Verse,Watash & Others (Hey! There's a nice road name !)...Yeah,now I can see it's the N scale Y6b in the wider shot with the string of tanks..As I said,I've an old one in pieces from my days in the Belmont Shore MRRC..Your shot near tempts me to go back to 1:160 land .Though I care more for the 'heft' of HO and its accessabilities,sometimes I'll pull out my old ConCor Hudson ,which ,after dick-docking with the delicate/broken wire from tender, now runnin' fine,and run him back and forth on a brightboyed piece of N flex, I go through that 'should I or shouldn't I'(take down the HO)and have a larger railroad..10-4? Anyone out there identify with this taffy pull ? Anyway,to me it's Y6b..maybe 'b' stands for barracuda,for that's what he looks like...Mark
Watash, Thanks for the info. I suspected something like that! It would seem that when I bumped the loco it would start up again for awhile before it cut out. I'll have to check the bullet pins in the frame and see if they are worn.
Mark, to date I haven't figured out which the scale that I like better, so I model both HO and N Scale. Now I'm broke…but happy Yesterday I tried unsuccessfully to win another P2K mallet on the ~bay. I guess somebody out there had a larger pocket than I do, I'm still on the prowl for another though. verse
Verse, I will make a sketch, so give me a day or so. Wildstar, it is a simple job to check the spring pins, BUT BE CAREFUL !!! Lay the engine upside down inside a large ZIP-Lok type clear plastic sandwich bag with its sides pulled up FIRST !!! WORKING INSIDE THE BAG: Shine a bright light on the frame and locate the pin before totally removing the wheel! (Some engines only have one of these spring-pins on a rear driver, some have one on each driver.) Zip the bag closed as much as you can around your wrist, like a glove, then slowly lift the wheel. Hopefully the pin will stay somewhere in the bag see? No you can not find them with a magnet. The bullet is brass and the spring is Phosphor Bronze. (If you have a Jeweler's Lathe, you can make new pins. Lee Spring will custom make new springs on order.) You can try to order new ones from Rivarossi. When you lift a pair of drivers out of the frame, those tiny little bullet pins will shoot out of the frame followed by the spring maybe! Use fine sharp pointed tweezers to 'try' picking up the spring to see if it looks burnt. Zip the bag closed immediately after removing your hand. WORKING OUTSIDE THE BAG: Remove any oil from the frame hole. Use a dry muslin rag to wipe crud off the inside surface of the driver flanges. WD-40 and Alcohol can help loosen any gummy stuff. (Do remove the WD-40). Use an ultra sonic cleaner to clean the wheel spokes if required. (Do not do this on a Bachmann's drivers.) WORKING INSIDE THE BAG: Use a tooth pick to place a small dab of axle grease in each bearing on the frame. Make sure the wheels are and stay dry. Gently stretch the spring in case it has relaxed with age. Insert the spring in its hole. Now use a thin 6" pocket rule to hold a bullet in its hole, as you slip the wheel pair into the frame bearing. (The thin rule is stiff enough to hold against the spring so the bullet pin does not escape through a hole between wheel spokes.) Slip the rule out only after the wheel set is in place in the frame. Now do the next pair of wheels if needed. OOPS! You shouldn't have jarred the first wheel while trying to do this second wheel set! Good thing you are working in the bag, see? Now retrieve the bullet and try again. As you try to fit the last wheel into the frame, (you are probably using both hands by now), be prepared to retrieve a bullet pin from the cat's eye. Zip the bag closed. WORKING OUTSIDE THE BAG: Have wife bandage your hand. Blood is an insulator. Repeat steps 5 through 36 more carefully this time. GET BACK IN THE BAG: If you live long enough to get all drivers replaced in the frame: Place cover plate on frame and secure with two screws. GET OUT OF THE BAG and replace all the drive rods etc. Why didn't you make sure you had the big counter weight driver in the correct frame slot to match the drive rod? Why didn't you test for electrical circuit before you did all this re-assembly? It ran fine when new! Well, back to the bag to start over!
Verse,funny you said that..I've been toying with the idea of doing a well sceniced,criss-crossing,double tracked interchange in N,just to get a feel for it and see if I like it again..I'd just build it on a one piece flat(what's good in N,3/8 or 1/4inch ?)ply..If I do like it,it'd be the place where it'd spread out to a full layout,or be incorporated later..I kinda grew up believing one had to be loyal to only one scale at a time,if ever to change at all..But,what the hey,hey?.....Anyway,what do ya all think of my naming the Y6b "barracuda"(class)?..Like shark noses.huh?...the 2-8-8-2 barracuda !
I own both the Proto 2000 Y3b and the newer Rivarossi Y6b. The newer, more up to date Riv is a fine running piece of equipment, and the detailing is pretty nice. However, it still does not hold a candle to my P2k Y3, in either the looks or performance category. The P2k wins hands down. And, both of these don't hold a candle to my BLI Class A 2-6-6-4. Shop around, you can find some nice steam locos for a great price at the right times. I paid less than half the MSRP for my Class A, as it was an overrun at that time.
I think the procedure to make both sides of the tender trucks pick up power off the rails might be less complicated! mg:
Ok, here it goes: If you want an H-8 Allegheny from Riv go ahead and get one---they run great! The tough part is putting a decoder in it. Either an n-scale one or one with a 3 inch teather is needed and it goes in the boiler not the tender. HOWEVER: If you wait another 6 months a newer version #1603 will be out with DCC and SOUND included! Y6b: Get the PCM version handsdown great!!!!! Big Boy: Again PCM very smooth, but the new Riv is alright. Y3: Protos are great and if you put the Digitrax 165 decoders in you can add sound p-n-p later. UP Challenger: I love my Lionel after lightening up the tender weight. Runs as good as anything I have. Better than Athearn. BLI: CLass A, CLass J, 2-10-2, 4-8-4, and 4-6-4 are all top notch for me. While I'm at it PCM's F3 California Zephyr set is really really nice! Hope this helps a bit. BNSF4354 out
