By Noel Widdifield

Author  Bio The Aristo Craft 2-8-0 Consolidation arrived at my house a couple of weeks ago from St. Aubins. The loco is based upon the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's E-27. For a time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the 2-8-0 was the freight locomotive on the B&O, as well as other roads. Come check it out with me.

The Aristo Craft 2-8-0 Consolidation arrived at my house a couple of weeks ago from St. Aubins. The loco is based upon the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's E-27. For a time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the 2-8-0 was the freight locomotive on the B&O, as well as other roads. The E-27class was the most numerous of the Consolidations on the B&O, with 296 in service on January 1, 1938. Classes ranged from E-27 to E-27z, (with a few missing). The E-27ca was the largest sub class, with 112 in service as of January 1, 1938. Some of the original E-27s were converted into 0-8-0s, with 112 of this subclass in service as of January 1, 1938. The original locos were equipped with slide valves and Stevenson valve gear. Later sub classes used piston valves, with Baker, Stevenson, or Walshaerts valve gear. One even had Caprotti poppet valves, and 2 were equipped with water tube fireboxes. The photo shows a B & O Connie that closely resembles the Aristo model. I completed several minutes of video of the Connie running on my railroad pulling those 15 freight cars. I think it looks pretty good even if it is not an accurate model of a NYC "G" class Consolidation. The loco I purchased was lettered for the New York Central but it bears little resemblance to the NYC "G" classes that ran on the New York Central or any of the other railroads in the New York Central System. This continues to be a problem with Large Scale steam locomotives. If the model manufacturer actually copied the plans for the locomotive, it is representative only of that railroad's loco. Unlike diesels that were pretty standardized, steam locos were pretty much different for each railroad. The railroads specified the design and all of the appliances used on the loco. In the smaller scales, the manufacturers actually attempt to create steam locomotives representing each railroad's model of a specific class of loco. Maybe someday that will happen in Large Scale. UPS delivered three large boxes containing the loco, tender and a Revolution transmitter and receiver set. Opening the Aristo yellow boxes revealed the foam packing material, the loco and tender. Both were covered with a clear plastic film. Because there was a special offer from Aristo Craft, I also received a pair of 40-foot boxcars free. They arrived before the loco. The loco had two sunshades, a steam generator and a 5 ml syringe packed separately along with the hook and loop and knuckle couplers. Although Aristo usually has the knuckle couplers attached to their locos and tenders, these were not. More on the couplers later, but I attached the sunshades and generator, by inserting them in the holes in the platform on the top of the boiler and over the windows. Right out of the box, this is a very nice looking and precisely done locomotive. There are many fine features to be admired about the workmanship on this loco and tender. The locomotive is very nicely detailed with very little detail cast on. Most of the appliances are separate castings and the loco looks and feels much more solid and well constructed than some of the other steam locos from Aristo Craft. Some of the features on the 2-8-0 include: an operating smoke unit, can motor with cooling fan, ball bearing gearboxes, three flywheels, operating head and marker lights, moveable cab side windows, metal side rods, brass railings, MU plugs for battery pickup, DCC/RCC compatible socket in the tender and a drawbar for the tender. The cab interior is well done with all of the controls, piping and firebox details cast on and an engineer and fireman included. The tender fastens to the loco using the standard Aristo Craft drawbar and the electrical connection is with the wide wire strap and pin connector found on most of the new Aristo Craft locomotives. This 2-8-0 looks good from any angle and has a lot of cast on and applied detail. The sand and steam domes, bell and other appliances seem to be accurately done. The headlight is mounted on the top of the front boiler face as it was on some classes of the B & O Connie. It was mounted in the center of the face on the NYC Constellations. The underside of the locomotive shows that none of the drivers are blind and that limits the loco to 8-foot diameter curves. As we will see later, the couplers could further limit the radius of the allowable curve. The loco weighs about 8 pounds 5 ounces and has a nice heavy feel about it. I was very impressed by the tender. It is very heavy and the details are superb, with fine rivet detail, a nicely cast water tank hatch, coal doors, a metal ladder and grab irons. The rear footplates are well constructed and the hangers on the side for the pole are finely detailed. The underside lacks detail, but the tender has a built in speaker. There are connections for connecting to a battery car. The tender weighs 3 pounds, 5 ounces and is really solid feeling. I believe that it is much heavier than any of the other Aristo Craft tenders. With the Phoenix sound