For sale is this Accucraft’s first offering, a 4-4-0 N.P.C.“Sonoma” in brass, 1/24th scale.
I found it at a dealer (melovetrains.com) who normally sells regular trains. A brass plaque says “Accucraft Trains” on the big, heavy box. The dealer said the motor ran forward and reverse - he didn’t say the wheels turned.
It must have been sitting on a shelf for many years, as the main and pilot axles were completely gummed up. We had to squirt some WD40 at them to get them to rotate. The drivers were not properly quartered, so I had to pull one wheel 1/2 off and twist it to the right place. [Harbor Freight sells a 3" gear puller, which did the job.]
The stack is solid brass, and it had made the smokebox pop out of its brass connector ring. It was a real pain to fix it, but eventually it went in. I added a brass rod around the base of the bell and then twisted it around the base of the stack to hold it in place.
Given the state of the running gear, I surmised it hadn’t run much. It does now, and it seems to have a nice big motor.
FYI, it has unusual track pickups. The tender is insulated one side and the loco on the other, with the drawbar insulated and carrying the tender wheel power to the motor. You can just make out the wire and the feeler in this pic.
As I mentioned, a big box! Suitable for a much larger loco. Accucraft must have been thinking ahead.
Someone had started to paint it black, as you can see. The stack is half painted! The tender is nicely done.
I’d like to ask $450 for the loco and tender. I can use the box, but if you want the matching set, it will cost an additional $250. Plus shipping, which will not be cheap as the box weighs almost as much as the loco.