Awesome

Yes, it is a Triplex built for Virginian and decorated by Gary Schrader as a one of a kind model: The DRGW Triplex that could have been but never was....

This is the first part of the article by Gary: 

All,

I have been working on a rather interesting example of a "never was" model, although it looks so cool, it SHOULD have been. In fact, it came close to being as Baldwin did a serious proposal for the D&RGW for a 2-8-8-8-2. The disappointing results on the Erie probably led to the D&RGW not buying one. Oh well . . .

The model started life as a Westside Virginian Triplex. Cockerham installed the triple motor drive system in it. Bill Lambert had someone modify the engine to be detailed like a D&RGW engine would be. That person built up the tender and painted the engine. Unfortunately, the detailer copied an L-132 instead of the L-131 that Bill wanted. There are some significant piping differences, and the L-131 has a cover over the turret ahead of the cab. Bill wanted me to make the engine run and change to the L-131 detailing.

Just making the engine run was a significant challenge, as there were show stopper problems on each of the 3 engines, not the least of which was a worm gear spinning on its shaft. It now runs beautifully and is quite a sight to see with all those siderods moving. I also re-wired the model and added constant intensity lighting with turned reflectors in the headlight and backup light and lighted number boards, as you can see in the photos. The attached 8 photos were taken before I started the detailing changes. I am also doing some video on it for the next "Rare Brass" video I put out. I wanted to do the video before the mods, since I will not be doing the re-paint of the model afterwards. I'll show all the mods, but I thought the model would look better for the video as it is now rather than with a bunch of bare brass parts on it.

Gary

Yves

That locomotive is wicked cool.  Don't care if it never got past the "Proposal" stage. 

Gary Schrader is an absolute craftsman.  I wish I had 1/10 of his talent. 

Regards,

Jerry

From what I am reading, the one Triplex built for the Virginian ran out of steam if operated much over 5mph.  The Erie's versions were only used in helper service due to lack of steam and because the tender lost its weight as the engine used water and coal and that caused a traction issue. Seems like they should have built weight into the tender to begin with and sounds like it needed a larger firebox and boiler?

The Triplex used by Virginian were designed to "help" heavy trains to go through some steep slopes in the Appalachian mountains. They were not designed to run more than 20 miles (yes at extremely low speed) and that explains the small tender and limited capacity in water and coal.

There is a gentleman (Joe S.) who is an expert on that locomotive and knows exactly where and how they were being used. I wish he could chime in with more details. All I know about the Triplex is from him.

Yves