A Small Mikado?

[Trainman203]

The trouble with the Chinese MacArthur is the disc drivers, extremely modern for a period in America when no small steam engines were being built any more.

[Trainman203]

Jonathan:  Those small Mikes look exactly like a consolidation with a tiny trailing truck added.

TM:  that's exactly what they are.  The trailing truck is, as much as to aid weight distribution, to help staying on the track while running in reverse, just like what the pony truck does for running forward.  A lot if these lumber company lines didn't have turning facilities in the woods, and the track itself was light and poor.  These little engines pulled trains running in reverse as much as forward and needed the extra guidance and stability that those little trailing trucks provided.  The light prairies we've seen here before were engineered for the same reason.  

Short lines often followed the same practice.  Many had no costly turntables, and wyes used up space unavailable for one reason or another.

[JDLX]

So, in my opinion this is one of the largest holes in the modeling world at the moment.  There was a time when I would suggest a basic 90-ton Baldwin logging mikado as being an excellent addition to the Bachmann line, but I've long since given up that they will.  I hope to be surprised one of these years...but so far no dice.

As for modeling, your best option might be to start with one of the North West Short Line/Toby 70-ton Baldwin logging mikados, brass imports from a couple decades ago.  There were at least two versions of the Polson/Rayonier #70, one early and one late, which is today operating on the Mt. Rainier Railroad.  Both the prototype and the model are slide valve saturated steam, unusual in as much as the locomotive was built in the early 1920s long after such equipment had given way to piston valves and superheaters.  The other two models that I know of are both superheated piston valve machines, representing the Georgia Pacific #5 (formerly Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company, on display in a park in Corvallis, Oregon) and Owen Oregon/Medford Corporation #3, now California Western #45.  The biggest drawback for these models if you are after a 90-ton "Mike" is that they all have 44-inch drivers, the 90-ton version has 48" drivers.  These brass models show up on ebay on a fairly regular basis, especially the Polson/Rayonier #70. 

One other possibility might be the Life-Like 0-8-0, I don't know the driver size under it but they look to be about the right size...you would have to get rid of the entire boiler and cab and replace it with something smaller, and I don't know if the mechanism will fit, or can be modified to fit, under somthing smaller.  But that would be another possible starting point with some strong possibilities. 

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

[J3a-614]

The Life Like 0-8-0 is based on the USRA 0-8-0, which had 51-inch drivers, and with a rather longish driver spacing that would theoretically allow for 57-inch drivers, which were used on some earlier switchers (though never on USRA based designs that I know of).

I kicked out the idea that Bachmann could have made up a logging 2-6-2, either tank or tender version, using at least some parts from the older 0-6-0T that they used to make.  That little thing had drivers in the 44-inch range, just the sized used for the logging 2-6-2, 2-8-2, and some 2-6-6-2s. 

By the way, a lot of those shortline and logging rod engines from Baldwin weren't delivered in black.  The standard or "default" color at Baldwin was an olive green, often with silver or aluminum lettering and striping.  This was standard into at least the early 1930s.

http://loggingmallets.railfan.net/

http://loggingmallets.railfan.net/sub/paint_and_finish.htm

Baldwin Locomotive Works No.26, which is now running at Steamtown, has been restored to its olive green paint it wore as a plant switcher:

http://steamengineresource.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/5/5/41554255/5386346.jpg?763

http://www.railpictures.net/images/d2/9/3/1/3931.1462039281.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzGSWodOYkU