Civil War locos

A lot of fun to be had in researching and building period locos. This one was converted to 5 foot gauge to follow Western and Atlantic practice.

  Best wishes 

Eric 

From Toy to Treasure

I fell in-love with American 4-4-0 locomotives a few years ago and have wanted to model them ever since.  However, I soon found out that the only HO scale models available were the toy-like Bachmann locomotives which require way more skill to make them look good than I currently have.  I have much respect for anyone that can turn those toys into great looking, highly detailed models like the General in this article.

" However, I soon found out

" However, I soon found out that the only HO scale models available were the toy-like Bachmann locomotives "

There have always been other choices. The Mantua General has been around forever and was produced in great numbers, I Think there are more Globe/Blue-Box F-7's out there but would wait for a count before saying so. Rivarossi/Pocher made a decent one in OO scale if I remember right, at worst that would just make them a slightly later 4-4-0. the R/P ones would have been mostly imported by AHM and IHC.

All of them are crude by modern standards but were produced over a long enough period to have had many upgrades so they may very. The Mantua General is unbelievably crude by modern standards but it was being upgraded by owners from day one into fine interesting models. Even a good paint job could make an otherwise stock one into an interesting model.

I do hope you work on your modeling skills as it doesn't take much to do simple things that improve a model and add greatly to the fun!

Civil War Locos

Beautiful conversion..  I decided 4' 8 1/2" was good enough for me.. Your model turned out great!  Good job!  Thank you for sharing!