In the August/September 2014 issue of OGR on the bottom of page 50 an engine is identified as a Lionel C&O Berkshire 2-8-4. The road number is 2761 and the headlight is mounted low on the front. I've dug around the internet trying to find an example of this good looking engine without success. I even looked at other manufacturers but again no results. There are Berkshire 2-8-4's available but not with this number nor headlight arrangement.
Any suggestions to help me locate one of these engines?
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The engine I'm referring to is sitting next to a 2-6-6-6 in a scene from a layout owned by Joseph Cassiday Jr. I'd very much like to find a source for the engine and hopefully be able to purchase one. Although there are several Berkshires offered by different companies so far I can't find the identical unit, either they don't have the low mounted headlight, have a different road number, or are not as detailed in their appearance. Since it is referred to as being a Lionel engine I expected to find it mentioned in some Lionel catalog but no luck so far.
Well, it surely does look like the casting and all from the scale Lionel Berkshire as used in the Legacy and past TMCC versions. But I can't find it in catalogs, etc. I also note it seems to have some sort of detail -tabs of small wings of something, added alon gside the boiler front that I do not see in the catalog offerings or in pictures I can fi nd of the catalogs (and for that matter, neither are those things, whatever they are, on my Legacy version).
I'd guess someone did some customization . . .
You might try contacting the author and asking.
Thanks Lee, not being able to find it I thought that it might have some custom touches. I'll try to contact the author and see if he can shed some light on the subject. I think it's a great looking engine.
It appears to be a redetailed Lionel Berkshire. Lowering the headlight, adding a number plate to the smokebox, and changing the number makes it appear more like a C&O Kanawha. However, the sand dome should be further forward in front of the steam dome, there needs to be a shield the full width of the pilot deck in front of the air compressors, and the pilot is wrong. I'm not trying to criticize as conversions usually mean making accuracy compromises, but the MTH Kanawha is pretty much dead on accurate and is a better choice if you're looking for one of these.
Ken
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