Santa Fe 1480 Class Atlantic

[Schraddel]

In spring i won an e-bay auction of an old Balboa H0 Scale model of an ATSF 4-4-2.








This is what came out of the box. A pretty clean and straight model. Although it was made in the early 1960's, i believe Balboa released this model 1964, it has boiler backhead, cab floor and brake shoes.


And this is what i have in my mind with Santa Fe passenger trains:
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The whole train, a consist of only two cars. This in my opinion much more friendly, at least to your wallet, to model Santa Fe passenger operations than a 15-car consist of the Super Chief with ABBA power at the front end. And on every Fremo modular meeting at least somebody has brought along a ABBA combo in ATSF warbonnet livery and a matching 10+ car consist.
Yes of course the Super Chief is much more impressive, but the daily local has a style of it's own.

This Atlantics started life as 4 cylinder balanced compound engines with the main rods linked to the fist pair of drivers:
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This was the first appereance of the Class 1480 Atlantics of the Santa Fe.
Note backward mounted linkage of the valve gear. This created the nickname of "Bull Moose" of this locomotive class. Further outside mounted steam pipes and third dome.
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Some years later Santa Fe's shops simplified the engines to 2 cylinder simple expansion. The engine was shortened, new cylinder blocks, the main rods linked to the second pair of drivers and gone were the ouside pipes and the third dome.
In this form they lasted until the very end of steam on the Santa Fe. The last soldiered on until 1953.

The Balboa model is a reproduction of the modernised Class 1480 Atlantics and fits well im my time frame of 1940's and early 1950's model railroading.
This is what i get and have had paid for. The next steps will be to make a 1960's model run like a 2010's model.

Lutz