Happy New Year Switcher Fans.
I’m pleased to have the privilege of posting this first Switcher Saturday of 2024 and hope that we will continue to enjoy and share in this popular thread on the OGR Forum every week. SWSAT is a discussion about switcher locomotives. In the beginning, the only switchers were small “tea kettle” steam engines – 0-4-0s and 0-6-0s. On Switcher Saturdays, we certainly have plenty of those. However, as time went by, larger and more powerful switcher locomotives – steam, diesel and electric – could be found shunting cars around railroad yards and also out on main lines, branch lines and sidings. So, we’re interested in seeing your model switchers of all ages, sizes and types – tinplate, diecast and brass – toy trains and scale models, in gauges from Z to O and up to G – and also the real thing in 1:1 scale.
Please remember that by posting on the Forum you are consenting to observe the OGR Terms of Service. Post photographs that you have taken. If you post a photo taken by someone else, you must give it proper attribution and you must have the owner’s written permission to post his or her work on the Forum, so as not to violate their Copyright. Failure to follow the rules could result in legal action, financial penalties, and loss of Forum membership.
And now, to the first switcher of 2024.
New York Central System 0-6-0 #231 is an MTH Premier model (20-3281-1) delivered in December 2007 with 3-volt PS2 at MSRP $599.95. The MTH model is built to the 0-6-0 steam switcher design developed by the United States Railroad Administration during World War 1. It is highly detailed, including the deck plate between the engine and tender, and a wireless drawbar. It runs very smoothly, was made in Korea, and is listed for O-31 curves. I run mine conventionally with a BCR2.
I think that Lionel’s recently released Legacy version of the USRA 0-6-0 uses the MTH tooling.
The tender is marked for CR&IRR (Chicago River and Indiana Railroad), a New York Central subsidiary. #231 was one of 14 locomotives in NYC’s B-62 class (road numbers 221 to 234) which probably were the only USRA 0-6-0 switchers on the New York Central System. The NYC acquired most of its 0-6-0 switchers by 1913 – years before the USRA 0-6-0 was designed. It began to purchase 0-8-0 switchers in 1916, and the USRA 0-8-0 design became the NYC’s standard heavy switcher (U-3 class) by 1918.
The USRA 0-6-0 engine weight was 165,000 pounds and the tender weight was 144,000 pounds. It operated at a boiler pressure of 190 pounds-per-square-inch on 51-inch driving wheels with a tractive effort of 39,100 pounds.
I took the photos and videos of #231 on my 10’-by-5’ layout (Atlas O-54 curves) with caboose #1179 of NYC subsidiary Boston & Albany at the tail end.
MELGAR
