Blue Goose

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

Hi
Is con-cor the only manufacturer of the Blue Goose in N scale?
If so what is the quality of this model?

Thanx Jan

2

Is there noone that can tell me anything about N scale, Hudson Blue Goose of the ATSF. As a european i would think that there would be several manufacturers of such a distinct model, am i overlooking something here?

Grtz Jan

3

At least two locomotives had the Blue Goose nickname: ATSF 3460, the streamlined 4-6-4, also known as “Mae West”; and the Westinghouse gas-turbine demonstrator of the late 1940’s.

4

Guess we aren’t talking about the New Haven BESLER steam train here? It was blue, looked like the NH Comet or Burlington Zephyr but had an internal steam engine.

Was awesome looking, got the nickname BLUE GOOSE.

5

I think the Blue Goose of the ASTF did not have what it took in the wide expanses of the American West.

Riverossi did make this engine I believe in HO scale.

6

Two things come to mind. First, in the US N scale market, there’s almost an unwritten agreement between manufacturers that they don’t bring out models that have been (at least recently) already been produced by other manufacturers. So you wouldn’t expect to see “several manufacturers” bring out any locomotive.

Second, and probably more importantly, a single road, unique but not common, locomotive like a Blue Goose would have a very restricted market, and wouldn’t be expected to sell very well. While it is very interesting, very few modelers would want to buy one as no other road used it, and even on the ATSF it wasn’t a common locomotive.

In HO where virtually all common locomotives have already been produced, there would be more of a chance of having this produced. In N scale the manufacturers still have several common loco types that haven’t yet been produced and which would sell better.

Just my opinion, no real facts involved.

Regards

Ed

7

Thanx all, I guess the fact that US modelrailroaders are far more prototypical then Europeans does make a difference. You see a lot of Swiss crocodiles on German layouts just because they want one on it evne though its not supposed to be there. Heck i haven’t even searched out if it would have been on the layout i want to build, if not well then i guess i’ll just imagine it would be. The layout i’m planning is Chicago Dearborn Station to Kansas or that direction. With a passenger line of the wabash and of the Santa Fe going from Chicago. To add some more fun I want to build a harbor scene near chicago with a small freight line from the harbor to a manufacturing plant or whearehouses in suburban Chicago. So far this seems possible in a prototypical layout, will the Blue Goose fit in, did it run to Chicago, or am i going to have to imagine it did ?

Grtz Jan

8

I have a Rivarossi Blue Goose in HO scale from the early 1980s. If I remember right from the documentation, it did pull the Chief but I don’t know if it took it all the way to Chicago or remained out west. The documentation is long gone. Rivarossi also came out with a set of matching passenger cars but to the best of my knowledge, the prototype never ran these. I believe the Blue Goose pulled a stainless steel consist.

9

Thanx , I have seen some HO models on E-bay of 2 or 3 brands but only 1 in N-scale that of con-cor, if only I knew if it was any good , how is/was the quality of con-cor engines. And yes your right the blue cars were designed by Rivarossi and never realy existed.

Grtz Jan

10

Can’t remember the source, but I remember reading somewhere that in the '30’s the Santa Fe’s employees actually called the blue 4-6-4’s “blue birds”. Apparently in the forties a (Baldwin??) diesel demonstrator in a blue paint scheme toured the US, and was nicknamed the “blue goose”. Somehow retroactively people started using this term to refer to the old Santa Fe “blue birds” and it’s stuck.