of all things someone put up for sale this creature
This is not -the- model, just too lazy to snap a pic for now.
about the largest switcher ever made, built for the Union Railroad, it had to fit on their 70 foot turntable, and they were looking to match the B&LE 2-10-4 tractive effort, to the 0-10-2 was born. Shorter tender and rear truck tweaked forward giving it about a 67 foot wheel base, just enough to spin on the turntable.
When the DM&IR purchased the engines when Union dieselized, they eliminated the booster tender truck, (removed the unit, left the truck) DM&IR did what we modelers do to add pulling power, they added steel plates (weights) over the main driver and pilot areas to make up for the TE loss of the booster.
When I got my model in today gave it a checkout, it has a DCC decoder but checking over it had problems, so I took it out and made it DC for now. Runs very well, but needs a few tweaks, like always any brass I have gotten.
This is about the last major brass I want except maybe a Brass Y6b.
When something like this comes along you really have to jump at it because these things are rare, happy here.
Interesting! Looks like to boost TE, they also mounted the tender to the top of the loco. Water delivery would have been great! Getting the coal to the fire box might have been a bit more work.
Now there’s a real coincidence. I’m reading through my MR DVD in order, and happen to be on August 1963. I turn the page to page 30 and staring me in the face is - that very loco! Prototype photos and plans for the 0-10-2, shown in Missabe paint. Literally just turned to that page not 10 seconds ago.
The NYC bought (13) 0-8-8-0s between 1913 and 1921. The last one was scrapped in 1951. Not sure what else they would have been used for other than switching except perhaps as pushers or transfer locomotives.
I have been modelling the NYC on my HO layout and lived/grew up in NY just above NYC and never saw or heard of one of these, but leave it to the NYC to come up with something like this. Thanks for the photo and background info.
Hmm, most of the numbers are bigger for the 0-8-8-0, but everywhere also still claims the Union to be the largest switcher. Both were use more for transfer hauls than actual switching. I guess it’s another one like the Big Boy - which is only the ‘largest’ if you consider overall size - the Baldwin articulateds for the Missabe would outpull one and had higher HP. P&LE had duplicates of the 0-8-8-0 but with 7000lbs less TE. The Union type falls in between - more TE than the P&LE but less than the NYC. Pretty impressive, an 0-10-2 putting up more TE than an 0-8-8-0, but it was 13 years newer.
this is my first test post on this forum. I turned off all my blockers and let the floodgates in.
hit reply, and went away from the computer and did other things, now the reply screen shows all the features.
Anyways, heres the real engine with superbright LEDs installed, the microbulbs died.
It has a heavy steam Tsunami but I think I might change to a Titan once I know the whistle. I have a titan in my NKP 4-6-4 and I was surprised how well it synced the chuff to the drivers and NO cams.
But now youse got the same problem i discovered when i bought my Yellowstone…they only ever pulled one kinda car on the Missabe…I had to start buyin’ a boxcar load of ore cars,they just don’t look right with anything else [(-D]
thru various circumstances I got an extra QSI medium Steam titan decoder I decided to place it in the 0-10-2 and pull its soundtraxx into my N&W Z1a. got the decoder in, sounds great, then hit some run tests.
It started having quirky operating, the universal joints were clamming up, I then superglued part of it to stop folding up. new test run, it hung. balked try to go, nope.
Found the left front wheel tread tilted off the wheel…and some pokes around the wheels I found the main driver right side was slipping on the axle. I emailed the seller but its my fix to do and do right, its fine, its fixable. I believe the engine was re-geared which explains the odd universal joint thing. and I think its had lots of fun runs, so wear and tear…yeah, gonna happen sometime. Big heavy engine and lots of power. No wonder. Okaaay, well fix it time for the better, put it on the backshop burner while I work over other equipment and research parts etc.
thats fun in the old ballpark…err the hobby backshop.
Just pretend it was borrowed by the Rio Grande (which happened during WWII) and you can run it with other than ore cars and be at least somewhat prototypical. That’s what I did with my 3. In fact, I ‘imagineered’ that the Rio Grande liked them so much (which they actually did) that they went to Baldwin for copies of their own (which they didn’t).
