Cale

MOC: Baltimore & Ohio USRA Light Mikado #4500

Recommended Posts

Baltimore & Ohio USRA Light Mikado #4500

Flickr Gallery for #4500

6170903783_a43472bbb8_z.jpg

During World War I, the federal government took control of the nation's railroads and formed the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) to efficiently mobilize troops and supplies. The USRA oversaw the mass production of standardized locomotives and operations of all privately owned railroads. Consisting of representatives from ALCO, Baldwin Locomotive Works, and Lima Locomotive Works, the USRA Locomotive Committee designed over 1,800 locomotives using the best of current technology. USRA control ended on March 1, 1920 but its durable locomotives continued to have a lasting influence on the railroad industry.

The USRA Light Mikado was one of the standard steam locomotives designed under the control of the United States Railroad Administration. This was the standard light freight locomotive of the USRA types, and was of 2-8-2 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation. A total of 625 light Mikados were built under the auspices of the USRA, with a further 641 copies built after the end of the USRA's control. The first, for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was completed in July 1918 and given #4500. The locomotives were considered well designed and modern, and were popular and successful. Large numbers remained in service until replaced by diesel locomotives.

With later copies, over 50 railroads used the type.

Constructed in just 20 days by Baldwin Locomotive Works, the B&O No. 4500 was the first USRA locomotive produced under federal management. The No. 4500 was equipped with the latest technology of its time, including a superheater and stoker. The weight of the versatile locomotive was considered "light" by most standards, yet it was quite powerful.

In the later years of its life, the No. 4500 operated on the B&O's Ohio, Newark, St. Louis, and Ohio River divisions. In 1957, the No. 4500 was renumbered as No. 300 to make room on the B&O roster for four-digit diesel locomotives. That same year, the No. 300 retired from service, and was sent to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum.

There it was restored to its original number. In 1990, the No. 4500 became a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

#4500 at the B&O RR Museum

While building this engine my main goals were to make this a sturdy design able to be handled roughly with out falling apart, and to have a 100% reliable Power Functions drive with a good balance of pulling power and speed. All while maintaining a high standard of detail. I think I've done pretty well in acheiving those goals and this engine has quickly become one of my favorites.

This is the first time I've built an engine as it apeared fresh of the erecting shop floor. All my previouse steam engines have been depicted as they apeared later in their carears. Here is #4500 as it apeared in a USRA publicity photo following it's completion.

Flickr Gallery for #4500

Nate Brill ( Shuppiluliumas ) was kind enough to take some videos of #4500 at a recent PennLUG display for me.

Mikado Video 01

Mikado Video 02

5752828513_4c368c0f1b_z.jpg

Cale

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What a beautiful build! The detailing is fantastic. I like the fact that you kept it as close as possible to the prototype. Amazing work.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Amazing steamloc - very nice and fantastic details!

I can see you and Shuppiluliumas have a high standard.

Are you a member of PennLUG?

I saw a lot of other nice builds in Shuppiluliumas photo stream of the PennLUG event 2011

amongst others some other nice locomotives. Have you done any other of these?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very nice indeed. Was wondering how you did the decals?

I print out my own decals at home on my printer. The lettering fonts are sourced from Railfonts and sized to fit the model. I then print them out on 8.5"x11" sticker paper that you can find at most office supply stores. I then spray the decal sheet with a couple coats of a clear acrylic spray to give them a glossy finish before cutting them out and applying them.

Amazing steamloc - very nice and fantastic details!

I can see you and Shuppiluliumas have a high standard.

Are you a member of PennLUG?

I saw a lot of other nice builds in Shuppiluliumas photo stream of the PennLUG event 2011

amongst others some other nice locomotives. Have you done any other of these?

Thank you and yes I am in fact one of the founding members of PennLUG. Chances are that at least some of those models you've seen may be mine. You can see the rest of my train models on Flickr and some older stuff from me on Brickshelf. I do have some stuff you may see at our displays that I have not officially photographed yet. I tend not to post my MOCs until I'm absolutely happy with the finished product. The other big train builder In PennLUG besides Nate "Shuppiluliumas" and my self is Josh Sanders. He builds mostly Reading Railroad models but he's even worse than me at photographing his MOCs in a timely manner. :laugh:

Cale

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Amazing steamloc - very nice and fantastic details!

I can see you and Shuppiluliumas have a high standard.

Are you a member of PennLUG?

I saw a lot of other nice builds in Shuppiluliumas photo stream of the PennLUG event 2011

amongst others some other nice locomotives. Have you done any other of these?

Thanks! We at PennLUG do take our trains seriously. Oh, and seeing as I haven't said it here, I'm a big fan of this locomotive. I had the chance to run it at our last show and was really impressed with its performance. And, of course, it looks great going down the track.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I print out my own decals at home on my printer. The lettering fonts are sourced from Railfonts and sized to fit the model. I then print them out on 8.5"x11" sticker paper that you can find at most office supply stores. I then spray the decal sheet with a couple coats of a clear acrylic spray to give them a glossy finish before cutting them out and applying them.

I tried that before on my Santa Fe, but I found the yellow to be translucent on the sticker paper I used. The yellow lettering placed on red brick would show up with a red tint to the yellow. Mine telling us what brand of printer you used?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I tried that before on my Santa Fe, but I found the yellow to be translucent on the sticker paper I used. The yellow lettering placed on red brick would show up with a red tint to the yellow. Mine telling us what brand of printer you used?

I use a Canon MX870 but I'm not sure the printer you're using is the problem. Were you by chance using a Clear Paper or a White paper? I've found that clear paper only works well if you're printing color and applying the decal to a white background of if your printing strictly black and applying to a light colored background. Other wise the translucency of the ink will not cover properly. I use white paper for most of my decals. White covers the color underneath completely. The downside is that you will need to print the background color as well for the decal or you will have a white border around everything so you'll need to get good at matching colors. I've found that Peeron's Color Chart is very useful for color matching.

Cale

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry for bumping an old topic...

I have always admired your locomotives Cale, such detail; it is hard to tell they are LEGO even. I am beginning to work on a Mikado locomotive, and am wondering if Cale can offer any tips or advice, driver size, boiler/firebox techniques, front end, cab, etc.) I have seen your Chessie boiler instructions on flickr. I will be designing in LDD and purchasing all parts through PAB

The particular locomotive I will be modeling is an Alco Mikado the SOO 1003, it has many differences from your model. It is housed in Hartford Wisconsin about a half hour from where I live. It just completed a complete rebuild and painting and turns 100 next year. I had plans to eventually do a model, but since its centennial birthday is next year now is as good a time as any. Here is a good view of the 1003 in action in 2010

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2283937

Any advice or help you would be willing to offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sal

WFB, WI

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A very beautiful locomotieve you have produced there Cale. So much detail, realy a labour of love there. These kind off locomotieve should be produced by TLG. Will never happen though i am afraid. Would be to costly. Fortunately we have skilled MOC'ers like you to fulfill our needs in that direction.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very nice! I still have to shake my head in amazement at all of the detail you manage to pack in to your builds (BTW, your new or newly posted boxcars are fantastic too).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.