Pere Marquette 2-8-4 "Berkshire" Stud Counter™ Full Kit
About the Model
Pere Marquette 1225, when built in the early 1940s was simply one of more than three dozen 2-8-4 “Berkshire”-type steam locomotives the railroad purchased during that time.
Looking for more horsepower and a beefier mainline locomotive to haul its fastest and most prominent freight trains, in the latter 1930s the Pere Marquette Railway placed an order for 39 Berkshire-type steam locomotives from the Lima Locomotive Works. The Berkshire locomotive came about because due to Lima’s hope (an established and well-known manufacturer of steam power) to improve upon the USRA Mikado design (2-8-2), which lacked sufficient speed and horsepower. Based initially from a New York Central’s Class H-7 Mikado, what Lima ultimately came up with was a locomotive that included a larger, 100 square foot firebox which necessitated the need for an extra trailing axle. The addition of this axle gave the new design (listed as Class A-1) a 2-8-4 wheel arrangement.
The Pere Marquette 1225 is sixteen feet tall, 101 feet long with a combined engine and tender weight of 440 tons, while producing an impressive 5000 tractive horsepower. It takes about eight hours to generate a full head of steam on the locomotive’s boiler, which operates at 245 pounds per square inch. The tender holds 22 tons of coal and 22,000 gallons of water, consuming one ton of coal for every twelve miles and 150 gallons of water per mile. The locomotive cost $245,000 or roughly $2.5 million by today’s standards.
Today the Pere Marquette 1225 is owned, maintained and operated by the Steam Railroading Institute. It’s part of the National Register of Historic Structures and is renowned for its role in the 2004 Warner Brothers Christmas Classic, THE POLAR EXPRESS™. 1225’s blueprints were used as the prototype for the locomotive image as well as its sounds to bring the train in the animated film to life!
About the Kit
Stud Counter™ full kits are the premiere LEGO® train building experience. They take all of the guess work out of sourcing and gathering the parts. The full kit includes:
- high quality printed instructions
- brand new LEGO® pieces
- all required custom parts
- train control method of choice
- decals by OKBrickWorks
All Stud Counter™ full kits are made to order and require 6-8 weeks delivery.
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Please note, render is shown to represent the finished model.