MTH ELECTRIC TRAINS

One of the most successful steam engines of all time, the 2-8-2 was produced in the U.S. for 14 years before it was ordered by a U.S. railroad. It earned its nickname "Mikado" (a title for the Emperor of Japan--familiar to English speakers because of the popular Gilbert & Sullivan opera) in 1897 when Baldwin produced an order for Nippon Railway of Japan, and the name stuck even after American railroads began to use it in 1901. When the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) temporarily centralized the railroads and standardized locomotive design during World War I, the Mikado, or "Mike" as it was often called, made up the bulk of the fleet. The USRA had the American, Baldwin, and Lima plants build 1,856 locomotives representing eight different wheel arrangements to help with heavy wartime traffic; 858 of those were Mikes. These standardized Mikados were so successful that the railroads themselves ordered many duplicates of the USRA design after control was returned to the roads. M.T.H. recognizes the importance and success of the USRA's wartime efforts by adding new railroads to our line of Mikados: the Baltimore & Ohio, Great Northern, Rutland, and Santa Fe. Did You Know? The USRA Mikados came in two different versions: Light and Heavy. There were 625 Light Mikados and 233 Heavy Mikes built.