Product Features and Details
This model has been cancelled by the factory.
Prototype: Royal Bavarian State Railroad (K.Bay.Sts.B.) class S3/6 express locomotive, builder's series d/e. Road no. 3624. Locomotive as it looked in 1914 with kerosene lamps. Use: Premium passenger service.
Model: Era I. The locomotive has a 5-pole motor with a skewed armature and a flywheel, a controlled DCC / Selectrix digital decoder and a sound effects generator with many functions, built into the tender. The locomotive can be operated with DCC, Selectrix and Trix Systems as well as conventional power packs. 4 axles powered. A smoke generator can be installed in the locomotive. The headlights are maintenance-free, warm white LED's. The headlights and the smoke generator contact will work in conventional operation and can be controlled digitally. The locomotive whistle sound, steam locomotive operating sounds, the sounds of coal being shoveled, air compressor sounds and brake sounds , short whistle blast for switching operations, injector sounds, the sound of steam being let off, steam chest sounds, and the acceleration and braking delay can be controlled with DCC or Trix Systems. There is a permanent close coupling between the locomotive and the tender and an NEM coupler pocket with a guide mechanism along with a close coupler on the rear of the tender. Minimum radius for operation 360 mm / 14-3/16". Detail parts such as brake hoses, couplers, and cylinder rod protection sleeves as well as a set of etched signs with two other different road numbers printed on them are included. Length over the buffers 254 mm / 10".
S 3/6 - A Bavarian Beauty! One of the most beautiful and also one of the most successful steam locomotive designs came from Bavaria: the class S 3/6. The firm Maffei in Munich built 159 of these famous locomotives in several series between 1908 and 1931. They were the Pacific locomotive of the provincial railroad period built in the largest numbers and were technically developed parallel to the Baden IV h. The S 3/6 also had four-cylinder compound running gear with single axle drive on the second driving axle and reached a maximum speed of 120 km/h / 75 mph. Its elegant form, the cone-shaped smoke box door, and the aerodynamic engineer's cab on some of the series built contributed to the mystique of this locomotive. The series d and e stand out in particular from the various series. They were specially planned for the more gently graded Bavarian express train routes, such as between Munich and Nürnberg. Because of their assigned task, the decision was made to increase the driving wheel diameter from 1,870 mm / 73-5/8" to 2,000 mm / 78-3/4" which quickly bestowed it the nickname "High Stepper". The 18 locomotives in the series d and e were also equipped with a larger tender, but without a streamlined engineer's cab, which makes you wonder, since they were built exclusively for express train service at high speeds. After World War I, 19 units of the S 3/6 went to other European countries as reparations payments. The remaining units in Germany were designated as the class 18.4 by the German State Railroad. The DRG purchased another 30 units because the standard design locomotives were not yet available. The class 18.4 continued to be used as motive power for express trains and cut quite a good figure on the point of the Orient Express as well as the Rheingold. The German Federal Railroad took over a still larger number of locomotives and partially rebuilt them. They were considered the most economical steam locomotives on the German Federal Railroad. It was the rebuilding that accelerated their being taken out of service. Cracks developed in the boiler and the boiler pressure had to be lowered which resulted in a reduction in performance. By 1965, all of the locomotives were removed from regularly scheduled service and the majority fell victim to the cutting torch and scrap press. Several remained preserved however, and remind people of the glamour of the fame-filled past of the beautiful Bavarian S 3/6. A "High Stepper" is currently in the transportation center of the German Museum in Munich on the Therese Heights.
Recommended minimum radius 420 mm / 16-9/16". Scheduled delivery date is the spring of 2009.
