Broadway Limited - 3976 - Locomotive, Steam, 2-8-2 Heavy Mikado - New Haven - 3104

Specific Item Information: Paragon4 Sound

Model Information: For the first time in N scale, BLI is bringing out the USRA Light and Heavy 2-8-2 designs, commonly called Heavy Mikados and Light Mikados! There were 233 original USRA Heavy 2-8-2's built plus another 957 copies, covering 23 railroads. It was an extremely successful design. The USRA Heavy Mikados used pretty much the same running gear as the Light Mik's, but the boilers were 10 inches larger in diameter and they had larger cylinders as well. Tractive effort was about 10% higher for the heavy 2-8-2's. As for the USRA Light Mikados, the USRA built 625 total, with 641 copies built after the USRA ended control. With copies, over 50 railroads used the USRA Light 2-8-2's.

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 New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (reporting mark NH), commonly known as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in New England from 1872 to 1968, dominating the region's rail traffic for the first half of the 20th century.

Beginning in the 1890s and accelerating in 1903, New York banker J. P. Morgan sought to monopolize New England transportation by arranging the NH's acquisition of 50 companies, including other railroads and steamship lines, and building a network of electrified trolley lines that provided interurban transportation for all of southern New England. By 1912, the New Haven operated more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of track, with 120,000 employees, and practically monopolized traffic in a wide swath from Boston to New York City.

This quest for monopoly angered Progressive Era reformers, alienated public opinion, resulted in high prices for acquisitions, and increased construction costs. Debt soared from $14 million in 1903 to $242 million in 1913, even as the advent of automobiles, trucks and buses reduced railroad profits. Also in 1913, the federal government filed an anti-trust lawsuit that forced the NH to divest its trolley systems.

The line became bankrupt in 1935, was reorganized and reduced in scope, went bankrupt again in 1961, and in 1969 was merged with the Penn Central system, formed a year earlier by the merger of the also bankrupt New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad; Already a poorly conceived merger, Penn Central proceeded to go bankrupt in 1970, becoming the largest bankruptcy in the U.S. until the Enron Corporation superseded it in 2001. The remnants of the system now comprise Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, (parts of) Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, Shore Line East, parts of the MBTA, and numerous freight operators such as CSX and the Providence and Worcester Railroad. The majority of the system is now owned publicly by the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

Read more on Wikipedia and New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association, Inc.

Brand/Importer Information: Broadway Limited Imports, LLC defines itself as "the world's foremost producer of top-quality HO and N scale model trains".

The company was founded in 2002 and introduced its first N scale model in 2009.

Broadway Limited Imports is composed of a team of 15 fun loving individuals who are dedicated to creating the most realistic model railroading experience possible, with the best customer service possible.

The Broadway Limited Imports headquarters is located in Ormond Beach, Florida at 9 East Tower Circle. It's just under an hour's drive from Disney World.

About Broadway Limited Imports.