Hello all

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CivilWarNut

New Member
Jun 15, 2007
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I am new to this forum as well, and could not find the Introductions forum - so I thought I would introduce myself as well here.

I am seriously considering getting into model railroading as a hobby. As my moniker states, I am interested in the Civil War. Have been all my life. I am thinking of creating a diorama of a Civil War battlefield that incorporates a railroad.

Was on the internet looking to see if any manufacturer created a model of "The General" in N gauge and I came across this forum.

Hoping that this new hobby will be a great bonding experience for my children as well.

If anyone knows if a N-guage replica of "The General" is made and who makes it, I would really appreciate the help.

Thanks all, and looking forward to learning much from you.
 
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BrownMouse

New Member
Sep 5, 2005
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Hi,
While glad to see to see that there is someone else out there who likes CW-era trains, I have some bad news - There is practically nothing out there. the only 4-4-0s made in N are the Bachmann models of the Jupiter and 119. The Jupiter is probably your best bet. Bear in mind though, that the General as she appears now has very little resemblence to the locomotive that Andrews stole- the General was originally built with three domes, an outside auxilerary frame, a D-shaped smokebox without the wheel on the front, and a Radley and Hunter smokestack, to name a few differences! Look up Wilbur Kurtz online- he painted a number of pictures of the Great Locomotive Chase (and married Capt. Fuller's daughter). Also look around for a book called Civil War Railroads and Models by Edwin Alexander.

The choices in HO are about the same - the two Bachmann locos, which unfortunately is built in such a way as to preclude using it as a base for better locomotive, and a number of grossly oversized 1870's models. I myself am going the scratchbuilding route, but you might also try rebuilding a bachmann loco in N - it might be more amenable to modification than the HO model.
 
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60103

Pooh Bah
Mar 25, 2002
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Brampton, Ontario, Canada
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For decades, Mantua and Tyco made a model of the General in HO in the current form. Someone was advertising a model in original form, but I think that was O gauge. And about 1960, Kitmaster had a plastic HO or OO gauge model. Trail Blazers had a plastic HO kit in the late 50s.
 
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BrownMouse

New Member
Sep 5, 2005
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Yes, I should have mentioned the Mantua/Tyco general. However, it is pretty oversized, I believe, and the later ones have solid drivers with faux spokes. Don't know about the others.
 
nkp174

nkp174

Active Member
Oct 10, 2006
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Cincinnati, O.
I've got an idea (sorry to dig this up!).

Since the IHC stuff is OO scale...perhaps an OO scale model would do? The old Rivarossi Bowker could work as well...and I suspect that if the Mantua General was oversized, that it was OO too!

OO scale is 1:76...which is much close to the 1:72 scale civil war soldier sets. I'd strongly look into that...
 
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