challenger3980 Hi Daniel, The Life-Like Heritage series Steam(Now owned by Walthers) built some USRA 2-8-8-2's which were nearly identical to the Norfolk & Western Y-3 class. During World War 2, the N&W was one of the few RR's that had surplus locomotives, and the Union Pacific bought 5, the Santa Fe bought 8 and the Pennsy got 6 of the Beasts. LL, did them in all three of these road names, I have 2 of them, and along with my Lionel Challengers and Trix (by Marklin) Big Boys(2 of those also) they are the smoothest running locomotives that I have ever run, silky smooth. They are supposed to handle 18" curves and #4 turnouts. The Bachmann Spectrum 2-6-6-2 should also fit your needs, but you would need to apply a bit of "Modeler's License" to these, as I don't beleive that any of your chosen prototypes ever had these, but in the WWII era, Locomotives ended up in all kinds of strange places, far from Home, like the N&W Y-3's on the UP and Santa Fe. Some Duluth, Misabee & Iron Range 2-8-8-4's would also migrate to the Denver & Rio Grande Western during the winter months, when the Great Lakes were frozen over(the DM&IR hauled Iron ore to the ore docks on the lakes). I was tempted by the Bachmann 2-6-6-2 myself, I model the UP, which as far as I can tell, never had any 2-6-6-2's, but I was tempted to letter one for the UP any way, strange things did happen in that era, and most people, other than a serious UP Fan, likely wouldn't know that they never had those any way. The Spectrum is a Good looking, and from what I hear, a Good running model. Then I got bit by the sound virus, and there were enough other options, that I never did buy a Spectrum 2-6-6-2. Doug
Hi Daniel,
The Life-Like Heritage series Steam(Now owned by Walthers) built some USRA 2-8-8-2's which were nearly identical to the Norfolk & Western Y-3 class. During World War 2, the N&W was one of the few RR's that had surplus locomotives, and the Union Pacific bought 5, the Santa Fe bought 8 and the Pennsy got 6 of the Beasts. LL, did them in all three of these road names, I have 2 of them, and along with my Lionel Challengers and Trix (by Marklin) Big Boys(2 of those also) they are the smoothest running locomotives that I have ever run, silky smooth. They are supposed to handle 18" curves and #4 turnouts.
The Bachmann Spectrum 2-6-6-2 should also fit your needs, but you would need to apply a bit of "Modeler's License" to these, as I don't beleive that any of your chosen prototypes ever had these, but in the WWII era, Locomotives ended up in all kinds of strange places, far from Home, like the N&W Y-3's on the UP and Santa Fe. Some Duluth, Misabee & Iron Range 2-8-8-4's would also migrate to the Denver & Rio Grande Western during the winter months, when the Great Lakes were frozen over(the DM&IR hauled Iron ore to the ore docks on the lakes).
I was tempted by the Bachmann 2-6-6-2 myself, I model the UP, which as far as I can tell, never had any 2-6-6-2's, but I was tempted to letter one for the UP any way, strange things did happen in that era, and most people, other than a serious UP Fan, likely wouldn't know that they never had those any way. The Spectrum is a Good looking, and from what I hear, a Good running model. Then I got bit by the sound virus, and there were enough other options, that I never did buy a Spectrum 2-6-6-2.
Doug
by chance, there is a review on the Model Railroader site of the Bachmann 2-6-6-2 locomotive.
A portion of that review
This chunky USRA 2-6-6-2 is a powerful model that's capable of operating on 18"-radius curves. It's the first HO articulated locomotive in the Bachmann Spectrum line. The model represents a prototype locomotive developed by the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) during the First World War. The USRA was a governmental body which controlled American railroads and created a series of standardized steam locomotives. This 2-6-6-2 was the USRA's light Mallet articulated design.Only 30 were built (in 1919): 20 were assigned to the Chesapeake & Ohio and 10 went to the Wheeling & Lake Erie. The USRA's allocation of the 2-6-6-2 light articulateds wasn't popular. The C&O already owned 200 2-6-6-2s of its own designs, so what it really wanted was heavier mainline locomotives.A similar situation existed on the W&LE where its much smaller fleet of 2-6-6-2s also hauled coal. In the end, both railroads accepted what they could get. Some of these USRA locomotives wound up operating into the 1950s. "
I also have a couple of these engines and can find no fault with them. Detail is good and they pull well.
