I hate reading this thread because it really makes me want to get another Rivarossi Genoa or Reno and do a few V&T cars.
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Well, in a real sense they were kind of making it up as they went along. Steam locomotion was a new technology after all.
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Why in the BLAZES didn’t I think of this sooner?
Years ago Lucius Beebe wrote a very fine poem about Genoa titled “Genoa” (Well of course!) and it went like this:
All night she drifted down the Washoe grade,
A light in dark hours for the souls of men,
A herald for the morning - so they said,
Till morning met her in the meadows, then
Shot through with dawn and gilded with its fire,
All red and gold “Genoa” came at last
In smoke and splendor to the heart’s desire
Leaving the spirit singing where she passed.
I shall not see her beauty come again
And much went with her going that was fair:
A certain Western gladness and an air
Of Western loveliness in pass and plain.
There is no beauty such as this today
That went when that fair engine went away.
There was no engine like “Genoa,” none,
No engine like her ever built by man.
Men put their tools aside to see her run,
Lifting their hearts as only engines can.
Of all the mountain mileage she was queen,
An air of royalty in going
And all perfection caught in a machine
To clutch the throats of men beyond their knowing.
I pity men who never rode a train,
Seeing a purpose in the shining wheel,
The crossheads flashing out and back again
Obedient in a symphony of steel.
And though the track is long since grown with grasses
I see a glory where “Genoa” passes.
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There ya go again, Flintlock! Making me want one of these AHM engines again. sigh Ain’t they beauties?
By the way, the importers/promoters selected the Genoa for Columbus’ 500th anniversary mural because that’s where he came from. Fortuitous happenstance.
But. if I get one of those again, the mural is coming OFF.
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That they are! And I’d have a hard time taking a pass on one if it had a decent price on it. But I think I’d leave the Columbus mural on the tender, I kinda like it!
Viva Italia! Viva Genova!
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What did you say your last name was, again, Wayne?
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I get it, but I prefer the polished and rugged beauty of the prototypes–and there are, apparently, several schemes to choose from. I think there is a kind of tape available that looks like polished brass and/or gold. I know there is for copper (for the lower hulls of sailing ship models).
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Antoniazzi! The family’s from Parma but I’ve got no problem rooting for another northern Italian locale! In fact that’s the Italian side of me, the other half’s Irish from County Mayo.
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You know, Penny is from Parma, too! 
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Yes, one of our more western suburbs!
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But higher. Parma Heights
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… this is it, we’ll hit the heights,
And oh what heights we’ll hit!
On with the show, this is it!
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Great shots! LOVE that antique fire engine too! Thanks for the shots! 
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And law enforcement personnel
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