Just wondering

[John]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PENNSYLVANIA-RR-MINITRIX-K-4-PACIFIC-5-BACHMANN-PLUS-PASSENGER-CARS-/120814020079?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item1c2113a5ef#ht_500wt_1203

Looks like you can buy one and some cars for $100.

would this run good if it got the Victor treatment?

[victor miranda]

any loco will be improved with the "Victor Treatment"(tm)!

Hi John,
Max can offer the same improvements, I am sure.
There are a few things about which you may want to be aware.
Most k-4 on e-bay go for about 50+....  this has been a slowly rising trend.
a few years ago 40 was about right.
that particular example looks like it has all its parts
(pilot,headlamp,bell, the markerlamps on the tender)

The cost of improvements go up with the level of improvement.
The first and best is it set b-mann allwheel pick-up tender trucks under it
and hardwire them to the motor.
after that... the improvements cost more and while adding to 'improved'
the results are less clear cut.
oh... replacing the motor should be considered a repair.

victor




 

[victor miranda]

ho yall,

If this post pisses off everyone it will be about where I want it.
and just cause I don't use your name does not mean I didn't mean you.

Some poor arguments are being used in this thread and a lot of closed minds
are spouting lame drivel.

Anyone with a good clear crystal ball will be making lots of money off the n-scalers.
Anyone with any real marketing data will be guarding it VERY closely.
So lets stop fighting over proof of how many SPFs and steam engine nuts there are.
there ain't no such thing.

N-scale is not as big as HO and for many years we had an acceptable K4.
If any one wants to claim that the reason no one makes n-scale PRR
is because there is no demand, they are forgetting how long that loco has been available.

if anyone wants to claim that; If there was any demand for PRR steam, it would be made...
They are being self delusional, if nothing else.  This thread by itself shows some demand.
Again, for years, the reason a new K4 was not made is because the Minitrix loco covered that need.

For a few more years the PRR K4 will not be made. 
Too bad really, because that loco would give us a clear sense of how many
steam nuts there are.... and that will include SPFs.
However is you want to know how many SPFs there are in n-scale,
you should consider that they will buy three h class engines apiece...

victor

[MichaelWinicki]

I keep going back to the release of the FVM Hiawatha.  I think because that product was released, a PRR themed steamer could be released and the manufacturer probably wouldn't get killed financially.  Someone's probably not, or did not, purchase more than one Hiawatha.

But put out a PRR-based steamer and you're looking at a much greater chance of folks who do buy, purchasing multiple units of a specific wheel arrangement.

[wcfn100]

Some poor arguments are being used in this thread and a lot of closed minds
are spouting lame drivel.

I agree.

Jason

[SkipGear]

I keep going back to the release of the FVM Hiawatha.  I think because that product was released, a PRR themed steamer could be released and the manufacturer probably wouldn't get killed financially.  Someone's probably not, or did not, purchase more than one Hiawatha.

But put out a PRR-based steamer and you're looking at a much greater chance of folks who do buy, purchasing multiple units of a specific wheel arrangement.

I bought a Hiawatha, not becuase I am a Milwaukee fan, but because it was a steam powered passenger train that was appealing. Nothing more, nothing less. If somebody produced a steam powered PRR passenger train, I would buy that also. I know many others that feel the same way. The only passenger sets I have bought have come with steam power on the head end besides the Cal Zephyr and I still don't know what possesed me to get that one. I thought of buying the Broadway and putting a K4 in front of it until I learned that that would not have happened so I held off. As far as buying other PRR steam, it really depends on what it would be. There hasn't been much I have passed on in the steam market but I have found uses for the mechanisms to make what I want. Very few of the loco's I buy keep their original livery. PRR loco's are hard to disguise as another. The H class is one that I could use and I would buy. Other than that, who knows.

[Dave V]

Just an aside...  I'm not sayin' it didn't happen, but by 1948, which is when the Kato version of the Broadway Limited was delivered to Pennsy property, most of the K4s had been bumped from first class trains.  T1s were still running and one could be found at the head of the Kato Broadway.  They were bumped by diesels pretty quickly so that by the 50s there were no steam locos involved with the Broadway beyond possible snapping over the hill.

