One thing that helped to create this cult following was the railroad’s drive to stay competitive with larger rivals. One example was the line’s willingness to change the status quo with the Crusader train operations for traffic between Philadelphia and New York City.
The railroad bought a new stainless-steel train set from the Budd Co. The train was notable for having an observation car on each end, so that it wouldn’t have to be turned around at the end of the line. The cars stood out from typical coaches, featuring air conditioning, color coordination, reclining seats, and even individual reading lights.
For power, the Reading rebuilt two older 4-6-2 Pacifics, incorporating streamlining. The locomotives, nos. 117 and 118, were re-classified as the G1sa class.
In The Streamline Era, Robert C. Reed’s venerable tome on all aspects of transportation streamlining, the author unfairly bashes the Reading design. He writes “The Crusader’s failure as a first rate streamlined steam locomotive was due to the fact that its shrouding encased just too much of the locomotive’s traditional shape, emasculating it as a machine and smothering it in an enormous tinsel box.”
I disagree. The idea was to disguise the locomotive and turn a traditional train into something futuristic. While some critics might not have liked the look of the engines, the public clearly loved them, and the number of riders rose 175 percent.
The model
This O gauge steamer is indeed a strong model of the Reading streamliner and follows in the footsteps of MTH’s first Crusader locomotive, which was cataloged in 1999. I was pretty startled to see how much of this model’s detail was spot on with photos of the prototype. The smooth nose, the art deco arch running from the pilot to the smokestack, and even the raised logo are correct.
The model’s pilot has access hatches (covering footsteps and front-coupler access) that match the prototype as well. However, the rivets along these hatches are more pronounced than those shown in photographs of the real thing.
The model’s nose features two grab irons bracketing the headlight, and uncluttered handrails run from the front deck along the boiler to the cab. Up top, marker lights and number boards are on either side of the smokestack.
With this model, cast-in detail is everything. The locomotive’s streamlined sides have fluting that matches the tender and cars the locomotive towed.
I was intrigued to discover on the top of the boiler that the access spots for the bell, sand and steam domes, whistle, and pop-off valves were “cut-away” segments of the streamlined shroud. The afore-mentioned appliances were painted black, which gives the shell the appearance of having a shroud placed over a conventional locomotive boiler, just like the real Reading Crusader.
The spoked drivers looked fine. Also pleasing was the chemical blackening of the metal running gear.
The cab interior features two crew figures in contrasting outfits and cast-in backhead detail. It also has a red firebox glow and a small cab light. Just below the deck is the recepticle for a tether.
On the bottom of the locomotive are two pickup rollers spaced 2½ inches apart. The smoke-unit switch, volume control, and battery-charger plug-in are located on the belly of the tender.
The casting of the tender is unique to this model. It looks more like a funky express car than a coal-hauling rig. The silver-painted front of the tender reminds me of a bank vault – except for the cast-in pile of coal. The two-color paint job re-creates the shroud-like appearance of the locomotive.
The metal tender has lots of rivet and seam detail. The rear of the tender stretches to surround the front-end of the car it pulls, just like the prototype, which was designed to conceal the round end of an observation car (remember, this train had observation cars on each end to eliminate turning the train at the end of the line).
The tender has a backup light. The tender truck sideframes are a good, though not quite perfect, match to those used on the real tender.
The overall length of the locomotive and tender frames is 20 inches (80 feet in O scale). The rear tender “overhang” adds another half-inch. The locomotive is semi-scale but its height, width, and length are in pleasing proportions.
The painting and decoration of our sample locomotive and tender are excellent. Paint was applied in even amounts, and there was no blurring of the color lines; the silver-colored (cast-in) air intakes square in the middle of the blue paint on the front of the boiler look like separate pieces. The lettering for the Crusader name and the engine number are crisply applied.
Though this locomotive is clearly of a Reading prototype, the RailKing model is also available in Canadian National, Chicago & North Western, and New Haven road names.
On the test track
Our test performance numbers for the Crusader, equipped with ProtoSound 2.0 software and cruise control, were excellent. The low-speed average was 4.5 scale mph, while the high-speed average was 68.1 scale mph. Drawbar pull for the 8-pound 2-ounce locomotive was a healthy 3 pounds 6 ounces, which is outstanding.
The motor was responsive to changes in speed, and the ProtoSound 2.0 system sounded terrific. The locomotive’s whistle was deep and robust.
Coupler operation was fine, as were the numerous other ProtoSound 2.0 functions that we tested. The Crusader is just about the only passenger steamer that I can think of where using the coil coupler to uncouple a train would be a big deal on a layout, since moving forward away from the train would reveal an observation car and not a flat-ended coach. Unfortunately, the matching RailKing Reading passenger car set does not include dual observation cars.
This model gets two thumbs up from me. It is a well-crafted, traditional-sized version of what was a sleek, stylish steam locomotive. On the test track and my home railroad, performance was first rate. Based on past experience with the RailKing steam line, this O gauge locomotive should have a long and robust life!
Price: $399.95 (no. 30-1389-1)
Features: O-31 operation, die-cast metal construction, ProtoSound 2.0, smoke, coil coupler on tender
Pros: Good-looking model, excellent performance
Cons: Available separate-sale matching-car set lacks two round-end observations
Made in the People’s Republic of China for MTH Electric Trains
