On N&W, yes (ie longer than 10 cars!) N&W also used older articulateds like Y3 2-8-8-2s as switchers in some yards.
I would be interested in hearing experiences once people have broken in their locomotives. Everything I own ran better after I let it go forward for about ten minutes at half throttle and then in reverse for about ten minutes at half throttle.
I got mine today & when I tried to connect the draw bar, I found out that the hole for the screw was not drilled. Looks like the drill just touched the suface & did not go into the metal. Need to find someone with some taps.
GizmoSr, Welcome to Trainboard! Also, I am sorry about that not-finished-hole. That's just a bunch of garbage. They should be checking that as they pack them. If you end up in the Portland area, I have a 00-90 tap if that will suffice. Adam
A prototype switcher would be able to move any cut of cars brought into the yard by a road engine, just not at road speed. And a 0-8-0 was a heavy switcher or transfer engine. In other words the answer to your question is YES, loooong strings. An 0-8-0 that can only pull 10 cars on the level or 4 on a grade is as useful as (insert your own metaphor here). It seems like a lot of problems connecting the tender, if Walthers were concerned about broken drawbars during shipping it would seem to me that better packaging would be the better solution. I'm surprised no one has told us how they run on DCC yet, has anyone fitted a decoder, how do they fit (looks like part of the tender weight may have to be removed), and which one.
This brings up an interesting question. If the loco won't run without the tender, do they test run them before they pack them?
My guess as to an answer to your question starts with and "N", ends in an "O", has one syllable, and rhymes with the word "slow".
I'd figured that, I was just being sarcastic. Looks like the first test run is when we get it home and attach the tender, even a test run of individual engines at the LHS not very convenient, I can see a lot of these being returned. I guess its early days yet but the first results don't sound good, this thread started out looking promising.:tb-sad:
OK, I brought the one home that is pictured in the begining of the topic. Screwing in the drawbar went fine. The loco is geared very low, comparable to the Bachmann 2-8-0. Pulling power is not what I expected as mentioned although I did do better than others. I pulled 10 new MT cars up a 1% grade and 15 cars on level. It runs with no wobble, no stuter and went through Kato #6 turnouts fine. Also went around 9 3/4" radius fine. I pulled it apart to see what makes it tick.... Here is a shot: The boiler comes off very easy. All you need to do is remove the ashpans and the cab foot plate and the boiler pulls up and forward. For those that want more pull, there is hope. There is quite a bit of space inside the boiler for extra weight. You will have to fit it to the sides but it is there. There is also room in all of the steam and sand domes. There are some small added weights in the side of the smoke box that could be replicated and repeated down the length of the boiler. I think the lack of pull may be just a ballance issue. This is the first loco I have seen that is actually nose heavy. I would guess you can gat at least another 1/4 oz of weight in the loco. The small round blob sticking out of the cab is a flywheel. The motor is a 3 pole skewed arm with replaceable brushes it appears. The motor is coupled to the drive via a rubber coupling.
Yep, the traction tire is factory installed. The extra set of drivers is if you want to run w/out traction tires. Thanks for the "inside" pics skipgear! I'm being gentle with the wiring harness because I don't want to break any wires, but the harness is stiff and may be contributing to the weight forward problem. I'll probably just put in a decoder and it will be fine pulling my 10 car strings in the yard. Anyone know what decoder will "plug and play"?
I have now run this little loco for a while and I really like it. I watched it a while and decided it may need a little shimming of the rear driver. The drivers are so perfectly alligned from the factory that any dip in the track could allow the rear driver to lift. This is also becuase it to be a bit nose heavy. If it finds uneven track, the weight shifts to the front. Shimming the rear driver with a piece of cellophane tape didn't increase over all pulling power but it helped it maintain traction in the uneven sections. I think this loco will benifit from an extended brake in. The chassis is very precise with no slop and sometimes a bit a slop will help keep the wheels in contact with the rail. I have the same opinion of it as my other LL/Walthers steamers, they run like a swiss watch, have beautiful detail but lack pulling power that I think they could have. It isn't as bad as many are making it out to be. It pulls a few more cars than my stock Bachmann 0-6-0's, looks ton's better doing it and is a lot smoother in the process. I think with some tinkering, I can probably double it's pulling power which is about where I think it should be.
One would think that the model railroad manufacturers would use Tungsten in N scale models to overcome the lack of weight from Lead, Zinc and Lead/Zinc alloys presently used. I understand that Tungsten is very difficult to work with... hard and brittle in particular... so it would be a challenge to create frames with this element. Several of us have mentioned using Tungsten putty in crevices to add weight... the biggest drawback was the cost. This supplier you've link has some very reasonable prices compared to others I've seen, still... the 1 oz of Tungsten putty at $4.95 equates to $80.00 per pound! Thankfully we would only need an ounce or two for most engines . In so far as the drawbar.... could a system similar to the Intermountain FT drawbar be considered as a retro-fit for this application?
I have worked extensively with the metals mentioned here. Tungsten would not be a viable metal. Linotype is VERY easy to work with...Tungsten is not. You will not see Tungsten used in model trains. Certainly, if I was part of the decision making process I would vigorously push for use of Linotype. I make my own bullets because I used to shoot professionally several years ago. For a period of time, Tungsten was the "in thing". However, it is such a pain to work with that it has since fallen out of favor. The only way that it is usable is when Tungsten powder is compressed into the final shape...even sandcasting was a failure. A in-house manufactured billet could probably be milled in a third generation CNC machine, but the piece failure rate would be VERY high. Not economical. Looks good in theory, but the realities of manufacturing will prevent standardized use in our hobby. BTW, the increased density of Tungsten is significant. It WOULD make a difference if manufacture was possible.
Are you sure? This directly contradicts the official info: Walthers Model Railroad Mall -- product information page for 920-90000
This one definitely has a 3 pole motor. It's not like it matters though, it is geared so low that cogging is nil. I kind of kept that off the A-board posting so as not to get Victor in an uproar. It is a skewed 3, unlike the advertising but I really don't care, it runs well as is.
I'll agree that tungsten is tremendously difficult to work with, even for experienced metallurgists. My best best is tungsten BBs or power mixed in epoxy. It's about twice as heavy as lead. Gold is nearly as heavy, and easy to work with. What's gold these days--$600 per ounce? I can see someone doing it! You could always recover the gold. You would want to make a frame out of gold, as it is soft--just add the weight(s).
That looks real close to the same motor in MP 4-6-2 & 2-8-2 steam and those 2 locomotives run great. Tungsten is easy to machine, but it's not something a manufacturer is going to do. Linotype is lead and that is toxic. The CC 2-10-2 has a small chunk of real lead in it and there are warnings all over about it. I don't think a manufacturer wants to worry about that either. Still with all this dead empty space they could have filled it with something and anything would help. Without mine in hand yet I can't tell, but my idea is to cut the front inch or more off the top part of the chassis (in the boiler) and replace it with something heavier. Lead, tungsten, bowling balls... ; )