However, if you wanted an iconic, really neat-looking Pennsy steam engine that lots of people would buy just for looks and the "cool factor" and would be good for the 1948 Broadway, the T1 4-4-4-4 would be it.

C'mon...  This thing is cooler than a GG1.

[delamaize]

Just an aside...  I'm not sayin' it didn't happen, but by 1948, which is when the Kato version of the Broadway Limited was delivered to Pennsy property, most of the K4s had been bumped from first class trains.  T1s were still running and one could be found at the head of the Kato Broadway.  They were bumped by diesels pretty quickly so that by the 50s there were no steam locos involved with the Broadway beyond possible snapping over the hill.

However, if you wanted an iconic, really neat-looking Pennsy steam engine that lots of people would buy just for looks and the "cool factor" and would be good for the 1948 Broadway, the T1 4-4-4-4 would be it.

C'mon...  This thing is cooler than a GG1.

If Kato did a T-1 to pull the Broadway Limited, their wouldn't be any arguement in my mind anymore, I would buy one. Period. The T-1 is one of my favorite locomotives of all time. It was one of my first projects for MSTS, and was the only project I went back and revisited, before getting out of the hobby, Matter of the fact, the group/company I modeled with, Broadway Limited Locomotive Works, Still has the 3D Canvas source files, and has contiplated releasing it on a diffrent sim. I have also owned one of the Broadway HO T-1, Beautiful locomotive, I just didn't get to run it often enough to justify having it. It sat on the shelf 90% of the time.

I think it boils back down to what has been said about the GS4/Daylight, the Hiawatha, etc, How many modelers who own these locos/sets actually model the line or even railroad that these ran on? I would be willing to bet they are in the minority. Most of the people who bought the sets were probably the type that just liked them, I'm guilty of it, I have a GS4, they almost never made it up to my end of the world, and the handfull of times they did, were not within my era. Now with the BL, I have no idea why it didn't do better than it did, it pretty much followed the other prototypes, a fairly popular train, from a popular railroad, with a Unique locomotive avaible (the GG1). It should have been a huge hit like the others.

[Bob Bufkin]

Strangely enough the T1 is on my PRR list of least favority steam right being the S1.  Don't know why because I like the Baldwin sharknoses diesels which have the same look. 

And I am also a buyer of the Hiawatha because it was so good looking and it turns out to be the best running steam engine I own.  Someone mentioned the B&O Cincinnatian and that is another train I would buy if it was in its original form and consist.

Another PRR steamer no mentioned is the J1 which I believe in available in brass.  Problem with this engines is that it does not look like a typical PRR steamer as it was based on a C&O model and it never went East of Altoona due to clearances.

[DKS]

C'mon...  This thing is cooler than a GG1.

+1 (and I don't even vaguely like PRR)

[Bob Bufkin]

All right David.  Inquisitive minds want to know WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITY ROAD(S)?  Don't think I've ever mentioned what you like.

[DKS]

All right David.  Inquisitive minds want to know WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITY ROAD(S)?  Don't think I've ever mentioned what you like.

CNJ, RDG, LV

[Bob Bufkin]

David you would have a harder time getting someone to to a steamer for those roads than PRR.  About the only one i think will be done eventually is the Reading T1.  Most of those roads had the mother hubbard boilders which were as unique as the PRRs Belpraires. 

[DKS]

David you would have a harder time getting someone to to a steamer for those roads than PRR.  About the only one i think will be done eventually is the Reading T1.  Most of those roads had the mother hubbard boilders which were as unique as the PRRs Belpraires.

Product availability has never influenced my choice of roads or scale--or type of motive power, for that matter. I hope to one day scratch or bash a camelback.

[Dave V]

David you would have a harder time getting someone to to a steamer for those roads than PRR.  About the only one i think will be done eventually is the Reading T1.  Most of those roads had the mother hubbard boilders which were as unique as the PRRs Belpraires.

Bachmann made the Reading I10 2-8-0 in N.

http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/bach280.html

Not much of a runner, though.