Model Power - 87593 - Locomotive, Steam, 2-8-2 Heavy Mikado - Southern Pacific - 786

Specific Item Information: USRA 2-8-2 MIKADO w/Vandy Coal/Oil Tender

Model Information: Model Power introduced this model in 2002. They are manufactured in Korea and feature die-cast bodies. This makes them fairly solid. Unlike many steam engines they also are very DCC-Friendly. The fall short of being fully DCC-Ready because they do not support drop-in decoders and instead require some manipulation of wiring. They run very well and can pull a lot of cars. The shell details are excellent

Unfortunately, the design is not great for running and parts of the lower shell can get mangled when they hit rough patches of track (especially turnouts). This can effectively put one of these out of commission. For this reason we advise buying these from a certified dealer because if you have to return them for repairs you will need the documentation.>

DCC Information: It is pretty easy to add DCC to this engine. However, it is not DCC-Ready as you need to splice in a decoder inside the tender. Not a lot of work, but not as nice as a drop-in decoder swap.

Prototype History: The Heavy Mikado was "conceived" under the auspices of the United States Railway Administration (USRA), an agency established during WWI to regulate the railroad industry during the war. One of the first undertakings of the USRA was to develop locomotive (and rolling stock) designs that the railroads could share. This "common design" program was highly successful in streamlining production, and many USRA engines were used long after the war was over, essentially "outliving" the agency that conceived them.

The 2-8-2 is a railroad steam locomotive that has one leading axle followed by four powered driving axles and one trailing axle. This configuration of steam locomotive is most often referred to as a Mikado, or shortened to just "Mike". The USRA ultimately created 12 different steam locomotive designs, including both the Heavy Mikado and Light Mikado. Both the Light and Heavy Mikado used the same 63" drivers and running gear, but the Heavy Mike had a fatter boiler and put out more pounds on the drivers. This resulted in a more powerful locomotive.

Under the USRA's watch, 233 Heavy Mikados were built. Including copies built later, the total number of Heavy Mikes was 957 units, purchased originally by 23 different railroads, primarily in freight service. Some Mikado steam engine are still in service today, employed mostly for tourist or railfan trips.

Road Name History: The Southern Pacific Transportation Company (reporting mark SP), earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually called the Southern Pacific or (from the railroad's initials) Espee, was an American Class I railroad. It was absorbed in 1988 by the company that controlled the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and eight years later became part of the Union Pacific Railroad.

The railroad was founded as a land holding company in 1865, later acquiring the Central Pacific Railroad by lease. By 1900 the Southern Pacific Company was a major railroad system incorporating many smaller companies, such as the Texas and New Orleans Railroad and Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad. It extended from New Orleans through Texas to El Paso, across New Mexico and through Tucson, to Los Angeles, through most of California, including San Francisco and Sacramento. Central Pacific lines extended east across Nevada to Ogden, Utah, and reached north through Oregon to Portland. Other subsidiaries eventually included the St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt), the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at 328 miles (528 km), the 1,331 miles (2,142 km) Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico, and a variety of 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge routes.

In 1929 SP/T&NO operated 13848 route-miles not including Cotton Belt, whose purchase of the Golden State Route circa 1980 nearly doubled its size to 3,085 miles (4,965 km), bringing total SP/SSW mileage to around 13,508 miles (21,739 km).

By the 1980s route mileage had dropped to 10,423 miles (16,774 km), mainly due to the pruning of branch lines. In 1988 the Southern Pacific was taken over by D&RGW parent Rio Grande Industries. The combined railroad kept the Southern Pacific name due to its brand recognition in the railroad industry and with customers of both constituent railroads. Along with the addition of the SPCSL Corporation route from Chicago to St. Louis, the total length of the D&RGW/SP/SSW system was 15,959 miles (25,684 km).

By 1996 years of financial problems had dropped SP's mileage to 13,715 miles (22,072 km), and it was taken over by the Union Pacific Railroad.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Founded in the late 1960's by Michael Tager, the 3rd generation business specializes in quality hobby products serving the toy and hobby markets worldwide. During its 50 years of operation, Model Power has developed a full line of model railroading products, die-cast metal aircraft, and die-cast metal cars and trucks.

In early 2014, Model Power ceased its business operations. Its extensive portfolio of intellectual property and physical assets are now exclusively produced, marketed, sold, and distributed by MRC (Model Power, MetalTrain and Mantua) and by Daron (Postage Stamp Airplanes and Airliner Collection).