The Norfolk & Western Y6b class was the most efficient group of steam locomotives ever built, they produced more tractive effort per pound than any other locomotive built including the C&O H-8 and the Union Pacific 'Big Boy', it was somewhat unique in that it was designed and built by the railroad that used it.  The Y6b was the ultimate compound articulated locomotive. The Y6b has only been previously modeled one time that by Max Gray thirty-eight years ago, that offering was a very basic solid running model that lacked much accuracy and detail. 

Consistent with our philosophy for choosing projects, we feel that the N&W 'Y' is a true American classic deserving of a prominent place in any serious collection.  At the outset we planned to push the modeling limits and we have more than accomplished our objective. Allow there are no Y6b's still in existence, we believe that we have faithfully reproduced this classic in miniature. Our production run of 100 models includes examples from four of the five production groups, including the unique unlagged smokebox version. The detailing on each locomotive version is specifically correct as is the unique tender for each group. We will also produced the auxiliary water tender which was so prominent in use with this prototype in the later years. 

During the development of this project we consulted with all of the known authorities on this N&W prototype as well as with some not so well known individuals that proved to be invaluable to the final accuracy of our effort. A special thank you to the Norfolk & Western Historical Society that ultimately provided a glut of information. In the end, we worked from over 500 original blueprints in our effort to miniaturize the Y6b. As with all of our projects, these models are being sold on a direct basis with most of them already pre-reserved. For specific availability and other interesting information, please refer to the 'project update' page for this project.