@Lou1985 posted:Prepare for a long winded response.
So the real Santa Fe 5011 class 2-10-4 was built at the same time as the 2900 class 4-8-4. Both were built by Baldwin in the 1943-1944 time frame. They were both visually almost identical. The shared the same tenders, with the visual differences (besides wheel arrangements) being the 5011 class being 2 feet longer and having a wider boiler.
The Lionel model is tooling purchased from MTH. The tooling started life around 1995 in the form of the Santa Fe 2900 class 4-8-4. In the early 2000s MTH tooled up a 2-10-4 chassis to sit under the 2900 class 4-8-4 chassis (since the two locomotives are so visually identical) creating the 5011 class on the cheap, since it only required new tooling for the chassis. Since the MTH (now Lionel) model uses the 2900 class boiler, the 2-10-4 5011 class chassis under it can look a bit odd at different angles vs. the real life locomotive. The boiler is narrower, so it doesn't extend down as close to the driver's as it should. The 2-10-4 is also about 1/2" shorter then it should be as well.
The only fully accurate Santa Fe 5011 class 2-10-4 in 3 rail was made by 3rd Rail in the early 2000s. It is mechanically inferior to the MTH (now Lionel) model and does not run nearly as well. That being said I own three MTH Santa Fe 2-10-4s and two MTH Santa Fe 2900 class 4-8-4s. The visual inaccuracies of the MTH (now Lionel) 5011 class don't bother me enough to cause grief.
Fantastic insight, thank you so much. This is my first model of an O scale ATSF 2-10-4, so there is still a lot that I have to learn. Definitely a still a nice model with great features; makes a nice addition to my mostly ATSF steam fleet.
