When one hears the word Demonstrators for Railroads, Immediately one thinks of the colorful diesels. However, what about steamers? Granted they may or may not have been colorful but the Steam Loco Mfg's must have done some demonstrator models.
So far for O gauge there is less than a handful of models that have been produced:
K-line/ Lionel 2-8-4 Lima #1
Timken 4 aces ***[Due March 2015]
My question is are there other steam demonstrators THAT also made it as a railroad working class locomotive?
Replies sorted oldest to newest
How about that big 3-Cylinder steam locomotive inside the museum in Philadelphia. i.e. the Baldwin 60000?
That was the only other real steam locomotive "demonstrator" that I can recall.
Corrected to reflect the correct road number.
I still want to see a model of the never-produced B&O Besler steam locomotive.
How about that big 3-Cylinder steam locomotive inside the museum in Philadelphia. i.e. the Baldwin 90000?
That was the only other real steam locomotive "demonstrator" that I can recall.
That was the 60000, a three cylinder compound 4-10-2 with a watertube firebox.
Stuart
Rusty
Ironically, Timken 4-8-4 # 1111 (called "Four Aces") toured several US railroads.
This engine had some issues at the hands of the Northern Pacific, so the NP wound up buying it from Timken, and became NP 2626. She was going to be preserved but got cut up instead. More on that here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timken_1111
This engine had some issues at the hands of the Northern Pacific, so the NP wound up buying it from Timken, and became NP 2626.
That is an old wives tale. The original agreement between Timken and the suppliers who furnished materials and equipment for the construction of four aces stipulated that they would be paid after 100,000 miles of demonstration service. The Timken locomotive hit 100,000 miles on the NP, the 15th railroad it had worked on. The records of the sale agreement between the NP and Timken exist an make no mention of any damage or other "issues."
Lima A-1, the Timken locomotive and Baldwin 60000 are about it for steam demonstrators intended for class 1 railroads.
Logging locomotives are another story. Several were built and exhibited at a Pacific Logging Congress and then sold to logging companies. If anyone made a Pacific Coast Shay in O scale the 1927 demonstrator would be cool.
Hot digs! Another excuse to bore you with my model of the Baldwin 60000. Mine is Purple! And in 17/64. As soon as Photobucket coooerates . . .
The engine in at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia is in the demonstrator paint scheme EXCEPT it has been painted black. Originally and the only paint scheme it ever ran in was purple. The museum painted it black because that is the color steam engines are "supposed" to be.
Couldn't the J1a # 5200 Hudson that Alco built for NYC be considered a demonstrator? That wheel arrangement certainly didn't exist before then. And the NYC tested the heck out of it for many months to see just what it was capable of, not too unlike what the Lima A-1 and the Timken 1111 had done to them. Just a thought. Or is it a matter of who paid for a new locomotive to be built?
Tom
Couldn't the J1a # 5200 Hudson that Alco built for NYC be considered a demonstrator?
No, because Alco didn't build it for themselves to demonstrate on other railroads. The first Hudson type was pretty much a joint engineering effort between the NYC and Alco.
That wheel arrangement certainly didn't exist before then. And the NYC tested the heck out of it for many months to see just what it was capable of, not too unlike what the Lima A-1 and the Timken 1111 had done to them.
The difference being, both the Lima A-1 and the Timken 1111 traveled around and "demonstrated" their respective capabilities, on other railroads.
Just a thought. Or is it a matter of who paid for a new locomotive to be built?
Tom
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
