I have found a 0-8-0 made by AHM for sale. How good of runners are they? The person selling it claims it is DCC. If not, how hard is it to convert?
Thank you,
sfb
If it’s the one I’m thinking of, they’re usually good runners. It’s also fairly easy to convert them to DCC if it hasn’t been installed already. Do you have a link to the item in question?
I have a picture.
Sorry, picture did not work. This is not it, but it is the same engine.
http://compare.ebay.com/like/230549997510?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y
Yup, that’s the one I was thinking of. I have almost the same engine, but with Rivarossi’s more expensive ball-bearing motor. They run a little noisy and don’t have great low speed control, but they’re smooth and run well with minimal maintenance.
DCC is pretty easy in Rivarossi steam engines. All you have to do is cut the contact strip on the motor and insulate the light bulb.
One thing I should mention is that these will only work on code 100 rail due to the flange size. Code 100 is the standard size in most cases, so if you have that, it’ll run fine. Code 83 and code 70 will cause the engine to bump on all the ties.
Yup, I have code 100.
Other posters have answered your questions regarding running and DCC conversion (they did not come with DCC - it hadn’t been invented yet). I thought you might be interested in some facts regarding the model itself:
The model is not of a Santa Fe locomotive. It is a fair to good representation of one of three 3-cylinder switchers belonging to the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad, a Chicago-area transfer and belt railroad. I am aware of no other similar ones having been built.
Next to the B&O “Docksider” 0-4-0 tank switcher, it has been one of the most-reproduced locomotives in model form. In addition to zillions of the HO version, it has been made in O-scale and, I believe, in N-scale.
Interesting how in this hobby, the rarest locomotives (the two mentioned, the ubiquitous “Big Boy” - 25 built, and the MA & PA 2-8-0, among others) get modeled the most.
A new can motor will vastly improve its running characteristics, particularly in the slower speed ranges…
Good luck, and have fun!
If it meets your requirements in all other ways, the flanges can be reduced by running the locomotive slowly and shaping them with a file. Have a shop-vac nozzle as close to the cutting action as possible to collect the filings before they have a chance to go where they aren’t wanted.
I’ve cut down the flanges of a Dockside to the point where it’s happy on hand-laid (with spikes) Code 70 rail. It takes time, but it might be worth it.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
GMC Rail:
Atlas came out with the first N-scale 0-8-0 in around december 67-feb 68, and they were DOGS!!!
They had a three-pole motor, and ran like a monkey trying to ride a fumbling football! I had owned three, and to this day, can probably cough up a frame complete with drivers, if I rummage around hard enough. THe bodies, along with my entire N-scale collection, went to a truck driver out of Boston area. The only regret I had was I had the original Jamco brass pacific! Oh well…
The HO-scale version came out some time earlier, about the time Rivarossi made its product line available. I remember the late Linn Westcott having the same comments about the “pizza-cutters”, but generally praised the five-pole motor in the HO-verson. For it’s time, the HO version was a pretty smooth runner,and was pretty faithful to the fences.I think that the “Shifter” as it was called, would proudly do any layout built with a humpyard, carfloat transfer, or just a big division yard system. Prototypically speaking, I wouldn’t wan to use it in any kind of delivery service, as a fairly long train, even in HO, might tend to give it a rather rough ride, being it was sans pilot wheels. Pretty much all of Rivarossi’s earlier models, with the pancake motors, were easily convertable to can motors, if you care to do it. That said, they were also pretty easily converted to DCC; you will have to do a fair amount of thinking aforehand to make the operation go smoothly.
It’s prototype was built by the Brooks Locomotive Works (Alco) about 1917. I think the one thing that has always caught my attention was the Elesco feedwater system, ,jauntily perched so predominantly atop the smokebox. To my knowledge, it was the only switcher built with such an appliance, so it would be a definite eye-catcher with it’s “Bullish” appearance.
EF-3 yellowjacket