No way could I afford to buy all he had, so I brought in some friends and we all picked what we wanted and pooled our funds. Still, we couldn't come close to buying even half of what he had or what we wanted. All prices were about half or less of the current market, so we were all very excited. But, besides the coal tower and the KTM-USA FEF-3, I got a one-of-kind USH 2-10-2 that Peter had worked on for a number of years to make it as close to the prototype as possible.
I entered it in the March Meet model contest the following year (under Peter's' name) and I believe it would have won 1st place, but that year Louis Bartig entered one of his handbuilt masterpieces, so the 2-10-2 came in 2nd. Greg Heier loved it and took several photos and asked me to write an article about it, which I did.....that was in 1996. The article did not appear in print until 2001. Article (not) attached because I don't know how to attach a PDF file.
In 1999, due to a household emergency, I had to sell all my models and decided the most expedient way to do this was to sell to a dealer. Really hated to part with the 2-10-2, but they all had to go.
That model has haunted me since I let it go and if you read the article you'll understand why. I've wanted it back for almost two decades. It may not be a Kohs, Sofue, Key or C&LS, but what Peter did to this model is truly remarkable.
Fast forward.....two weeks ago while doing a google search for something UP, I saw a link to a thread on OGR for UP loco photos. Decided to take a look-see and it turned out to be on the 3R forum (someplace I never go). The thread was started by a fellow name Will who I've dealt with in the past and who is converting to 2R. There were a lot of nice photos of Mostly 3 rail UP locos submitted by a lot of modelers. But, Will posted a photo of a 2-10-2 that he just picked up at the Jim Seacrest auction. It looked very familiar and too nice to be a stock USH 2-10-2, so I went digging for the OSN article to match up the road numbers.........when I remembered I donated my collection to a club several years back.
So, while trying to figure out how to approach this issue and contain my excitement in case it was another disappointment, I stumble on a complete collection of OSN mags on the Yahoo Yard Sale Forum and bought them. They arrived last Wednesday and I confirmed this was my old 2-10-2. On Thursday, after seeing my article, Will graciously agreed to sell me back my loco and I hope to have it by the end of the week. What a ride......
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Update: The model arrived today and although it needs some TLC; the years haven't been as kind to it as they could have been. But, I have no idea who might have owned it after me and prior to Jim. But, it's home now and staying.
Fully detailed chassis with equalized suspension which includes the custom built pony and trailing trucks, cab and backhead detail with lighted gauges and working reverse gear lever, removable cab, smokebox fully detailed with correct four port UP annular nozzle and flue sheet with pipes, full ashpan detail, both smoke box and headlight doors are hinged and open with correct scratchbuilt hinges, headlight, marker lights and number boards are all illuminated and due to the smokebox interior detail the wiring had to be run through surgical tubing used for the boiler handrails, the wiring runs to the junction box and then branches into flexible surgical tubing that acts as miniature armored cable, the Walschaerts valve gear is fully functional and operated by a small servo motor in the firebox which operates the lever in the cab, plus much, much more.
I'll keep this thread updated as I make repairs and discover items I might have forgotten.
BH
