There are two brass 2-6-2 SR&RL the Car Works #23 and the Train & Trooper #24. Which is the better of the two in detail and which runs the best? Most photo's I have seen are small or dark so I can't tell. Did a search here and it seems HOn30 is not as popular as On30. Anyway ,thanks for your time. Rick
I cannot think of anything bad I'd heard about the T&T version. Seems to me that someone, perhaps Chris McChesney (?), did a tune-up type article on the Car Works loco. I wish there was more HOn30 activity. They do have a solid core of followers out there. On30 has gained a good foothold due to availability of so many goodies. With Bachmann doing their line of R-T-R at prices many can afford, they gained a solid foothold. (The Internet has been a big help as well.) HOn30 seems to have more of the scratch builders. I had some HOn30, but went with On30 simply due to some ongoing and never to be improved health issues. Boxcab E50
Rick-I know that the Car Works locos are always good runners and I would imagine that T&T run well also..they HAVE TO because they cost so much! There is a large HOn30 group on Yahoo, the HOn30 Mail Car, and they are constantly on the search for new mechanisms, etc. for their scale/gauge. I built HOn30 in the 1970's and it seems that there actually was more available then than there is now...of course the prices were "more affordable". You might check out the Yahoo group, they always seem to have something to talk about. It would seem possible that someone like Bachmann could do an HOn30 loco since it would be just "growing" one of their locos a little. I built a 2-8-0 for a friend with the Bachmann N 2-8-0 and it looks good and runs really nice. This same friend now has 2 of the old Joe Works HOn30 Shay locos...one runs well stock, the other required some real "engineering" to make it run...Kato parts did the trick! Keep looking and keep us posted on what you are up to. Woodie
Yes! Please do. If Bachmann were to do some HOn30, I'd bet the market for that scale would expand quite a bit. Current HOn30 people, HO folks looking for a narrow addition to the layout. I'd even get some HOn30 again! Boxcab E50
Thanks guys. I will check out the Yahoo group. I'm into N scale and interested in narrow gauge . Tried Nn3 but the 4 Z scale loco's I bought smoked,ran when they felt like it even with a power pack made for them. The cars I had no problem with the size,so far, but loco's are a big pain. Was thinking of On30 also because the local Hobby Shop had a good selection but after seeing how big the buildings were and the aera I'm thinking of putting the layout,shelf layout,it would not look good. I guess I have N scale of the brain,more scenery than Railroad . So far only have about 3 boxcar kits in HOn30 and one reefer car I kitbashed/scatch built after I steped on a kit in the dark with my big foot. One thing I learned in N scale is to improvise. I found someone that is starting to make wood boxcars for the SR&RL.Mount Blue. Reason for the question is I'm going to Phoenix next month and they have a narrow guage shop there I will go to .I hope they have some HOn30 things. Bid on a Joe Works Shay on Ebay but went higher than I want to pay for a loco I read was not a good runner.I don't mind spending more for a good runner even though I'm not to bad with fixing things.When I feel like it: ) Thank again Rick
I have seen a photo or two showing the results of an N scale Atlas Shay after conversion to HOn30. Looked pretty good to me! Boxcab E50
Here's a photo of a "converted" Joe Works Shay. The model was an N scale Shay that the owner wanted to "upscale". The boiler got a couple of new domes, some PSC HO parts, and a narrowed MDC HO Shay cab. This little Shay didn't run for $%&& so it was modified with KATO N scale power trucks which actually had the right wheelbase for the sideframes. The driveshaft works although it doesn't run the trucks. Now, this little fellow runs like it should. I took this photo on my old HOn30 Cedar Tap RR shop diorama.
That is real neat looking Shay. I have been thinking of getting the Atlas N scale Shay and convert it to HOn30.
I picked up a Train Trooper 2-6-2 from Ebay that Train Trooper was selling. Nice looking and runs good .Smaller than I was thinking ,of course not sure why I was thinking bigger. Ran it on my N scale layout but I have a tunnel so I just went back and forth. Only complant is there is a gap between the cab roof and cab front but only if you hold it up to a light. $405 is a hard price to swallow,for me,but I think of it this way . If the people I work for handed me this loco instead of a $405 check will I be happy,yes. Post this just incase someone is thinking of getting one of these. Rick
I have both. The T & T runs and looks great. The Car Works looks great but only runs well backwards. Forward is very rough.
Forgot about this thread I started. Not sure why it is in the N scale forum so sorry about that my mistake. Rick
Not your fault. Many will remember how we accidentally found a bug in the vB software, end of June, 2011. That incident dumped about 95% of all posts outside of the forums where they'd been posted. And scrambled up the rest. Some have seemingly simply disappeared altogether. It took over 2&1/2 years to get everything dug out of places where they were not supposed to be, and back into forums. During that process, some ended up being moved into the wrong place. The forums are being patrolled, looking for such strays, but that is another really, really slow process. Hopefully this will never happen again. And a note to everyone- Please be sure to fill in your profile with any scale(s) you model. We still have hundreds of vague or very scale generic topics, which are almost impossible to place. If we know what you model, that clue can help us get the topic back where it should be. Otherwise our choices are to dump them into the Inspection Pit, file them away, or simply delete....
