When I was a youngster, Long Island Rail Road G-5s 4-6-0 steam locomotive #35 was on display in Nassau County Park on Long Island, near where I grew up. It had been retired from the LIRR in 1955, a few years before I used to see it in the park, so I never saw it under steam. At the time, although I had model trains and a 4’-by-8’ layout, I didn’t appreciate the mechanical engineering of G-5s ten-wheeler #35. And the LIRR was the first railroad on which I rode.
Although I haven’t lived on Long Island for many years, I still collect and run Long Island Rail Road model trains, and the MTH Premier G-5s models of LIRR #21 and PRR #5740 are among my favorites. LIRR #21 is always on my 12’-by-8’ layout and PRR #5740 is often there too. Both are my subjects for this Steamday. I like to run them fast, as they did on Long Island, and listen to their realistic chugging sounds at high speed.
The PRR/LIRR G-5s was the most powerful ten-wheeler ever built. It was designed for fast acceleration in commuter service on the hills around Pittsburgh and had a tractive force of 41,330 pounds, so it was also well suited for commuter operations on Long Island. Between 1924 and 1929, the PRR sold 31 G-5s locomotives to its LIRR subsidiary, but PRR engines, such as G-5s #5741, were temporarily assigned to Long Island.
PRR G-5s 4-6-0 ten-wheeler #5740 is an MTH Premier model (20-3031-1, MSRP $699.95) delivered in March 1999 with PS1. LIRR G-5s #21 (20-3068-1, MSRP $699.95) was delivered in December 2001 with PS2.
Photos and videos show #5740 pulling MTH Premier Long Island Rail Road heavyweight passenger cars and #21 pulling K-Line passenger cars in the two-tone blue livery of “The Cannonball,” a train that began running to Montauk, on the east end of Long Island, during the summer of 1899. In the summer of 1922, the LIRR renamed the train Sunrise Special, a livery that can be seen on the tender of the MTH model of #21. The modern Cannonball ran during summer 2023 but service for 2024 has not yet been announced.
MELGAR
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