# New Jawn Henry: My "Holy Grail" List of O-Gauge Locos is down to four!



## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

I don't know about others, but I have a Holy Grail list of locos I really want. 

For the past several years it remained that same six left on the list (see below) - I found none. Now, in the space of a few weeks I've gotten two of the six locos . My good friend Don Jones, who has a much bigger business buying and selling locos than I realized, and seems able to find anything when I ask (that is all I had to do) found me a great MTH Northern Pacific Z5 some weeks ago - great, big, loco, at a great price, too. And now, just yesterday, he brought me the very top loco on my list, the N&W 2300 class turbine - known as the Jawn Henry. Here is the full list of all half dozen of my "gotta have" O-gauge locos. Once it was very long. Now there are only four to go!








In addition to just being a cool loco, the Jawn Henry is special to me because in the "biography" of the fictional golden-age Hollywood super-star Veranda Turbine I published a year or two ago, her youngest son becomes a Hollywood actor, screen writer, and icon, using the screen name Jawn Henry Turbine.










Anyway, this newest addition to my stable of big scale locos is a 3rd Rail brass N&W 2300 made about two or three years ago, which someone bought and let sit in its box, unopened, all this time. If that person made money on his "investment," then my friend Don lost his shirt, because I didn't pay anything close to list price to Don. It was new in the box, the tape on the shipping box never cut, etc., and with the auxillary water tender, too. Wow. JUST what I wanted. . . . 
























This is a 3rd Rail loco, which means it's brass, and rather light (its still heavy just because it is so big). And it is big (51 inches across all three units), super detailed, as you would expect, and very square and brutal looking. Just what I wanted. 

I knew what to expect as to how it runs. It has TMCC, and I run conventional: I've never had a TMCC loco, except one 3rd Rail diesel, that ran smoothly in conventional. To coin a phrase, one Mann's "smoothly start slow" is another's (mine) "jackrabbit." But that's fine, it starts quickly and goes too fast at low throttle (at least for me) but I _can _control it, and it runs, and I don't plan to run it often. 

Sound is really disappointing. I had no idea what to expect. I have no idea what the real one sounded like, for that matter. This loco doesn't sound like a turbine, or a steamer, or a diesel, just sort of a hiss/waterfall sound that is rather boring, frankly. Volume was turned up all the way but wheel noise on the track is nearly as loud as the prime mver sound, which did vary with speed some (it became slightly less boring). But okay - great sound isn't critical, since I won't run it, and maybe the real one sounded boring, too - very likely, actually.
Bell and whistle won't work so far (I'm using a ZW-L) - but there are more switches and reo-stats on the loco than comprehensive instructions, so I'm still playing with the switches and such. Myabe I have something turned off. The lights are directional and such and work fine, although whichever light is operating on the auxillary tender, depending on the direction it is going, flickers constantly, no matter what. Smoke is _really_ good. This has a great unit. It has twin stacks and it pours out at idle and rushes out at speed. Super. 

This will be a shelf queen. It ran a few hundred feet today and will get that maybe once a year, at most. The other 8759 hours a year it will sit on display where it can be seen alongside all the UP turbines and the PRR turbine, etc. Cool stuff. 

I understand some folks may be disappointed in my that it won't get track time, but I bought it to display, it has 130+ other locos to compete against fro track time . . . and look at it this way. At least, after three years, it is out of its box!

And I'm happy as a clam. Only four more to go!


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## seayakbill (Jan 16, 2016)

Hi Lee, I don't have any 3rd Rail locos but it was always my understanding that they were the top of the pecking order for O Gauge locomotives. Reading another thread on another forum about malfunctioning locos I was quite surprised about the quantity of 3rd Rail locos that fell short of expectations.

One thing for certain, the Jahn Henry is one massive locomotive. What type of overhang does this guy have on your layout ?

Bill


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## Lehigh74 (Sep 25, 2015)

Very cool engine. Is that now your longest? There was a good article some years back about the Jawn Henry and the few other attempts at steam turbine locomotives.


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2016)

Happy for you, Lee.


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## walter (Jan 31, 2014)

WOW! Now that's an engine.


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2016)

Congrats on the new loco, Lee. It's very satisfying when you can find something you've been looking for for a long time.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

seayakbill said:


> What type of overhang does this guy have on your layout ?
> 
> Bill


It is not as bad as you would think. Far less than the Big Boy or Allegheny, for example. Still, its not pretty on 72 inc curves!


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Lehigh74 said:


> Very cool engine. Is that now your longest? There was a good article some years back about the Jawn Henry and the few other attempts at steam turbine locomotives.


