My B&M American came today. If you are interested in my observations so far, read on: Cross-posted from Railwire: Mine with the B&M "factory" paint job arrived today. it is a very attractive locomotive, if a little thick in the boiler for some of the lighter prototypes. This is not a major distraction, IMO. The loco's proportions look balanced, and to do better across so many roadnames would probably require several unique road-specific brass models at a much higher price point. "Cute" does not do this loco justice. As 4-4-0's go, this is a purposeful, almost hefty-looking locomotive. My "B&M" has slide valve steamchests, arched cab windows, and a headlight centered on the smokebox door. It is not quite a "barrel" headlight, but it is a rather large one, and "close enough" for my purposes at the moment. I have barrel headlight details, and can substitute one if it bothers me later. Interestingly enough, the tender has a Rapidoh (body-mounted) coupler, while the pilot beam has a coupler that reminds me of the Kato split knuckle, down to the provision for an offset trip pin. No trip pin was provided, however. The pilot coupler pivots on a tiny Phillips head screw. I suspect that substitution of an MT Z-scale knuckle would be easy, depending upon how the height works out. The tender might take one of the "T" shank conversions, but I don't know which one. Mounting draft gear like used with a 1015 might be a challenge, as the whole arrangement appears to be cast as part of the end sill of the tender, well aft of the tank. I may put a short shank Unimate in there until I get the loco broken in. I'll be interested to see what the rest of you use for couplers. I have not run it yet. I will break it in over the weekend and will give it my customary TE test on the old Table Mesa and Kitchen Creek. (Kato K1 on the dinette) and will have a report ready by Sunday night. The tender has 4-wheel, half-axle pickup with axle-wipers, BTW. The instruction sheet has a diagram of the underside of the tender, with a CAUTION! heading, and this text: "Please assemble truck & wheels like followed (sic) drawing." "Incorrect assembling cause (sic) the tender floor to burn out." Needles to say, I will be checking my wheels for "incorrect assembling" before I run the train. Bottom Line: So far, I see a lot to like about this loco, and so far, no problems. Nothing bent, missing or broken. Fit and finish appear to be first rate, and the loco appears to be weighted and balanced appropriately to ensure reliable operation. I'll give you my honest opinion on operation when I have it broken in and tested.
Thanks for the dimensioning Bob! Some quick comparatives on what you found out vs. the PRR equipment diagram on a D16sb: Here's a great comparative for a fairly 'new' 4-4-0; the PRR D16sb. This site also has other PRR 4-4-0 classes on it. Overall? Well, the MP one is big, as expected. But here's some of the high points: Basic wheelbase: MP 9'; PRR D16 7'9" Driver diameter: MP 72"; PRR D16 70" (not bad) Top of stack: MP 16'; PRR D16 14' 6 1/2" (Hmmm) Pilot truck; MP 30" on 8' center; PRR D16 33" on 6'7" center Tender: MP: 28" wheels; D16: 36" wheels on 6'6" center truck; Tender length MP 26' PRR can't tell. Overall length: MP 60' 6" PRR 62' 5 3/8 over pilot. This deserves more research.... Here's the PRR diagram: http://prr.railfan.net/diagrams/PRRdiagrams.html?diag=D16sb-E48868.gif&sel=ste&sz=sm&fr= Have fun checking this out. My conclusion? Off, not way off, may have possibilities though. Certainly not mis-proportioned.
If anyone is still interested... I sent my 4-4-0 back a week ago yesterday, and received a call from Mike of MP acknowledging receipt of it (per my request) on 08/18/05. He told me that they have received a dozen samples from the 2nd batch, which he said already have the correct wiring. He also said that they have checked them and run the the heck out of them and they show no sign of problem. The 2nd batch were to arrive in a month or so (if I remember correctly) but I don't know if these include undecs or a replacement for the road names of the first run. Anyway, that's all I know. When I get my replacement I'll post more.
Since my original report from 7/22 is a just couple of posts above, I though I should post an update to close the loop: Like many, my 4-4-0 was DOA. The headlight came on, but the loco did not move unless you wiggled the tender. Sometimes it would go for a few inches. Sometimes it would run for a few feet. It would usually stop when it came to one of my very gentle 19" radius easement curves leading into standard Kato K1 12 3/8" radius circular curves. I opened it up and took pictures that were posted here and on Railwire. Gregg (3rdRail) forwarded my thread to MP, and that apparently served as their first notice they had a problem. I was quite annoyed at the condescending tone of the spin-doctored response issued by MP, which seemed to suggest the problem was actually caused by our kinky trackwork or our careless handling of the product. (At least one e-seller has repeated part of that email content on their website.) Bottom line: I've given up on MP or anything made by Ajin in Korea. My 4-4-0 went back to the seller, who promptly and cheerfully refunded my money. In its place, I purchased a A/B pair of Intermountain B&M "Minuteman" FTs for $11 more than I originally paid for the little American. I also purchased an MDC 2-6-0 and another undec 2-8-0 to fill the roster slots I had reserved for the MP 4-4-0 and Mogul. I am very pleased with the initial product quality of that IM FT AB, and they have tested out very well. In fact, on a per-unit basis, the FT is the TE Queen of my diesel roster, at 50 cars for a single un-modified unit. That even beats out my old school LL FA2s and F7s with the plastic frame and lead slugs! (I suspect the LL Erie-built might give the FT a respectable challenge, but I missed out on those.) The MicroAce C62 Hudson remains my overall TE champ, at 71 cars pulled by a single un-modified loco, including the 50 the FT pulled during the same test session on NTrak at the park. I finally cancelled my C&O FP7. Last Spring I bought a pair of first edition LL C&O E8's #4016 & 4022, to replace my C&O "Berk". I also got a LL Pere Marquette E-7 for $12.99, and that one will pull my 3-car set of C&O heavyweight cars. So I don't need another C&O passenger diesel, and the FP7 was to be another Korean import, which I most certainly do not want. For the sake of the hobby, I do hope MP gets the 4-4-0 right this time. That would include a re-design of the pickups to get rid of the internal curb feelers on the loco and the addition of all wheel pickup on the tender. It would also include a return to the successful drawbar design used on the Pacific. I don't know what they wound up with on the Mike, but it also had drawbar problems in first release, didn't it? MP appears to stubbornly make the same basic design mistakes, and blame the offshore factory for the results. Maybe it is time for MP to reconsider their choice of offshore source anyway? I mean, that's at least 3 strikes, isn't it? Pacific, Mike, American all had "recalls" after bad product was distributed. Now it sounds like the delays in the FP7 were caused by QC issues too? Of course, perfect execution and QC cannot overcome basic design flaws, like placement of solder joints directly at the pivot point of a drawbar. My own opinions, based upon ownership of a recalled and re-fitted Pacific and a recalled 4-4-0, which I do not intend to replace with another MP 4-4-0. I will not risk going through that again. [ August 23, 2005, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: LongTrain ]
LT: I don't blame you for your boycott of MP products. I felt as you do after my first purchase of the MP 4-6-2. I however decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and worked hard to get these loco's to run properly( with the addition of TT's thanks to your first post). Now I have a large fleet of MP loco's that have traction tires, Z scale couplers on the pilots and tenders, brass detail parts added as well. When they correct the 4-4-0, Chuck will send them out to me. He never sent the original order out based on the above mentioned problems. Looking back on MP, they've improved their steam loco's with each subsequent release. I'm fairly confident that the steamers that come out after the 4-4-0, will be much improved in the areas that N scaler's have been complaining about. Stay cool and run steam......
