Accucraft July News

July’s news is all about America!  We are delighted to share Accucraft’s news about their 20^th Anniversary special as well as rolling stock to go with the forthcoming C & O  ‘Allegheny’, now in production!

NORFOLK & WESTERN J CLASS 4-8-4 #611

The Accucraft (US) 1:32 scale Norfolk & Western #611 will be their 20^th anniversary locomotive! For our US partner’s 20^th anniversary, they are working with the N & W Historical Society and the Virginia Museum of Transportation’s ‘Fire Up 611’ project, to produce the most accurate model of N&W #611 to date! Each model of #611 will also include special items inside the box!

Some would argue that the Norfolk & Western Railway’s J Class represents the zenith of steam passenger locomotive development in the United States.  The class was introduced towards the end of steam on U.S. railroads but was designed and built without compromise to do the job in style.  Conceived and assembled at the N & W East End Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, between 1941 and 1950, these elegant 4-8-4’s only ever numbered fourteen examples, the first five being streamlined from the outset, the next six examples only being thus fitted later due to wartime economies and the final three once again emerging fully streamlined from the start.

Unusually for a passenger design, the class were only equipped with 70 inch driving wheels which required perfect balancing of the wheelsets and drive train and the adoption of light-weight rods to allow 100mph running.  However, the relatively small drivers and 300psi boiler pressure gave a very high tractive effort, 80,000 pounds, making the J’s the most powerful 4-8-4’s built without recourse to a booster.

The class quickly gained a reputation for hauling heavy trains at high speeds with an enviable record of reliability, often accumulating 15,000 miles per month.  Despite this the writing was on the wall for steam and towards the end of the 1950’s the N & W started leasing diesels with a view to replacing their steam fleet.  In 1959 J Class #611 hauled a last special and the rest of the class were scrapped.  611, however, was lucky; thanks partly to an accident in 1956 when the loco derailed at speed near Cedar, Virginia and its consequent good condition following a rebuild and partly to the efforts of the legendary railroad photographer O. Winston Link, #611 was given to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke in 1960.

After twenty years of inactivity, #611 was taken to Birmingham, Alabama for overhaul in the Southern Railway’s Norris Yard workshops, emerging in 1982 to haul specials on the newly created Norfolk Southern railroad until 1994.  In 1995 it was once again confined in the museum at Roanoke, although there are moves to steam the loco once again, and a committee is hoping to “Fire up 611”!

Specifications:

• Scale / Gauge: 1:32 / 45 mm
• Construction: Brass & Stainless Steel
• Minimum Radius: 10 ft. (3 M)
• Alcohol fired
• Two cylinders w/ drain water valve
• 60 PSI working pressure
• Two safety valves
• Lubricator
• Water level gauge
• Blow down valve
• Throttle valve
• Axle driven pump w/ bypass valve
• Hand operated water pump in tender
• UK RRP £5630.00