Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range HO Scale MTH HO 2-8-8-4 M4 Yellowstone Steam Engine w/Proto-Sound 3.0 (Worthington)

Owned by United States Steel, the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway was built for one major purpose: to haul iron ore from the mines of Minnesota and Wisconsin to the Lake Superior ports of Duluth and Two Harbors, Minnesota. Its primary cargo was so heavy that normal hopper cars couldn’t carry it; the DM&IR’s signature rolling stock was the short “ore jenny” designed especially to haul iron ore.

As World War II loomed on the horizon, ore tonnage on the Missabe Road increased more than fourfold from 1938 to 1941, and the railway needed additional motive power. Ordered from Baldwin, the new engines were based on a Western Pacific 2-8-8-2 design. A four-wheel trailing truck was added to accommodate a larger firebox and a longer, all-weather cab for Minnesota’s bitter winters. The so-called Yellowstone 2-8-8-4 wheel arrangement had originated earlier on the Northern Pacific, where Alco had promoted the first engine of that type by hosting a sit-down dinner for 12 people in its firebox.

Delivered in the spring of 1941, the DM&IR’s first eight Yellowstones (Class M-3) were among the largest steamers ever built, in the same league as Union Pacific’s Big Boys. By at least one measure — tractive effort — the Missabe Road engines were more powerful. They pleased their owners so well that, with the permission of the War Production Board, an additional ten Yellowstones (Class M-4) were ordered for delivery in 1943. Because the new engines were delivered during a seasonal downturn in ore traffic, part of the new order was temporarily leased to the Denver & Rio Grande Western. The following year, the D&RGW asked to borrow them again, stating in a telegram that they were among the finest engines the road had ever run. Hauling trains of over 100 loaded ore cars, the DM&IR’s 2-8-8-4s soldiered on into the 1960s, with the last officially retired in 1963.

Outfitted with Proto-Sound 3.0, wireless tether and quillable whistle, the massive DM&IR Yellowstone debuts in the HO lineup in 2015, ready to haul the most challenging loads on your layout.

Did You Know?

Yellowstones were equipped with either a cylindrical Elesco or a box-shaped Worthington feedwater heater ahead of the smokestack -- a feature correctly replicated on our models. The later Class M-4 engines were heavier due to the use of carbon steel, as the lighter steel alloy used in the M-3 class was in short supply during World War II.

• Die-Cast Boiler and Tender Body
• Die-Cast Metal Chassis
• Authentic Paint Scheme
• Engineer and Fireman Figures
• Metal Handrails and Decorative Bell
• RP25 Metal Wheels
• Metal Wheels and Axles
• Sprung Drivers
• (2) #158 Scale Kadee Whisker Couplers
• Kadee Coupler Mounting Pads
• Prototypical Rule 17 Lighting
• Constant Voltage Headlight
• Operating Marker Lights
• Lighted Cab Interior
• Operating Tender Back-up Light
• Powerful 5-Pole Precision Flywheel Equipped Skew-Wound Motor
• Synchronized Puffing ProtoSmoke System
• Steaming Quillable Whistle
• Locomotive Speed Control In Scale MPH Increments
• Wireless Drawbar w/Close Coupling Option
• 1:87 Scale Proportions
• Onboard DCC Receiver
• Operates On Code 70, 83 and 100 Track
• Proto-Sound 3.0 With The Digital Command System Featuring Quillable Whistle With Freight Yard Proto-Effects
• Unit Measures:
• Operates On 22" Radius Curves Steam DCC Features
• F0 Head/Tail light
• F1 Bell
• F2 Horn
• F3 Start-up/Shut-down
• F4 PFA
• F5 Lights (except head/tail)
• F6 Master Volume
• F7 Quillable Steaming Whistle
• F8 Rear Coupler
• F9 Forward Signal
• F10 Reverse Signal
• F11 Grade Crossing
• F12 Smoke On/Off
• F13 Smoke Volume
• F14 Idle Sequence 3
• F15 Idle Sequence 2
• F16 Idle Sequence 1
• F17 Extended Start-up
• F18 Extended Shut-down
• F19 Labor Chuff
• F20 Drift Chuff
• F21 One Shot Doppler
• F22 Coupler Slack
• F23 Coupler Close
• F24 Single Horn Blast
• F25 Engine Sounds
• F26 Brake Sounds
• F27 Cab Chatter
• F28 Feature Reset