HMV super store in the west end of London but ultimately didn't buy them.

As previously posted I bought a American Bachmann model loco back in 2004/05 so I shall 'dig it out' and post what class the loco is and what railroad company it belonged to tomorrow.

Yes the Lionel model is often referred to as a "Dreyfus" although it is only a 2-6-4!

There is a surviving J class which has been steamed in preservation, although I think it is static at the moment.

After seeing my son captivated by a Lionel model of a J class at the local history museum, I did investigate it. Top of the range and generally regarded as the best model Lionel produced in the post war period. The story is that a collector/enthusiast funded all the tooling himself and donated it all to Lionel! Popular prototype and has been produced by both Lionel and other manufacturers in recent decades.
Going by Ebay prices, all versions are in demand; and not so many spare parts if I was to restore an original post-war (actually early 60s iirc) example.
(in contrast I haven't had any problems finding spare parts for either the Dreyfuss or Pennsy S2 6-8-6 Turbine that I have restored)

I stayed with family in the USA during the bicentenary, among my motivations the chance of seeing steam 'Superpower' in action, specifically the UP FEF 4-8-4. (Later in life I got inside the firebox of the 4-8-4 preserved at Golden, Co.; what with US museums being so much more relaxed about visitor access than the uptight UK practise.) Had it not been for the sudden advent of proven HO technique in RTR OO from Bachmann, I wouldn't be using OO at all, but would have done something improbable in late US steam enabling me to run every 4-8-4, 2-8-4 and 4-6-4 ever constructed.