The MTH coal turbine is, at 54 inches, the longest loco I have.

The Jawn Henry is 51 inches with its auxillary tender, without it it is 40 inches and third longest, behind the MTh UP GTEL (47 inches).

It can hold its head up at this: the loco body itself is the longest single thing-on-rails I have: it is 27 inches long, slightly longer than even the coal turbine's central, 25.5 inch unit. Wow.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

That's a great looking unit, it's one that I have my eye out for too, just because it's cool and unusual.  Very nice catch!


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## HarborBelt1970 (Sep 24, 2015)

Congratulations. I also endorse your comments about the sound on this model and add a few comments of my own because I have worked on mine.

Unlike you I run only under command control. I recognized at an early stage that this model has two sound systems only one of which is command operated. At the very front of the engine, mounted on the frame and more or less directly under the coal load, there is a sound card and speaker that is activated whenever there is power to the track. This produces a loop of sound that I think is intended to reproduce the background turbine sound (although it sounds a little like a coal augur turning). I think that in the manual that comes with the engine this is referred to as a turbine sound. The prime mover sounds come from a TMCC controlled sound set at the rear - it may be in the tender but I can't check as my model is in store at the moment.

I have searched in vain for a recording of the prototype but can't find one. However it is said that (as you'd expect) the sound was like other steam turbines, in which case it would not be as varied as a conventional steamer or have the same high pitch as a gas turbine. P.S. Starting at about 30 seconds into this video there is a recording of the sound of the Division Point HO version of this engine, which is clearly intended to mimic a steam turbine: 



. 

My 3rd Rail version isn't really similar to this. It is just like 3rd Rail's promotional video that came out before mine was delivered:






I wasn't and still am not entirely happy with the front system, which has limited volume. I eventually opened up the loco and tried many alternative speakers; the stock one is a relatively small and flat speaker similar to what you would find in an HO model. I eventually replaced it with a larger speaker that has more resonance although the overall increase in sound effect is not large.

You won't have the other issue that bothered me, which is that on a command-operated layout the front system starts up whenever there is power to the track whether you have started the engine up or not. Scott Mann told me that he thinks the front system can be made to run under command with an ERR board (probably the dummy engine version), which I have on my list of things to try so that I can co-ordinate the two sound effects. I've also got an ERR steam turbine sound card, which I think I might try in this model when I next have it open.


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## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

That engine is a beast. Glad you were able to find one of your must haves. It's a great feeling when you've been looking for an item for a long time & you finally locate it. Congratulations.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

HarborBelt1970 said:


> Congratulations. I also endorse your comments about the sound on this model and add a few comments of my own because I have worked on mine.
> 
> Unlike you . . . I next have it open.


Wow!! Thank you for all the information. It really helps, and knowing there are two separate sound systems in there explains a lot about the weird sound and all the buttons and options on the loco. I swear it has more buttons than pages of instructions that came with it. 

I'm pleased with mine, but I would not be too pleased if I had bought it expecting to run mine a lot. Right now my only problem with it is finding a shelf long enough for it. 

Again thank you, I appreciate your taking the time to write all that. It's very useful to me.


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## Guest (Oct 1, 2016)

Congratulations Lee! There can't be many of those around. I'd love to see the Jawn Henry at the tail end of a coal drag with a Y6B at the lead. That must have been the Mother of all steam powered consists! 

I remember seeing about that when I was reading about the Y6B last year. Clearly one of the great duos of all-time. Joe Montana had Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen and the Y6B had the Jawn Henry.

Great find!

Emile


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## Big Jim (Nov 17, 2015)

TheBigCrabCake said:


> Congratulations Lee! There can't be many of those around. I'd love to see the Jawn Henry at the tail end of a coal drag with a Y6B at the lead. That must have been the Mother of all steam powered consists!
> 
> I remember seeing about that when I was reading about the Y6B last year. Clearly one of the great duos of all-time. Joe Montana had Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen and the Y6B had the Jawn Henry.
> 
> ...


I have an audio recording of the J/H pushing a coal train and you guys aren't missing anything!


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## HarborBelt1970 (Sep 24, 2015)

Big Jim said:


> I have an audio recording of the J/H pushing a coal train and you guys aren't missing anything!


Meaning what?! Is it like either of the models in the videos?  I imagine it could be a little dull, but you tell me/us.


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## Kmac (Sep 19, 2015)

Great looking engine! It looks very mean on the tracks. Enjoy your new purchase!

Keaton.


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