The Pennsylvania Mogul

The LGB Pennsylvania Mogul was the second locomotive at the railroad and gave us our "Pennsylvania Railroad" name. It has a wheel arrangement of 2-6-0, with two leading wheels and six driving wheels. It is sometimes used in conjunction with our LGB Stainz Engine to pull the E&A Express Deluxe, a common passenger train at the railroad. The Pennsylvania Mogul is our only locomotive with a sound unit and one of only two without a DCC decoder, due to its compact and cramped interior. The locomotive has a headlight and a taillight, which are both always on due to it being an analog locomotive on a DCC system. The firebox in the cab also lights up. The coupler on the front is a nonfunctional knuckle. The builder's plate reads "Cooke Locomotive Co., No. 1552, 1884."

We do currently have a few problems with the engine. It appears that an overheating smoke unit has somehow melted the smokestack (clearly seen in the picture to the left). Also, the headlight's plastic connection with the boiler has broken, making the headlight tilt forward. We ordered replacement parts in May, 2008, from LGB. The parts arrived about a month later. A somewhat chronic problem we've had with the mogul has been the drive rods snapping in half, though this hasn't happened in a while. Also, the whistle sound no longer functions.

The Prototype

The mogul type of steam locomotive was built between the 1860s and 1920s by a variety of manufacturers. The moguls were lauded for their increased pulling power, with the Louisville & Nashville railroad purchasing the first few. It appears ours was modeled after moguls built by Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works. Opened in 1852 in New Jersey, Cooke manufactured steam locomotives until it was bought by ALCO, the American Locomotive Company. The Cooke plant was closed in 1926. ALCO, headquartered in New York state, built steam and diesel locomotives for seventy years before succumbing to competitive pressure from GE-EMD and closing in 1969.

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