This is on ebay right now. Weathering job to me is not the greatest, but that is in the eyes f the beholder! The smoke box door to me is not correct for a C&O model, it should be vertical not horizontal at the bottom of the smokebox but in between the pumps, and piping on the firemans side is incorrect and air tanks location wrong, and the pilot is incorrect for an C&O H-5, the headlight configuration is not correct to me either. The handrail on the pilot is a close resemblance, but the gauge of wire used looks to be to large and the configuration is not exact either. Is this just me or am I dreaming here folks??? Looks like a USRA Mallet for sure but not a C&O H-5 to me...Rare yea it would be if it were correct...prove me wrong someone or am I just out in left field here! Dave
Here is the steamer you mentioned. My copy anyway. Mine looks a good bit better without the cheesy weathering as you mentioned. I also saw it on ebay. I took a look at the front of mine and sure enough the smoke box door is 90 degrees out of phase. What a goof up. I have one just because i'm trying to be the worlds greatest N scale C&O collector. Well, at least in my county.*G*
Well upon further research it seems that all USRA H-5s when delivered were equipped with horizontal smokebox doors, later these were shopped and given vertical smokebox doors with dual pumps on smokebox face. Dave
Oldrk...thats exactly the photo I had found and some info I had found while researching online about the USRA 2-6-6-2s! One thing for sure is they were ugly this way...look MUCH better with the dual pumps ! Dave
I'm with you on that Dave. Looks like a H-7 in the background. The C&O did those H-5s a favor by adding the pumps and moving the doors.