Introduced: circa 1980
This is a very rare little item. In fact, at first I wasn't sure that Arnold ever actually made a 2-6-0. Micro-Trains has had a 2-6-0 conversion kit for Arnold's old (1960s) 0-6-0 switcher steamer for many years, and the conventional wisdom was that the occasional 2-6-0 sighting was actually a converted 0-6-0. However, I did eventually track down a 2-6-0 and prove its existance. And as it turns out, pretty much the only difference between Arnold's old 0-6-0 switcher and this 2-6-0 is the pilot assembly and the running gear (now made of plastic instead of metal).
Given the nigh identical mechanisms, the performance characteristics of the 2-6-0 are about the same as Arnold's 0-6-0 models. IE, good but not great. When faced with a simple oval of track, mine runs smoothly and surprisingly quietly. Unfortunately, it's in turnouts where things go south. Pickup is provided solely by the forward and rear sets of drivers, so stalls are common. Also, the driver flanges are beyond huge. So, if your 2-6-0 doesn't stall whilst traversing a turnout, likely it's doing wheelies instead. So, basically another locomotive that's useless outside of a "round the Xmas tree" type layout.
Interestingly enough, this locomotive has a capacitor soldered into its mechanism. I'm told that these things were used "way back when" to prevent electric motors from interfering with nearby television sets and radios. Um, how quaint?
I'm not really sure when Arnold discontinued this model, but I think it's probably safe to say that it didn't live to see the 1990s.
To remove the locomotive shell, simply unscrew the smokestack (no, I am not kidding). The shell should lift right off at that point.
Grade: C
Here's one still in its box:
Here's a stock 2-6-0 as compared to one with the Micro-Trains Mogul conversion:
