According to Linn Westcott’s Model Railroader Cyclopedia: Vol. 1, Steam Locomotives (Kalmbach), 81 USRA light Pacifics were built in 1919 for Atlantic Coast Line (45), Baltimore & Ohio (30), and Louisville & Nashville (6). All three subsequently ordered additional copies, as did two new owners: the Mobile & Ohio (10), and Grand Trunk Western (8).
Model Power’s new Pacific closely matches the drawings in Westcott’s book. The wheelbase is correct on both the locomotive and tender, and the overall dimensions are good. The models have the correct Cole trailing truck and 10,000-gallon USRA tender. However, the tender comes with Andrews trucks found on USRA freight engines and not the Commonwealth trucks used on the Pacifics.
The locomotive is powered by a skew-wound open-frame motor and includes a large brass flywheel. The electrically isolated motor assembly is carefully concealed inside the die-cast metal boiler and covered by a detailed plastic backhead. Power for the motor comes from four wheels on each rail (all three sets of drivers and one tender wheelset). The non-directional headlight is powered with wipers contacting the front driver set.
The model is pre-wired for easy installation of a Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder, complete with proper color-coded wires requiring only minimal soldering. Running wires from the decoder in the tender to the headlight, buried deep in the boiler, however, could be a challenge. The drawbar for the tender neatly conceals the four wires already running to the engine but is too full to include any others.
The locomotive runs well but is a bit noisy. It has sufficient power to pull eight passenger cars on straight, level track. After a brief warmup period, the mechanism functioned smoothly, and I could get our sample locomotives to run at about nine scale mph. Also, the wheelsets have low-profile flanges and roll cleanly on Atlas code 55 track.
The engine has a dummy coupler in the pilot and a truck-mounted Rapido- style coupler on the tender. A Micro-Trains no. 1025 magnetic knuckle coupler can be used on the tender; however, the pilot will require extensive modification to fit a working coupler.
Our samples were neatly decorated for the Soo Line and Southern Ry., (though neither road owned USRA Pacifics or exact copies). Both locomotives have sharp lettering; however, the gun-metal paint used on the smokebox and firebox was too grainy for my taste.
Model Power’s new USRA Pacific is a nicely proportioned locomotive that’s a good value for anyone looking to operate N scale steam passenger service from the 1920s to the ’50s.
Price: $139.98
Manufacturer:
Model Power
180 Smith St.
Farmingdale, NY 11735
Description:
Ready-to-run plastic and metal
steam locomotive
Road names:
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Baltimore & Ohio; Canadian National; Canadian Pacific; Louisville & Nashville; Pennsylvania RR; Soo Line; Southern Pacific; and Southern Ry.
Features:
Eight-wheel power pickup
Die-cast metal boiler and frame
Drawbar pull: .64 ounces
Engine weight: 4.75 ounces
Low-profile wheel flanges
Minimum radius: 9″
Non-directional headlight
Skew-wound motor with flywheel
Truck-mounted Rapido-style rear coupler
