I am having difficulty locating a decent model of a USRA pacific from any manufacturer in HO scale. I’m aware Bowser used to produce one,the IHC one is far too toylike for my tastes if I’m honest, and if I’m right athearn had one at some point, but I’m having major difficulty locating one, in any roadname. could anyone provide any leads to find a decent USRA pacific?
I am afraid you won´t find a decent USRA Pacific of recent manufacture. You will have to look for a brass version.
Caboose Hobbies of Denver has quite a stock available, at prices near those of current plastic models
Check their pages here:
Broadway Limited plans to release a USRA Pacific, see:
http://www.broadway-limited.com/paragon2usralightpacific4-6-2.aspx
However, an announcement is not necessarily a product. Also, it could take months or years for this to be produced. Nevertheless, you can pre-order it now which will help build enthusiams at Broadway Limited for actually making a Pacific. I have pre-ordered one and hope that they come through with their expected date of November 2012, but I realize that this might appear later.
Delivery for the USRA Light Pacific is scheduled for November 2012, at least that´s what their homepage says…
HOI on Yahoo! had one mentioned. You would have to do a search to find it there, but there one was one for sale. It was the 200x Athearn model.
I’ve had an order in for over four years, hope this is the real deal.
Perhaps I am naive, but I suppose that the more people who pre-order the BLI Pacific the more likely they will actually produce it to meet a demand. I own two BLI Mikados and am very pleased with them, especially the sound. I would love to have a BLI Pacific if it meets or exceeds the quality of their other models.
Thank you all so much for your help. As you can probably tell, I’m modelling the Atlantic Coast Line in 1945, so having a pacific is high up on the priority list, as they were some of the most common engines on the line. I had preordered the roundhouse model that was scheduled to come out a while back, and was very dissapointed when production was stopped. Hopefully the BLI model sees the light of day.
Too bad but Athearn drop their plans to bring back the Genesis Pacific under the Roundhouse banner a few years ago. I had been waiting for one.
Rich
Actually, I am hoping that Athern dropping their plans to produce a Pacific will spur BLI on to do their Pacific given that there is now an open market niche.
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At the risk of being overly optimistic, what roadname would you like?
Rich
I’m looking for Atlantic Coast Line locos, although I’d settle if I could find an undecorated model
If I were you, I would call Broadway Limited Imports and ask them the status of their Pacific which is supposed to be produced in the Atantic Coast Line road name. According to Walthers, the pre-order must be made prior to July 12.
…and order more than one, it could have “investment” potential on eBay.
Rich
I thought that the later Rivarossi Pacific steam engines were the URSA despite the road names. I was under the impression that they were pretty good runners, also good candidates for re-motoring and for dcc conversion.
You can usually find these on e-bay,
What about Mantua??
Phil
If you can live with a PRR version then look at the Bachmann Spectrum. They look nice and are nice runners.
I’m really looking for an Atlantic Coast Line model. The Bachmann models is of a K4 pacific, not a standard USRA design
If you don’t mind some maintenance work, the Athearn Genesis model is well detailed and an extremely smooth runner. I have one of the Genesis Mikados, and it may be the smoothest steam engine I’ve ever owned (comparing to BLI, Spectrum, brass, and new Rivarossi).
The Genesis models suffered from poor balance and cracked gears, so it’s easy to find one pretty cheap. NWSL makes quality replacement gears specifically for these, and the balance issue can be solved with some well placed lead.
I tried for a couple months a couple years ago and could not find one. That might have changed, today.
All I have found n ebay right now is the NWSL gear set for this loco. Many are aware of the gear sets and have modified theirs.
Maybe two years ago at the West Springfield train show an Athearn rep said upgrading this loco had run into a wall. Might be with the Chinese company who makes the Athearn/Roundhouse steamers. Athearn had planned to release an upgraded Pacific under the Roundhouse banner.
Rich