and he notes - Technically Bill, there was only one railroad in the U. S. between 1917 and 1920 and under USRA control the Administration ordered 1930 steam locomotives and 100,000 freight cars. A distribution chart for the locos can be found at:
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/misc/usra.shtml The largest class was the light Mikado with 635. There were 233 heavy Mikes too. Both used the same mechanism with the heavy Mikado being fitted with a larger boiler. Oddly enough, a lot of PRR's L1 design was carried over into the USRA version except for the Belpaire Firebox. This may have been due in part to both Baldwin and ALCO having these locomotives under construction at the time of the take over and the Adminstration used their engineers to design the USRA versions. Lionel notwithstanding, this would be my choice. Both light and heavy Mikes used the same running gear so the expense would be in the boiler. The cab's the same as is most of the appliances. With a small amount of additional tooling, a Pennsy boiler could be made to fit. AM's Souther RR Pacific is already a USRA type so a new mech and it could pass for a light Mike - don't even need a new tender. The Pennsy did receive 38 light Mikados but 33 of them were reassigned to various roads shortly after delivery. The biggest group going to the PRR was the 130 heavy 2-10-2s. (125 direct and 5 transferred in later). Again the USRA design was essentially an N1 without the Belpaire firebox and all were rebuilt in the 20s to N2 types. A photo of one can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PRR_N2sa.jpg The next largest class built was the 0-6-0 with 255 built (PRR got 30). Interesting that these locos (B28s class) were never rebuilt. A photo of one taken in 1940 appears here: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/prr8166a.jpg So a radial boilered 0-6-0 would be at home on the PRR! While fewer than 2,000 USRA locomotives were built, the designs were used as late as WWII. As an example B&M P-4 4-6-2s (like the one preserved at Steamtown) were essentially USRA Light Pacifics with modern appliances. Their 0-8-0's were also USRA copes. And many roads did the same (N&W was one). It's conceivable that had the War (To End All Wars) lingered, the Nation's Railroads would have become much more homogenized with a Pacific on the Pacific looking like a Pacific on the Atlantic - (and conversely, an Atlantic would look the same on the Pacific!) - a sort of a pre Amtrak or Conrailization (to coin a term) of what we knew as Class 1 railroads. It was an interesting era and except for a very short (for our part) War it might have happened. Needless to say, the diesel would have made an earlier appearance and most of the steam I remember would have already been turned into toasters and flat irons... Raleigh in Maine where we expect sn-o-ow! See my videos at http://www.emporiumpictures.com/ email me for new releases: Emporium Pictures <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> At 10:03 PM 10/21/2006, Bill Lane wrote: >Hi All, > >I ask that you name ONE railroad that had 425 of ANY USRA light, medium, >heavy, bantam, or feather weight anything! Better yet, add up 3 >railroads and you still could not get 425 of any single USRA class >locomotive. The Mighty PRR had 425 of the best Pacific built. > >BTW, with the exception of the number of wheels and track gauge, the >American Models alleged K4 and the K4 that I would want in plastic part >company very quickly. > >Thank You, >Bill Lane >Modeling the Mighty Pennsy in S Scale in 1957 >See my finished models at: ><http://www.lanestrains.com>http://www.lanestrains.com > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
