N scale MP 4-4-0 details?

[pcarrell]

Does anyone know anything for sure about these things? I have heard so many coflicting details that my head is swimming. Does it have all wheel pickup? What era is it? I heard something about it's having replacable details, any light to be shed on this? Speaking of light, is it ever going to see the light of day? [8D]

[egmurphy]

I'll tell you what I've heard. You can find a lot of detail, including pix of the pre-production models, on the Atlas N scale forum if you search on "MP 4-4-0". They were taken at some hobby show either late last fall or early this year. The models looked good.

Does it have all wheel pickup? - No. No traction tires either.

What era is it? - Appears to be about 1915-1925 (+/-). Definitely post 1900.

I heard something about it's having replacable details, any light to be shed on this? - They are making it with road specific details, including two versions of cabs, headlights, cylinders, and a couple of other things which escape my memory. If you buy a road specific engine you get it assembled with the correct details for that road. If you buy the undec version, you supposedly get both sets of details. I also believe that they will charge more for the undec (unconfirmed) to cover the cost of the extra parts.

Speaking of light, is it ever going to see the light of day? - Reported on another forum was that they were to have been shipped Saturday the 2nd from Korea. Supposedly they shipped a selection of samples 2 weeks ago and MP reviewed and approved them, and gave the go ahead for shipment. Rumor, but from a fairly reliable poster.


btw, the MP 2-6-0's, which are the same boiler and topworks but with the 2-6-0 mechanism, are supposed to be 2 months later in shipment, or mid-August.

Okay, all hearsay but that's what I'm led to believe. Look for the pics on the Atlas forum.

Regards

Ed

[pcarrell]

I went to Atlas and I searched on "MP 4-4-0" and I didn't come up with any pics. Oh well.

I suppose I should have posted this in the general forum now that I think about it.

[egmurphy]

Okay, so it was under "Model Power 4-4-0" and not "MP 4-4-0". You've got to be willing to work a little bit with the searches. Using "Model Power 4-4-0", and searching the Atlas N scale forum, will produce 3 pages of posts mentioning this model. The ones that came out when the model was introduced, and therefore the ones with the most info, are the ones near the bottom on page 3.

Here's a quote from the flyer that MP handed out at that show: Model Power displayed their new 4-4-0 American and 2-6-0 Mogul coming out next year, with interchangeable boilers and cabs to be used for the variations and phases that were produced. Their flyers states: "Metal Boiler, Metal Chassis, Golden White LED , State of the art 5-pole Mashima Motor (12 Volts, 19,000 rpm) Flywheel Drive, DCC compatible, Front/Rear Knuckle coupler compatible. Special features include: Separately applied handrails and other metal parts, two different headlight positions (Top/Center) Two different prototypical pilots (Foot Board/ Boiler Tube) Two Different Valve and Cylinder types (Square/Slanted Circular) two different cab window styles (rectangular/arched) two different tender truck styles (Andrews/Arch Bar) Undecorated offered with all components

Here are a couple of links to threads. Unfortunately only one still has a photo. Looks like a couple of people purged their photo hosting websites after several months because some of the photo links no longer work.

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10208
http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9376
http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9388


Regards

Ed

[pcarrell]

Thanks Ed,

The photo is good for reference. I did do the search on "MP 4-4-0", "Model Power 4-4-0" and even "4-4-0" and I only got 4 or 5 hits, and no photos. You are aperently more computer savy then I am.

Thanks again for the link.

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: You are aperently more computer savy then I am.

I doubt it, luckier maybe.

Anyway, I looked a little further and found these two shots which are from a better angle. One of the 4-4-0 and one of the 2-6-0. You can see that they used the same boiler for both, just like MDC did with their 2-6-0 and 2-8-0. Remember you can click on the photos to see them in a larger format.







Regards

Ed

[pcarrell]

See, I told you that you were more savy!

Do you know if thats a working coupler on the front?