Is the new C&O Light Mikado correct? Did they get it right or wrong?
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Yes and no. Mostly yes, by far. (You can research these things online, you know.)
They have represented a C&O K-5 class Mike, numbers 1060 - 1069. These were USRA Light Mikes, and the MTH loco is a good generic representation of that design, which many roads used. There were some variations. To wit:
- the MTH "1068" has a Lima builder's plate; the real 1068 an Alco/Schenectady. Strangely, or maybe not so strangely, on pp. 72 - 73 of C&O Power by Staufer is a side view of the real C&O 1068.
- The MTH 1068 shows Walschaerts valve gear; the real one had Baker valve gear.
- the real 1068 had a booster and a modern Delta trailing truck; the model has an earlier type with no booster.
But, if you accept reasonable variations (and I'll bet that you do - as do I), the MTH USRA C&O Mike is a very presentable model.
(Far closer than the Southern items that present (yet again) the Southern #4501 excursion loco as a USRA Mike. 4501 is not a USRA loco.)
With road numbers in the 1060-1069 would these originally been Pere Marquette locomotives
It looks like I am going to be spending a bit of money!
