MTH RailKing Camelback steam locomotive
By Bob Keller | January 15, 2016
| Last updated on February 11, 2021
An O gauge steam locomotive
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Very nice review I love the train and your description.
Thanks.
Any body can help me to find this part crosshead RH for train O scale MTH 4-8-2 overall dim. 3 3/8″,
Simile to the train shown above 777, 4-6-0.
write to bjslucca@msn.com
Thank you JOE
This must have been a nightmare to run good job BOB with the article
very nice review thanks.
Nice article Bob. Your description of the Camelback is very good. Yes. this engine smokes like crazy. I have one, and it smokes so much That I expect it to set off my household smoke alarm. One engine might not do it, but if I were running two or three of these engines, I'm sure the local fire department would receive an automatic false alarm generated by my smoke detector! Really! No joke!
I always thought that in the 1860's to 1880's, when the Mississippi was just begining to be bridged over, that the railroads and the steamboat opearators ( among other transportation systems ) were almost considered deadly enemies because there was so much sharp ( and sometimes underhanded and dirty ) competition between them. No this is NOT a criticism of what you said. I see your point, and it's a good one. I like the way you put it so well. I'm just illustrating a point of fact in the history of our country. The competing transportation systems of the day, and the rivalries between buisnesses was sometimes friendly, but other times very unfriendly. Even to the point of being downright dangerous! Especially when a steamboat is deliberatly run into your brand new WOODEN rairoad bridge. Then the bridge catches fire when the burning bails of cotton set the bridge alight, or the steamboat boiler blows up!
I must say that the decription of the whistle sound is quite right thought. It's a really sweet sound isn't it! Wonderful! The bell sound and the chuff (which is better than many other engines chuff sound) are great too! Many engines have only ONE chuff per each wheel revolution. This engine has four, as any real engine would.
Bob. Over all, the visual presentation was excelent and I enjoyed it very much. You ALWAYS do a good job, and it's fun to watch and listen to anything you have to say concerning model trains.
Best regards, Mr. Leslie Howe.
P.S. I've been collecting trains (mostly Marx, Lionel, American Flyer, but a few others too.) for 60 years. I'm 65 now, and I still love it!
P.P.S. I can see why your uncle HATED having to fire a Camelback engine. I understand that it was one of the more UNPLEASANT and dangerous (even explosive) engines to work on. Did the manufacturers ever build any Camelback engines with a mechanical stoker? I thought that It would have made the engine a lot safer for the fireman, and more efficient/cost effective for the railroads.
Does anyone know if this was ever done? I would really like to know anyone ever tried it. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that a mechanical stoker (especially for the Camelback design ) might have been a good idea!
Nice job on the review
Hey Bob, Really great review. As a point of interest, isn't there in real life, a diamond steel plate that hinges down between the tender and the boiler so that the fireman is fairly safe when he is perched back there shoveling coal? I realize that back in those days corporate America didn't necessarily have the welfare of their employees at the forefront of their business strategies, but it sure looks practically impossible to fling coal all the way from the tender to those boiler doors. By the way, why can't Lionel make smoke like MTH? Beautiful smoke on that Camelback locomotive. Thank you for the great review.–T.