johnmckenzie wrote:APART from the K4s in production, I thought I'd share with you some of my personal wishes for RW3.
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UP class UP-1, trivia fans note the only class of loco in the world apart from those designed by Gresley to use the Gresley patent derived valve motion for its inside cylinder.
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Norfolk and Western J class Northern. One of the most beautiful loco designs ever.
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PRR class L1s. Must be a reasonably easy conversion for RSC to create this from the K4s.
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Southern Railway 4-6-0 Lord Nelson class. No reason other than I just like them.
Interesting fact - due to the 4 cylinder layout and the 135 degree crank axle offsets the Lord Nelsons had a total of eight exhaust beats per driver revolution!
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Gresley motion wasn't quite that rare on the other side of the pond. The New Haven's R-3 class (a development of the USRA Light Mountain) and Y-4 class (a development of the USRA 0-8-0) both used it, as did a class of 0-8-0s on the Indiana Harbor Belt. By all accounts, the New Haven and the IHB were quite pleased with them.
The batch of N&W Js that were built during the War were built without streamlining, and were equally handsome. In general, all of N&W's later power was quite well-proportioned.
The L-1 would be a classic. The K-4s and L-1s constituted a fleet of nearly 1,000 locomotives with over 90% interchangeability of parts. Both classes were were very typical power for their time. I would prefer typical classes, generally, because they constitute the backbone of any authentic steam-era scenario. I think Dick Cowen made a good move with his USRA series, in this respect.
I heartily agree about the Lord Nelsons. SR had a tradition of handsome locomotives from its constituent companies (IMHO, Stroudley was a genius), and certainly maintained that under the tenure of Maunsell and Bulleid. Id' be delighted if the Stroudley A1s and Gs available for RS were updated to RW.
That's my two cents' worth ... -P
