Hi folks! Just wanted to show off my newest addition to my railroad, bought off Ebay for $40. No tender unfortunately, will eventually get converted to radio control, so I don't need to deal with track power issues. Any suggestions on a good RC system designed for trains? I like the looks of the RCS 24, but I cannot find anywhere to purchase it.. Have a great day, Happy Holidays!!!!
What brand is that loco? Looks like with some black paint and some extra details it could be a nice little switcher.
I actually have no idea what the brand is, I have not received it yet. Turns out the seller is only about 20 miles away so am arranging to pick up in person. The seller owns a 'small' model train shop so wen I go to retrieve it later today I will bring my crappy digital camera with me and 'waste' some SD cards I understand that he might have a G Scale Big Boy. I want to touch it!!!!!! LMAO Mike from DieCastoms.
Well I have collected the Teddy Bear finally. I paid $40 for it. Turns out it was stripped out of a set. It is Aristocraft and the set retails at $280. The set includes the loco, a gondola, and a caboose. There is no tender in the set. The set also includes the typical oval track, and average power supply. It is of course an 0-4-0. It has a working headlight, working smoke unit (oddly the smoke unit has a switch with 3 positions, one being off obviously, but what are the other two?) and it seems to have a light in the firebox, which has no door.... The loco has no obvious water tanks or coal bins, but has no tender either. It is delightfully heavy too. Both axles receive power through their bearings (as opposed to wipers against the wheelbacks..) and are both geared to the motor. The motor is very low in the frame, it's center only high enough for the worm drive. the rear axle is solidly mounted in the frame but the front axle has it's own enclosed gearbox, which is on a pivot in line with the center of the motor. I was able to stack 3 pennies on the table and sit the locomotive down with one wheel on top of the stack and the other 3 siting on the table surface. My next order of business will be disconnecting the track pickups and adding a telephone connector so that I can connect a trail car with a battery control system.. Any suggestions? Mike, from DieCastoms.
Nice deal. Aristocraft is a reputable source for G scale from what I have seen, but I have never owned one. I did own a Bachmann 0-4-0 porter and it was a real gem. I got it on a whim because it was so cute and they aren't too expensive either. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/0-4-OT-Freight-Set-Teddy-Bear/dp/B000BPN236/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1196902055&sr=1-4"]Amazon.com: G 0-4-OT Freight Set, Teddy Bear: Toys Games[/ame] You are right about the lack of tender and water. It needs some tanks somewhere on it for water, you could scratch a taller bin on the back for wood or coal, or it needs a tender. Your engine seems to be a toy train set compromise. It looks like a loco that should have a tender, but it's been modified to sell without one. I googled up some pics as a reference to the design. It seems like you have a local dealer to buy from, or at least go to so you can see different products up close. I would advise checking out different brands of G scale track as the toy stuff you have really doesn't compare to the better made stuff.
Having never owned AristoCraft products in the past, and not really having had any sort of chance to test this locomotive at all (yet), I can't tell you anything about their product line. But I have taken this one apart (I can't resist) and I can tell you that the chassis is built like an Abram's tank! I don't know if you can see it well enough from my photos, but the black portion of the chassis is all one solid piece, with the seeming consistency of the black plastic reusable shipping pallets (if you know the sort). I was a little surprised to find out that two screws, less than a quarter of an inch long each, were all that held the cab on, and a single screw of the same size under the smokebox held the front of the boiler down. The back end of the boiler is held down by the front wall of the cab, overlapping the firebox. Four screws hold the cover over the motor and both axles, and once that's out of the way two massive bolts go through the solid chassis and into a very large chunk of solid white metal. Don't drop this on your toe. The front end of the boiler is quite simply pressed into the open end of the smokebox. With a gentle back and forth twisting, the plastic smokestack will come right off and reveal an all-metal smoke unit (yay!), which pulls out quite easily, held in place only by what looks like the jack on a pair of headphones. I assume the easily removable front panel and smokestack are to allow easy cleaning of the smoke unit, I see no other reason except for the wires to the front light (which happens to be directional, I thought that was interesting). One of the two cylinders actually has a piston in it, that ironically is moved by the drive rods, and serves to suck smoke in from the smoke unit and blow it back out in puffs matched to speed. I was a little disappointed by the fact that the plumbing on the sides of the locomotive don't actually go anywhere. There's one steam line that just hangs out in the open. 50-cent words courtesy of DC's wife. xD
Well, considering it's painted with a teddy bear, it's not exactly supposed to be prototypically accurate. I think if you start doing some research you can find a loco you want to mimic and cobble a better loco together.
This one looks the most like her. She is Atlantic Coast Lines (ACL) #1434 switching boxcars on Tallapoosa Street in Montgomery in 1937. Credit: C.E. Rutledge/Big Four Graphics The bell is at the wrong end and Teddy's walkboards are too high... and I had not noticed until just now the door in the FRONT of the cab.. fitting for a switcher I suppose... The tender would make a battery car easily enough. For lack of tender, I would consider going this way but have neither the parts or experience to pull that off. That domes are all wrong and I have nothing to make a good tank from. We'll see. Mike from DieCastoms.
If I were to do the smaller tank engine I'd just buy some plumbing pipe and cut it length wise. Then I would add other types of pipe for the domes. If you look on the walthers site you can probably find lots of brass and white metal detail parts for G scale steam engines. Since it's a smaller loco you may be able to use O scale domes for parts on it.
I have several Aristocraft diesels and have been very happy with their quantity. $40 for a little Aristocraft steamer, I would consider a heck of a deal, tender or not.
