Uncataloged O Scale Premier 4-6-2 USRA Heavy Pacific Steam Locomotive Announced

July 8, 2025 - M.T.H. Electric Trains has announced an exclusive and uncataloged Premier O Scale 4-6-2 USRA Heavy Pacific Steam Locomotive in Boston & Maine livery for M.T.H. Authorized Retailer B&F Hobbies in Wakefield, Rhode Island. The locomotives will be offered in extremely limited quantities beginning in October 2025.

Item No. 20-3987-1 Boston & Maine 4-6-2 USRA Heavy Pacific Steam Engine w/Proto-Sound 3.0
Cab No. 3689
Early Order Price: $1,399.99 (plus freight)
Click HERE to download the order form from B&F Hobbies.

ABOUT THE PREMIER O SCALE 4-6-2 USRA HEAVY PACIFIC

During World War I, Uncle Sam nationalized the railroads when they proved unequal to the task of moving massive amounts of men and materiel for the war effort. The agency that ran the trains was the United States Railroad Administration, or USRA, and one of its chief accomplishments was the creation of 12 steam engine designs that lasted for decades. According to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, USRA locomotives were “the first successful standardization of American motive power” — and the only standard designs until the diesel era.

In the World War I period, the 4-6-2 Pacific was the favored mainline passenger engine in relatively level territory, so the USRA designs included light and heavy 4-6-2s. The heavy version, designed for trackage that allowed a heavier axle load, was similar in most major dimensions to the existing Pennsylvania K4s and Chesapeake & Ohio F-17 Pacifics. Both had been designed around 1913 and were considered powerful and fast locomotives for their time.

Only 20 government-issue-heavy Pacifics were actually built, all of them going to the Erie Railroad. But like most USRA designs, the heavy Pacific was so good that a number of railroads ordered copies after government control ended. The Erie bought 11 more, and at least three of the most successful heavy Pacifics built in the 1920s were based on the USRA design: the Baltimore & Ohio P-7d “President” class, the C&O F-19, and the Southern Railway Ps-4. A survivor of the latter class resides today in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., resplendent in the Southern’s famous green livery with gold striping.

Order directly from:

B&F Hobbies
210 Church Street
Wakefield, RI 02879
401-782-6400
Email: frankcaraccia401@gmail.com

M.T.H. Electric Trains will be releasing the 2025 O Gauge RailKing SD60 Diesel Locomotive in SIX roadnames next Fall. Each scheme will be available in up to two prototypical cab numbers, all in limited quantities and expected to begin shipping to M.T.H. Authorized Retailers in December 2025.

Check out each of these offerings HERE.

These items are available to order from your local M.T.H. Authorized Retailer.

M.T.H. Electric Trains will be releasing the 2025 O Scale Premier GP-35 Diesel Locomotive in EIGHT roadnames next Fall. Each scheme will be available in up to two prototypical cab numbers with some schemes available in low-hood and others in high-hood configurations. All will be produced in limited quantities and expected to begin shipping to M.T.H. Authorized Retailers in November 2025.

Check out each of these offerings HERE.

These items are available to order from your local M.T.H. Authorized Retailer.