Some people have commented on the K4. Here's the whole story: First off, the PRR randomly selected this loco for display because it was the easiest one to get to in the dead line. By chance, the 1361 is one of the oldest K4s being built in 1917. They were built until 1927. This loco was beaten to Hell by the late 1950s so basically everything that could be worn out was. It is incredible that the museum towed her off the Curve in 1987 (I was there), cleaned out the birds nests and steamed her right up. As someone else stated, she broke an axle in 1988 putting her out of commission. Since then various people have tried to restore the loco but, once they got into it, the realization of just how worn out this loco was became apparent and the job just went on and on and money ran out and regimes changed, etc. A restoration was attempted by Steamtown but that is a Federal institution and they have stringent guidelines as to how everything has to be done. Because of this, they started the restoration over from the beginning. Eventually they ran into an unsolvable problem: The Flexible Stay Bolts used by the PRR on the K4 which are now outlawed. A K4 has never blown it's boiler but this old technology is deemed unreliable by today's regulators. That is where the project sits. Pretty much everything has been restored but that "problem" remains. Perhaps a Federal waiver would be needed to get the K4 running? Short of that, a new boiler that did not require those "flexible" stay bolts would be needed... but someone would have to design it and, of course, build it. Who could do that engineering? What would they charge to do it? Norfolk Southern has no problems running steam locos on their main line, BTW. Nickle Plate 765 was in Altoona a few summers ago. NS has steamed up their own 611 also.
+jefflynnalex Oh and the K4 is no longer at Steamtown. Once the Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum built their roundhouse, they were supposed to bring the various pieces of the K4 together for the first time in many years and, at least, assemble her as a static display. Perhaps another attempt at a restoration will go off but it won't be until they have a plan and the money.
I went to Steamtown a few years ago (only because we were staying in Scranton for the Nascar race), the museum part of it was nice, but as for an "operating steam facility", WHAT A JOKE. It was dead quiet, with one guy doing a little bit of welding, and the only train noise being the D&LW shuffling hoppers around. The only sight worse than the deadlines of all those old steam engines is seeing all those perfect steam engines sitting in the roundhouse collecting dust. Thanks NPS, thanks a frikkin bunch.
jefflynnalex The firebox roof sheets are also too thin and they need to build thicker ones. This was done for ease of maintenance back in PRRs hay day. Of course the K4 would not survive a serious crash because of this. The funny thing is almost everything else on 1361 is in great shape and ready to roll. If a new boiler/firebox is built though is the locomotive still 1361 or a new K4?
jefflynnalex Altoona Railroaders are supposedly restoring the engine to running condition. But they only have about 4 people working on it now. They haven't posted anything to their facebook page in over a year. She needs more money and volunteers.
jefflynnalex If the K4 needs a new boiler designed and built. Why not approach China who still run steam although not for much longer but they would have operating facilities for the job. The Australians had a new boiler built in Germany for their 4-6-2 38 class only to find it wasn’t what they wanted and are now building a second one. China 🇨🇳 would have been cheaper
I just ran my K4 today and she is everything you said! I love her. She runs smooth and a heck of a puller, 15 reefers with no problem. Everyone should own at least one of these Broadway Limited K4's, it's worth the money!!Thanks for the review!!!
I believe the reason 1361 never really got to do many excursions was because of firebox issues, the locomotive developed severe issues with the firebox and was taken out of service to remedy those issues but for the past 20 to 30 years it has basically just been sitting and more issues have developed that now need to be prepared good news is the road is memorial museum of Pennsylvania has raised enough money to begin a new restoration on the locomotive it was originally thought to have needed a new boiler but after new assessments it has been found that the only thing that needs to be replaced is the locomotives firebox as well as several other bits and pieces that have been worn down over the years being stuck inside around house in pieces so hopefully Pennsylvania Railroad K4 number 1361 will be running again on the main line soon and it will relive The Glory Days of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Just to make a point, it seems like BLI has changed the bell/chuff sounds on their newer locomotives which is good to see for the future. Great review :)
K4 1361: In 1988,The main bearing and drive axle suffered a catastrophic failure, and due to funding being WAY over budget the locomotive was just reassembled and place on "semi-static" display. Also Norfolk and Southern will not allow any steam locomotives to run on their Pittsburgh Line anyway due to it being "busy enough". The restoration project was canceled in 2010.
Its a shame that nobody wants to put her back together in running order, so many of those pieces are in such bad condition that they have to be recasted. The state or Pennsylvania gave them a budget of $400,000 originally and gave them an extra $600,000 but the estimated cost would be $1.7 mil so they shut it down completely, they may use the parts on K4 3750.
WildCat Industries They supposedly restated the project with the intent to run the loco at full 205 psi. The work is slow but if they can fix the staybolt issue and thicken the firebox then basically all they need to do is paint and reassemble 1361. The rest of her is pretty solid.
The answer to why it isn't being re-built is that it needed cosmetic repair in many places which requires disassembling and rebuilding. Unfortunately, much like the government, they had issues just getting people to oversee the program, and didn't get around to it.
+dathpo Actually they only had two K-5's. 5698 and 5699. And the reason more were not built wasn't because of diesels. They had a poor factor of adhesion. Which in turn was the main reason more were not constructed. In the end, they opted for more driving wheels. They opted for more 4-8-2's and eventually big 4-4-4-4 T1's as more modern passenger power. Thank you for liking and viewing!
Great locomotive ! I still have one of their first run with QSI sound. Looks are quite similar to this one, also totally diecast (incl tender) and great detail, open pilot, but no markerlights. I don't notice much difference in sound but probably this decoder is more refined. Still runs smooth and fine, so I just keep it.
Other than that not a bad video, I just purchased a K4 from BLI earlier today at my not so local hobby shop and hope to pick it up sometime in the next couple days.
Where I live, a 1919 2-8-0 sits and waits for funding... boiler inspection and overhaul is at least $400,000... these steam locomotives require inspection every so often. I do look forward to more videos! My favourite eastern roads are Pennsy and Seaboard Air Line.
They had a "name train" called the Robert E. Lee. On my dad's side, his grand mother (his mother's mother from England), my great-grandmother, was a third cousin to Robert E. Lee. So, besides the Tuscan green and gold on the Pennsy, I've been partial to the SAL.
Yes, cosmetic problems have no impact on the performance of the loco. otherwise they would be mechanical or safety problems. It was going to be moved to Scranton where it would be rebuilt fixing the cosmetic errors but the latter of my explanation takes over from there. They plan to move it back to Altoona for a static display but that would mean re-constructing the boiler back to FRA specs which exceed those set when the loco. was first made. Basically too much money to justify cause.
Hard to explain it, but it's only when it's going kinda fast, when you run it real slow you don't hear it, it's in the time frame I gave, you can hear it clicking sounds like it's in the rods somewhere.
The WowSound decoders are amazing. That would be the best of both worlds. Do the Paragon2 engines have a DCC socket or do you have to hardwire in a new decoder?
Thanks for the review. It looks very nice, but I think I will hold out for the MTH model. I think the PS3 sounds will probably be a bit better. The Paragon2 sounds are just as bit of a let down to me.
Q: I have 4 of these myself, and love them, my only thing is, and it's a question. at 11:41 and on while it's pulling the Broadway Limited cars, you can hear the engine, make a click click click click click sound. Do you know what that is? I thought there was something wrong with mine, but I hear in your video your's is doing it to. You forgot to talk about the smoke..
BrassBasement.com oh okay I thought so because I just saw another video on a Bachmann k4 and I found out that it was the same one and that this was from a different company. I also found out that mine was a post war model and not pre like I thought.
