intro and looking for HO PRR Mikado


S

station wagon

New Member
Hi all! This is my first post and I'd like to introduce myself and my interests.

I model HO scale, mostly PRR, waited years to have a room built just for it, and now I find that Bowser has discontinued all locomotive kits. Sheeh, the timing!

I've got a couple of K4's, an Atlantic and G series 4-6-0, but I'd really like a Mike or two for freight. gotta get a switcher, too. The new (and old) Decapods are kinda too big for my little room. I even have an old Mountain kit knocking around - the cast brass type with boxpox drivers and a horseshoe magnet. Just postwar? I dunno.

Went on Ebay and there are no cast kits. Nada. They used to be common as, well, pick your vermin. Heck there are not many brass locos.

Any suggestions for a Mike?

Anyway, I still have a totally empty 13x14 ft room, painted entirely sky blue, just waiting for benchwork. Oh yeah, and a track plan. I gotta create one of those. Just around the wall seems dull. Maybe a peninsula.
 
Aw, those are the USRA Mikes. Nuts.

I'm looking for the Belpaire boiler, exactly the same one used on the K4s. Pennsy developed a great boiler and dropped it unmodified onto a freight wheel arrangement. They simply stretched it a bit for some of the larger locos.
 
Howdy, and welcome aboard. Do you have a real first name we can use? Calling you an automobile just doesn't seem right. :)

Bowser is discontinuing their cast metal steam engine kits, but they still have some left in stock. The link to the L1 is http://bowser-trains.com/holocos/l1/l1.htm. Give them a call and see if they have any left. If they don't, they may be able to point you to a dealer who has some. These were among the last Bowser kits produced, so there are some still around. Unfortunately, these are the only correct L1's available in HO except for a few early and very rare brass versions.
 
Welcome!

Jim has given some really good advice. But if Bowser has none in stock, and none of their dealers do. Keep checking E-bay. I know for a fact that there were at least 8 PFM PRR mikes on there within the past two months. Be patient, it took me almost a year to get a loco I wanted off of there.
 
Name - now it is in my sig. And the "station wagon" was named after the horse-drawn wagon picking you up from the train station. Sooo, it is a car but perhaps a more traditional train-oriented reference. :)

Bowser still has a few? Hmm. Yes, I will also keep searching Ebay. The brass engine seem to have dropped from a few years ago. Perhaps it is the economy. (glah! I take it back! one I was watching just launched like the shuttle.)

Maybe I could pick up an early PFM (to match my early PFM K4) and have them both re-motored.
 
While not a Pennsy expert, I'm pretty sure if you want an accurate Pennsy mike, and not a foobie lettered for the Pennsy, brass is probably going to be it. The one CJ pointed out is right...can't miss those huge Belpaire fireboxes. They are also hard to come by. The Mikes are the largest of the "layout quality" brass locos. They can take smaller curves and their drivers are smaller, so you can actually run them on smaller home layouts. People who bought these run them...that's why you have to watch & wait for one. Took me several years and was outbid quite a few times before I got my SP mikes!
 
Brass is about the only way to go anymore and they are about as rare as a Bowser L-1 on Ebay in all honesty.

I have a Bowser L-1 and to finish having a fleet of 2 to 4 L-1's, I've made the decision to buy a bunch of spare K-4 shells from Bachmann parts store (yes, they do sell the various parts). I'll have to kitbash some AHM 2-8-2's into L-1's but at this point, I think it's the only way to do it without spending close to $1,500 to $2,000 on 4 brass models and converting them to DCC.

That is, I'll start actually doing it after I finish rebuilding the B-6sb that's sitting on my desk.
 
Littlefoot14 said:
Didnt MTH Trains makes a Pennsylvania Mikado in 08?

Heres a link, let me know if its what your looking for.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it is the USRA type. I do not know why manufacturers keep making only the K4. The Mike has exactly the same boiler. If they changed the wheel arrangement, they could double their product line. They could probably pull the frame from another product.

And thank you, I did notice that mikado on ebay. I'll pass on that one, even with the after market improvments. One will come along.
 
The guys on this forum might be able to help also. There's some good PRR Modeling info there.

http://prrthsdiscussionweb30239.yuku.com/directory

I just got back into modeling myself after a 15 year hiatus. I got my basement back after the kids left and with 2 grandsons I decided to get back into it again. I kind of wish I wouldn't have sold my Bowser kits but the new PRR stuff that BLI has is a lot nicer. I just picked up their I1sa and I'm hoping they come out with a Consolidation and a Atlantic in the next couple of years.
 
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