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Model Power - 7431 - Locomotive, Steam, 4-6-2, Pacific - Minneapolis and St. Louis - 500

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N Scale - Model Power - 7431 - Locomotive, Steam, 4-6-2, Pacific - Minneapolis and St. Louis - 500 Image Courtesy Roadrailer
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Stock Number7431
Original Retail Price$139.98
BrandModel Power
ManufacturerAjin
Body StyleModel Power Steam Engine 4-6-2 Pacific
Prototype VehicleLocomotive, Steam, 4-6-2, Pacific (Details)
Road or Company NameMinneapolis and St. Louis (Details)
Road or Reporting Number500
Paint Color(s)Black and White
Coupler TypeRapido Hook
Wheel TypeChemically Blackened Metal
Wheel ProfileSmall Flange (Low Profile)
DCC ReadinessNo
Release Date2002-01-01
Item CategoryLocomotives
Model TypeSteam
Model Subtype4-6-2
Model VarietyUSRA Pacific
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era II: Late Steam (1901 - 1938)
Scale1/160



Model Information: Model Power introduced this model in 2002 in standard version. Additional versions have been introduced subsequently: semi-streamlined version in 2004, Vandy tender version in 2005, a revised semi-streamlined version in 2010, and lastly a revised MRC version in 2015. There has been several runs with different road numbers, but using the same stock number.

They are manufactured in Korea and feature die-cast bodies. This makes them fairly solid. Unlike many steam engines they also are very DCC-Friendly. The fall short of being fully DCC-Ready because they do not support drop-in decoders and instead require some manipulation of wiring. They run very well and can pull a lot of cars. The shell details are excellent. They were delivered in a jewelry-like plastic chest.

Unfortunately, the design is not great for running and parts of the lower shell can get mangled when they hit rough patches of track (especially turnouts). This can effectively put one of these out of commission. For this reason we advise buying these from a certified dealer because if you have to return them for repairs you will need the documentation.
DCC Information: It is pretty easy to add DCC to this engine. However, it is not DCC-Ready as you need to splice in a decoder inside the tender. Not a lot of work, but not as nice as a drop-in decoder swap.
Prototype History:
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-2 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The 4-6-2 locomotive became almost globally known as a Pacific type. The type is well-suited to high speed running. The world speed record for steam traction of 126 miles per hour (203 kilometres per hour) has been held by a British Pacific locomotive, the Mallard, since 3 July 1938.

The introduction of the 4-6-2 design in 1901 has been described as "a veritable milestone in locomotive progress". On many railways worldwide, Pacific steam locomotives provided the motive power for express passenger trains throughout much of the early to mid-20th century, before either being superseded by larger types in the late 1940s and 1950s, or replaced by electric or diesel-electric locomotives during the 1950s and 1960s. Nevertheless, new Pacific designs continued to be built until the mid-1950s.

The type is generally considered to be an enlargement of the 4-4-2 Atlantic type, although its prototype had a direct relationship to the 4-6-0 Ten-wheeler and 2-6-2 Prairie, effectively being a combination of the two types. The success of the type can be attributed to a combination of its four-wheel leading truck which provided better stability at speed than a 2-6-2 Prairie, the six driving wheels which allowed for a larger boiler and the application of more tractive effort than the earlier 4-4-2 Atlantic, and the two-wheel trailing truck, first used on the New Zealand 2-6-2 Prairie of 1885. This permitted the firebox to be located behind the high driving wheels and thereby allowed it to be both wide and deep, unlike the 4-6-0 Ten-wheeler which had either a narrow and deep firebox between the driving wheels or a wide and shallow one above.

From Wikipedia
Road Name History:
The M&St.L dates to 1853 and received the M&St.L name in 1870. They ran west from Peoria, Illinois to Oskaloosa, Iowa. There the mainline split. The more heavily trafficked line headed north through Marshalltown, Albert Lea and ended in Minneapolis. The other route from Oskaloosa headed northwest to Des Moines, then traced a big arc thought Spencer, Iowa; Winthrop, Minnesota and back to Minneapolis. A northeast to southwest diagonal line connected these to parallel routes. In addition to some shorter branches, there was a very long branch from Winthrop, Minnesota to Aberdeen, Leola, and Akaska, South Dakota. Although they had St. Louis in the name, and they were known as “The Louie” by locals, they never went anywhere near that city. Total mileage during the 50’s ran about 1,400. That’s just a bit smaller than Western Pacific.

The M&St.L called itself “The Peoria Gateway.” Peoria, Illinois, like Chicago and St. Louis is a gateway between eastern railroads and western railroads. M&St.L was in a position to forward freight from Great Northern and Northern Pacific in Minneapolis to Peoria and its connections with Pennsylvania, Nickel Plate, Toledo Peoria & Western, and their favored connection, New York Central’s Peoria & Eastern subsidiary. Because Peoria was far less congested than Chicago, it often saved a day of transit time between Northwest and Eastern end points.

M&St.L also jointly marketed a route with Illinois Central for traffic between Chicago and Minneapolis under The Albert Lea Route name. It was surprisingly successful given that Burlington, Milwaukee Road, Chicago & North Western, and Soo Line all served the same corridor.

Passenger service was not their forte. Rock Island served the same major cities with nicer trains. That left M&St.L with a fleet of doodlebugs, often running with one to three trailers to serve local communities. An average passenger on the M&St.L traveled just 90 miles. In later years, Budd streamlined coaches served as trailers.

M&St.L operated in receivership from 1923 until 1942, longer than any other railroad at the time. Lucian Sprague, the receiver and later president dumped the oldest freight cars and bought new ones. By 1950, the steam fleet (the largest engines of which were light Mikes and light Pacifics) had been completely replaced with diesels.

M&St.L had more Alco RS-1’s than any other line (35) and painted them in NINE different paint schemes. SD7’s were painted in one of those schemes: black, cream, and gray. F units were painted in two versions of yellow and green with orange pinstripes. Switchers were black with modest striping. A new president in 1956 brought a new red and white paint scheme that was a nod to his alma mater, the University of Nebraska. Incidentally, that is the TENTH paint scheme for the RS-1’s. A bit later, they began painting freight cars in the same red with big jaunty M&St.L lettering that Lionel made nationally famous.

During this period, M&St.L tried to gain control of Toledo Peoria & Western and the Monon. Pennsylvania and Santa Fe joined forces to block the TP&W acquisition and that was that. The Chairman (Ben Heinman) left M&St.L to head the Chicago & North Western. In 1960, C&NW bought the railroad assets of the Minneapolis & St. Louis and merged the operations. The M&St.L corporation became an empty shell, which changed its name to MSL Industries and got into the hardware and finished steel businesses. MSTL reporting marks are still used today by Union Pacific to denote certain leased car fleets.
Brand/Importer Information:
Founded in the late 1960's by Michael Tager, the 3rd generation business specializes in quality hobby products serving the toy and hobby markets worldwide. During its 50 years of operation, Model Power has developed a full line of model railroading products, die-cast metal aircraft, and die-cast metal cars and trucks.

In early 2014, Model Power ceased its business operations. Its extensive portfolio of intellectual property and physical assets are now exclusively produced, marketed, sold, and distributed by MRC (Model Power, MetalTrain and Mantua) and by Daron (Postage Stamp Airplanes and Airliner Collection).
Item created by: RoadRailer on 2018-09-18 15:16:13. Last edited by Alain LM on 2021-06-13 04:05:29

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