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FACTORY SEALED Mantua 317-70 Nickel Plate Class S2 2-8-4 Berkshire Locomotive #745 HO Scale
FACTORY SEALED Mantua 317-70 Nickel Plate Class S2 2-8-4 Berkshire Locomotive #745
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.
Mantua locomotives with eight or more Drive Wheels may not operate properly on less than 22" radius curves. We do not, and cannot, guarantee that these specific locomotives will perform properly on your layout.
FEATURES:
- FACTORY SEALED C-9 Mint Condition with Near Mint Original Box.
- 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 with working Front and Rear Knuckle Couplers.
- Optional Upgrades Available:*
- TCS T1 Standard DCC Decoder Installed.
- TCS T1KA Standard DCC Decoder w/KEEP ALIVE Installed.
- TCS WOWSound 101 DCC/Sound Decoder Installed.
- TCS WOWSound 101KA DCC/Sound Decoder w/KEEP ALIVE Installed.
- Engineer Figure Installed in Cab.
- Front (Never offered by Mantua) and Rear Knuckle Couplers.
- 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.
*By selecting ANY of these Options you are acknowledging that you WILL NOT receive this product in sealed condition. Also, by selecting ANY of these Options this product will be certified according to the MRRHQ Certification Process at no additional charge.