Here are a few photos of the new streamlined steamer ..it was used on the Detroit Union club layout...17/64ths ..the cast boiler sits atop a SC Mountain chassis ..
I suspect it was made by Cheriez of Detroit ..he offered a cast streamlined boiler for a MiLoco K4 in 1937 ...so still digging for more info about it .
Patterned after the CE&I streamlined Pacific
Cheers Carey
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It is interesting history, and fun from that standpoint. However, to me personally, it is ugly streamlining.
There is a lot of ugly streamlining, but not all, and this is not the worst. Just my opinion. I am intrigued by this, the C&IM, and other prairie roads l visualize as picking up commuter passengers at a small station in cornfields, in the shadow of a grain elevator, to carry them north to the "big city". Is it not the C&IM that ordered one of the last "American" (4-4-0's), l'd presume for commuter service?
It appears to have no protototype - but follows the "upside down bathtub" styling.
Might be closer to the UP "Rexall" -easy to check, but too early to do that.
Personally, I don't care for that type of streamlining, but this model has angular lines, and does have a "charm" about it.
As a prototype, I would suggest the Grand Trunk Western's six streamlined 4-8-4s, class U-4-b. This model doesn't look exactly like those, either, but it would at least have the right number of wheels, then. It seems like Hudsons and Pacifics were much more common for streamlining than Northerns, so I would imagine that this model's wheel arrangement was chosen with a purpose. And a club based in Detroit would probably be more interested in a GTW locomotive than a C&EI one.
Photos of the real thing here: http://abpr2.railfan.net/SS/rr.cgi?f=GTW_U4b.html
@colorado hirailer posted:There is a lot of ugly streamlining, but not all, and this is not the worst. Just my opinion. I am intrigued by this, the C&IM, and other prairie roads l visualize as picking up commuter passengers at a small station in cornfields, in the shadow of a grain elevator, to carry them north to the "big city". Is it not the C&IM that ordered one of the last "American" (4-4-0's), l'd presume for commuter service?
If by "big city" you mean Springfield or Peoria, probably. C&IM never went to Chicago, which is about 160 miles away from Peoria.
Rusty
The design may not be my cup of tea either, but it’s an interesting piece of O gauge history, not to mention that the black and yellow paint scheme is more attractive than Jenk’s solid MoPac blue. 
BTW, the 1008 was rebuilt more or less into a bullet nose after a collision. Picture
Rusty
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