Ok....ever regret not acquiring a certain loco that crossed your path in the past? My hand is raised! I let this one go. Can't buy everything! Same collection that had the Icken E6s and Kluppenberg G5s and L1s, among numerous other models. This K4s was actually a **** good looking K4s. At the time I had it in my possession it was an outside 3 rail model. But it too, if I recall correctly, as this was about 10 years ago now, was easily converted to back to 2 rail by the removal of the 3rd rail pickup sliders and the desoldering of tiny metal shims that were soldered at the insulated tires and bronze drivers. These photos I included here are the only ones I had taken when in my hands so I can't investigate any other details other than what is seen here. So, any idea who made it? Most likely from a custom builder? Tender has wood floor, I think everything else was brass/bronze. It weighed a ton. My first thought was an Alexander K4s. This would have been a great candidate to restore with a nice paint job. Who else could be the builder. Any guess from what is seen? Not 17/64th scale.
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Kind looks a little Scale-craft-ish, I don't think it is. Maybe Alexander?
I vote Alexander, but extremely well built. Frame is two halves, soldered together in the center. Heavy = sand cast boiler. I have never seen the Alexander tender. We need Woody Mathews' opinion on this one - he owns an Alexander.
Hello all ...very nice K4 ....... it looks a rung or two above a Scalecraft ...see brass engine below ... perhaps Alexander (late) ...in the 37 catalog they mention cast frames ....I think that line is a part line not a solder /weld line ...Earlier period 1934 Alexander had the motor in the tender on the K4 ...
The black K 4 below.... has Alexander trucks on the tender marked AMRCO .... so this may be an earlier still Alexander ...or perhaps a Crovan .... ....Icken's tended to have a bit more robust brass built up frame and better drive ..
All the early masters went through growth and change ..... so unless marked it could be hard to pin down exact maker ..till more research is unearthed ....
No K4's were list in Scale Model Railways ..but they did do custom work ....the engine is lovely ... perhaps one day it can be identified .
Cheers Carey
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Although not previously mentioned, you might be able to rule out Max Gray. My basket case MG ( all I know for certain is it came in a MG box ) exhibited construction differences such as a one piece cast chassis. It has, or had, rudimentary details similar to some, yet differs from everything illustrated here. Most noticeable is that it represents a post-war K4s with the sheet metal pilot.
Bruce