In July of this year, portions of NE ohio were hit by severe flooding after heavy storms dropped up to 12 inches of rain, in a period of about 6 hours. One of the victims of the storm was my layout. Originally, i planned (am still agonizing over it?) to build a new layout in modern N…but the more i look into steam, the more interesting it becomes. Now to my questions…Virginian, according to my research, with what little info i can gain on the Virginian, ran Berkshires, 2-8-8-2s that were quite similar to N&Ws y-3s, Alleghenies, and some HUGE 2-10-10-2s that seem to only be available in brass. My question, are the Rivarossi C&O alleghenies, and the P2K berks and Y3, close enough (or identical?) that i could use them for my fleet? Also, was a 2-10-10-2 ever made in plasic, or is my only option brass? Last, does anyone produce the odd “battleship” gondolas VGN used, or make the 6 wheel trucks for them so i could use F&C resin kits? Thanks in advance…Azure
I cannot speak to N versions, but I will add what I do know. The Virginian USE 2-8-8-2s were in fact third hand N&W Y-3s. Seven of them. So those P2K HO models are exactly correct, down to the non, or should I say UN-Xed front handrails. The other 2-8-8-2s the VGN employed all had front mounted air pumps and the USRA (copied from the N&W Y-2) P2K HO version is real close, but I am unsure about the tender; seems to me I read it was a bit short in height.
The VGN 2-8-4 Class BA was very similar to the NP Berks and C&O Kanawahs, the main difference being that the VGN engine had a single large sand&steam dome. The HO VGN P2K version is correct.
Except for the engine numbers and names the VGN Blue Ridge 2-6-6-6s and the C&O Allegheny 2-6-6-6s were visually the same engine, so one could repaint a Riv HO and be all set.
No one has yet produced a VGN AE 2-10-10-2 model except in brass.
Unfortunately, there is not a real close copy of the VGN 2-8-2 Class(es) available in plastic, and they had many more of those than the rest. I have lettered a few 2-8-2s but they are not real close for the purists because of boiler shape.
The P2K 0-8-0 is real close. To be dead on one would need to modify the boiler, and add a second air pump for N&W. But the basic engine is right on for VGN and N&W.
There is a guy who sells the battleship gons RTR, but I think the F&C kits with some plastic trucks make into a nicer model. The vast majority of VGN hoppers were two and three bay, which can be found everywhere. I do not know where Bowser got their info, but VGN and N&W hoppers were BLACK.
If there was the availibility of equipment in N scale that there is in HO that is what I would be running, but there is not. Not even close. I love steam, especially VGN and N&W, so there wasn’t much of an agonizing decision to be made for me, even more so 30+ years ago.
Don’t forget some other unique engines though not steam. The E33 electrics were built for the Virginian and they had side rod EL3A’s and some fairly modern looking GE’s with BBBB trucks under them run in pairs. If you want to model the diesel steam transition the Vgn, was 100% FM with trainmasters and baby trainmasters for yard work and more level areas. The one Exception was a GE 44 ton engine. You can safely model it as anything from flatland around Sewells Point in Norfolk where coal was transferred to ship to the mountains of West Virginia. The Vgn. is one neat little railroad. Passenger trains all completed their runs the day they started so they were typically four or five coachs and a baggage or RPO with a light Pacific for power. There is another Vgn post recently that lists a couple of resource books and they are well worth the money as they show the standard buildings and rolling stock. Mianline Modeler did an article about two years ago on building the standard Vgn caboose ( C1 as I recall). There was also a brief comment about it being sent to a manufacturer for a possible plastic version which should help immeasurably.
Actually the Blue Ridge 2-6-6-6’s had a tender that was taller in the water area due to their increased capacity and the sand domes were slightly smaller and more rounded for clearance than the C&O H-8’s. Air tanks were different from the C&O engines but there were also 3 versions of the H-8’s so even the Rivarossi model isn’t totally correct for all of the class.
However, if you don’t really know what you’re looking for they could very well pass.
The Virginian was a very unique railroad that has been far too long overshadowed by the N&W and C&O. Size ISN’T everything!!
Where did you find the dimensional differences between the VGN and C&O 2-6-6-6s ? You must have both books, and I don’t have the C&O one. One point, I don’t see why the C&O would have had bigger sand domes, as I thought I was pretty sure the VGN clearances were as large or larger than C&O’s. Not saying the C&O did not have the bigger domes, because I don’t know.
The Virginian was a great railroad; my Great-Grandfather helped build it and made it into H. Reid’s book. N&W fought their founding, as did C&O, but they were much more brotherly as the years passed. That paid off in 1959. Now, the Virginian, and even Norfolk and Western and C&O are gone, but the progeny of those Virginia railroads are two of the four biggies left.
thanks very much to all for the replies, and yep, i would probably do the transition era if i chose to switch 100%. At the least, i plan to aquire some of the P2K and Riv steamers and decal them for VGN, a move is planned, so it will be some time before i can start construction on a new layout…which does give me time to learn more about VGN and get a few locos and some rolling stock together/ Maybe even find a 2-10-10-2 someplace. I LOVE big steam engines, and the VGN seems to have run only the best. Even if the Allegheny was out of its element in drag service, its an incredible model, and the 2-10-10-2s and Y3s were right where they belonged, even if the old 2-10-10-2s were slow. A smallish railroad with huge steam hauling heavy trains through beautiful countryside…sounds like a railroad that begs to be built in HO! Not 100% sure yet which way ill go…but nothing wrong at all with having some VGN steam on display in my house if i decide to rebuild in N! After all…VGN became part of NW, later to become NS…which is what i model now anyways…(yeah, i know…still makes little sense…) anyways, thanks again all!
Actually, VGN didn’t abuse the 2-6-6-6s as bad as C&O did. They employed them East of Roanoke where they got to roll along fairly well as opposed to actually dragging coal up the hills. West of Roanoke was electrified and they used the Mallets on that end too, which I never saw in service. I saw one 900 just East of Suffolk once with a considerable train at a speed my father judged to be 50. What struck me was how different it looked and sounded than a Class A which I was much more used to seeing doing the same job. Coming at you it looked a lot bigger too.
Virginian used several different layouts and sizes for the “Virginian” on the tenders, so do a little homework. Microscale has an excellent VGN Steam decal sheet, but I cut the letters apart to get the right (more correct looking to me) spacing. P2Ks versions look pretty good too. The yellow Microscale and the orange Champ decals look a lot more alike on a black loco.
One point, I don’t see why the C&O would have had bigger sand domes, as I thought I was pretty sure the VGN clearances were as large or larger than C&O’s. Not saying the C&O did not have the bigger domes, because I don’t know.