Any one have one? I am thinking of getting a couple undecorated’s and painting them up for the P&LE…
Are they decently reliable? Anyone have any problems with them?
Thanks guys
I have a couple of BB’s They’re decent enough. I like them. They tend to be a bit light so you might want to add some more weight. Gordon
One method for addition weight is to use a Cary SW1500 shell from Bowser.
thanks guys.
cp5415,
how light we talking? trouble pulling 10 cars?
I can’t speak to the new ones, but I have several BB ones. They run like you’d expect a BB to…as long as the wheels and commutator are clean, they run like a champ. One will pull a dozen or so cars with no problem.
With some simple detailing, you can dramatically improve thier appearance. This is a basic BB SW1500, with added wire grab irons, a walkway chain, and some paint:
Nick
As long as it’s on flat ground, no problem. Mine have had difficulties on my grades but I have 2 grades in excess of 3.5% so that will explain the difficulties. Gordon
sounds like i should be able to make due with these guys…
they’ll be in use in a steel mill and also in a interchange yard, so the grading isnt an issue… thanks for all the feedback!
[quote user=“P & LE RR”]
Any one have one? I am thinking of getting a couple undecorated’s and painting them up for the P&LE…
Are they decently reliable? Anyone have any problems with them?
Thanks guys
[/quote**]**
Well lemme tell you this: I’ve officially converted from HO to N scale, but I have decided to keep three HO locos for sentimental value, one of them is an Athearn SW1500:
I outfitted it with a directional lighting kit about 10 years ago. I love seeing the lights reverse.
Though I model the modern era, I’m forever an SP fan and the SW1500 was one of the Espee’s switching workhorses. It’s been very reliable and runs like a charm.
I had a cow and calf powered set that still ran pretty good after 20+ years. They did tend to eat drawbars and kaydees from time to time. At the time, they were the best analog for switching for the cost. All of about 25 dollars retail too in the 80’s.
I rely on Broadway Limited NW units to do the switching and a set of Atlas RS-1’s for now as my best switching set.
I think the ones with the old black round motor was more onery than the ones with the nicer bronze motor in the Athearn line but dont remember.
I like the nice quality paint and detail work on the photo above this thread.
this is the bad boy that i plan on modeling…
anyone know what decal set might provide me the right letters and numbers for this loco?
I have 3 of the beast and I love 'em…As far as pulling that depends…If you weigh your cars to RP20.1 you will pull less…My SW1500s can pull 30 stock weight cars.[:D]
I had a cow and calf set of the SW7 both powered for a very long time. One was the round motor and the other was a newer motor and occasionally fought each other. But they were probably reliable and never “Broke” Also when I sold the set on ebay I managed to profit because the 80’s retail was only about 25 dollars for the two. They have been replaced with other engines in the yard but will always be missed.
this is the bad boy that i plan on modeling…
anyone know what decal set might provide me the right letters and numbers for this loco?
An NYC, or Penn Central set should work for the cab numbers. As for the small “P&LE” you might be able to piece that together from lettering sets.
Microscale decals has P&LE decal diesel sets - but looks like the HO ones are sold out - you could try E-bay?