Sorry! They had them when I checked maybe 6-9 months ago, I believe, but they appear to have sold out. Sometimes you can find them on auction sites like eBay. I wouldn't pay more than you are comfortable paying. With 11" curves I think I am with Pete here. I think you might want to try running some DCC equipped diesels. I have had loads of fun on temporary layouts with a couple little EMD switchers. If you have a favorite LHS, maybe you could get them to drop a decoder in, say, an Atlas Alco RS-3 or similar. You could run steamd/diesel transition gear or 60s or 70s freight cars and still come across relatively prototypical. Good luck! Adam
Other than the Bachman heavy 4-8-2 you may have to work on some basic soldering skills, maybe practice soldering scrap pieces of wire so you don't ruin anything, then as Pete Nolan says look at the Bachman (Spectrum) 2-8-0 or Model Power Pacific or Mikado, the Model Power locos just require soldering the decoder to wires in the tender, the only disassembly is removing the tender shell. They are both very simple installations that require no disassembly of the mechanism. I wouldn't go any bigger than the heavy 4-8-2 if I had to use 11 inch radius and even that would be stretching the limits appearance wise.
I should probably let you know that I only have one area with 11" radius. The rest is 15", 19" and 28". I'm using Kato Unitrack. The area with 11" is a staging area and I don't have to put a loop there. Just thought it would be interesting. Thanks for all the info. It has been very helpful and interesting.
Don't be afraid of steam. The Bachmann 4-8-2 Heavy Mountain is a great engine - I have three of them. They run great, pull great, and already have DCC. The only thing that would make them better is sound. They do run and look better on larger radius curves, but should run fine on 11". I know a lot of folks are afraid of steam in N, but I have had a great experience with it. Don't settle for diesels if what you really want is steam. There are a lot of great products out there, and more on the way.
You will probably get away with operating the B-mann USRA heavy 4-8-2 on an eleven inch curve if the only place that you have so sharp a curve is on staging tracks. In your position, I would either buy the USRA heavy 4-8-2 that has the decoder in it or I would look for a B-mann SPECTRUM 2-8-0 with a decoder in it.
Mystere, I don't have a track plan. I'm new at this and have been experimenting. I use four hollow core doors. Two 36"x80", one30"x80" and one 24"x80". I had them in a rectangle donut type shape. But didn't like the duck under. So I changed them to look something like the AT&T more bars in more places ad. I have the 24" against the corner wall. Then the one 36", 30" and 36" . There is two feet between them with a 19" wide connection at the rear (against the wall) between them. Between the 36" and 30" is a 6" connection up front. This 6" connection is a lift out and much easier to negotiate. I will be using a 15" radius on the last 36" door. The other 36" and 30" doors will be using a 19" and 28" radius. The 24" door is where the 11" comes in. But I don't have to use it. Just like the extra for letting the train run. My idea was to work on one door at a time, while still running trains. I guess you would say I'm freelancing it. As I would like a little of everything, eventually. I hope you understand as I have ramble on long enough.
I always thought that would be fun way to do a layout with the individual peninsulas. If I understood your plan properly you could use the 24" door for a staging area and use a turntable instead of a loop to turn your locos. You should be able to run any steamer you want, including the Challenger 4-6-6-4 and Big Boy 4-8-8-4 (both with factory DCC installed). Also the Bachmann Heavy Mountain discussed above would be a very nice runner on DCC iwth 15" and up radius curves.
Bob, You have it right with the four peninsulas. I had not thought about a turntable, that's a great idea. Thanks
You might want to check this out. DCC Readiness | nScale.net As we've discussed in another thread, Model Power has Pacific 4-6-3 locos available right now that aren't too difficult to put a DCC decoder into; just don't melt the tender with too hot a soldering iron. My MP Pacific takes 11" curves and even 9.75" curves just fine. I also really like my Athearn Mogul 2-6-0 and Consolidation 2-8-0. I'm not sure how easy it is to put a decoder into these, but I think the 2-8-0 is on that list I linked to above. Anyone here put decoders into these little Athearn locos?
Lownen, Thanks for the link. Some good info there. On the turntable matter. I guess, if you're using DCC, you would need a reversing switch or what ever it's called. Is that right? Again thanks for the info.
