I two- railed and detailed a set of Lionel ABBA sharks;
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...el-legacy-prr-sharks
Some may find the introduction I wrote to that post of interest:
INTRODUCTION: I really like the PRR sharks, particularly the as-delivered Brunswick green five stripe version. (The only PRR freight locomotives to have five stripes, by the way). They fit my layout time frame (1956 ish), but not my locale (Electrified main line). No matter, it’s my layout and I can do what I want.
Over the years, five different manufacturers have released models of the PRR Sharks. Here is my assessment:
Overland: Done in brass, with a single motor drive. This is the well established gold standard of the lot. They are prototypically accurate with all the details you could want. However an ABBA set will cost as much as a perfectly decent used car. And most of the ones I have seen for sale are missing lit number boards (if not the headlights), have suffered some ill fitting parts over the years, and lack sound (Yeah, I like that). All of which is fixable.
Lionel: A surprisingly good model. Yes the shells are made of ABS, and they have the much reviled twin motor drive with spur gears. But they are dimensionally correct and come fully painted and lettered. They have a lot of added scale size brass details such as grilles, grab irons, horns, trust and builder plates. And they come out of the box with a complete suite of lights, sound, and smoke. They also benefit from the precision that is inherent to mass production. One of the biggest (and most pleasant) surprises is the truck wheel base is almost spot on—it measures out to 9’9”. The Sharks had 9’10” wheel bases, which are considerably longer than most AAR Type B trucks. The longer wheelbase was necessitated by the larger Westinghouse Traction motors. These were unique to the Sharks, and kudos to Lionel for getting this right!
MTH: Have a diecast body that is again close to spot on dimensionally. It’s a bit narrower than the prototype but its only 3”. So who would notice. Certainly not me. Like the Lionel, it comes fully painted and lettered with a full complement of lights and smoke. I had an ABBA set back in my three rail days and they were among the best runners I had. Also like the Lionel, they have excellent, scale sized body details, wire grab irons, and etched body grills. They also have see through fans. The AB units are tethered together, and the tether is big and obvious. Not an intractable problem, but it would still need to be solved. The bigger problem however, is the trucks: They measure out to only an 8’4” wheel base. Now before you pen your indignant post about me being a Uber-SPF. That is a whopping 3/8” too short and really obvious. As MTH took the pains to get the wheel openings right, the thing looks like a C7 Corvette running on space saver spares.
New Jersey Custom Brass; In my opinion the details on these are down several notches from the three listed above. They are 2 rail (a minor plus for me) and their brass construction has all the usual advantages that allows such as a lighter look and thin window openings.
Weaver: These are available from the factory in 2 rail. They are scale size, and the truck wheelbase is close enough at 9’4” (The standard length of an AAR truck with GE Traction motors). But the models are almost totally devoid of any added detail.
So I selected the Lionel.
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For more details, see the above linked thread
