Steam not offered in 3 rail

As ever, this can turn into a list of "everything ever made". So, if I'm careful....

- NYC 0-8-8-0 hump switcher.

- True NYC 2-6-6-2 (it's been done in 2RO brass).

- Generic, scale/near-scale 0-6-6-0/2-6-6-2/2-6-6-0 - accurate enough for the hi-railer (project loco or not), small and "cheap" enough for the toy train buyer. Designed so that it could be presented as any of those 3 wheel arrangements, utilizing a more "modular" approach per details. A "hybrid" die-cast/plastic construction would be preferable.

- Small-ish, early "lanky" Pacifics (see the former excursion 4-6-2 S&A #750 as an example). These were everywhere, preceded the USRA designs, and lasted until the end of steam on some roads.

- True heavy USRA 4-6-2 and 4-8-2 - and the USRA 2-10-2.

- NYC K-3 Pacific, of which the NYC had scads.

- NYC H10 Mikado.

- Those big, thick WM 2-10-0's - I forget the class. I'm still surprised that Mr. Wolf, from Maryland, and who offered the big WM 2-8-0's, the WM Challenger, plus already had Premier 2-10-0 chassis machinery (PRR) to base it on, did not ever offer these.

- that's already twice as many as I meant to list.

Choosing one from each of the 2 railroads I'm aiming to model, I think it's a bit surprising there isn't a diecast model of the New York Central K5 and/or K6 pacifics. They're pretty good looking locomotives and are essentially the hudson's cousin/older brother.

On the Pennsy side of things, you'd really think someone would've made an N2 by now, or USRA santa fe types (both light and heavy) in general.

I would really like a Norfolk and Western Class M 4-8-0, either in N&W livery or Strasburg colors.

@Scott Jackson posted:

I would really like a Norfolk and Western Class M 4-8-0, either in N&W livery or Strasburg colors.

3rd Rail did the "Mollies" in 3-rail about 10 years back.   On very rare occasions they show up for resale.

To the OP, the list of steam not offered in O scale in general whether 3 or 2 rail is enormous.  Steam locomotives outside of a few notable examples were generally built in small quantities.  The prevailing wisdom of most railroads during the steam era was to assign classes of locomotives by district which led to lots of classes of locomotives. 

I have my list of top 10 I'd love to see that haven't been done in O scale in general, but we are likely past the era of newly tooled steam locomotives based on the market. 

I'll bite -- any steam the Virginian ran that's not a big articulated.  The monsters for which the road is well known have all been done well, and often many times, and that's great!  A few generic versions of the "super power" 2-8-4 Berkshire have been done, but they're mostly vanilla with a VGN logo slapped on the tender.

So bring on the VGN Class PAs and MBs!  Give me a small or medium-sized fully detailed, magnificent jewel to pull a string of GGD heavyweight VGN coaches.  Let me have a little steam switcher to shove a few box cars into line with all of that coal.

Jonathan's right, though -- barring some exceptional advances in DIY 3D printing, it'll never happen.

Seems to have been a dearth of late 19th century locomotives.  We go from Civil War/Transcontinental 4-4-0s to Atlantics and Pacifics.  NYC&HRR #999 seems to be the one example from this era.  I'm guessing the lack of age-appropriate cars until the 64' woodsides came along didn't help.

In regards to standard-gauge pre-1900 locomotives, I would point out that even freight locomotives were small compared to what came out later. That said, if someone wanted to take a risk, perhaps somebody’s 2-8-0?  And since a few of them lasted into the 1920’s, there could be a pre-1900 version with arc or kerosene headlights and wooden cabs and a post-World War One version with later-era headlights, steel cabs, and other features.

there are, or were, a few pre-1900 R-T-R  freight cars.  Aside from the stuff Lionel made for its General sets, MTH made boxcars. Lionel (Lionel Fundimensions) once offered a wooden caboose with truss rods inspired by a narrow-gauge Denver & Rio Grande prototype.  They can sometimes be found at train shows.

“Modern “. 4-4-0…..2-8-0  without Belpaire (Pennsy) firebox.  To add to Mr. Lee’s idea,  about  early and late versions, the manufacturers can make a universal metal boiler casting.  Plastic domes, cabs, lights, etc. can be made and added to represent various prototypes.  Variety high,  manufacturer costs lower. JohnA

To add to above,  the 4-4-0s and 2-8-0s would run on large and small curves. JohnA

Reading Railroad, Class N-1, 2-8-8-2 "Chesapeake" (with trailing wheels).....31 were built, later versions excluded trailing wheels being a 2-8-8-0.............

