Postby R.K. Maroon » Wed Oct 04, 2017 12:29 am
I concur with Bob on the basics here: Adams and Son Foundry offered a casting set for the Lima-built C&O "Kanawha" Berkshire, and this model is made from those castings. I am no expert but it looks like it was built as the C&O version, though I would encourage close comparison in this regard. Photos can be found online. The castings for this are not listed in the 1947 A&S price list but are listed in the 1949 list. Interestingly, the castings are listed all together on a single page of the price list but no "kit price" is offered for all of them. The only non-cast parts offered are stampings for the valve gear and a turned-brass bell. Axles, gears, couplings, hardware, and motor are not offered. For what it is worth, I have no evidence that Adams and Son ever offered such items for any of their models -- they seem to have been mostly a foundry, true to the company name. While the engine castings appear only in the 1949 list, the tender is listed in 1947 as well. In both price lists, the five large castings are listed as aluminum while the smaller castings are brass. I had not heard that the A/N Mountain tender was the same as the Adams C&O tender (as it is listed), so that is good to know. One does not see the Kanawha casting set built-up often, and the reasons for this are fairly evident: You had to be aware of the availability of castings (and A&S did not advertise much at all), build and finish the model yourself, and gin-up a drive to complete the chassis. It's a nice find.
I have never seen any evidence of a CLW involvement with this, but maybe Bob has an ace up his sleeve here. CLW did advertise casting sets for two NYC and three Santa Fe steamers. One ad shows a casting set for the NYC Mikado. There are a lot of castings shown in the ad but no boiler. I own a chassis made from these castings -- it arrived under a ScaleCraft Mikado boiler and is a bit of a mismatch to say the least. From reading subsequent CLW ads it seems that the other casting sets never saw the light of day, but this is not for certain. Adams and Son made the castings for the original Varney Ten-Wheeler and maybe for some of the GMC or A/N off-shoots of that locomotive. Beyond that, I have no evidence of any other steam locomotive with a cast boiler and Adams and Son heritage, though I won't be surprised if there were others.
Jim
Slow progress is better than no progress
