Is there are has there ever been a SP Sunbeam Pacific 4-6-2 Streamlined loco offered in O?
If not what is the closest to it?
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Not a correct "scale" version in 3-Rail. Even when Sunset/3rd Rail offered the various versions of the SP "P" class pacifies, they did NOT offer the Sunbeam version.
There is a fine sepia drawing of that locomotive on the label of Night Train Express wine from Modesto, CA.
Originally Posted by Hot Water:
Not a correct "scale" version in 3-Rail. Even when Sunset/3rd Rail offered the various versions of the SP "P" class pacifies, they did NOT offer the Sunbeam version.
Thus no streamlining then?
I may end up faking it at some point with a GS2 or GS6 then. There are a few points on my railroad I would like to stick with a Texas theme and this is one.
I have one question? Readingfan, how do you know about night train? That stuffs not good for you. Don
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Squirrel!!!
You crack me up scale rail
I have one question. Readingfan, how do you know about night train? That stuff's not good for you.
I was shopping in a liquor store for wine for a party. I glanced at some bottles and that label jumped out at me. I bought 2 or 3 bottles just so I could keep one around. That label is a FINE rendition! My railfan buddies were amazed when they saw it. No one wound up like the squirrel in your photo, fortunately.
Many years ago Lionel did make the Atlantic in daylight colors from the Sacramento Daylight train. It was a pretty obscure operation, I was surprised they picked that train to model.
Lionel produced the Daylight Atlantic in 2001. In my opinion, the major drawbacks are the one cuff per wheel revolution and the stepped tender. However, I like the sound and how well the Atlantic runs.
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If all you need are Daylight colors, any of the above will do, as well as the Daylight- painted N&W J. The closest, of course, would be the 3rd Rail Pacific, since at least it has the same wheel arrangement, and an identical tender.
The Sunbeam was unique, with its conical nose and huge Boxpok drivers. It had a distinctive boiler taper, having been converted from the P-6. I am sure this was the next candidate for Weaver, right after they finished with those Eastern streamlined atrocities, but something happened to either their market or their builder, and the production of streamlined steam models stopped.
Can't say I dig the Atlantic, even in daylight colors. That model above is beautiful J Daddy! Would love that. The J is an interesting prospect though, will have to mull it over.
Originally Posted by J Daddy:
Is it me, or does the front of that model look quite a bit different than the front on real Sunbeam?
"Is it me, or does the front of that model look quite a bit different than the front on real Sunbeam?"
The HO brass model is close but off....
So obviously I don't meet YOUR definition of a model railroader, oh well.
I have no interest in modifying a loco to that extent and it doesn't really concern me enough to care. It would be nice to have, but I would rather spend my time focused elsewhere. So in short, it's not going to happen by my hands.
I will probably just end up faking it with a GS2, wheel arrangement be ****ed. 99.9% of the people who will see my layout, not too mention my kids, won't know the difference anyway. Having the sunbeam designation on the GS2 will suit me just fine. Of course a J class painted with daylight colors and designated sunbeam would work for me too. I have no desire to be that legalistic on mine and I will smile every time I run it having something unique to me.
If I was so inclined to push for as accurate and scale as possible, I would be back in HO. I personally love running bigger engines on 3 rail, something tying back to my childhood and the first Model RR I ever saw being a neighbors lionel.
I do appreciate all the positive/informative feedback.
Originally Posted by D500:
First of all, the Lionel SP Atlantic above does not have a "stepped tender"; it has a
Vanderbilt (type/design) tender, and so did the real SP Atlantic that this portrays.
But no mention was made of the big flaw that below the waist (running board), Lionel
simply used a Pennsylvania E-6 Atlantic, and stuck an SP lid on it. A mutant.
The Espee No. 3000 tender used a flat side for the oil bunker--it wasn't stepped like the Lionel model.
Again, if all you want is a matching locomotive, any Daylight painted locomotive will do. But since the actual Sunbeam was built from a Harriman Heavy Pacific, converting a USRA Light will result in a less accurate model than would the 3rd Rail P-8.
Disregard the tender, since I have not yet built the proper UP coal tender for this one. But this is the Heavy Harriman. Look at those giant drivers - how many Pacifics had 79" drivers?
Originally Posted by TexasSP:
......I will probably just end up faking it with a GS2, wheel arrangement be ****ed. 99.9% of the people who will see my layout, not too mention my kids, won't know the difference anyway. Having the sunbeam designation on the GS2 will suit me just fine.
Living now in Dallas, I was fascinated when I first discovered the existence of the Sunbeam running between Dallas and Houston in the early 50s. It was nice to know that Texas had a Daylight, at least of some kind. I too use the GS2 as a "close enough" representation of the Sunbeam, when I feel like it, and it's easy to tell guests that a similar engine, with that same paint scheme, used to travel out of Dallas.
In fact, at Union Station in downtown Dallas, there are individual color ceramic placards on display along the tracks with the logos of various famous trains that ran in and out of Dallas over the years. One of them has the Daylight Sunbeam logo.
Plummer, Roger S.. ["Sunbeam" departing from Houston], Photograph, August 9, 1953
