I’ve always liked the Pacific type steam engines, and I know New York Central had a good amount of them, I just wish someone would make a good one (HO scale). My current first layout has modest curves(24") and is a modest overall size, and as much as I would like to have a NYC Hudson and a long string of passenger cars, or a 4-8-2 Mohawk pulling a large freight train, it isn’t going to happen on this layout. So, I would like some nice medium size steam. A Pacific would be great then…
Is my only real option buying a generic Pacific (like an IHC) and then messing around with the details, etc.[?]
NO! There were several brass importers bringing in a variety of NYC 4-6-2s over the years. The last one was the K-5 and sisters only two or three years ago. These are spectacular models.
I would think twice about the Hudson, BLI engines with sound are available all over for around $150.00 - $175.00.
The engine handles 18" curves quite well so would have no problems with your 24" curves. There is of course the BLI Pacific which is somewhat pricier than the Hudson but from what I hear a very well running engine as well.
I guess it’s because one someone says Hudson, you automatically think of the NYC. The Hudson is just a bigger version of the Pacific which is why there has always been a good selection of them. I have never seen a mass produced NYC Pacific, not even by a company like Rivarossi that made generic versions of locos and slapped different road names on them. I can’t say nobody ever made one. I’ve just never seen it. I model a fictional railroad but the NYC has traffic rights over the line so I have an excuse to run a lot of NYC equipment. I have all the first run BLI versions of the Hudson. I have several Pacifics that I intend to letter for my own road. Sorry that’s not a lot of help for what you want. Good luck and good hunting.
I’m pretty dure the only NYC-prototype Pacifics are the K-11’s from bowser and possuibly ones offered in brass/hybrid/plastic from BLI and others.
I would imagine that the majority of Pacifics built are for the PRR as the K-4 and K-5 are probably the two most well known styles of the Pacific (or so I’ve heard/read).
NYC on the other hand has a fair share of Hudsons and Niagaras, as well as smaller locomotives. I think for a while they used a lot of the USRA locomotive designs with only a few NYC-specific improvements.
If you like building kits, Bowser makes a good model of the NYC K-11, which is just right for dual-service operation.[:D] I have one, and it runs as smoothly as my high quality Spectrum stuff, and it’s a pretty accurately detailed model.[:D]
Darth, that was a great write up (as everyone said in the post).
The one thing that I didn’t see mentioned however was whether or not the wheels are RP-25 or pizza cutter. Seeing as you didn’t mention replacing them at any point, would I be correct in assuming that they are in fact RP-25 wheels?
I am interested in the kit Darth Sante Fe, is the picture you have of it with the “super detail kit” installed? How difficult is the kit, and about how much time do you think it took to build?
The wheels all have RP-25 flanges, so you don’t have to worry about replacing any.[:D] All newer Bowser equipment comes with RP-25 flanges.
Actually, I didn’t get the super-detail kit for mine. All I did to improve the detail was add a spare turbo-generator from another kit, make a simple hanger for the bell, and bend two extra steps out of sheet copper.
The detail kit includes a cow-catcher pilot, better bell, turbo-generator, marker lights, a couple pumps, and a few other parts to make it look that much better.[:D] The boiler does have to be drilled for the super-detail parts, which isn’t hard if you know what you’re doing. It looks like a pretty easy kit to install.
I put, I’d say, around 15-20 hours into this one. The directions are easy to follow, so it’s not too hard to build as long as you follow what Bowser says. The siderod holes had to be reamed out quite a bit before they stopped binding, but that was about the hardest part.
To add to Darth’s reply, The older Bowser engines had the old NMRA S-3 contour, which is not to be confused with the European standard stuff described as “pizza cutter” The engine has always been a great runner, esp the versions with the old Bowser “super motor”. Bowser makes replacement, repair parts for all versions, so don’t be afraid of an older one if it crosses your path at a bargin price.
For the faint of heart among you Bowser is now offering some of their locos in RTR, and also offering preassembled valve gear. If you’ve never built a locomotive, this is a fine one to start with. Remember you can always add super detail after you’ve got the basic engine assembled and running.
JBB
PS: Years ago MR opined that it ought to possible to redetail the Mantua/Tyco 2-8-2 to get at least close to a NYC Mikado. Haven’t looked at this to closely myself, but it sounds like it might be a neat project for the NYC steam fan on a budget. There’s a lot of these engines around used in good shape for reasonable prices.
That was actually three issues of Craftsman in 1980, where NYC historian Richard Stoving used a Bowser NYC K-11 boiler and a PRR L-1 mechanism to cobble together an H-5 class Mike. The process involved completely rebuilding the valve gear (mostly from scratch and Kemtron parts), and cutting out the boiler between the smoke box and firebox, replacing it with a length of copper pipe. Essentially, you’re scratchbuilding the engine and is anything but a budget effort! I’ve talked to Richard about his conversion, and he said that he’d use PVC pipe and styrene to scratch an H-5 these days. I priced out the project in both time and money, and decided to buy brass H-5s instead! (so did Richard, who only has the one conversion H-5 on his roster)
In case you try to find an NYC Brass, do not buy the K3q version by Alco Models that was imported back in the 70’s. These are a piece of junk!!! At the Hobby Shop I frequented back then sent them back to Alco and had a hard time getting their money back.
Key imported some beautiful K5B’s and K6’s not to long ago. The driver size on the K5 type is 75". These loco’s could pull about 10-12 heavyweights at a good clip. I have the Key K-5B model and it may be finicky around 24" curves at speed. You can find some older imports of K-3’s and the Bowser K-11 makes a nice model with some superdetailing.
The Key K-5B’s listed for $1399.00 I managed to get mine off of E-bay, new, for $875. It’s an exquisite model.
“The Hudson is just a bigger version of the Pacific.”
That’s incorrect from a design standpoint the NYC Hudsons were essentially the second “superpower” type locomotives designed by ALCO. They had completely different steaming characteristics than the eariler K-5 Pacifics. NYC did experiemt with the K-5’s by applying all the latest and greatest appliances but the Hudson was essentially born of a new design concept.
NYC had 650+ Pacifics throughout it’s history starting with the K class in 1903 culiminating with the K-5 and K-6 classes in 1925. In 1927 the first J-1 was built #5200.
By 1931 their were 225 Hudson’s in operation. 50 J3’s were added to the Hudson roster in 1937 and 38. Their were only 27 Niagara’s built.
NYC used anything but standard USRA designs, those they had bought were improved and /or rebuilt heavily. The “rich” railroads did what the wanted with their loco rosters. The only “War babies” that NYC ever built would be the L4 class of Mohawks, still a NYC design. NYC had the largest fleet of Mikados and a tremendous amount of consolidations many of which were converted into light Mikes of the various H-5 classes.