Mr. the Bach-man,
can you make a model of reading, blue mountian, & northern (reading & northern) # 425? you already make a pennsy k-4 so it'll only take a few modifications because the 425 is a reading g-1 pacific, and you already make auxiliary water tenders. :) i can post pictures if you want.
Is 425 a reading unit? I was under the impression it came from a shortline in the south... (Louisiana Eastern?)
I could go through a long explanation on why not, but to save you time- No, they won't.
it was originally built for the gulf mobile & ohio in 1928, the only time it ever got on reading tracking was for the blue mountain & reading, or reading & northern. it never was really owned by the reading
(baldwin #60339)
If your long explanation is because its an excursion engine, think of it this was, bachmann already makes susquehanna's 2-8-2 S-Y and if i'm wrong correct me, thats an excursion engine. and athern makes Reading and northern diesels
New tooling is $$$, in order to make a loco Bachmann has to see it as very profitable to even make it worth their time and money. Anything Bachmann does ultimately has to do with economics and if the decision makes "good business sense." So, if something is unique and limited to one or two roads, especially more obscure roads that do not have as many fans or whose fans may be older or no longer with us, ones that us younger folks (less than 30ish) do not recall or know of. With less popular roads a lot of manufacturers take pre-orders on items and if a lot of people order the locomotive then they'll make it, but if they do not get large (and I mean large) numbers of orders then they will not make it or offer it to select clubs and groups for a higher price to compensate for the decreased orders. For example, I have several Atlas Akron Canton & Youngstown H15/16-44s they only made as many as were pre-ordered, therefore they ensure a profit. Or Athearn released new SD40-2s in Wheeling & Lake Erie and SD40T-2s in Ohio Central System, I asked the owner of my LHS to order me 3 of each, but Horizon told him that they were sold out 1 week after they were released (they ensure that they do not saturate the market, think supply & demand), so I was forced to buy some from an online hobby shop (at least it was brick & mortar), instead of my LHS, which is struggling to compete against online wholesale retailers, but they still are doing better than all the local Hobby Lobbies and Hobbytown USAs. The only saving grace fro hobby lobby is the 40% of any item coupons and their clearance when items are damaged or discontinued. Sorry for that tangent, anyways back on topic...
So hypothetically speaking, say that Bachmann made the item available for pre-order, the end result would likely be that the item would be canceled unless a large club or group would be willing to order several thousand at an increased cost to ensure Bachmann makes a profit.
the 425 did come in three versions; GM&O black, upper headlight; BM&R blue, upper headlight; and the current version RBMN Blue centered headlight, when the 425 went for an overhaul in 2006-07 in rbmn port clinton shop it was modified to actually look like a reading engine, the g class pacifics went up to 3 (i think :-\) with only slight modifications to the design of the engine itself
Don't forget Louisiana Eastern... But still, are 4 schemes on 3 railroads worth it to a manufacturer? No, not really, and there is likely a brass model of the GM&O 4-6-2s out there. The K4 is a much different beast than almost every other 4-6-2 in America, and there are different types of drivers, different driver size, different cylinders and boilers, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, that would make a GM&O 4-6-2 an entirely new tooling. The only 4-6-2 I foresee from Bachmann is a model of the Southern Railroad PS-4 since there is a large following of that locomotive.
where can i get one of the GM&O 4-6-2's ???
Approximately 7000 Pacifics were produced for U.S. and Canadian railroads. The largest user was the Pennsylvania Railroad, which had 697, including 425 class K4s.
As far as brass GM&O 4-6-2's, they were made, but in such limited quantities that you'd be lucky to run across 1 for sale semi-locally in a lifetime. There is a Proto 2000 0-6-0 GM&O switcher on ebay, right now that is the only GM&O steam in HO.
If you like N scale, I found this: N GM&O 4-6-2 Pacific red & maroon Con Cor 0001-004306 sold as set with 6 heavyweight passenger cars (Rivarossi), it appears periodically on ebay.
In HO: IHC made a 2-6-0 Camelback, TYCO made a 2-8-0 (red& maroon) in 1982, P2K/Life Like made 0-6-0s (black), DJH made a brass 2-8-2 (black) in 2005, Athearn Genesis made a 4-6-2 Light Pacific (black). That is most of the GM&O steam that was ever made in HO. Also Broadway Limited Imports made an HO USRA 4-6-2 Light Pacific w/DCC & Sound GM&O #268 MSRP was $250 when it came out.
BLI never made the 4-6-2s. They were announced but never produced. Athearn is reissuing the Light 4-6-2s in the Roundhouse line with sound and DCC.
Quote from: Guilford Guy on July 14, 2010, 11:01:17 PM
BLI never made the 4-6-2s. They were announced but never produced.
See what I mean, this proves my point exactly, not enough interest and pre-orders and they ditch the idea. What this tells us is that the odds are stacked against any of these locos ever being made by Bachmann, but you can always hope, stranger things have happened.
RBMN and ABC-
Keep in mind that years ago AHM, Tyco and IHC (and others) made generic locomotives and then painted and lettered them for various railroads, including lines which never owned any. This was in the days of just having a layout and who cares about prototype if it looks good and runs reasonably well. Sure, there were rivet counters but the general standards were pretty loose compared to 2010. So decide how much prototypical modeling means to you before you buy.
