Kemtron Wabash Mogul 2-6-0

Probably find one at the Chicago O SCale "March Meet", March 14 & 15.

I suggested the Wabash Mogul to Mark at Precision Scale for his die cast line (which has been all narrow gauge). He did not think it would sell well. My thought was that it would be gobbled up by space restricted O Scalers and branchline enthusiasts. Precision Scale has all the castings (and masters, presumably), aquired from Kemtron. Seemed a natural.......

They would be competing with the used ones.  You can buy used Moguls all day long for around $750, and a new one would probably be twice that.

I'm amazed they continue to go that high...but that seems to be the magic price.

Jeff C

I remember when those were advertised in the mags.  If they are that common, somebody tell Pierce where he can get one.

I've owned two of them. I found both of them at train shows.

Jeff C

EBay.  He just has to look.  One went within the last month - looked like a good one from the photos.

Bob - The beauty of the Precision Scale die cast line was that they went for someting like $550 for a brand new, nicely detailed Rio Grande K37. Would think the Mogul could have gone for a similar price.

Yes. They show up reasonably often and good looking ones do, too,  

Good running ones might be a somewhat different department,

I dunno.......I keep a pretty regular eye on Ebay and see a built Kemtron Wabash Mogul once or twice a year. At the Chicago Show I have seen one maybe every 3 or 4 years. The difficulty is that a fair number of kits were sold (absolutely state of the art in detail when introduced in 1959), but not so many were built.

Once or twice a year is reasonably often for this thing.  Pearce has been looking for longer than that.

I am guessing that, unless re-geared, they were not real good runners.  I have not actually seen one in the flesh, but I have seen the gears.

Mine both ran just fine, once I fixed the binding drivetrains. 

Jeff C

Have you ever noticed that as soon as folks start talking about things like this here they start popping up on E-bay?!?!?!

I saw a steep rise in asking price for Williams brass shortly after I got mine for a nice price.  I doubt I'll ever see another brass (or any other type) USRA 2-8-2 for less than $190 delivered.

With regard to Bob Deldridge's comment...I saw this rapid price escalation take place

recently, in Weaver 2-8-0's.  You just wait until the buzz dies down, and the pricey ones remain unsold.   The bay seems to pull some of this hard to find stuff out of

the attics and cellars, though, where unbuilt kits like this have languished for years.

Like when a pair of pantographs topped $100,

I am still in the hunt for a Kemtron 2-6-0

Mike P

Mike,

I may have one available in about 6 months.

Start saving your money now and if you don't find one in between I'll sell you one of mine.  In the mean time if you find one that meets you criteria buy it.  It won't hurt my feeling to keep both of mine.  Truth is, in the end two of them ran double headed.  Something about pulling a train that required both but when the came to a particular bridge that wasn't rated for both they would uncouple the lead loco, let it cross the bridge by itself, and then recouple once the second loco cleared the bridge.

Jay

Since those were small locos, I wonder where that lightly weighted bridge was, and

understand why Wabash had a need for a small loco?  Since a model was made, is there a prototype saved in a park somewhere?

The railroad museum in St. Louis has the loco number 573.

Charlie

CO hirailer,

here's link, http://www.stlouisnrhs.org/wabash_573.htm

Thornburgh (sic) wrote a nice article about scratch building the Wabash Mogul in Model Railroader.  It was a 6 or 7 part series in the late '50s.  In the opening article he shows photos of the two prototypes and the scenario I described.

It was around the same time Kemtron issued their kit.

Jay

The pair was subject of an article in Trains magazine in the 1950s.  I read it, but have no idea how to tell you to search for it.  The article tracks what Jay says above.

Jay C:   The Wabash Moguls were the last steam locomotives operated on the Wabash RY. Three were based in Bluffs, IL in the last years (573, 576, 587)and operated on the Bluffs-Keokuk, IA line. The bridge over the Illinois River that the railroad did not want to invest in replacing was about 10 miles up from Bluffs, at Meredosia, IL. And, yes it was old and frail and would only accomadate one 2-6-0 at a time - - on those days when the daily train required doubleheading. The last steam run occured in Feb 1955; the Wabash then leased two PRR GE 44 tonners. They were not powerful enough, so the railroad removed the Meredosia bridge and ran a circuitous route over Burlington branch line trackage to avoid the river crossing, to service Keokuk and on-line shippers. Meredosia continued to be served from Bluffs, on that remnant of the line, as there was a large power plant in Merdosia. The Wabash employed GP9's thereafter. #573 was donated to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. Interestingly, in those last days of steam operation, the 75 mile Keokuk Line operation was described as the toughest job on the Wabash, and the 150 mile roundtrip frequently consumed 16 hours!