BLI 6963 A-3 4-8-4 NP - Northern Pacific #2666, Post-1947, Black Boiler, Paragon4 Sound & DCC, Smoke, HO Scale. Picture may show a different road number.

6963 Northern Pacific A-3 4-8-4, #2666, Post-1947, Black Boiler, Paragon4 Sound/DC/DCC, Smoke, HO

By the 1920s the Northern Pacific Railroad needed bigger passenger locomotives. With the help of the American Locomotive Company's design engineers, NP designed a new locomotive with a massive firebox that had a 115 square foot grate area supported by a four wheel trailing truck. It was the first locomotive with a 4-8-4 wheel arrangement. ALCO delivered the first of 12 of these new locomotives in December of 1926, with the balance arriving early in 1927. Designated Class A, and assigned road numbers 2600 through 2611, they had 73" drivers, 28 x 30" cylinders, a boiler pressure of 210 psi, a tractive effort of 57,500 lbs and weighed 426,000 pounds. Later, the boiler pressure was raised to 240 psi which increased the tractive effort to 65,700 pounds. These were the first of this new wheel arrangement and thus were to be the namesake, with the name Northern Pacific selected which was very quickly shortened to just Northern. Ten Class A-2s (road numbers 2650 through 2659) came from the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1934. These heavy Northerns had 77" drivers, 28 x 31" cylinders, a boiler pressure of 260 psi, a tractive effort of 69,800 lbs and a weight of 489,400 pounds. In 1938, The Northern Pacific took delivery of eight Class A-3s (road numbers 2660 through 2667), and at the sample time three more were delivered to the SP&S. The specifications for these locomotives were identical to the Class A-2 except that each weighed 2,400 pounds more. The SP&S locomotives were designated Class E-1. They were mostly identical to the Northern Pacific A-3's, except all three were oil burners. The eight Class A-4s (road numbers 2670 through 2677) were delivered by Baldwin in 1941, and had the same basic specifications as the A-3s, but were different in appearance, with 14 wheel centipede tenders and vestibule cabs, and they were 1000 pounds heavier. The last of the 4-8-4s purchased by the NP were the Class A-5s, which were built by Baldwin in 1943. This group of 10 (road numbers 2680 through 2689) were built to the same specifications as the Class A-4s, but turned out to be 16,200 lbs heavier. They were among the heaviest of all the Northern type locomotives ever built, at 508,500 pounds only the Santa Fe Class 2900s weighed more. There are no surviving Northern Pacific Northerns.

Broadway Limited Imports is proud to introduce Paragon4: The new benchmark for premium HO sound-equipped locomotives. These DC and DCC-Sound equipped locomotives feature the ALL-NEW Paragon4 sound and control system. Each Paragon4 locomotive comes with BLI's own integral DCC Decoder factory installed. Paragon4 locomotives offer Dual Mode DC and DCC operation with superb back EMF motor control, improved DC motor control, built-in capacitor pack for more reliable electrical pick-up, industry best on-board sound with Rolling Thunder functionality, Pro Lighting Mode for prototypical light control, Switcher model for precise low speed control, recordable DCC operation for automated playback, and the same excellent detail level as Broadway Limited's Paragon3 Series models.

Paragon4 Sound & Control System Features:

• Operates in DC & DCC with improved DC speed control (use DCMaster for DC Sound)

• Built-In capacitor pack to navigate imperfect track

• Capacitor Pack automatically disabled on program track for full compatibility with JMRI Decoder Pro

• Pro Lighting Mode offers individual control of all lights on model

• Switcher Mode for precise low speed control.

• Record & Play Operation - Records and plays back sounds and movements once or repeatedly for automatic operation

• High Resolution Audio

• Quillable Whistle for various whistle lengths and patterns

• Choice of 3 selectable Horns

• Alternate Whistle / Horn where applicable for locomotive with air horn and steam whistle - both the main whistle and alternate can be easily played

• Adjustable bell ringing interval for faster or slower bell

• Numerous user-mappable functions with available keys

• Johnson Bar Sound at Direction Change

• Multiple realistic passenger and crew sounds play on command

• Grade Crossing Automatic Signal

• Automatic Forward / Reverse Signal - When activated, stopping triggers and stop whistle toot. When moving forward from a stopped position, toots twice. When moving in reverse. toots three times.

• Chuff sound intensity varies with load

• Individually adjustable sound volumes for each effect

• EZ Reset Button for quick return to factory default settings