And to think, all I had to do was ask...

The Broadway Limited Imports M1a 4-8-2 (HO Version)

Hey, remember my last entry in which I was whining about the lack of Pennsy steam in N Scale? Well, as it turns out N Scale is about to get a it's first Pennsy steamer since the old Minitrix engines. See, one thing I forgot to mention in my last post was that waaay back in 2005 Broadway Limited Imports announced a model of a PRR Class M1a/b 4-8-2 in N Scale. It was one of those "We'll make it when we get enough preorders" deals. After the initial announcement, nothing ever came of it. Years went by and most people, myself included, wrote this model off.

Today, I found myself with a free moment and decided to peruse BLI's web site just to see if the M1 was listed on the delivery schedule. Guess what? These engines are slated for delivery in December of 2014 and, they were still taking orders! So needless to say, I went Brooklyn Locomotive Works' website and preordered one.

The HO scale version of the loco looks like a work of art. If the N version looks half as good, I'll be very happy. The model also comes with some really nice features like a dual-mode DC/DCC decoder and sound.

I'm excited about this not only because it's a really awesome-looking model, but also because I hope it will open up the door to more Pennsy steam being produced.