Lionel,make a Legacy SP 2-8-0 or 2-8-2

I greatly admire the SP Mikes, and have I think six O Scale versions. SP Mikes in O Scale have been available since 1937, but have never sold well.  Here is one built by Ray Waller - he was a superior custom builder:

Very, very nice.

As much as I would also like a CORRECT SP 2-8-2, there isn't much chance of either Lionel nor MTH ever making one of these, because it is an exclusive locomotive to ONLY the SP. Thus, Lionel or MTH could not use the model to offer any other railroad names.

Here is one of my early scratchbuilts:

I am better now - I put tapers in my boilers.

I might go for an SP Mikado. It's a good looking engine. I like the SP, and there's a lack of variety in scale Mikados. The Big Two offer USRA light and heavy, a pre-WWI Southern Railway prototype, and a Pennsy engine with a Belpaire firebox. 3rd Rail has made a decent assortment of Mikados. They did an SP Mikado back in the 90's, but of course it has crummy QSI OEM electronics. Nice looking model, though, and plenty of detail. 3rd Rail also did an SP 2-8-0. Same time frame, same electronics. I don't have one of those, but I've seen it running on our museum layout and it is a nice looking engine. 

Lionel does have the tooling for an SP 2-8-0. which they made around 2001. I don't know how correct it is, but it differs in some details from their UP version, so they did make an effort. I have one; it's not a great runner with its early version of TMCC and a piston smoke unit, but I would think Lionel could add some detail and reissue it with Legacy, assuming there's enough room inside. 

As much as I would also like a CORRECT SP 2-8-2, there isn't much chance of either Lionel nor MTH ever making one of these, because it is an exclusive locomotive to ONLY the SP. Thus, Lionel or MTH could not use the model to offer any other railroad names.

Hot Water: Since when has that stopped either Lionel or MTH from decorating a locomotive for any railroad they felt like? 

Here's the 3rd Rail SP Mikado. Not a great photo, unfortunately - taken with a pocket digital camera. 

And here's a 3rd Rail SP 2-6-0. This is a great little engine - one of my favorites. Good runner, lots of smoke, decent sound. Perfect for my small layout.

Well that last time Lionel made a consolidation that was SP, it was 2000. I have it. 

Yes, Jack, sadly a limited appeal. 3rd Rail did a nice SP 2-8-0 and 2-8-2, but no TMCC and they had Seuthe smoke units. There are a couple on ebay. Though the thought occurs that Lionel already has a square tender that "could be" an oil tender, and a change of boiler front could certainly help. Lionel's 6-28036 SP 2-8-0 was kinda generic. I've thought about trying to find a better looking boiler front, but haven't done anything. I did make a visor for the headlight out of a thin piece of styrene and glued it on. Makes the engine look more SP. Did the same to the SP 4-4-2 #3000. Came out pretty good.

My Lionel 2-8-0 was converted to TAS EOB back in 2005 or '06, and it's motor has since been replaced. Still at the repair shop trying to get a better chuff generating system installed and a different smoke unit (like the one Lionel installed in their ATSF 4-4-2 about 3 yrs ago). Since Lionel figured out how to install a small modern smoke unit in that ATSF Atlantic, you'd think that that same smoke unit would fit in the 2-8-0. 10-14 years ago both of those engines used the same piston smoke unit, so there is space in their boilers.

Maybe Scott will make another run. Ah well, hope springs eternal.

I fitted the smoke unit used in Lionel's first Legacy ten wheeler in my Harriman 2-8-0. EOB provides the chuff trigger. I used a reed relay (not to be confused with a reed switch) to provide the isolation between the fan motor and chuff input on the R2LC.

Mine is lettered for NYC and will get de-Harrimanized and modified to make it a little closer to NYC prototype.

Piston:

Fan:

Bracket:

Pete

Have you guys seen the Super-Chuffer?  Perfect upgrade for driving those smoke units and getting realistic smoke effects.

John, This is one of the engines I planned to use it in but its too wide. The only place for it on this engine is behind the smoke unit under the circuit board in the pic above. Consider making a second board that is rectangular rather than square and it might work in places the square board doesn't.

Pete

Thank you for the images Bob2.

I have been considering placing one of Lionel's Vanderbilt tenders behind the LionChief Plus mikado. Comparing the idea to Bob's first image shows it would not be too far off for my 3-rail tastes.

The coal load is removable. Shouldn't be too hard to drop in a styrene sheet with  an oil filler cap glued to it.

Edit: I think I just ordered a replacement for the coal load from lionel.

SP had a few Vanderbilt coal tenders.  A few Mikados had rectangular tenders, as shown on my 3206.

here is the first O Scale SP Mikado - it was done by Lobaugh for the 1937 catalog.  Lobaugh produced a kit from 1937 to 1941.

The kit was not as nice as this one, but still was a very nice piece.

I'm afraid with the costs of tooling a new board layout that that probably won't happen, I'd never get the investment out of it.  It was a trade-off between length and width, both are problematic in specific situations.

I have a Sunset S.P. MK-6, #3253, with PS1 sound system. Sweet little engine.

Even closer to Lionel's Mikado and Vandy tender--thank you again Bob2.