Mantua 317-025 B&O 2-8-4 Berkshire Locomotive w/"Vandy" Tender

The development of the 2-8-4 wheel arrangement for steam locomotives was a result of an effort by the Lima Locomotive Works to improve on the speed and horse power of the USRA Mikado (2-8-2) locomotive designed by the United States Railroad Administration during World War I. The USRA design had difficulty keeping up steam over long periods and often experienced wheel slippage. Lima Locomotive Works' engineer William E. Woodward started with a New York Central Class H-7 "Mikado" type locomotive and added a larger firebox, creating an experimental Class H-10 "Mikado". He then went one step further and designed a locomotive with a 100 square foot firebox. This larger firebox required a four-wheel trailing truck to support it. The resulting locomotive was designated Class A-1, and it was the first 2-8-4. This new 2-8-4 locomotive was sent to the Boston & Albany Railroad by Lima in the early spring of 1925 for tests on that railroad. In several test runs over a division of the railroad that crossed the Berkshire Hills, the demonstration locomotive, which carried road number "1" hauled up to 2500 tons. Soon after these impressive tests, the Boston & Albany ordered forty-five of these new locomotives. Being the first railroad to use this new wheel arrangement the B&A chose to call them "Berkshire" type. Lima put its Class A-1 demonstrator on the road and sent it across the country to sell this new class of locomotive. Wherever it went the Class A-1 established new records.

FEATURES:

• Magnificent C-9 Mint Condition with Excellent Original Box.
• MRRHQ Locomotive Works serviced, tested and certified.
• Test Track run time only.
• Sealed and stored in an air-tight custom fitted heavy zip lock bag.
• Operating Headlamp.
• "Long Haul" tender body of pressure-cast Zamac high impact plastic.
• Steel hand rails, rods and fittings.
• Brass Bell.
• Powerful 5-Pole Motor.
• Smooth, quiet nylon gears assembled on knurled axles.
• Slippage-free oversize knurled drive wheel axles.
• Authentic brass hex-head screws for spacer-assembled side rods.
• Easy rolling needle point truck axles of cadmium plated steel.
• Heavy cast metal locomotive body, tender frame and 6-wheel tender trucks.
• Upgraded w/MRRHQ Custom Directional Backup Light.
• Upgraded with Front and Rear all metal Kadee Knuckle Couplers.
• Optional Upgrades Available:
  • TCS MC2-KAC DCC Decoder Installed.
  • TCS MC2-KAC DCC Decoder w/KA-4 Keep Alive Installed.
  • TCS WOWSound 101 DCC/Sound Decoder Installed,
  • TCS WOWSound 101KA DCC/Sound Decoder w/Keep Alive Installed.
• Mantua Catalog 1989 Only.
• Assembled loco and tender over 1' long weighing in at over 2 lbs

HO Scale 1:87

Dimensions: Locomotive 7 x 1 3/8 x 2" Tender 4 3/4 x 1 3/8 x 2"

Made in U.S.A.