When revolution broke out in Russia in 1917, Alco and Baldwin were nearing completion ofan impressive combined order for 1230 2-10-0 locomotives for the Russian State Railway,leaving 200 units stranded in the US. The United States Railway Administration was quickto capitalize and ordered the locomotives regauged and distributed to Americanrailroads to help win the war on our own home front. The Decapods were small andlight by American standards. Although not suited for heavy mainline work, the Russiansperformed well on the lighter rail and bridges of branch lines and smaller railroads.They were also the rationale behind Baldwin’s later standard light 2-10-0 design. Dozensof the locomotives served until the end of steam. Six survive including Frisco 1630 - oneof only two operable 2-10-0s in the US today.Like the prototype, these models are perfectly suited to model railroads of any size.Available for the first time in the Lionel line up, these locomotives are just big enoughto have a large “road locomotive” look while being small enough to work on smallerlayouts with tighter curves and shorter trains. At first, the prototypes retained a lot oftheir “foreign” details, including handrails on the outside of the running boards. But itdidn’t take long for railroads to Americanize their power and customize them to theirneeds. Lionel is investing in tooling modifications and details to capture more of thesevariations and deliver this well-traveled locomotive in some popular new road names!