Hi Gang About 25 years ago I purcased a micro trains Z scale train set. It has a F7 with some freight cars. The loco runs fair for its size but never good enough to inspire building anything in Z scale. In 2005 I was in Seatle for the NMRA convention and saw some marked improvements in Z scale. However I remain out of the loop on the subject of Z scale. Anyway I am contemplating building in Z scale and would like your thoughts on how to best choose my equipment. How can I get the most bang for the buck? I want something that I don't have to spend alot of time fiddling with. Era and road is not important to me at this point. I want something I can let run for extended periods of time. Also is ther any tricks or info I should know about DC power supplies. Anyway thanks for your advise.
It is my OPINION that you cannot go wrong with a Micro Trains Line GP35 or GP9. I have run them for hours at trains shows with zero problems. Since it appears you are an experienced model railroader, I really do not need to re-emphasize the need for excellent track work and cleanleness. That applies in spades for Z. Any power pack that delivers 9 VDC will do the job. Do NOT use any old pulse power - the MTL motors don't really care for it. Since I am sure you are not a "train racer" so I am sure you would not crank up the power supply to the full N scale 12 VDC. There are DCC "drop in" replacement printed circuit boards from Train Control Systems and Digitrx (as well as others) for the MTL locos for about $25-$30. NCE, Digitrax and MRC (among others) make great starter DCC sets for about $150. Welcome to the Z scale addiction! Lindley Ruddick (ZoCal)
Thanks Lindley. You mentioned DCC. Can You purchase the locos you mentioned with dcc decoder installed?
I agree. You cant go wrong with a GP35 or a GP9. They are smooth runners, and and are more forgiving of bad track work. The decoders are drop in, but you must do the work yourself. MTL doesnt sell engines dcc equip.
Freudenreichs F40PH ist the best in my opinion, fat 10mm coreless motor + heavy brass chassis. It's really an animal!
Thanks Alex. Maybe I should bite the bullet right up front and go DCC. I just don't know that much about Z scale. Because its so small a decoder seems to just complicate matters. However according to Lindley there are decoders that fit in to the GP9 and GP35. I looked at the DCC controler you referenced from Hungary. Looks good but DCC is completely new to me.
Speaking of loco performance and running smoothness, as a DC guy I'm not able to give any vote between my Micro-Trains Geeps and my AZL SD70s. So I'd give a 50/50 ratio to each brand. Dom
Joe, I know California is a big state, but there are excellent Z-Bend Track groups in Southern California as well as the Bay area. (ZoCal and BAZ Boyz, respectively). And I'm sure there are many Z scalers in between. The entire West coast is a Z hotspot. There is a wealth of information and expertise relatively close by. Dan S.
Joe, You are getting sound advice from all these guys. I think most will agree that the future of Z seems to be leaning very heavily towards DCC. It saves much wiring, block work, soldering and the performance of the DCC locos is supurb. It does take a bit of effort to install some of the decoders in some locos, but many on the West coast have done so many times and they swear by DCC. Dan S is correct, the West coast is chock full of Z scalers. And here's news for everyone........I just talked to a gentleman in Redding, CA that is a fairly new Z scaler and he said that there is a group of guys in Redding that are thinking seriously of forming a Z Bend club. I encouraged him to go ahead and think about Sacramento NTS in July. Redding is just up the road a ways from Sacramento so this is possibly exciting news. I'm doing all I can to coax this gentleman along and encourage him to jump in. If Redding does produce a club then that means there will be 6 clubs on the West coast. Yeah baby !!!!!!
Joe, Welcome back to the world of Z! I was at the 2005 NMRA and it was a wonderful show. But it is amazing how far Z scale has come since then. It is almost night and day with the wealth of new products available. I think the locomotive question is a difficult one since all Z locos are made to perform. The MTL GP35 and GP9 are excellent as is the AZL GP7s and SD70s. My preference are the SD70s. I run these four hours on end and they are smooth and consistent work horses. If you are going to operate DC, I HIGHLY recommend using a Gaugemaster HF1 electronic track cleaner. I operate DC on all of my layouts and use these religiously. They make a world of difference. IF you do go to DCC, you won't need these. If you are looking at controllers, our line of Snail Speed controllers are very popular. We offer both a 9volt battery controller and an universal that can use either a 9volt battery and wall adapter. Here is the link to where you can find these products: Ztrack Center: Assorted Electronics Rob Kluz
Märklin F7 ABA There are little talk about Märklin engines in this thread, but some of the Mäklin locs run quite good. From many years I have several F7 units, and my experience is if you have ABA or AA units in your train, it can run for hours without any problems. Stalling in one engine is normally taken care of the other engine and with 4 axels on each engine to pickup power, it runs good. I have only used it with DC and from time to time also included a Relco unit in the powerline. I plan to DCC a UP ABA soon. The Märklin engines are a little noisy, but perform ok. Other engines from Märklin, like the steamers, have more problems going well, but for me the F7 do the job when I want to run long freighttrains. Also the old MTL F7 run ok, and of course the new AZL-line and and the new MTL's, that I also have some of, but not tested so much. Next weekend I will run all my locos in hours in our ZMOD-show in Norway, so then I will know more.
To be fair, the MTL F7 will haul the side out of a house but they are quite noisy. One thing to take into account is servicing, AZL and modern MTL locos are virtually maintenance free apart from cleaning and lightly re-oiling. Marklin locos will wear out carbon brushes and that carbon dust has to go somewhere(usually the bottom of the motor) and changing the brushes can be quite fiddly. We run our AZL and MTL Geeps for 14 hours at a time on our 'Cuyahoga' exhibition layout and they never ever let us down, sadly I can't say the same for the Marklin locos.One thing we find is that a Marklin steam loco will run quite happily for a couple of hours at a show and then decide to just stop! At last weeks REC show at Woking I was running the layout on my own as Angie could not come, when it was time to go to lunch I put the layout in 'safe mode' i.e AZL GP7s and MTL GP35s hauling the long coal and merchanise trains on all three tracks as I knew when I returned they would still be happily trundling round at a nice scale speed. The lads on the layout next door kept an eye on it but never had to intervene regarding DCC I have too many locomotives on 'Cuyahoga' to consider changing to DCC as the cost would be prohibitive but as I acquire more modern engines for our new 'Shasta' project (SD70s and SD40s etc) I am going to chip them as I buy them
And furthermore they are a little bit jerky at low speeds. They can stall far more easily than that same manufacturer's Geeps and SD40-2s, as they are more sensitive with any dirt on the track. But let's not blame them, they are a 30-year old design. They can be somewhat widely enhanced with a kit a fellow Z-scaler released a few years ago (I don't recall who that Z-scaler is: maybe Michael Hilliard?), consisting of brass plates put into contact with each wheel that improve power pick-up. Dom
TeeterTotterTreeStuff.com proprieter is Glen Chenier e-mail is glen@teetertottertreestuff.com These wipers kits make the F7 every bit as good as the geeps in my book when installed correctly. They will creep along with the Joeger throttle. IMHO
