Reading 0-4-0 Camelback, Strassburg to Age-of-Steam, HO Mantua prototype?

[daveklepper]

See the News item on the Trains website and note the photograph.

Does any reader still have one of the Mantua HO models?

[gregc]

isn't the Mantua model not to scale?  don't they put the same body on their 0-6-0?

seems the Gem A-5 is more accurate

[BigDaddy]

Trains article

[daveklepper]

I don't  don't rememember any Mantua 0-6-0.  And Mantua said their models were scale.  My memory is they offered a Reading Atlantic and a Pacific, but no other power than than the 0-4-0 Camelback.  The Atlantic and Pacific were not camelbacks. of course.

Possibly they introduced an 0-6-0 after 1954?   But the boiler for the 0-4-0 was supposed to be scale for the 0-4-0.

 

[rrinker]

 It just sits really high to make enough room for the motor. They did make an 0-6-0 version for a while, but the 0-4-0 is not really oversize, just too tall. 

I hope at its new home it gets restored to operating, not just a cosmetic restoration.

                                         --Randy

[daveklepper]

A correction, in addition to the Reading Atlantic and Pacific, and the Reading Camelback 0-4-0, Mantua also made their "Bell of the Eighties" 4-4-0.  I think it and the  models of Jackson and Sharp Duckbill roof baggage, combine, and coach were the inspiration for the Jim Bean Wiskey ceramic trainset decanters.

[daveklepper]

From a display photo by Firelock on the Classic Trains Forum:

The Mantua models were supposed to be scale, but not these wiskey decanters.

And yes, I finally noticed the loco is a 2-4-2, not a 4-4-0!

[Overmod]

daveklepper

I don't  don't rememember any Mantua 0-6-0.

Here is the link to the data sheet for the 0-6-0 version of the "Reading Goat":

https://hoseeker.net/mantuainstructions/mantua060goatinstpg1.jpg

My memory is they offered a Reading Atlantic and a Pacific, but no other power than than the 0-4-0 Camelback.  The Atlantic and Pacific were not camelbacks. of course.

Ah, but there were two different kinds.  Apparently there was a LV Camelback 2-8-0, and the boiler casting was applied BOTH to a high-drivered Atlantic (which looked more than a little weird) AND to a Pacific chassis ... I am told, initially with the Boxpok drivers ... which was considerably more weird to those other than Golsdorf 2-6-4 aficionados.  See here for example (scroll down to appropriate section if necessary):

http://nebwrailroad.com/index.php/NEB%26W_Guide_to_Mantua_Steam_Locomotive_Models_with_Four-Wheel_Lead_Trucks

[daveklepper]

Wow!  Thanks!   Live and learn.  Maybe someone can post a suitably sized picture of the Mantua 0-4-0 and the prototype now at the Age of Steam, so we can compare them.

I never did own Mantua power.  After moving from a Flying Yankee O-gauge set to HO, power was the simplified American Flyer J1, soon converted with a Pittman permanent magnet to polarity reversal from sequence reversal, which involved a 16-year-old ride on the Liberty Bell interurban to their trackside factory, and when that motor burned out the replacement was a Penn-Line K4.

All my HO equipment was left at MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club when I entered the Army in 1954, and I have not (yet?) returned to Model Railroading.

But I did drool over Mantua models in stores, and did own an 1880 combine and coach, plus a refrgorator car.

Nobel Prizewinner MIT Prof Rainer Weiss often helped me in constructing my HO layout.

[Flintlock76]

daveklepper

All my HO equipment was left at MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club when I entered the Army in 1954, and I have not (yet?) returned to Model Railroading.

It's never too late David, trust me (and others) on that!

And here's the Strasburg's 0-4-0 Camelback.  Interesting history to it, it was the first steam locomotive purchased by the Strasburg, but unfortunately didn't have the "guts" to pull the excursion trains they needed it to, so it's sat idle for the past 40+ years.  

http://railpictures.net/photo/233300  

[gregc]

for those interested, prototype drawings: A5a and B8a

 

 

my goat (similar below) measures 3.1" long

 

[rrinker]

 Strasburg ran her for a number of years, but as they got more popular, they had to run longer trains and the little 0-4-0 just couldn't pull enough of them - there is a grade on the line. So across the street she went, to the RR Museum of PA. When she started to deteriorate, they moved her back to Strasburg wth the idea of doing at least a cosmetic restore, but other projects kept coming up and the poor little 0-4-0 just rusted and rotted away sitting outside. Strasburg shops do more than just fix up Strasburg's equipment, they do work for other railroads as well. And a paying job is going to jump in front of a non paying one every time.

                                            --Randy

[daveklepper]

Comparison:

Were there Reading 0-4-0s with slope-backed tenders?

[gregc]

plenty of others at North East Rails - Reading Steam

[daveklepper]

Did any Reading 0-4-0s get straight-back tenders while still working for the Reading?

Would Age of Steam do a service by changing the tender to a slope-back and relocating the headlight?

[dehusman]

Yes RDG switch engines got square tenders and 2-8-0's in yard service sometimes got large slop back tenders that were also used on 0-8-0's.

 

[daveklepper]

Replacing the earlier Jim Beam picture, with the caboose where it belongs:

Now I hope someone will post the Mantua Bell of the Eighties train

[daveklepper]

This is the best that I could do to date.  Hope someone does better: