Lionel 2331340 Seaboard LEGACY Russian Decapod #544

When revolution broke out in Russia in 1917, Alco and Baldwin were nearing completion of an impressive combined order for 1230 2-10-0 locomotives for the Russian State Railway, leaving 200 units stranded in the US. The United States Railway Administration was quick to capitalize and ordered the locomotives regauged and distributed to American railroads to help win the war on our own home front. The Decapods were small and light by American standards. Although not suited for heavy mainline work, the Russians performed well on the lighter rail and bridges of branch lines and smaller railroads. They were also the rationale behind Baldwin’s later standard light 2-10-0 design. Dozens of the locomotives served until the end of steam. Six survive including Frisco 1630 – one of only two operable 2-10-0s in the US today. Like the prototype, these models are perfectly suited to model railroads of any size. Available for the first time in the Lionel line up, these locomotives are just big enough to have a large “road locomotive” look while being small enough to work on smaller layouts with tighter curves and shorter trains. At first, the prototypes retained a lot of their “foreign” details, including handrails on the outside of the running boards. But it didn’t take long for railroads to Americanize their power and customize them to their needs. Lionel is investing in tooling modifications and details to capture more of these variations and deliver this well-traveled locomotive in some popular new road names!