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Hello everyone.  I’m new to this forum and I have a mystery on my hands.  Hopefully the attached photos and your expertise will provide a solution.  So here’s the story...

An older gentleman ( 87 ) in town has graciously given me his 2 rail O scale collection that belonged to his father.  He remembers these trains from the days before his father left to serve in WW2.  The small collection consists of a 2-8-2 brass engine & tender, and 14 pieces of rolling stock as well as a large wooden box of parts & pieces.  

Now I’m an HO guy, so I’m well outside my realm of expertise with all this O gauge stuff.  So, with your help, let’s start with the 7 pound brass engine.  I think it might be a Lobaugh kit, but I do not know...  Any suggestions or ideas are greatly appreciated.81A40CBC-6C72-46BE-ADC8-E19DA1C8DB1D162A5571-5863-48BD-A2AE-D21364A3447521E84E0C-2C2C-4034-8960-4E3FD96377D1F6B27919-5016-4F91-8CDC-152183FCD8201A67EE70-BC07-4E80-98E2-74971E8EAC52

I can provide more photos if needed.  Thanks again for your help with my Mystery 2-8-2 Engine

Mark

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I have a Hines Line USRA heavy Mike built up by a friend of mine when he was a teenager.   he did a great job.    It looks a lot like that.    I am not that familiar with Lobough stuff.    But it could be a Hines,    Henry Pierce bought/took over hines but I think that is later than your time frame. 

I have not had mine apart in awhile, and I can't remember what the mechanism looks like.    Howeer it does a similar worm on axle gear assembly.    Also my center drivers are blind as these seem to be.

Gentlemen....  thank you so very much for your insight, as it is greatly appreciated.  bob2, I’m not familiar with Hines, but you have provided me with a new avenue of discovery...  prrjim, I am familiar with Pearce, and am pursuing that with Stevenson Preservation Lines.  Does anyone know what the value of this engine????  65155B5D-162B-41A8-9B3E-AAC40439F4E82F84EF4D-BCFA-46BA-BD51-1BB454872B31My intentions are to value this collection and reimburse the original owner...  they are elderly and on a fixed income and it’s just the right thing to do...  at least it is to me.  Please continue to provide your insights...  Here are a few more pictures of my Mystery Engine ...  Also, any estimates ( guesses ) as to the age of this thing???

Again, thanks for your assistance and expertise,

Mark

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Screen Shot 2021-02-05 at 3.20.21 pmScreen Shot 2021-02-05 at 3.19.59 pmThe frame of this loco is familiar to me because I have one, but I dont know the manufacturer, its not Hines or Pearce. I reckon Carey is on the right track. Ive seen a couple of these go on the Bay over the last twelve months. There a devil to resemble if you pull the drivers out, which come out from the top, rather than the bottom. This one unfortunately has had the ashpan cut out, for some reason.      cTr....( Choose the Right )

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Last edited by Stephen Bloy

that one is sort of beat up.    All the lubrication is probably dry.    You could lube it and see if it runs.    It should power the same way as in HO, one rail pickup, probably engineer side from the loco, and the other rail from the tender, assuming 2 rail.    I did not notice "whiskers" so it appears it is not set up for outside 3rd rail.  

I would estimate a market value around 2-300 depending on if it runs and how it cleans up.    Might even go for 350-400 if someone wants it.    the detail level on these does not compare with more modern brass.     the older freight cars also don't compete well with more modern stuff.    I would guess you could get 10-20 apiece at an O scale show, again depending on condition.   It they are truly bad and beatup, you may not get 5.  

so to help out you friends,  you need to decide what  you want to do.    There is not a huge amount of value in this stuff, but there is your feelings of charity and nostalgic value.   

this is just my opinion from seeing stuff like this at O scale train shows.

By the way, these older models do clean up nicely.   Often a new paint job and decals makes a decent model for a layout.

Here are some photos of my Hines Mike.    As I mentioned, this model was mfg and sold by hines and then the line was sold to Henry Pearce.    It was  unpainted when I got it and I had decals made for my friend's RR and painted it.   I also changed the trailing truck on the loco and added builder plates.   Other than that it is pretty much original build.    He built this I think in the late 40s or early 50s before he went to Korea.

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Very Interesting.   I have never heard of "Acme/Walthers" before.     That is probably not the original tender with that one.    That looks very much like a PRR K4 tender, including the PRR truck sideframes, and the steps on the side of the tender.    In addtion just the overall tender look.

The mechanism does look very much like the one in the first photos above.

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!!!  Or at least a very SOLID lead....

Carey...  thanks for the link...  the pictures are almost identical to my Mystery Engine!!!  Outstanding!!!  So now that you have identified the manufacturer as Acme, does anybody have information on the products & brass engines produced by Acme?  My web searches have discovered nothing about Acme Models, no products, no company history...  I’m still curious as to a time frame when this particular engine kit was available for purchase...  As an HO guy, I’m getting quite the education about vintage O scale.  Thanks to everyone that’s helping me out...  Greatly appreciated.

As I mentioned, the one in the link from Carey has a PRR tender.    The original has a USRA tender like the one I have which is a Hines. 

Pre-WWII means 1940-41 at the latest before the government shut down using metals for non-essential mfg like model trains.  

Whoever the mfg of the kit was, it is a model of a USRA mikado - and appears to be a "heavy" like the Hines/Pearce model.    Since that was a very common steam loco design in service at the time, it would be likely that more than one mfg would make a kit.    However, I doubt they would include a PRR tender.    I'm guessing the one on the ebay listing does not have the original tender.    The replacement is possibly a Scalecraft.

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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