Spectrun Dash 8-40CW

The Bachmann runs like a Bachmann. A little too noisy, a little too jerky for such an expensive machine. The body details are too "large" or "fat". Whatever Atlas is doing will be much better if it simply approximates the U boat lines.

Anyone

yes, Atlas is coming out with a Dash 8-40CW. They also just did a Dash

That's good news and bad news: now I'm obliged to buy a few :-)

Greg, I don't have a 2-6-6-2 but I have a Spectrum 2-8-0, 2-10-0, some

Thanks, I now have one on the way (a 2-6-6-2, that is). Now I just have to design and build a railroad for it to run on :-) It's interesting how some threads wind through one's life. On the scale of life's possibilities this one is on the trivial side, but it's been a positive one in most respects.

The USRA 2-6-6-2 caught my fancy a good 45 years ago. I'm not completely sure why, maybe because it was an articulated with mass but reasonably compact at the same time. But regardless, the only model that I knew of was an Akane and brass was just out of the question money-wise for a kid with a paper route paying about $5/wk, a father who thought most of it should go in the bank, and some competing interests....

Twenty years later, while living in another city and thinking of moving back home, a friend gave me a book about the Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh railroad, a line that ran through a lot of country in the western end of New York that I've been very attached to for much of my life. And lo and behold, I discovered that 2-6-6-2's were central to its opera- tions and these were not drastically different (to this amateur's eyes) from the USRAs. Then we moved back and over the years I ran across lots of signs of the old BR&P (later part of B&O later part of Chessie) as we fished, hiked, or just rode around. My kids grew up but I still continue to do the same things and watching for signs of the old road.

So for the past 25 years I've been procrastinating/thinking about building a very loose representation of the BR&P. And I've been telling myself that all I needed was a 2-6-6-2 release to get me going, at the same time deep down inside telling myself that it wasn't going to happen so it was a good, safe crutch of an excuse. Heheh, the excuse is gone. Gotta find another one fast !

Greg, You might just get some track laid. It seems that every time I get a new locomotive I envision it running through scenery hauling its train and get motivated to work on the layout for awhile. I model the Texas Midland - small steam about 1910 -1920 era. I've been goofing around building a caboose, a tank car, a turntable and a station structure and haven't bothered to work on the layout for months. Recently my wife came home from a rummage sale with a P2K Santa Fe yellow and blue warbonnet GP30 that she got for $5 thinking I might like it for some reason. I liked it so much I got another one with a different number and I'm going to get some appropriate rolling stock for them to haul. Like a shot in the arm I grabbed up some tools and went back to building the benchwork that's got to be done if I want to put down anymore track. After a while I'll drift back into my work shop and start working on models and let the layout sit for another long stretch. Bruce

And the nice thing is the Nickel Plate had some, as did it's later acquisition W&LE.

My little bro has a couple of small kids, he's a budding model railroader, brought home a Spectrum 2-8-0. Their steam seems to be a grade above their diesels. Nice running and pretty good looking. Not very prototypical pulling those bi-level Athearn commuter cars across the living room floor though. ;)

Greg

It's a fan trip :-)