Here are a few photos of Rivs new steamer. Pictures curtesy of Harry Wong's website. Not bad, but lacking a few details if you ask me. Especially around the firebox. The number should be 1645 on the retail version and that would require some differences on the firebox details. If it is not that number than the details may not be needed.
<font color="336633">OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!! that looks damn nice to me, wonder if i can scrape enough money together to get one. does look a bit bare near the firebox though........</font>
There are a few more things that seem off a bit on this thing when comparing it to the real thing. The camel-humps (as I call them) seem over-sized to me and the distance between the cab and the tender appears too wide. In comparison the P2Ks really look great with the hookup between the cab and tender because the distance is much more to scale----plus it even has the walk-over plate from the cab to the tender. Overall the thing looks pretty good. I am assuming that it is only a pre-production model and as that it is a really nice job. We shall see what changes, if any, are made to the final version. I do sincerely hope that the price tag is reasonable. $300-350 retail seems appropriate considering the nice detail and that it appears to be an improvement over their past offerings. More than that would be a stretch because it is not completely superior to P2Ks offering. What I don't understand is that apparently they have spent time and effort engineering a working butterfly cover-plate to the firebox, but leave out more obvious details that more people would see anyway. Who is going to notice whether or not the butterfly doors open? Only the owner will ever know about the thing because the only way to notice it is to take the loco off the track and shine a light into the cab. Sounds nice, but at the expense of other more noticable detail it doesn't make sense. Obviously I haven't seen the finished product and this is all speculation on my part, but it is all based in what the photos appear to show and the press releases by Riv/Walthers. Thankfully, they have continued to use metal side-rods and appear to have upgraded the motor. Overall, it is a marked improvement over the BigBoys and Challengers they have recently offered. I have one reserved and look forward to having it sit next to my other steamers even though I don't model eastern railroads. It seems that this Allegheny will take top honors in the plastic steamer category. Wonder what P2K will answer with----A class A maybe? Just my 2 cents for the day.
BNSF, I may be able to answer your wondering questions on the distance between loco and tender to the Y2K, Y3.... Does the Y2K run on 18 inch radius curve track ???? If not thats the reason why it is spaced closer .. Any and everything Rivarossi makes is gauged to run on 18 inch radius curve track where it might take 24 inch radius or larger curves for the Y2K, Y3, thats why its closer in spacing from the loco to the tender.... Let me know what you find out on the Riv and on the Y2K....
I like it and would buy it if it was around for sale if I had the $$$ also.. i'll settle for my EM-1's but I'm big on steam and even bigger on Articulated's.. I want to collect so.. One day i'll have one!!!! HA! got to look over us Steam fanatics!!! We can't get or ever have enough!!!!! One more won't hurt anyone! But the wallet...
So far as I know the MSRP will be 575.00 .!!! But I know of a place in Columbus thats taking orders now at a price of 375.00. The catch is that he is only getting 13 of them at that price. I bet if you look arround that deels will be found elsewhere too........Mike
Don't get too attatched to that price. My dealer, who is also a consultant on the project, is telling me that he is expecting to sell his for between $275-$325. That's after all the discounts are applied. Certainly he could be wrong, but there is no way I am paying $575 for that monster. I only paid $200 for my P2K 2-8-8-2 when they were asking $375 and that Riv is not $200 more detailed and better engineered than the P2K!!!!!! Perhaps that is the Euro price! That would be mch closer to a reasonable price here. I would rather put $1200 into a brass one that would hold its value than $600 into a plastic version that won't!!! Just my two cents on this. I hope that I am right on this otherwise there will be a empty stall in the engine house on my railroad.
I saw where Peach Creek Shops--http://www.peachcreekshops.com is selling the Riv. 2-6-6-6 for 350 dollars. just have to send in a $50 deposit by July 31,2001. I went this route, seemed a real good deal versus the 585 dollars at Walthers. By the way--I own a Riv. Big Boy, Riv. Challenger, Riv. FEF3 UP 4-8-4 #844,a SP 4-8-4 from Bachmann, and an IHC 4-6-2 pacific, and I mainly model diesels. But I love big steam power.
Here is the latest on the RIVS. We should start to see them in the shops about November of this year. Just in time for the Christmas rush. That means no bargains and reservations a must. As posted in the HO forum the RIV prices are as much as $70 higher now that Walthers has then in the fold. My supplier feels that RIV is shooting themselves in the foot with this because the older models just don't have the detail and precision that such a price requires. He feels that RIV is going to have to make a bunch on the Allegheny to be able to go back and improve the rest of their HO product line. I know that I wouldn't pay $249 for a new BigBoy when I can get a P2K 2-8-8-2 for about $200 or less. Let's hope that big discounts are in Walthers future---I doubt it though. I also know where production model #1 is going to end up. When I get to see it I will grab a photo of it and post it on the board. [ 02 August 2001: Message edited by: bnsf4354 ]</p>
In talking with my distributor I was told that $350 is going to be the going rate for him. Others may be higher or lower, but certainly won't be $575. GOOOD
$350.00 isn't bad for that.. I would concider that if I had the cash to put on a Allegheny. Yes sir I would.... HA
WOW!! I'll be savin' the greenbacks for this one, what a hunk of locomotive from Rivarossi!! This will be well worth having, no matter what road you model! P.s. Hey John, (7600_EM1) I've got left over some of that chipboard. Measures 5x4. Let me know if you want it M.K. As for the Allegheny, I give it Big Grins!
Although I'm a Big Boy buff, the difference between these two monsters is performance. The Big Boy was built to tame the 2% grades out west and the Allegheny was built to take on the mountains. But people will debate time & again that the Allegheny is bigger than the Big Boy, which in fact it does come close to the Big Boy in tractive & pulling power, not to mention weight. How close are they really apart? About 25,000 tractive power & I don't know the exact weight. The King of the Rails truly goes to the Big Boy!
Glad to see such an intrest in big ateam from us Pennsylvania boys. I think, no, I know i'll be getting that Riv. But, I still think the N&W A class has them all beat...(taunt, taunt)
To bad Rivarossi didn't throw a 2-8-8-4 EM-1 "Yellowstone" at us!!!! I know I would have one if so... Really BIG grins... HA! [ 03 August 2001: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]</p>
I put this breakdown of power in the steam section under 2-8-8-2 thread, but I place it here to back up the statement about the Big Boy vs. Allegheny comparison. [RR] [Cab#] [Wheel/Driver] [Class] [Builder/yr] [Tractive Effort] [HP] [Top MPH] [N&W] [1238-42] [2-6-6-4.70] [A1] [1950 N&W] [126,000] [6,300] [70] [C&O] [1600-59] [2-6-6-6.67] [H-8] [1941-48 Lima] [110,200] [7,500@40] [70] [UP] [3930-49] [4-6-6-4.69] [4664-5] [1944 ALCO] [97,400] [70] [UP] [4020-24] [4-8-8-4.68] [4884-2] [1944 ALCO] [135,375] [6,280@37] [80] The Class A did in fact have a higher TE than the Allegheny! Even the Challenger came close to the Allegheny. Nothing is close to the Big Boy though. Perhaps the only thing that the Allegheny did better than the others was accelerate a load to speed (via higher HP)which was probably quite useful in the mountains. Also notice that the Big Boy had the highest MPH---due to better balancing and the fact that the thing didn't ever experience wheelslip. I too, would take the Class A over the Allegheny, but there is no question the Allegheny looks meaner. The most versatile and therefore more valuable would have had to be the Challenger though.
