Parní lokomotiva modelové železnice v měřítku HO pro železniční modeláře v modelářské kvalitě - 129052 Overland Models, Inc Ajin Precision Co. Korea OMI 4545.1 Southern Pacific #4288 HO Cab Forward 4-8-8-2 AC-12 Steam Locomotive - brass LATE 1950 S ERA.

Cab Forwards were a very distinct locomotive found, worldwide, only on the Southern Pacific in use over the Sierra Nevada mountain range as well as the railroad s main line between Dunsmuir, California to Portland, Oregon, USA.

The locomotive looks as if it is backwards and facing the wrong direction. However, this design was quite deliberate with its purpose being to keep train crews away from the thick smoke and dangerous gases that would build up in the numerous tunnels and snow sheds found in the Sierras. Along with Cab Forwards protecting crews from smoke and gases the unique magnificent machines were also quite powerful and had tremendous tractive effort to battle the region s steep grades.

In the 1920 s, the Southern Pacific had a need for powerful locomotives, but found that the new articulated 2-8-8-2 s did not work well for them. They were a hazard to the crews when traveling through the long tunnels and snow sheds on their system. The exhaust fumes were capable of blinding and suffocating crew members, so to resolve this problem, the Southern Pacific decided to run in reverse.

The next articulated engines from Baldwin were built with the cabs in the forward position. The SP went on to build many classes of these "Cab-Forwards". The Southern Pacific had used Cab-Forward locomotives since the early 1900s on its mountain routes. With the smokestack located behind the cab, the engine crew wasn t asphyxiated during the run, which included miles of tunnels and snowsheds.

To help deal with increased rail traffic during World War II, the War Production Board approved the SP s order for 20 new 4-8-8-2 Cab-Forward locomotives. Baldwin delivered the locomotives, classified as AC-12 by the SP, in 1943 and 1944.

For more history on Cab-Forward locomotives, see Cab-Forward: The Story of Southern Pacific Articulated Locomotives by Robert J. Church.

The Southern Pacific #4288 HO Cab Forward 4-8-8-2 AC-12 Steam Locomotive brass model features:

Lit classification boards, Directional Lighting & Intricate Details. Runs well. Minimum radius: 24". Era: 1943 to late 1950s.

The InterMountain cab forward steam locomotive is said to be a very attractive model & the most accurate, most highly detailed HO steam locomotive ever produced.

The HO AC-12 has a high level of accurate detail and equipped with ESU LokSound Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder that operates on DCC and DC layouts.

The best known example of the 4-8-8-2 cab forward design in the United States is the unique Southern Pacific Cab Forward that no other US railroad ordered. This placed the cab at the front by the simply turning the entire locomotive, minus the tender, by 180 degrees. This arrangement was made possible by burning fuel oil instead of coal.

The cab forward design was used by the Southern Pacific Railroad to deal with the peculiar problems of its routes. The 39 long tunnels and nearly 40 miles of snow sheds of the Sierra Nevada Mountains could funnel dangerous exhaust fumes back into the cab of a conventional steam locomotive. After a number of crews were nearly asphyxiated, they started running their conventional locomotives in reverse. This meant that the tender was leading the train and blocked the view ahead. It also put crewmen on the wrong sides of the cab for seeing signals. The tenders were not designed to be pushed causing speeds to be reduced. Southern Pacific commissioned Baldwin Locomotive Works to build a prototype cab forward locomotive, then ordered more units before the prototype had even arrived.

All of the cab forwards were oil burning locomotives, which meant there the tender could easily be placed at what would normally be the front of the locomotive. The oil and water tanks were pressurized so that both would flow normally even on uphill grades. Visibility from the cab was excellent, one crewman could easily watch both sides of the track. The biggest advantage was that the arrangement placed the crew well ahead of the exhaust fumes, insulating them from that hazard.

AC-8 built July - October 1939 (All scrapped by April 24, 1959). AC-10 built January - June 1942 (All scrapped by August 7, 1959). AC-11 built November 1942 - May 1943 (All scrapped by April 1959). AC-12 built October 1943 - March 1944 (All retired by September 1958. All were scrapped except #4294 which is on display and housed in-doors at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, CA, USA)

An add-on: Likely the most unique, but very effective, steam locomotive design ever conceived and built was the Southern Pacific s Cab Forwards, which would go on to be one of the signature features of the "Espee." Initially a Mallet-type steam locomotive, the Cab Forwards have their beginnings around 1908 when the Southern Pacific ordered two Mallets of the 2-8-8-2 arrangement to negotiate the very steep Sacramento Division (with grades of 2.5% in some spots), a 150-mile stretch of main line over the Sierra Nevada. Because this main line runs through high mountain passes it was, and still is in some areas, lined with numerous snow sheds. It quickly became apparent that these snow sheds wreaked havoc on train crews since traditional steam locomotives have cabs located at the back near the tender and they caught the brunt of the exhaust, which was very dangerous and could cause asphyxiation.

This issue was particularly brought to light when the two Class MC-1 Mallets, #4000 and #4001, were put into service between Roseville and Sparks, California north of Sacramento. While incredibly more powerful than any other locomotive on the Espee s roster at that time the steamers not only magnified the asphyxiation issue but also damaged the snow sheds by blowing off roof boards due to the speed and velocity of smoke exiting the stacks.

The latter issue was corrected relatively easily with a stack splitter that deflected the fumes to the sides of the roof and decreased their velocity. However, the former problem could not be solved and in the meantime train crews were becoming fed up with the breathing and visibility issues. oon after the MC-1s entered service an engineer took it upon himself to improve conditions for the crew by turning the locomotive around and running the unit backgrounds, pulling the train through the tunnels.

While this worked it placed the engineer on the wrong side of the tracks to properly see the signals. Despite the inherent safety issue this caused other crews followed suite and the SP worked quickly to come up with a solution to the problem. The railroad teamed up with Baldwin to produce the Class MC-2 2-8-8-2s, the first true Cab Forwards. These locomotives were numbered 4002-4016 and interestingly, were never tested before being put into service!

The design utilized a cab located to the front of the locomotive, which would keep the crew entirely clear of smoke and exhaust. The locomotives were first put into service between February and March of 1910 and the Mallets ability to feature a cab at the front was thanks to oil as a primary fuel source, which was piped all of the way from the tender to the firebox. The idea worked fabulously, solving the Southern Pacific s issues of mountainous operations with large steamers. The only real issue of the Cab Forwards during operation was crews apprehensiveness of a grade crossing accident due to the cab being the first part of the locomotive to potentially strike a vehicle.

Thankfully, no such incidents ever occurred with the locomotives during their four decades of operation. While the 2-8-8-2s were the first to utilize the Cab Forward design the SP owned four different wheel arrangements with such setups including 2-8-8-2s, 4-6-6-2s, and 4-8-8-2s (Yellowstones turned-backwards). The early 2-8-8-2 and 4-6-6-2 built between 1910 and the late 1920s were not nearly as powerful as the later 4-8-8-2s of the AC-4 through AC-12 classes built in 1930 through 1942 (for instance 65,000-90,000 pounds of tractive effort compared to 124,000 pounds). In all, Southern Pacific would eventually end up with a whopping 256 Cab Forwards in all different classes.





PLEASE NOTE: Due to the small edition size and the great demand for this item, allocations are expected to occur.

UPOZORNĚNÍ: TITUL JE VYROBENÝ V OMEZENÉM MNOŽSTVÍ JAKO UMĚLECKÝ PŘEDMĚT. UVEDENÁ PRODEJNÍ CENA JE PLATNÁ DO VYPRODÁNÍ TUZEMSKÝCH ZÁSOB.

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