system and the Revolution receive it weighs even more. The coal load is pretty authentic looking and is very easy to remove for access to the electronics inside. With the coal load removed, access is pretty good to the switches for the motor, lights and smoke. All of the controls for the after market installed Phoenix sound system and Revolution receiver are easily accessed as well. I decided to install Kadee couplers and found that it is almost impossible to body mount them on the tender because there is really no place to fasten the mount under the tender. I mounted a Kadee 793 on the truck tang. Sam Clarke at Kadee says that a #831 should also fit. Kadee had not tried to fit a coupler on the Connie. In fact, while talking with Sam I discovered that they didn't even know the new Connie existed. He offered to help with fitting a Kadee on the pilot of the loco, but I was in Florida and the Connie was still up in Maryland. Looks like I will have a project to complete in the spring. It took me a few minutes to remember how to pair the Connie with the Revolution, but I finally remembered the second half of the process and the 2-8-0 started making all of the right sounds and slowly moved off pulling 15 freight cars. The Connie was used for everything over the years, but it was built to haul freight, so that is what I will use it for. Just to see what the E-27 looked like pulling some passenger cars, I coupled on two Aristo NYC heavyweights like you might have found near the end of the Connie's career on one of the NYC branch lines. One of the many duties found for the Connie at the end of her career would have been in work train service. It had been a while since I had brought the USA Trains work train out on the main line, so I coupled up a short version of the work train and let the Connie do her thing. The loco even looks pretty good with just a NYC wooden caboose or running without anything behind her. Constellation? Noel- Not to be picky..but are you seeing stars? I think your Constellation is really a Consolidation...at least that what Mr Whyte tells me. Bill Dressler Bill Dressler - 12/18/2011 - 14:07 Consolidation Bill, Good catch. I would like to say that I was checking to see if anyone read the articles. My head must have been someplace other than on my head. As soon as I saw your comment, I was very embarrassed. I know better, I just wasn't thinking. Thanks, Noel Noel Widdifield - 12/18/2011 - 14:56 Connie Good review. Two club members ran their new Connies all week long during our club's annual Holiday train show. Both locomotives were flawless the entire six days. Looks like these will be solid runners for years to come. We did note that all electrical pickup is through the tender. There is no electrical pickup on the locomotive. At first we thought this might be a problem. Turned out having only electrical pickup through the tender works just fine. One locomotive was controlled by a Revolution and the other ran off of regular track power. Performance was equal for both locomotives. Looks like Aristo has a winner with this new Connie. JD Miller - 12/19/2011 - 18:53 Minimum Radius What's the minimum radius the engine can handle? Mine are 2.5 foot. My Bachmann Connie handles them OK. Nice of you to post a video. John Sulsenti - 12/23/2011 - 00:45 Realism in large scale It would seem that the manufacturer of large scale steam engines do not feel that we are as detail oriented as the modelers of the smaller scales. But, they do a very excellent job in the what they do. I, like you, hope that one day they will figure out that we large sealers do care about realism. I also dislike paint schemes on diesel engines that never existed in the real world. Andy Neher - 12/23/2011 - 16:38 Aristo Consolidation John, Aristo says the minimum diameter is 8 feet. Andy, I didn't mean to leave the impression that the Connie was not accurately modeled. It is modeled after the B & O E-27 class 2-8-0. They do a great job of modelling the B & O loco. My point was that it was not a good representation of any New York Central Connie. Since I only model the NYC, that is important to me, but should not take away from the accuracy of the Connie in representing the B & O loco. Thanks, Noel Noel Widdifield - 12/23/2011 - 16:50 a match for.... Actually, from what I can see, it's a pretty close match to the Maine Central's 500 series "O-class" 2-8-0's. I compared it to the existing MEC 501 up in North Conway. With the version having the headlight centered on the smoke-box door It should be close enough for me. I also share the consternation about G-scale models being limited in what they represent. Fortunately, for me, this engine is about the closest match to an existing MEC prototype on the market at about any price. Peter Barrington - 12/23/2011 - 17:55 I meant to ask... Noel, what kind of sound system is that? It sounds fantastic! Is it the Aristo system that comes with the engine or an after market system and if the latter, what modifications (if any) did you need to make? Peter Barrington - 12/23/2011 - 17:59 2-8-0 Peter, It is a Phoenix sound system. St. Aubins installed it for me. I have several of them in most of my locos. Some I have installed and others have been installed for me. You cannot beat them for the sound. They are expensive but well worth the price. Thanks, Noel Noel Widdifield - 12/23/2011 - 18:02 Top of Page