PRR 2026

[SWrailroader]

The original Saginaw and early CLW H-10s are really nice IMO. Their frames appear similar to prototype. Loco is so detailed it seemed 40 years ahead of its time. The only one I do not like are the later models with plastic wheels.

I have only one G-5. First I obtained the loco. Then 5 years later I was able to find the cast tender. I have yet to find a Saginaw E-6. I think a very nice Saginaw G-5 sold on eBay in the last year for about $600, too much for me.

[bob turner]

Here is the almost restored MG M1. I was really pleased with its condition, and found all the parts in my collection to replace the missing stuff.
Still to go - I need better marker lamps, a couple of air lines here and there, and maybe re-orient the smokebox handrail. Obviously the lead truck gets new wheels soon, and the tender will get a rear ladder. It came well lubricated, and runs like a Swiss watch. Not bad for a $330 investment, including tax and shipping.

[bob turner]

I don't own a big J1e, but SW apparently got one recently, so I am looking forward to photos. As a kid I did not care for PRR anything, even though I lived on the vaunted Main Line in suburban Philadelphia. As noted above, I always thought the T1 and S2 were not particularly attractive. As this thread attests, my tastes have changed, and I find almost all PRR steam, and most of the rest of it quite attractive. There may come a time when I will have to find a "Fleet of Modernism" set of cars - although I am almost inundated with rolling stock, and if they ever cancel my airplane hangars I will have to buy a second dwelling to house all this stuff.

I am not sure I mentioned it, but the Sunset J1e, Q2, and others were really well built and accurate models. The S2 was ok, but was built to Williams standards instead of Sunset. The Q2 was actually exquisite, with coined drivers duplicating even the casting ID marks. I no longer have either, since they were here only long enough to do a magazine review, but I assure you, if I had the space and the spare bucks, they would be.

So now I have to review this thread and see what I need to do to finish it up. Might be time for Diesels?

[bob turner]

You know what? I did not post the S2 in this thread. Here it is:



Mort called me one day - said he had a 3-rail version with flaws, and would I like it for cheap? I said yes; my brother 2-railed the drivers, and it has been happily here ever since. There were not many differences between the 2-rail and 3-rail versions - the big one was the sprung tender trucks on the 2-rail version. As most know, I prefer simulated springs, cast in. I wish I had done that for my PA trucks.

If this thing has a major flaw, it is above the cab door. I have never been real sure about Sunset's treatment of that area.

I note that you can get one of these on eBay right now - they range from around $600 (worth it) to just over $2,000 (maybe a tad high?).

[SWrailroader]

That photo really highlights the size of the s-2. It is a beast. An interesting photo would show a K-4 in front of an S-2 to show the contrast in size.

The later SS PRR S-2 is really a Williams design. This one appears to be the later version.

SS produced a much more detailed version earlier with pedestal binders and came unpainted but had a not so durable gearbox

[E7]

All opinion obviously, but I really like the Key consolidations. Now a bit of heresy. I never much cared for the looks of the K4!

Rich

[bob turner]

If everybody liked the same thing we would be a hobby of K4s, J1es, F3s and nothing else. The true aberrations in our hobby were the Western Maryland steamers - what spectacular work, only to fall on the wayside while the K4s dominate.

My favorites are mostly SP steam, leaning towards the Mikes, switchers, and MM-2s. I branch out, even as far as Seaboard steam. I draw the line at upside down bathtub styling and those feathers on the Lehigh Valley locomotives.

As for the rest of it, the Alco PA, the Erie-Builts, and yes the E7, are my personal favorites, and I really do have enough of them.

[bob turner]

Yeah, why not an E7? This one is an Exacta, double 9434 motors driving three gearboxes each, no U joints. It has 12-wheel pickup, and I could probably use it as an airport tug!

Scalecoat/Champ/Future Floor Wax.

[bob turner]

Almost time for another photo.

I am laying out the long distance tender for the M1 - cannot find my M1 book, but memory says that all eight axle PRR tenders were welded. AI tells me that the 210F75 came in six and eight axle variants. Not sure that is correct, but if I can find an excuse to press rivets I will do so. The all welded tender would save me a day, I guess. AI did say the first eight axle tenders had rivets - 13 rows!

AI is really something - it seems to get most stuff right. Not sure it got this one right - I don't think there were 210F75s with eight axles.

I did ask it a Piper Cub question - quicker than opening my files of service bulletins. It gave me the correct answer long before I could stroll to the file cabinet.

Won't be free for long, I bet.

Tagging this on - big discussion about importers on the MMW thread. Karl Marx predicted that we would be seeking folks who would work for a bowl of rice. I think he also predicted that we would run out of those kinds of workers. I guarantee you that I would not be building models for the kind of wages that enable $1000 steam models. Not unless I was starving otherwise - but Americans have made a living in the past making O Scale steam - perhaps it is time again?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

.........Americans have made a living in the past making O Scale steam.....

Did they really make a living, or did they just supplement their day jobs? Have you looked at what it costs to live? It seems to me that people are unwilling to part with their $'s unless it's for something with the cachet of a name brand now.

[bob turner]

Gerry White made a decent living doing custom work. I think his business is still a going concern.
I could not do it - I work for between $50 and $125/hr, depending on what I am doing, and that would drive a simple 0-6-0 over the three grand mark.

Back to the PRR - I did a study on eight axle tenders, and as near as I can figure, all of them - 100% - had welded construction. Tonight I cut metal for the M1 tender - it will be ever so slightly shorter than the one behind my Decapod, and less tall - using photos and my artistic license to make it better match the M1 without just overpowering it. The 210F75 behind the M1a is even shorter than that, and apparently the 210F75B was an eight axle variant of exactly that tender. Information is spotty.

The scary thing is - this project uses the last little bit of my big sheet of .020 brass. Brass has pretty much doubled in price in the last couple years, so today will be exciting for my credit card. I will update . . .

And it is Friday - I am slowly working my way to the airport, where the winds are reported to be gusting to 24 knots - my personal maximum. Cannot wait! My Cub is like a helicopter in these kinds of winds.

Lemme see:



The aluminum Sharks! These are kind of fun - bodies appear to be overall pretty accurate for sand cast doorstops. Thanks to Maroon, I have an A-A setup that has been pulling a freight train for a while. Maybe it is time to bring the P70s home and let them again pull a Tuscan passenger train?

I have a PA in PRR Brunswick, five stripe, but sadly no digital photos. Unless you want to see Overland, I am fresh out of PRR Diesels, and have only the O1 and P5 yet to share. Then this thread will disappear in railroad blues.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The aluminum Sharks! These are kind of fun - bodies appear to be overall pretty accurate for sand cast doorstops.

Always have liked those......

[SWrailroader]

Bob,
Looking forward toward your tender construction.

Really appreciate your witticism regarding the wind turning the cub into helicopter. I think it was Marcus Aurelius who said something to the effect of approaching challenging situations with humor.

Rob

[bob turner]

I promise an Alco PA in Brunswick sometime soon, but for now here's a shot of the JLC Lionel GG1 truck above a Wolford/Duddy/Mashburn truck. Lionel is doing some good work, but I submit the brass versions are an order of magnitude better, and they do not crumble after five years in the box.