-- D
Quote from: ABC on July 14, 2010, 11:15:45 PM
Quote from: Guilford Guy on July 14, 2010, 11:01:17 PM
BLI never made the 4-6-2s. They were announced but never produced.
See what I mean, this proves my point exactly, not enough interest and pre-orders and they ditch the idea. What this tells us is that the odds are stacked against any of these locos ever being made by Bachmann, but you can always hope, stranger things have happened.
i thought it was because BLI bought out PCM before
they could produce them
and Doneldon you do have a point, i have a tyco Golden Eagle and i've never heard of that railroad. so i'm gonna buy one of those roundhouse pacifics and paint it. mostly because it already has dcc + sound and because roundhouse is owned by athearn and they
do make other RBMN items
and abc, i model HO, N, and G so thanks. and i found aristo-craft makes pacifics ang the painted, unlettered scheme is black and almost looks exactly like the 425 in the black, GM&O scheme. and for future refernce, how do you post pictures?
Upload the to Photobucket or Flickr or another image hosting site. Then copy the image location, do not click copy image, but click "copy image location" paste it on this forum then click on the 2nd button in the 2nd row underneath the italics. You will get this after clicking: {img]http://(Paste the image location inside here)[/img]. And then preview it to make sure it has worked.
Quote from: RBMN #425 Fan on July 14, 2010, 08:31:45 PM
it was originally built for the gulf mobile & ohio in 1928, the only time it ever got on reading tracking was for the blue mountain & reading, or reading & northern. it never was really owned by the reading
(baldwin #60339)
If your long explanation is because its an excursion engine, think of it this was, bachmann already makes susquehanna's 2-8-2 S-Y and if i'm wrong correct me, thats an excursion engine. and athern makes Reading and northern diesels
The SY 2-8-2 is one of Bachmann China's offerings. There were over 1,800 of the prototype made in China. Many are still in use today. The SY was only one of many other Chinese model steam engines made by Bachmann China.
The SY was not made because there was of the one in use in the US , they were already made.
http://www.railography.co.uk/info/cn_steam/profiles/sy.htm
There were a few Chinese steam engines of different types sold to US interests.
thanks ABC and Pacific Northern
and i pretty much got the idea there not gonna make it :-[ :( :-[ :( :-[ :( :-[ :( :-[ :( :'(
thanks for the help ABC (http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-b/bmrg-s425cca.jpg)
here is it in black(http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/rbmn/rbmn-s425kgb.jpg)
here is blue, upper headlight
(http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/rbmn/rbmn-s0425kjb.jpg)
and here is the modern blue centered headlight
in Jim Thorpe, PA by CNJ F-3 unit (currently lackawana; under overhaul in steamtown) :)
Interesting fact about the 425 - the pilot truck has one axle with spoked wheels and the other axle with solid wheels with "spokes" painted on the wheels. Wonder if a manufacturer would go to that level of detail if a model of that engine was to be produced.
to tell you the truth i never noticed that before :-[
i only noticed the first two wheels being spoked and the last two pilot wheels being solid :)
and in the blue, upper headlight picture; the 425 was actually on a trial run in 2007 during the last stages of its overhaul,(notice the white cab, and no writing on the auxiliary water tender. its suppose to say,
"You Can Ride This Train
For Tickets Please Call
(610) 562-****"
Here is another update for this year. Here's 425 and LGSRY SD-40-2 #426
arriving in Port Clinton PA 6-10-10(the update is the red numberboard under the headlight and the white flags. [they used to be american flags])
(http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/rbmn/rn-s425kki.jpg)
White flags displayed on a locomotive (or white lights at night) mean that the train is moving as an "extra," which in this case means "not on the timetable."
I believe you are incorrect in the statement that #425 never rode on Reading Rails before it came to Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern. It
was used on the short lived Valley Forge Scenic Railroad, based in Kimberton, Pa. for a few years hauling passengers on the Kimberton
Branch of the Reading Railroad.
Quote from: DUCKY01 on July 16, 2010, 03:06:00 PM
I believe you are incorrect in the statement that #425 never rode on Reading Rails before it came to Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern. It
was used on the short lived Valley Forge Scenic Railroad, based in Kimberton, Pa. for a few years hauling passengers on the Kimberton
Branch of the Reading Railroad.
Actually i stated that it rode on reading, lehigh valley, and jersey central rails before it came to RBMN on the
Blue Mountain & Reading Railroad. this was when it was blue upper headlight and for a short time it was in the black upper headlight
As far as I know, no model of the 425 has been made, either mass producition or in brass. The loco is sort of a transistional engine - probably a bit smaller than a USRA light, but equipped with the cast steel Delta trailing truck. And IIRC, the engine was built for the Gulf, Mobile and Northern, which later became part of the GM&O. It went to the Lousiana & Eastern, and is one of only a very few locos from that large collection that survived when the owner passed away. There was a long story about the L&E in Railfan about a year ago. I got to ride the cab on her on the Valley Forge Scenic, and saw her several more times in RBM&N days, and once at Steamtown during the opening year.