I was also lucky enough to have obtained them when they had been discounted to clear. Would buy more if I came across them at a reasonable price, am not interested in the sound versions that are currently available..
challenger3980 The Bachmann Spectrum 2-6-6-2 should also fit your needs, but you would need to apply a bit of "Modeler's License" to these, as I don't beleive that any of your chosen prototypes ever had these, but in the WWII era, Locomotives ended up in all kinds of strange places, far from Home, like the N&W Y-3's on the UP and Santa Fe. Some Duluth, Misabee & Iron Range 2-8-8-4's would also migrate to the Denver & Rio Grande Western during the winter months, when the Great Lakes were frozen over(the DM&IR hauled Iron ore to the ore docks on the lakes). I was tempted by the Bachmann 2-6-6-2 myself, I model the UP, which as far as I can tell, never had any 2-6-6-2's, but I was tempted to letter one for the UP any way, strange things did happen in that era, and most people, other than a serious UP Fan, likely wouldn't know that they never had those any way. The Spectrum is a Good looking, and from what I hear, a Good running model. Then I got bit by the sound virus, and there were enough other options, that I never did buy a Spectrum 2-6-6-2. Doug
I got one of the Spectrum 2-6-6-2, it's a very nice engine. Micro mark had them on sale way back and it was dirt cheap fro such a nice engine. I can totally recomend it.
Magnus
I just bought a BLI class J 4-8-4, it handles 18 curves fine, but it looks a little awkward, no real problems though.
Other than that, I am not sure. I know the 2-10-4's barely run on 22, but that might just be due to bad track work on my part.
May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails
Athearn also makes a 4-6-6-4 Challenger that will do 18" curves. They have other new releases that will probably do them also - but will also probably look as silly as my Challenger!!
Hello everybody,
I´m a lover of big american steam locomotives, but I´m from Germany, and there we don´t have those large curves like in the USA. I mean we have them, but the majority of people in Germany use curves that are below 22 inch, mostly 18 inch and all the way down to 14 inch. As you might know Germany´s #1 manufacturer Märklin and many others produce steam locomotives that all can handle even the 14 inch curves. Ok, european engines are smaller than american one´s, but for example Märklin managed to produce a Big Boy which handles 14 inch curves like a 0-4-0. Absolutley no problem for the giant. It´s sad for me to see that most big american non articulated steam locos (I´m talking about 4-8-2, 2-10-2, 2-10-4, 4-8-4 and 4-10-2 types) are produced only for the minimum radius of 22 inch. On my layout I entirely have "only" 18 inch, so I cannot buy them although I like them so much. The problem is that I don´t have the space and simply don´t want to change my curves into 22 inch, just because of 2 or 3 american steam locos (I have other european engines too). I´m a very big fan of SP, T&P and UP steam, but I simply cannot find any (non-brass of course) big steam loco that can handle 18 inch curves. My favorite engine is the SP GS-4 in black, and I simply had to purchase one. I wrote to MTH asking them if the engine would be able to handle 18 inch curves, and they said yes, it would. And it really does! BUT: the GS-4 can goes through a 18 inch curve ONLY at low speeds and ONLY without a train in tow. Now I understand why MTH said that the recommended minimum radius is 22 inch. The absolute minimum for the GS-4 is 18 inch, but it´s not recommended because the GS-4 only handles it at low speeds and no train in tow. I´m so disappointed now because of the fact that I cannot run the engine properly and have to sell it. So I´m looking for another big SP steam loco to purchase, but all I see at the moment is the Athearn MT-4, that also is not able to handle any curves that are tighter than 22 inch. It´s so silly to me that I cannot run the engines that I like, just because of some 4 inches that are soo much in this case.
Can anyone of you tell me if there is any big SP (T&P, UP) steam available on the market that is able to go through 18 inch curves?
Or is there maybe a chance to do some modification to the MTH GS-4 so that it can handle 18 inch also at high speeds and with a train?
Regards
Daniel
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