With this engine being smaller than 1/4 scale, would it be closer to the size of the N&W 4-8-2 K2a? Could it be converted without a lot of redo (possibly just adding a 2-wheel trailing truck)? Was the "J" tender welded or riveted, what was the K2a tender, what is the Williams tender?
I'm Jonesing for one of these bullet-faced beauties but I can't bring myself to paying $1100+ no matter how purty she is.
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With this engine being smaller than 1/4 scale, would it be closer to the size of the N&W 4-8-2 K2a?
No
Rex,
Actually I think the answer could be yes.
You see, the "J" was approx. 109'-2-1/4" long pulling face to pulling face. That equates to approx 27-5/16" in 1/4 scale.
The K2a was approx. 100'-11" or roughly 25-1/4" in 1/4 scale.
So the Williams "J" is closer to the K2a in length, but still 3" short if the 22" length they give for the model is accurate.
I guess what I'm asking is this...would the Williams die-cast "J" make a better model of the K2a? With it being off anyway, would putting a 2-wheel trailing truck on the engine make it look more like the K2a than the J?
The J engine was 61'-2-1/2" long (15-5/16" in O scale), the K2a engine was 53'-9-5/8" long (13-7/16" in O scale). Anybody know how long just the Williams engine is (sans tender)?
Another crude way to put this is, as long as it's wrong would it be better suited to represent a K2a?
OR
If I slapped a 2-wheel truck on it would anybody care???
I had a Lionel 746; I assume the Williams J is the same size.
Having said that, my scale J dwarfed the 746. The K2A is smaller than the J, but not as much smaller as the 746 is to a scale J.
Length comparisons are risky, especially overall, since the Williams/Lionel version has a long drawbar betwixt tender and locomotive to accommodate 0-31 curves.
The tenders are visually much different; N&W aficionados may disagree, but the K2A tender looks like a Y6b tender, not the smooth, welded-side J tender.
If your intent is a scale model of the K2A I think you're on the wrong track. If you want a caricature of a K2A, sure, put a two-wheel trailing truck on a Williams J. If your real intent is a scale K2A then I suggest mortgaging your firstborn and buying the 3rd Rail release
Rex is right and being that this is the 3RS Forum, why not buy a 3rd Rail N&W K2a?
Big Jim:
Bob said originally:
I'm Jonesing for one of these bullet-faced beauties but I can't bring myself to paying $1100+ no matter how purty she is.
That's Bob's problem
I'd like one, too, but I'd rather lay out bucks for an N&W modernized K-1 if one is ever produced.
Yeah, I sure do like the looks of the 3rd Rail K2a. I almost wish I had ordered that instead of the E7, except it's twice the price.
I've been looking thru my book "Norfolk & Western Steam (The Last 25 Years), by Ron Rosenberg, 1973. It has a writeup about the J and the K2a, man what handsome locomotives.
The Williams Crown Edition brass J sounds like the least expensive way to get a scale J, but to tell you the truth the K2a appeals to me more, maybe cause it's just not the overdone J. Shame they're conventional and no longer produced (22 years ago right?).
The not-scale/compressed J is easier to find and still being produced I guess. WBB lists it under the Golden Memories list vice the Traditional line.
Well, I'll keep looking and dreaming. That's part of the fun I suppose 
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