Long Island G-5 loco


azdiane

Member
Hi all,

I'm seeking to purchase a specific HO loco, the PRR G-5 4-6-0 that ran on the Long Island in the early post-war days (before my time!).

So far I see offerings by Gem, Custom Brass, Bowser, Max Gray, and Westside. Are there other manufacturers I'm missing? I'm hopeing that some of y'all will have experience to share with some of these brands. Is there any one of the brands that is way better than or is garbage compared to the others?

I can go with either bare brass or pre-painted, and plan on installing a Tsunami DCC sound system. Hope to get your experience with these. Thanks,

Diane
 
The one you want is imported by by Alco Models (built by Samhongsa) That one is of the Long Island locomotive. There is one at Brass Trains.com:

http://www.brasstrains.com/Classic/...Models-PRR-Pennsylvania-4-6-0-G-5-5741-Custom

The Max Gray and Westside models are also very good quality, probably the best builder of the bunch (Katsumi) The Gem model will probably have more primitive detailing. Bowser did kits and those kits are discontinued so you'd have to find one on e-bay or new old stock, or maybe an estate piece at a swap meet.
 
@Alan--

Thank you for that lead. While it was a bit (!) pricey at $550 I finally asked myself why I went out into the world busting my butt to make money if I didn't spend the money on the things I love. So I bought the dang thing!
Thanks again, Alan.
Diane
 
Alan,

Thank you for that lead. OMG it was a little pricier than I had hoped, but it's exactly what I'm looking for so I bought it. Thank You!

Diane
 
Glad I could be of help Diane! That one is hard to find, hence the price. None of my other regular brass dealers had one so it must have been meant for you!
 
Welcome to the forum Diane, glad to have you onboard.

Don't let the hound dogs drive you away, they are harmless and very nice people actually. I tell my daughters "it's a man's world only if you let it be"

Congratulations on your new locomotive, and I agree, sometimes you have to spend some money on your dreams.

Don't be a stranger and share some pictures of your layout when you can.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. Noo, I ain't afraid of no hound dogs. Your suggestion to your daughters is spot on, Louis, and is an ethos I was fortunate to be taught early in my life.

I thrive in a man's world and am particularly blessed to be married to a guy who cherishes that trait in me. He and I both had HO trains in our backgrounds before we met, and love modeling together today. We also share an interest in electric model sailplanes.

Yes, pics when there are any, but guys, a model railroad in our new house is still at the early feasibility and planning stage. So far it's mostly been just mental imaging, not even much on scratch paper yet. Give us time, we know our fine-grinding creative processes, and creating this little world will be a delicious feast not to be rushed.

This particular locomotive is to be a surprise birthday gift for hubby, for whom I m assembling a whole Long Island commuter train, as close as I can to the exact trains he rode routinely as a kid. I'm going to go with Soundtraxx Tsunami, probably the TSU-1000. I'm setting up a whole DCC system on nothing but a test track! But it will have a larger use in due time, and if we're going to build a DCC capable layout we need to understand DCC early on.

I can't wait for this loco to be delivered. Then I have to sneakily hide it, and the several Long Island coaches and baggage cars that will shortly be arriving. Hmmm...well, and... yes, I fear other HO stuff. It's really not safe for me to sit at a computer with access to eBay with a credit card in my hand when I have a birthday boy in mind.

Hugs,
Diane
 
Wow, WOW! Diane, What a breath of fresh air you are!
Welcome to the forum, and ... many, many years of you two modeling together.
Keep us posted on how the "surprise" goes; wish I could see his face!
 
Yep, I have a complete Napa Valley Wine train hidden for the wife until I get the mainline done. It can be done, you just have to know when the UPS guy is coming!!! Good job Diane!
 
Diane that is a brilliant plan!

You and your husband are both blessed to enjoy this wonderful hobby together. As my youngest daughter would say "how cool is that?"

Great locomotive to kick off with. Planning is as much fun as almost any aspect of this fantastic hobby.

Thanks for sharing your hobby with us.
 
It came!

It came, it came, it came! :D

I took a sneak peek, and yes indeed it's the G-5. But I had to hide it so hubby doesn't catch on, as he's home now. Wahhh, it's not fair, I wanna play with my costly new toy.... but not as much s I don't want to spoil the surprise.

The model is a beautiful little thing. There are those who say a G-5 isn't an attractive locomotive, with a face only its mother could love, but I think these locos have a solidness, almost a brutishness about them that's appealing. Hubby remembers their brute power. Pulling eight or ten heavyweight cars the G-5 would blast out of the station, smoke and steam rising a hundred feet, and accelerate that consist of cars to seventy miles an hour in about a minute.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with y'all my excitement that it came in today's mail.
Hugs,
Diane
 
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A new brass model in teh mail is hard to beat as far as excitement goes! I see it's tender is pre-drilled for sound as well. It should run well. As far as looks it projects power...as it should, and is very typical Pennsy.
 
I had to look up the G5 I had not realized it was the PRR at first.

I can see why it would be so memorable for your husband. It's no wonder now that I see it.

Don't spoil the surprise!

The picture is from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRR_G5

1024px-RRMOP_5741.JPG
 
Great picture, Louis, thanks.

Hubby recalls the days when it was common to see both Pennsylvania RR locomotives and rolling stock on the Long Island RR. In fact, the train I'm modeling for his birthday surprise will be a mixed consist of Long Island and Pennsy coaches. I had initially planned to have the locomotive in Long Island markings, but this model came decorated for Pennsylvania, and it's prototypically accurate for such a train, so I think I'll go with it this way.

I ordered the Digitrax DCC starter set this morning. We won't have a model railroad per se by his birthday, but I will have an operating locomotive pulling a train, equipped with DCC with sound, starting and stopping and chuffing and dinging on a little test track oval on the dining room table!

I also have ordered a Soundtraxx Tsunami TSU-1000 decoder for the locomotive, and that remains the one remaining area that I don't yet have covered. I probably could eventually figure out how to install the decoder and speaker in the tender, but given that I can't just lay it all out on the bench while hubby is around, I think I would be better to mail it off to a pro to do the installation.

Which then begs the question of you guys: I'd appreciate suggestions of to whom to send it to get the Tsunami installed. Backshops you have worked with that you know are good and could get it done in a couple of weeks time.
Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

Hugs,
Diane
 
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