Model Train Journal

Hello all 
Pennsylvania Railroad M1A O scale by A Sahs of Chicago late 1941.
Cast bronze boiler , chassis  & tender. Within 4 months World War 2 would cease non governmental production of bronze . Sahs initial offering in 1940 was an IC Atlantic....few takers ...if you want to sell a steam engine in quantity,  model the Pennsylvania Railroad.




Please see link for video 


https://youtu.be/ebmXMhDTsbI


Cheers Carey 

That is a really good looking model. The guy did a superb job of the casting masters. Post some still shots?

Its gears sound not happy . . .

Yes a very nice doorstop indeed, to bad there aren't many out there. My be people had other thinks to use they're money on after the war. I wonder where the patterns for the castings went?

Carey responded to my query - these are good detail shots:



This is really state-of-the-art for early 20th Century models in O Scale. The rivets, while cluttered, are way better than, say, early Scale Craft.

Here is the smokebox - I think it captures the spirit of doorstop steam:

And the tender - it is in a category by itself. It would be so easy to solder up a "welded" PRR tender that only weighed a pound, but Sahs chose to make a bronze casting! If it were mine, I would use some glazing putty and 400 "wet" sandpaper to make it look like sheet metal, but then maybe it is hand-lettered and should be left in its historical livery?



Let me see if I have a photo of my sheet metal tender:



Not the greatest shot of the tender, but you can see how simple this particular variant of PRR tenders is - just cut and solder.
You have, of course, seen this before, but the locomotive is a mixture of Scale Craft, Lobaugh, and CLW parts. Runs like a watch on my 74" radius loop.

Carey sent me another pair of trucks like these, so in the queue is a possible PRR M1. I like the early M1 for a couple reasons - one, the boiler has a much more graceful taper. Two, I believe the M1a had only the six axle long distance tenders, and not the big eight axle welded kind.

I could look it up - I have a lot of PRR books and photos, including that PFM soft cover deal.

That's it for me this week, unless Maroon can manipulate my Mobilgas video somehow. Videos mystify me. Megabits!