05-12-2014, 12:46 PM
switcher1 Wrote:Somewhat out of place, a 4mm loco with buffers on an American 3.5mm layout....
Not as much as you might think, though.
Kitmaster states that it's designed to run (well, if the big 0-5-0 in-the-sky deigns to give it a push) on OO or HO track. It's not too fond of the guard rails on Atlas and Shinohara turnouts, though. As you can see, I've installed Kadee couplers, talgo-style, on both ends, and its tractive effort of 45,600lbs is just slightly less than the 48,000 of the Grand Valley's Consolidations. If the 60103 could tour North American and Australia, I see no reason why the 503 couldn't make a little jaunt into Lowbanks, situated in southern Ontario...in Canada, eh?
The original decals for this model were beyond recovery, so the store owner opted to have it lettered for the TH&B. I used to paint TH&B diesels for another hobby shop, and once remarked that TH&B fans would buy anything if it were lettered for TH&B - they bought over six dozen versions of those that I painted, and I've seen modern HO locos (don't know the proper designation) done in TH&B paint that looked pretty plausible - probably more than this steamer, I suppose, but it is, after all, meant to be an in-store conversation piece.
Wayne