READING I-9 Rear Cab 2-8-0 Consolidation

In 1918 the Reading began receiving a large group of heavy, fully modern rear cab 2-8-0s from Baldwin.
The new I-9 class were built during the USRA regime. Offically, there was no USRA 2-8-0 design as Consolidations were considered to be recently outmoded by the 2-8-2 Mikado type. However, the Reading was granted a variance by USRA, and the I-9s are in fact, if not shadowy-USRA Consolidations !

The Reading took delivery of 100 of these very successful workhorses, and used them widely till the end of steam operations. Most remained essentially as built, although changes show up over the years, such as raised coal boards on some tenders, different pilot details, and disc as compared with the original spoked pony wheels. The most substantial change was the I-9 sc class. These locos got 61 ½ drivers, made surplus when I-10s were torn down to give their boiler shells to the T-1 program. So satisfactory were the I-9s that the subsequent I-10 class is essentially but a larger, heavier version of the I-9.

Amazingly, the only rear cab heavy Reading Consolidations commercially offered in HO through the years have been the I-10s, starting with Gem in the 1960s, and even being done with a poor drive by Bachmann

One of my customers, an avid Reading man who remembers steam has put his foot down, and said " Enough !" He wants an I-9sc, and so he gets an I-9sc, As a result of this, and their popularity in the minds of Reading fans, I have decided to offer the I-9sc as a production locomotive.

The I-9sc models will generally be built as late steam era appearance. The less espensive version will be the I-9 sc, with the larger drivers. As most I-9s retained 55 ½" drivers they will be available also. They will require the use of drivers from England, with counterweights added ( nice flanges, not big European type !). If, by the time production begins Bachmann Spectrum or another quality manufacturer introduces an eight coupled locomotive with suitable sized drivers, then I will be able to build I-9 sb s without the use of English drivers, and a price reduction can occur.

If it's been a while since you compared I-9s with I-10s, the major differences are that the I-9s have a smaller boiler, they are shorter, and have a distinctivily different tender

The Eddystone I-9sc will weigh about a pound, and be able to haul 25-30 car freights They naturally have the taller drivers and frame carried over from the I-10s which were dismantled to supply the T-1 construction program As always, they will be super-detailed, rtr/decorated, road tested and broken in 1 hour before delivery. They will feature full cab interior, crew, coal tools, brakeman's lanterns, MV Products lenses, and the usual array of options such as DC or DCC or DCC/ sound, etc. If you model steam or transition era Reading steam, and don't have wide curves, these and/or our RDG I-10s are ideal heavy freight locomotives for you.

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