Sunset 3rd Rail B&O T3 (Pictures and Video) (2024)

Sitting in my home office today, I heard the familiar THUD DING DONG of the UPS man, this time "delivering" my T3 onto my concrete front porch. No harm done thank goodness.

Beautiful engine. Great sounds. Runs smoothly. Negotiates all my track well.

Minor complaints: that stutter chuff, which my 3rd Rail Y6b also has; the engine slips out here and there on grades pulling around 13 freight cars; not great slow speed operation in TMCC mode, better in Cab1 mode; and a possible minor TMCC issue here and there on my layout. Need some ground planes I guess.

I'm happy with it so far.

WOW Jeff that's a beautiful engine
the whistle and engine sound are awesome

THANKS FOR POSTING THE VIDEO
ALEX

That really is a nice engine, and how long is that tender anway? Looks as long as the engine.

bruce

quote:

Originally posted by c.sam:
But at least they are full-sized, unlike many of Lionel's 'scale steamers'

Lets not lose sight of why this is the case. 3rd rail's faithfullness to scale fidelity is a given, thats what they do. That loco rquires 0-72 minimum to accomodate the prototypical scale pilot and smaller flanges. If Lionel made that loco it would probably have an 0-42 radius recommendation or even smaller. I.E. the legacy northerns signifigantly larger than the t3 have undersized pilot wheels to prevent them from rubbing the cylinders or linkage on the o-54 minimum radius.Lionels overly obvious inaccuracies/shortcomings, often allow an operator with a smaller layout to be able to own a large loco. VL hudsons require o72 with the optional scale pilot installed. Anywhoo, nice video of a great loco Jeff! Thats definitely one of the whistle sets Lionel should have kept for themselves and updated it in a quillable version

Jeff, your T3 is a beauty, which is what I would expect from 3rd Rail. I have a 3rd Rail B&M Berkshire, which is also a rolling work of art.

Enjoy your loco, thanks for sharing.

Jeff,

Very nice, as always 3rd rail details and accurracy are first rate, but there is one other thing that stood out for me. The smoke. The volume is good but I'm talking about the steady stream with the extra burst on top in synch with the chuff. My CB&Q does not have that extra burst, it is just steady. Is this a new feature? I really like this and was thinking about bringing this up in a post. As you may know, the smoke on the MTH and Lionel engines stops between chuffs which is not so realistic. Instead of stopping the fans, they should just change speeds which is what it looks like with this 3rd Rail engine. Very cool, very real looking.

Rich

Jeff,

Thanks for sharing pics (and the video) of your T-3 with us.

I knew that the B&O had both short and long vandy tenders, but I didn't realize how long they actually were until I unpacked mine! LOL!

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by jd-train:
Jeff,

Thanks for sharing pics (and the video) of your T-3 with us.

I knew that the B&O had both short and long vandy tenders, but I didn't realize how long they actually were until I unpacked mine! LOL!

Jim

My wife is particularly taken aback by the long vandy tender. lol

quote:

Originally posted by pennsy484:

My wife is particularly taken aback by the long vandy tender. lol

Another farmerbill wannabe

Jeff,

Thanks so much for posting photos and the video featuring this model. Love the smoke effect and the sounds are great.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by RickO:

quote:

Originally posted by pennsy484:

My wife is particularly taken aback by the long vandy tender. lol

Another farmerbill wannabe

If I had that kind of talent I'd take it on the road!

quote:

Originally posted by Steam Guy:
Jeff,

Thanks so much for posting photos and the video featuring this model. Love the smoke effect and the sounds are great.

Steve

I really enjoy photographing and making videos of trains, so thanks for viewing!

It is a great whistle for a non quillable.

Pennsy484,

Pictures and videos are very well done. As for the real T3's, they could be seen single or double headed on express trains through the mountains out of Cumberland, or high balling a reefer block in the midwest. They were also used on QD (general, high priority freight over Sand Patch. And Bill Price has pictures of them as passenger helpers out of Cumberland. So it would be at home on the front of a pair of E units too.

And yes, that "flask on the hip" will cause "tender envy" among the rest of the fleet in your roundhouse.

Gary

Hi Jeff I watched this video again and I had already commented
above.I just had to post again this engine is really beautiful
and the sounds are incredible and that tender is huge.Great job
on the video.I would like to see pics of your layout progress
when you get a chance.

THANKS ALEX