The Pennsy ordered two prototype Duplex-drive locomotives from Baldwin Locomotive Works. Locomotive nos. 6110 and 6111 (dubbed “Flash Gordon” and “Buck Rogers” by train crews) were delivered in 1942. The two T1 prototypes had a degree of success, pulling New York-to-Chicago heavyweight passenger trains at 100-plus mph on the leg of the trip between Crestline, Ohio, and Chicago.
The railroad ordered another 50 locomotives (nos. 5500-5549) from Alco and Baldwin. For easier maintenance, the streamlined skirting on the original two locomotives was eliminated. The 50 locomotives were delivered in 1945 and 1946. While esthetically pleasing, the locomotives as daily workhorses were disappointing. Surging maintenance costs and the rise of diesel power pushed these beautiful locomotives out of service between 1952 to 1957. Sadly, none survive today.
Enter the LionMaster
The O gauge world has seen plenty of big-buck examples of the T1. Weaver, Williams, and 3rd Rail have offered brass versions of this shark-nosed beauty. Lionel and MTH offered die-cast metal versions in full O scale. Lionel modeled one of the 50 unskirted versions; MTH cataloged one of the two super-streamlined prototypes.
Lionel’s second T1 is part of its more affordable LionMaster line, which also includes a 4-6-6-4 Challenger locomotive in Union Pacific, Western Pacific, and Western Maryland road names.
The philosophy behind LionMaster steam locomotives is the same as the philosophy behind MTH’s articulated RailKing steamers: high-quality, large steam engines with compressed dimensions at a lower price for operators who have layouts with tight curves.
The model
Lionel’s model re-creates an unskirted, regular-production T1 locomotive. The model measures 107 feet long in O scale (263/4 inches) compared to the prototype’s 119 feet, 9 inches. The LionMaster engine and tender are 12 feet short of scale length (the tender alone is 7 feet short of scale length). While downsized in length, the boiler diameter and overall height of the locomotive are closer to scale size.
The T1’s boiler has a surprising amount of cast-in detail. Rivets, hatches, and seams can be found all over the shell. Up front, the pilot features a very nice cast-in screen (with a non-operating headlight in the middle of the screen) and a cast-in dummy drop coupler. Add-on details include handrails, a whistle, pop-off valves, a brass bell (behind the pilot on the engineer’s side), and even a single red valve handle. The builder’s plate and trust plates are outstanding.
The cab has one of the nicest backheads I’ve seen. When you can see “needles” on the gauges, you just have to applaud the designers.
On the downside, to allow room for two vertically mounted can-style motors and related electronics inside the boiler shell, the backhead is pushed rearward into the cab, even beyond the engineer’s window. (Which, by the way, has plastic “glass” in it, giving you an all-weather view of the side of the firebox.) Because everything is pushed back, the two crew figures actually sit in front of the cab’s doorways.
Both sets of drivers are powered, and the wheels and steam cylinders pivot for maximum flexibility. Looking at the locomotive in profile, all of the clearance needed for the pivoting drivers and attached pilot and trailing trucks make for quite a gap between the cylinders, wheels, and frame. It’s a little too much empty space for my tastes.
You’ll find a radio antenna on the Tuscan-painted deck, and the color of the cast-in coal load is a nice, shiny black. The sound and program switches are beneath the cab.
Paint and decoration of the model are excellent. Paint application is silky smooth, and the striping is superb. Lionel also gets a pat on the back for the readable nomenclature plates that dot the body. The Tuscan color of the top deck of the tender offers an excellent contrast to the sedate Brunswick green of the locomotive and the sides of the tender.
On the test track
Operating in conventional-control mode, the locomotive’s low-end speed was high – a breezy 40.2 scale mph. The high-speed average, however, was a satisfactory 107.5 scale mph.
In command-control mode with the Odyssey speed control system engaged, I clocked the T1’s low speed at a very suitable 4.7 scale mph.
With our 25-car mixed make and vintage test train in tow, I timed the rig at 88.4 scale mph at 18 volts in conventional-control mode.
Our sample locomotive ran a little rough at its lowest speeds, especially in reverse. In TrainMaster Command Control mode, the locomotive would sometimes shudder – as if its two motors were out of sync – at speeds below about 10 scale mph.
Drawbar pull for the 14-pound, 7-ounce locomotive was a whopping 3 pounds, 3 ounces. I wasn’t expecting this much oomph — the locomotive actually began to yank the digital force meter that I use to measure drawbar pull from my hand!
Each set of drivers has a single pickup roller, and the two rollers are 3 inches apart. I experienced a bit of stalling while trying to move the T1 through some track switches at a very slow speed.
The tender has two die-cast metal eight-wheel trucks with two pickup rollers spaced 5 inches apart. The locomotive and tender are connected electronically by Lionel’s cordless infrared tether, a welcome upgrade from the normal plug and jack. The connection functioned flawlessly, but the loose red and purple wires connected to the back of the cordless tether beneath the cab are distracting. The RailSounds package is in the tender, and the audio reproduction is first rate. All TMCC commands functioned as expected.
Although our sample exhibited some very rough edges at its lowest speeds, I’d still rate the performance of the LionMaster T1 as good. Visually, the LionMaster T1 looks like nothing you’ll find on most model railroads, and it is a very credible rendering of the prototype – from shark nose to radio antenna.
Drawbar pull is outstanding, and the sound package is superb. If you’re an O-31 operator looking for some big-steam flair, you’ll want to reserve a space in your art-deco roundhouse for the rakish LionMaster T1.
Right out of the box she ran flawlessly. Pulling away from the station at low speeds to highballing down my mine line she ran just like the real thing. Only thing is she's not a heavy smoker but you can't have everything.