Re: [CBQ] R-4 & R-5 Prairies

["Mike Martin via groups.io" <atsf3460=aol.com@groups.io>]

As much as I would love to see a manufacturer do Burlington / Wabash 2-6-2s it would probably not be feasible as a viable money making project.  If North Bank Lines were to import them from Boo-Rim the cost would probably be somewhere around $2500-$3000 each and that may be low.  If Broadway Limited were somehow to contract to make them with their Chinese manufacture then yes the cost would be around $600 or so.  Whether or not such a project can make any money is another subject.

 

Somehow Broadway Limited has Chicago and Northwestern "Yellowbelly" small Pacific streamlined Pacifics announced.  I would have never have guessed that would be a project EVER considered for mass production.  So who knows... that's such an oddball locomotive to produce I can't help but think somebody wants to see that done.  Why would you make that instead of a streamlined C&NW Hudson?

 

Crazy things are being produced and Rapido is making General Electric U28CG diesel cowl passenger locomotives for the Santa Fe.  If I understand correctly the seed money to finance the production of these models is being financed by a modeler that wants to see them produced.  By doing that it gives Rapido a start at making money on the production run I guess.  And the modeler / banker gets his models and may or may not recoup his investment (said modeler banker / modeler is wealthy enough he probably won't miss his seed money!).  Following that example I suppose one could contact Boo-Rim in South Korea and try to commission a run of a few Burlington Route R4 and R5s.

 

Another option would be to find a custom builder that can build from scratch or convert an existing model over to a R4 or R5.  The only Burlington Route R4 or R5 I know of being converted was done using a Santa Fe #1800 class Prairie.  These models were imported by Custom Brass and also Balboa I believe.  A new tender would have to be made or possibly converted from an existing Great Norther roll top style tender.  New domes would have to be sourced or made and mounted to the top of the boiler.  There may be other existing brass Prairies that match closely in measurements with an R4 or R5 that could be used as a start.  From looking at photos it looks like the Prairie boilers are a simple cylinder with no angles and humps / slopes like an O1a 2-8-2.  The drivers are 69" tall... one might be able to simply mount a cylinder on an old MDC / Roundhouse 2-6-2 drive and start from there.  Don't forget that Michelangelo's statue of David started off as a huge chunk of marble and he simply started carving off everything that didn't look like David!

 

I honestly don't even know if a Burlington Route Hudson or Northern is a viable project for Broadway Limited let alone a 2-10-4 (and with the 2-10-4s you can also make B&LE and Missabe variations).  The last Burlington Route brass locomotive produced was done by Sunset over ten years or more now and I think it took forever for them to sell them (and they may still have a few available).  At one point they sold some on eBay for around $700 I believe.  

 

Anyway, just some thoughts.

 

Mike Martin

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