Did I do my Pacifics?

[bob turner]

See, teaching me how to do photos without Photobucket may be to your disadvantage.

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This is just a re-run of the Snelling Pacific. I added the oil tank drip pan, a few pipes, and some paint. Nice to have a stock Lobaugh for comparison.

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Another Lobaugh. This one has Ed Alexander "nickelene" drivers machined here, and a scratch tender. Apologies for the wheel off the track - I have since re-gauged my display track.

If you like this thread, i will continue it. I think I have about six variations of the venerable Lobaugh kit.

Now another quick technical question - I have taught myself how to type without looking, but cannot keep my left pinkie off the Caps Lock button when going for an "a". Do any of you know of a way to lock that key out completely?

[R.K. Maroon]

I like these locomotives and the thread very much. One question: I am a little fuzzy on the use of the phrase "stock Lobaugh" when referring to an SP Pacific. Lobaugh offered the USRA Light Pacific both just before the war and for while after:



Unless I am mistaken, SP did not have USRA Light Pacifics. So the question is how close is a stock Lobaugh USRA Light Pacific to any SP prototype?

Jim

[Strummer]

I like these locomotives and the thread very much.
Jim

Me too...

Mark in Oregon

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Interesting - built up - $215.50

What does one sell for today?

[bob turner]

Not much more - $350tops. That is one thing that makes Lobaugh collecting fun and easy. Pacifics, Berks, and switchers $350, prewar Mikes and Mountains $550, and Challengers maybe $6-900. There are anomalies both ways, but they have been at these price levels for a quarter-century.

How do I know? I bet I have the world's largest Lobaugh locomotive collection.

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This one surprised me - at first it was ugly. Skyline casings are difficult for me. Note the silver stripes, done with a "Pilot" pen, and striped in black with a ruling pen.

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The tender is a 120C6, I think. Scratchbuilt. one interesting thing about the Lobaugh Pacific is that the boiler is about 1/8" too short. Most just bend the firebox sheets slightly to clear the rear drivers. I add a 1/8" ring between boiler and smokebox. Takes a lathe.

On the prototype - I have no idea. It started out as a B&O P-1, but the boiler was modified to look a lot like the USRA. No, the SP never had any boilers that looked like that, nor did they have the KCS version of the Vanderbilt that Lobaugh provided. In the olden days we took a lot of liberties with reality. Now, we are looking for absolute fidelity except for track gauge.

Lobaugh is one click this side of "doorstop". I really do enjoy my collection.

[R.K. Maroon]

I bought one at the Chicago show last year for $300, which included a "friend's discount". It's in good condition, needing only a modicum of attention (at least to meet my standards):



Now you know why I am curious as to how close the USRA Light Pacific is to any SP prototype. Note the converted tender, which is an interesting touch (but again a mystery for me in regards to prototype fidelity). For what it is worth, I would bet a dollar to a donut that any Lobaugh Pacific that looks like the models that Bob is posting would sell for a good bit north of $350. I will say, however, that if you are patient and keep an eye out you can obtain models at the low end of the price spread.

Jim

[rex desilets]

I recall that the pre-war Lobaugh light Pacific was a B&O P1d. Can one of the doorstop experts provide enlightenment?

[bob turner]

Correct. The tender behind Jim's engine is B&O. The Lobaugh P-1 itself is quite rare.

The boiler on these things is not even close to SP - however, I bet I have five Lobaugh SP Pacifics, including two that sort of resemble the P-8, and two that are supposed to be the Lima locomotives delivered to Arizona Eastern in the very early 20th Century. Yes, more photos coming. I appreciate the interest.

[Strummer]

Yes, more photos coming. I appreciate the interest.

Gee, I think it's the least we can do...after all, you're only one of the best builders of our time.

Opinion.

Mark in Oregon

[bob turner]

Feeding my ego.

The problem therein is that I will run out of photos before the day is out. It is raining, I am still kind of recovering from the flu, and tired of reading law books. Here is the pseudo-P-8:

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Tender is half Lobaugh, half Adams & Son, done before I really knew the difference. The smokebox is extended, and the sand dome is Ray Waller/Henry Pearce.

Unrelated, but congrats to Jay - someday the Greek will tear down my train shed, and I will be needing ROW products once again for the new, improved four track test loop.

[J. S. Bach]

Keep the photos coming, I am thoroughly enjoying them.

[Carey Williams]

Thank you posting the photos of your lovely engines ..I appreciate the education of Lobaugh .... how many years did they offer the same Pacific ?
How big of a company was Lobaugh ? If you have the "World's Largest Lobaugh Collection" ...what kind of production numbers were made of the various engines?
Thank you Cheers Carey

[bob turner]

Don't know. I do know that they were very expensive at the time, and ranged from about 1936 to maybe 1953, with hangers- on until the 1990s.

Rollin Lobaugh made screws and other fasteners. When things got slow, rather than laying off his employees, he put them to work making train kits. A socially conscious guy. And an O Scaler. He would have craftsmen build kits, and pay them with another kit. Everett deGolyer was rumored to have two of every single model ever produced by Lobaugh.

I am losing count - maybe ten Challengers, two Northerns, two Cab Forwards, maybe eight Pacifics, five Berks, four Mikados, four Mountains, and four switchers. Oh, and a Climax. And a couple 4-4-0s. And a Mongrel mogul. No suburban tank. Not looking for one.

[R.K. Maroon]

I see that Bob beat me to it but since I have typed this you can compare my answer to his:

Lobaugh started as a company that made small hardware -- nuts and bolts. The model trains were as sideline, and in fact Lobaugh the screw-maker is still in business, sixty some odd years since it departed the model train business. All O-scale manufacturers were small compared to the big toy train manufacturers. The Lobaugh catalogs would list their principal employess, and there would be maybe a half dozen. I would guess they had maybe twelve or fifteen at peak production (1941?) but that is just a guess. This is beyond they number they might have had in the screw-making part of the business. Walthers and ScaleCraft seem to have been the biggest producers before the war (again not counting the toy guys). There is a photo of the Walthers staff in a pre-war catalog, and without going back to count them I would say there are twenty, which means maybe they had twenty-five or thirty total(?). Other companies were much smaller. The Lenoir Locomotive Works had a staff of one, and I imagine there were many others the same (though none as famous).

Jim

[Carey Williams]

Hello Jim and Bob
thank you for sharing some of the history of Lobaugh.... wow they go back to 1936 ... Lobaugh big jump to fame was the 1940 exhibition in SF for the Santa Fe?
1939/ 1940 were a banner years ..Eastern railroads with Alexander trains in NYC and out west with Lobaugh.

What year is their earliest catalog ?

Was outside 3rd rail more of a midwest / eastern thing ....or did Lobaugh also offer it ?
One photo I have of Treasure Island can not make out if it is two or 3 rail (outside ..heaven forbade inside)
Minton was out west at the time , did he work with Lobaugh at all ?

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Thank you for the education.
Cheers Carey