I got the N scale UP Bachmann/Spectrum 2-8-0 consolidation in today that I won off of ebay over the weekend. Brand new they go for $99.00 on up. Mine’s used (at least that’s what the ad said), and I won it for $45.00. After looking it over, I found it to be in perfect A1condition stem to stern - until I put it on the tracks… It seems that these particular little locos have a design flaw, as in, their snow plows sit right on top of the tracks and will snag on the slightest little imperfection in the rails. I solved this problem very quickly with a small piece of sand paper that I rolled up into a tube and sanded away the trouble spot on both sides. When finished, the loco ran fine and you can’t even tell anything was ever done to it…
Now. Does anyone out there know any history on the UP consolidations ?.
I would guess that the nose being low was caused by the boiler shell being removed at one time and not correctly replaced. it’s easy to leave the rear high when you put them back together if you’re not looking for it…
I have a book entitled “Emil Albrecht’s Union Pacific Small Steam Power” published by Motive Power Services in 1985. It has some great pics of everything from 0-6-0’s up through 4-8-4’s (not sure that a 4-8-4 is small but I guess compared to a Challenger or a Big Boy). It has some nice photos of 2-8-0’s in it (over 20 pages). I don’t know if the book is still in print but it might be possible to find one on eBay or elsewhere.
No rlandry6, I don’t think that the boiler shell has ever been removed. A friend of mine bought one of these several months ago and I had to do the same work on his to get it to run right. I guess I should have mentioned that in my original posting.
Snowplow?? What snowplow? Could be wrong but I’m under the impression that all the 2-8-0’s came with the same step type pilot. Nor does the photo on Bachmann’s website show one. I’ve never before heard any comment about a snowplow that sits too close to the railheads.
Sure someone didn’t modify the loco and install this?
According to Kalmbach’s “Guide to North American Steam Locomotives”, UP bought 472 consolidations from 1900 to 1909, mostly Harriman’s with 57" drivers, and Stephenson valve gear. A few were later rebuilt with Walschaerts valve gear.
The last ones were retired in 1958, with most retired in the late 1940’s into the early 1950’s.
I have a special fondness for class C-57 #460. This 2-8-0 is setting in the park in Marysville, Kansas. Marysville is the town I was born in, and the town I got addicted to trains in. Union Pacific donated this engine to Marysville in April 1956.
How about “cow catcher”… What ever the thing is called, it was hanging up on the track joints, so I had no choice but to sand the bottom of it back a little and now it runs fine. Maybe I got that one in one thousand that was flawed (?), but then so did one of my buddies a while back and I had to do the same to his as well.