O BTO SD40-2 AC&W LEGACY #6918
One of the great trinity of Roanoke steam, the Y6B was
the penultimate Mallet. The Norfolk and Western built 30
of these monsters between 1948 and 1952 – a time when
most railroads in the country had already completely
dieselized. The Y6B incorporated all of the lessons
learned from previous models, leaving a legacy based
not just on strength but of efficiency.
Indeed, Y5B 2197 was one of two steam locomotives
pitted in a test against an ABBA set of F7s from EMD in 1952.
The results were essentially a draw, but with the steam
locomotives running well and paid off, the N&W saw no
compelling reason to make any immediate changes.
It would be another three years before retirements
started to come. No. 2190 was the last to drop her fires in
1960, a fitting farewell to mainline steam on the N&W.
Lionel’s latest tribute to this masterpiece of engineering
includes several new features. Nos. 2174 and 2194 feature
new tooling for the original narrow smokebox door.
2188 and 2197 feature the later retrofit smokebox. All
locomotives are upgraded with kinematic drawbars,
control switches relocated to the top of the locomotiveand safety valve steam in addition to whistle and stack
steam! And of course they are available for the first time
with 4-digit addressing and Bluetooth capabilities.
Notable among the N&W models, 2188 was the secondto-
last Y6B to see operation and 2197 of course battled
the dreaded diesels in 1952. Coming so late, the Y6B
never made it to other railroads like the earlier Y3 had.
But what if? We’ve answered that question with some
fantasy paint schemes for the Pennsylvania, Santa Fe,
Great Northern and Union Pacific. Don’t let yourself be
late to the party, see your dealer to order your copy of
the best today!
Standard Legacy features
4 digit addressing
Road-number specific details
Product Features:
Minimum Curve O54
Length: 17in ea
