When I was about 10 nobody could have convinced me that, living in Scotland, anything other than a British locomotive was worth even a sideways glance. Then an aunt bought be a nicely illustrated book called Railways at the Zenith of Steam which was packed with illustrations of locomotives from around the world from 1920 onwards. Of course I was only looking at the British ones until I opened page and clapped my eyes on this
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnxrJNiESp0Kgds5ntY_zP4G-x9KIg?e=a1uSMs
I was hooked. It just had that combination of size and beauty.
Fast forward 45 years and whilst not even giving it a moments thought I noticed that Brasstrains dot com had marked this otherwise spot on Baldwin Challenger
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnxrJNiESp0KgdscdbtIwR438Pwccw?e=eg0jFc
by 20% because the paint on the pilot was cheesy shall we say
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnxrJNiESp0Kgdsfnx_5pMgkuNkTUw?e=HAlZUl
I was tempted but that paint looked like a nightmare, so I had a rummage on here about what the cause could be and was it likey to be ongoing. The only thing that looked like a fit seemed to be contamination from the foam during long term storage, which, if you were lucky would come off with hot soapy water and a toothbrush although it may have eaten the paint and then...... So could life be this easy? Well normally this hobby can be a labour of love to say the least but after about 5 beers there was no way around the itch. I pressed the button and bought it. It arrived 5 days later perfectly packed and looking A++ - except for the pilot. I thought just leave it. I couldn's so tonight I plunged in and to my astonishment the trick worked.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnxrJNiESp0KgdtzOgRZRWW_pch7vg?e=KKHEgs
That being said I'll probably get up tomorrow morning and it'll be bare brass
Of course like all hangovers the new locomotive one is the same. I swear this is the absolute last ever purchase!
Hey I know after my Precision Scale DM&IR M-4 which is supposed to be the last word that I had about 15 years ago I have said I'll never get another brass locomotive because it was a poor runner but this seems to be going delightfully.
But for now I'm just soaking up the view-
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AnxrJNiESp0KgdshmP7qLX0HXkAXkg?e=JleH1O
and hoping the paint stays on and that BLI dont announce one soon.
Fingers crossed.
Making your last picture visible:
There is a sticky thread about how to post pictures.
I enjoyed the story. That is a beautiful locomotive model.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I'd love to sign up to imagur but these days you need phone verification and my work contract specifically precudes this. Now I may take a chance here and there but not just for this type of thing but thanks for the upload.
SeeYou190..There is a sticky thread about how to post pictures.
Actually, all the pictures were viewable, but simply took a little time to appear.
Like most Challengers I've seen, that's a good-looking locomotive, and nicely proportioned, too. It's also nice to see that you were able to clear-up that acne on the front face of the old girl.
Wayne
I always get the idea that American and British engineering ideals were quite different in the steam era. Britain is a relatively small island compared to the US's size, so as such British trains tended to be small (the tight loading gauge on most of the network of course contributed to that) and needed to move short trains quickly. I don't know if it was due to the higher population density or a hold over from the ornate Victorian Era, but British trains also tended to have very pleasing lines and a fashion sense that would be almost alien to anywhere else in the world. Simply put, British engines from the A1 Peppercorn's down to a GWR Panier all have a sense of line work and style that feels aptly prim and proper (with perhaps the SR Q1 the only ugly duckling on the whole island). American trains in comparison had to be hard luggers, and nothing illustrates that better than many of the massive articulateds including the DRGW L-105. A "small" American engine such as a shortline 2-8-0 often had similar (if not more) tractive power than late BR steam such as the Evening Star. An L-105 could very well pull a British engine off its frame if given the opportunity. Beauty was not often at the forefront of American design, and as such appliances such as brake pumps, reversers, and valve gear were often mounted on the outside of the engine; easily accessible for quick repairs. Simply put, form ruled over function in the USA... and it shows with a strong almost brutalist style. I often like to joke about how its likely many American engines broke Mallard's speed record multiple times, but never recieved the same fame as the British speedster because railroads didn't want to publish their trackspeed violations, and too many of the American speed records are based on "dude, just trust me" type stories without any official record keeping of the events. However the fact Mallard even holds the record is telling of British railroad history, with Gresley and Stanier both in a "measuring contest" against one another; their public speed trials a great publicity tool for the highly competitive traffic services coming in and out London. American engines rarely had need to boast of their pressumed speed capabilities, since really their ability to haul tonnage was always the true selling point. Not to mention many of the advances made in Britain eventually found their way across to America, even once both countries had developed their own local engineering practices. Gresley's triple cylinder design made it to the US as the valve gear used by Union Pacific and Southern Pacific on their massive non-articulated workhorses such as the UP 4-12-2. Even earlier, much of the Rio Grande's own early narrow gauge network was inspired by a trip General Palmer made to Wales where he saw the Ffestiniog in action. The Rio Grande even briefly rostered a Vulcan built Double Fairlie named Mountaineer... which sadly didn't last long before scrapping but still marked an interesting moment where an American railroad wholesale adopted a British practive well after the initial British import locomotives such as John Bull had crossed the Atlantic (Mexico had some Double Fairlies too that were full standard gauge, but the Rio Grande one is the only US one I can think of on the top of my head). I guess what I am trying to say, I am glad you are a convert to the fandom of American locomotive design... and the feeling is somewhat mutual... If I ever make it to Britain I am going to a hobby store to buy a few OO scale sets to stuff into my luggage on my way home. Of course my own country's pride is going to show through in a lot of discourse, and I feel like you'd feel the same for your own nation... but there is an amazing amount of information to learn mutually by comparing the two engineering mentalities of the countries against each other.
Thanks for that relpy Travis. Verywell thought out. I'm the OP but for some reason can't log in on to the forum with my normal profile - maybe I'm barred :D
I think what drew me to the illustration of the L-105 was it's lack of busyness. Generally I'm not a huge fan of too much external piping on the earlier US locomotives but this seems much neater on the later units. I am a sucker for the flying air pumps on the smoke box though.
As far as the speed records go its an interesting topic because both the LMS and LNER were on slightly falling gradients with 80 and 81 inch drivers respectively so would as an example a UP 800 on a similarily falling grade but one not 5 miles long but dead straight and 50 miles long with a bored crew and time to make up not have done it? Perhaps. We'll just never know. If I had to pick something likely I would go for a Milwaukee Atlantic.
If you are interested you should look at the railway races in the late 19th century when the rival companies left London for Aberdeen at the same time and literally raced one another for the 520miles. They even built a couple of special engines specifically for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_North
TheFlyingScotsmanI'm the OP but for some reason can't log in on to the forum with my normal profile - maybe I'm barred :D
Do as Steve Otte recommended: go into your browser's settings and edit cookies to remove all the Kalmbach-related cookies (e.g. trn.trains.com and cs.trains.com). Of course while you are in there you can remove a large number of junk cookies, including no few set by Kalmbach 'advertisers' who perhaps thought signing in to a forum was implicit permission to set content locally.
You should not have to reset the browser (often control-F5) or restart the computer after deleting these cookies: logging in 'normally' will rebuild them correctly and you should have no further trouble... 'til the next time.