I’m not much of a prognosticator, but I’m here to predict that we will see a 2-8-8-4 reasonably soon. I make this prediction based solely on my experience: I wanted a 2-6-6-2 USRA as used by the W&LE then later the NKP. There were none made in “high end” plastic, so I bit the bullet and bought an Akane one. It was not all that good of a model but it was purchased only about 5 months prior to the Bachmann announcement of their Spectrum 2-6-6-2! Now, I’m on the hunt for either an EM-1 as these ran close to where I grew up OR a DM&IR Yellowstone. As soon as I get one of the (later model & much better Akanes (I hope)), you can bank on someone announcing and producing one in high end plastic!
The sacrifices I make for this hobby that go unnoticed by the rest of you guys are just incredible! ; )
I think the manufactures do what may sell, the yellostones going brass as there might not be the mass market. But keep checking the brass sites and ebay as they show up in brass from time to time, the Akanes are going around the plastic prices (P2k, BLI-PCM prices) but the newer precision model is over a thousand. Akane model is nice and the one I bought was a never run model, lucky me, and I think Akane did a pretty sizeable run on those engines, why they seem to be fairly available in the brass market.
If someone were to do a Yellowstone I would predict BLI-PCM, or if MTH keeps going the way they are, maybe they would. Not going into MTH arguements here.
The railroads had engines designed for their needs and the N&W Y6b was more powerful than the Big Boy, but designed for slow heavy mountain grades, shorter for the turntable size. Big Boys needed speed for the long desert runs and mastering Sherman Hill, a long time grunge problem on the UP.
I have heard when the Big Boys get full running steam they get the stoker running full tilt and the coal barely hits the grate before being burned up. The Big Boys are mad burners and why you may never see them in fan trips or restored to operating, they would be plenty expensive to run.
DM&IR and B&O are not my mainprototype interest but as a kid I heard the recording of the DM&IR yellowstone and it was such a ghostly whistle and running the engine had to be a must have model to have. This is one loco that must get modeled full tilt sound and all.
I grew up just a few blocks from the B&O yards in Lorain Oh, and it seemed that 5 or 6 days a week, an EM-1 would come in to town with a hundred or more loads of West Virginia coal, and leave the same day with a similar load of soutbound Taconite. And Southbound was somthing like a 0.75% grade uphill. Great treat was one cold February when they not only doubleheaded a pair, but had to couple in a trio of L class 0-8-0s to help get the load moving, one on the head end and two pushing. Maybe they weren’t the biggest or strongest steam locomotives, but to an eigth grader, they were huge and impressive machines.
I still have nightmares about a few years ago when at a show, someone was offering a pair of Akane EM-1s for $150.00 each, and I couldn’t get the cash he wanted on a Sunday (no ATMs then).
Ouch! I think that has happened to all of us at one time or another. About 15-20 years ago, I found myself at one of the train shows in Toledo and a guy was selling off his collection of NKP stuff. Among the items was really nice set of hoppers that he wanted something like $5 each for… but only as a set. He must have had about 15 of them and wouldn’t take a check. I probably didn’t really need them but it would have been a heck of a deal… they were built with individual numbers, real coal loads, metal wheels & Kadee couplers… and they were weathered! I just didn’t have the $$$ that he wanted. : (