Hello Gentlemen,

Greetings from a usually silent list member located in the
southeastern United States.

The drawings in question are now sold by Little Engines who also, on
a special order basis, offer some of the castings for these 1/2"
scale Gauge 3 locos. The same basic design and castings could be
used to build either a 4-6-2, 4-6-4, 4-8-2 or 4-8-4. The prototype
for any one of these locos would be rather difficult to determine;
so it would be best to describe them as North American freelance.

The plans and accompanying text are very helpful, especially to a
live steam novice such as myself. I seem to have about 3 of these
plan books laying about now, accumulated when I picked up an
incomplete 4-6-4 frame, drivers, and domes for one of these locos,
along with a nearly complete boiler, sans flues. Since then I have
also acquired a second, complete boiler, save for fittings.

My plans for the 4-6-4 parts, since there was no cylinder block or
motion rods accompanying them, is to build a two rail electric
Southern Railway Ps-4 class 4-6-2 in 1:20.32 scale (F scale as it is
called here), 70.6mm gauge--that's standard gauge in 1:20.32. I've
already made some progress on this locomotive.

I have no definite plans for the boilers, original lead truck and 4
wheel trailing truck castings. The boilers might be useful if ever I
attempt a live steamer.

As an aside, in the past, I scratchbuilt a number of US prototype
Gauge 3 freight cars, before switching to F scale. Photos of these
can be seen on my website: www.CumberlandModelEngineering.com

All for now,

Dave Queener
Knoxville, Tennessee USA