Hi Group:
I’m looking for an HO brass O-5 tender. Any of PFM, NJCB, Oriental, Overland, Sunset, or Challenger would be OK. I’d prefer coal (for an O-5a), but would consider an oil tender, and turning the project into an O-5b. This is to go with
(apparently) a Toby O-5a that’s missing a tender. If you have one you’d be willing to sell, please respond off-group to:
eric.h.bott@outlook.com.
I admit to some confusion regarding the O-5a vs O-5b distinction. Steamlocomotive.com states that both the O-5a and O-5b classes were built by CB&Q using boilers from Baldwin, and that originally the major distinction was spoke vs Boxpox
drivers, but then goes on to state that the locos converted to oil firing were given the O-5b designation (which had been my belief until now.) Can anybody clarify this for me? Were
any of the various O-5 classes delivered without Boxpox drivers?
Did CB&Q apply a builder’s plate to locos they built in their own shops? Can anybody furnish a photo of such a plate? Are there records of which construction number went with which road number for the O-5a and O-5b locos?
I’m also curious about the original O-5 class built by Baldwin. Steamlocomotive.com claims that the first 6 were designed to burn lignite, and the last two (which I assume were 5606 and 5607) to burn bituminous. Apparently the ash pans
were built bigger for the lignite-burning locos, making the fitting of booster engines impossible, but I’m wondering if there were any other visual distinctions between the first six and the last two? Were boosters ever added to 5606 or 5607 (which apparently
was the objective of designing for bituminous and going with a smaller ash pan arrangement in them)?
Now I also admit to some confusion about the model, which I recently got in an estate auction. (Hey, tender or not, those mid-60’s Toby models are magnificent!) It came in a United green box, but it has an ATC box on the boiler. Brasstrains.com
shows O-5 models with the ATC box, but not O-5a models with them. Yet it also seems to indicate that all green-boxed models were O-5a’s. Can anybody clarify this point for me?
Since the Toby model includes both the extra headlamp/back-up lamp on the smokebox front, and a boiler-mounted ATC box, what class/lines/use/era would a loco this model represents have been appropriate to?
Well, this should be enough red meat for my first posting to the Group. I appreciate any/all answers [but prefer correct ones] that may be forthcoming!
Thank you!
Best,
-Eric
Sent from
Mail for Windows