More on the pre-1900 idea: make the tenders interchangeable.  Full-sized railroads often changed tenders and tender types over the years, so a 4-6-0 or a 2-8-0 built in the 1880’s might not be using the same style of tender in the mid to late 1920’s.  If Lionel or whoever still has the dies for a similar-sized engine already on hand, that could reduce the expense of tooling even further.

This is a neat thread, I'll chime in!

Since I model Santa Fe my wants will be from the SF. I would like to see a coal and correct oil burning Madame Queen #5000, SF 3800 2-10-2 including 2-10-4 3829, and a 2-6-2 like SF 1010 and 1809 which is about 30 minutes away from me.

Look at the cost of currently released items created using existing tooling and $$$$ for any new tooling. 

It's also a question of model accuracy and who made what with what control and sound system. Some of us only do Lionel Legacy or MTH DCS (Premier). The Reading articulated N1; anything Lehigh Valley, notably the John Wilkes Black Diamond; and various Erie Power as shown in Stauffer's book of that name.

Most of the steam locomotives I want to see in 3ROS have been made already, albeit in varying degrees of quality, accuracy and production numbers.

I agree a USRA 2-10-2 would be cool to see, as well as more 19th Century period steam.

The 19th Century Rogers Ten-Wheeler (a.k.a. Sierra no. 3 in particular) I feel would be a good seller.

@Mikado 4501 posted:

The 19th Century Rogers Ten-Wheeler (a.k.a. Sierra no. 3 in particular) I feel would be a good seller.

This I would love to see! I think it would make for a great brass hybrid, lots of options for paint schemes and slight customization given the Sierra Railway history and the hollywood movie history.

Also a generic enough locomotive that it could be lettered for many different roads and would make for a nice turn of the century model which there aren’t many.

I love the big steam and have always wanted one. I'm a Milwaukee Road guy and have most of the steamers that have been offered to date, from whom ever made them, Lionel, Weaver (gosh I miss them), MTH and K-Kine (miss them too). Getting back on topic, I'd love to have a 2-6-6-2 MR Mallet. Only chance of that happening is if 3rd Rail makes one. Then again after noticing the price tag on the Allegheny they are currently offering it might be a bit out of the budget.

One that I would like would be the Union Railroad 0-10-2.  Only nine were ever built, and the URR later sold them to the DM&I, so there would only ever be 18 possible prototypical paint schemes -- 19 if you count the current combination URR/DM&I paint scheme of the sole survivor:

Andy

Since one of the railroads I model is the Western Maryland, I'd like to see a K2 Pacific.  Western Maryland's passenger department was a minuscule operation when compared to its' freight operation, however the WM owned a small fleet of K1 type Pacific's which were later replaced with the K2.  Both the K1 and the later K2s  were assigned to their passenger trains.  Their passenger locos were kept in pristine condition.  Four of the K2 Pacific were oil fired in compliance with a Baltimore City ordinance banning coal fired steam locomotives.  

I know it's a "pie in the sky"  wish however ...  I'd like to see a scale WM K2 with both coal and oil tenders options offered.   About a year ago I contacted Scott Mann about doing a run of WM K2s.   He thought it to be an interesting project BUT the cost of production would put a price tag of around $5,000, per locomotive ... a price he thought too high for the current market to bear ... and I must say I do agree.  

The USRA type 2-10-2 has been mentioned a couple of times.  There were two, a 'heavy' and a 'light'. I do not believe the heavy has been modeled and would be a good candidate for new tooling as five different railroads bought them: Bessemer & Lake Erie; Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; Erie; Colorado & Southern; and Pennsylvania railroads.  It is also similar to other road's 2-10-2 engines, so it could also sell with other road names on it.

The issue for me is the 130 PRR 2-10-2 (N2s) engines were soon Pennsified (N2sa) with the Belpaire firebox, PRR smokebox front, raised headlight, and bell moved farther back.  This is the version I will buy if offered.

Other than the 3rd Rail version there never has been a correctly made version of a Erie Berkshire.