Although I'm not much of a fan of the road, I do have to note that no one's mentioned the Milwaukee Road in this steam speed queen contest. Their 4-4-4s ran Chicago to the Twin Cities on a 90 MPH schedule, and their 4-6-4s ran Chicago to Milwaukee in an hour flat. "Unconfirmed" speeds of 125 MPH were a daily occurance for well over a decade.....

Quote from: SteamGene on February 24, 2007, 08:34:01 AM

According to the article the wheel slippage was really something of an urban legend.  Yes it happened, but was it the locomotive at fault, or were there other factors involved?
Gene

It's no urban legend. I've got two DVDs of action out of St Louis Union Station in the 1940s and 1950s, and there are several shots of the T-1s. ALL of them slipped all the way in and out of camera! Apparently it was just the rear set of drivers that slipped.

Virginian's right: we need more small engines, including (non-USRA!) Pacifics. Bachmann's going a great job supplying us modelers with engines that aren't Big-Boy sized, so let's hope they keep it up!

My personal wish would be for an IC branchline Pacific with low drivers, but that's a pretty obscure prototype. How about something that looks nothing like a USRA engine, that there were hundreds of, like a NYC K-3 or K-11?