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. Industry-Leading Features: NP and SP&S Northern Model Information: ALL-NEW Paragon4 Sound & Control System Synchronized Puffing Smoke with Chuff Sound Variable Puffing Smoke Intensity and timing Integral DCC Decoder with Back EMF for Industry Best Slow Speed Operation in DC and DCC Precision Drive Mechanism engineered for continuous heavy load towing and smooth slow speed operation 5-Pole Can Motor with Skew Wound Armature Built-in Capacity Pack for Improved Electrical Pick-up Premium Caliber Painting with Authentic Paint Schemes Prototypical Light Operation with Golden White LED Headlight, Rear Light Brass Locomotive and Tender Body Heavyweight Die Cast Chassis for Maximum Pulling Power Accurately Modeled with Multiple Detail Options Appropriate for Each Paint Scheme Option for Low Numberplate Beneath Headlight Option for High or Low Numberboards where Accurate Smokestack Extension Present Where Appropriate Prototypically Accurate Paint Schemes for Each Model Many Separately Applied Details Including Handrails, Grab Irons, Ladders, Piping, Whistle, and Brass Bell Equipped with Traction Tires for Increased Pulling Power Engineer and Fireman Figures Installed Will Operate on Code 70, 83, and 100 rail Recommended Minimum Radius: 18 inches Accurate Prototypical Sounds for the NP and SP&S 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 **Specifications on this page subject to change. Item Descriptions Numberplate beneath headlight HighNumber-boards StackExten-sion Auto-maticLubri-cator Rear Wheel inTrailing Truck Tender 6960 NP A-3 4-8-4, #2661, Pre-1947, Black Boiler YES NO NO NO SPOKE COAL 6961 NP A-3 4-8-4, #2665, Pre-1947, Black Boiler YES NO NO NO SPOKE COAL 6962 NP A-3 4-8-4, #2667, Pre-1947, Gray Boiler YES NO NO NO SPOKE COAL 6963 NP A-3 4-8-4, #2666, Post-1947, Black Boiler NO YES YES YES SOLID COAL 6964 NP A-3 4-8-4, #2662, Post-1947, Gray Boiler NO YES YES YES SOLID COAL 6965 SP&S E-1 4-8-4, #700, Modern Excursion Version YES NO NO YES SOLID OIL 6966 SP&S E-1 4-8-4, #700, Excursion Version (1990-2004) YES YES NO YES SOLID OIL 6967 SP&S E-1 4-8-4, #701, As-Delivered (1938-1947) YES NO NO NO SPOKE OIL 6968 SP&S E-1 4-8-4, #701, Late Postwar (1949-1956) YES YES NO YES SOLID OIL 6969 SP&S E-1 4-8-4, #702, Late Postwar (1949-1956) YES YES NO YES SOLID OIL