Motive Power used on the RS&L Garden Railroad
Switcher
PROTOTYPE HISTORY
The Aristo-Craft Trains' Switcher 0-4-0 Steam Locomotive is an accurate reproduction of
the Steam (switching) Locomotives known as ‘yard goats’ or ‘shifters’ built and
used by nearly all North American railroads until replaced by the "newer" diesel
locomotives.
This model is based upon the Pennsylvania Railroad Class A5 0-4-0 originally built by PRR’s Juaniata Shops with ‘slopeback’ tenders and the PRR Class A3
0-4-0T (Tank locomotive without tender) built from 1895 until 1915.
Both types of 0-4-0’s were used in areas of sharp curvature industrial trackage
to handle freight railcars and in many passenger-train terminals to switch US Mail, Express, Baggage, and Passenger Railcars.
FA1 / FB1
PROTOTYPE HISTORY
The Aristo-Craft Trains' FA-1 / FB-1
Diesel locomotive is an accurate reproduction of the ALCO FA-1 / FB-1 Diesel-Electric Locomotives designed and built by the
American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York.
Starting immediately after the end of World War II, ALCO built hundreds of these
1500 horsepower diesel locomotives for use by railroads in the USA, Mexico, South America, Cuba, and Canada.
The 1500 hp FA-1 was upgraded to 1600 hp and with other design changes became the FA-2 produced by ALCO. In Canada, the model designation was
FA-1 and FA-2 along with the FPA version produced by Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada for passenger service.
Primarily intended as a replacement for steam locomotives in freight train service, the FA-1 was also used in passenger service. The ALCO FA-1 Diesel
Locomotives have been replaced by more modern diesels on today's railroads.
However, an ALCO FA-1 Diesel Locomotive has been restored to operating condition in Connecticut and examples of recently retired MLW FPA-4 Diesel
Locomotives have been returned to operating condition to haul passenger excursion trains in
California.
4-6-2 Pacific
PROTOTYPE HISTORY
The Pacific 4-6-2 Steam Locomotive evolved around the world as a heavy passenger
engine. Especially embraced in the US and Canada, it was developed because
trains were becoming longer and heaver and the current 4-6-0 "Ten Wheelers"
could not cope with the new equipment. It was apparent that a larger firebox was
needed in order to produce more steam in the boiler to pull bigger trains. In
order to overcome this deficiency, a trailing truck was added to the locomotive
to support the weight of a larger firebox, and the Pacific 4-6-2 was born.
Primarily a passenger engine, it was also used by some railroads for fast
freight.
Railroads from East to West operated the Pacific. All of the three major locomotive builders, Alco, Baldwin and Lima built Pacifics for their client railroads. The prototypes for Aristo-Craft's Pacifics are products of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, in 1927. They were erected for the Baltimore & Ohio railroad as their "President" class of heavy passenger locomotives.
4-4-2 Atlantic
PROTOTYPE HISTORY
The Lionel Atlantic 4-4-2 Steam
Locomotive is modeled after a Pennsylvania Railroad E6 Class Atlantic.
The E6 was developed before 1920 to haul passengers over the mostly flat parts of Pennsy's system and it did
very well for many years. It could run very fast with 5 or 6 heavyweights so that it could keep tight
schedules. You won't often find this kind of engine pulling freight. It's a high speed
engine and just doesn't have the deep down grunt capability to start heavy loads.