I started reading this topic about Berkshires and it dawned on me I have a book by Pacific Fast Mail titled "The Berkshire and Texas Types". I figured owners were mostly northern or mid-western RRs, but the book shows that the old Norfolk Southern also owned the Berks. I thought...hey maybe that would be something I wouldn't mind having, just to get away from SAL for a while.
Well, it appears the Berkshires NS owned were a breed to themselves. The book says NS had Baldwin build 5 of the smallest 2-8-4 engines around. They weighed in at 335,000 lbs, 25 tons less than the lightest 2-8-4 predecessor. They also had semi-Vanderbilt tenders on 6-wheel trucks and had trailing booster engines, front-mounted pumps, and slanted cabs.
These were later sold to ASARCO in 1950, then to NdeM in the late 50s, early 60s.
In the end, it doesn't look as if any of the current models come close to the Berks NS owned 
