Ever break out the old Engines and little shoocked at how well they work?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have been running manily my PK 1 & 2 and a newer Super Weight F-7A and have had great luck with them. Low power draw, and pull well.

For what ever reason tonight I pulled out a couple of old BB FP-45’s. Now a few of you may remember me saying the older BB 12 wheelers don’t pull worth a Chevy. (Mopar Guy) Max was like 12 cars.

Fast forward in the learing curve. Dumped all but 1 18" turn, tuned the trucks of the Rolling Stock, up grade wheels and couplers as I can afford, cars are in NMRA standards and I found I turly under rated the older BB’s.

One of the folks here said “Blue Boxes will pull as much as PK’s if not more”. Well, not sure about out pulling a PK but sure do pull, just a little slower. One FP-45 will haul 37 cars up a 2% grade. I did double headed it to save the motor and runs very well. With most being 50 footers that is 25 feet of rolling stock.

Sometimes it is just plain fun to run the lesser stuff, and little shoocked at what they can do when things are right.

150 hours with no problems, Cuda Ken riding the rails again!

2

1/2 my loco fleet (aka 2 out of 4 [:)]) are BB GP9’s that are 20 years old and although one is a little loud (came out of the box that way), they both run great and are able to match my Atlas RS3 and Proto2K GP18 in pulling power without issue. I love the Athearn BB stuff, they never seem to die and even the DCC upgrade on them is quite easy.

3

The MRR Club I’m in has a Blue Box DD40AX, Its one of the dual motor ones. Aside from being really loud. It pulls. It takes 3 or 4 Proto SD60s to match it. This engine will pull any train we have and a 98% of the club members trains. Scary part is, We have another that isn’t used…

4

…" shoocked at what they can do when things are right." - CudaKen

Now you’ve discovered the secret. 'Nuff said.

Athernn’s BB and (some) PROTO engines have similar drives. The Protos use smaller -more efficient- motors @ .25 amps . Athearn’s @ .50a - .75a.

‘Pulling power’ is largely a function of engine weight vs. weight of what is being pulled or dragged.

Athearn BB’s were also notorious for out of gauge wheels.

5

Don,I must be living right.In all the years(55 to be exact) I have use Athearn BB locomotives I never found any wheels out of gauge and very few on the BB cars.[:D] Luck of the Irish perhaps?

Ken,I came across my old Model Power RS11 that my late wife got me our first Chistmas-1974…While this engine is well below todays"standards" she still runs as smooth as silk.

6

Back in 1980 I bought a old Varney 0-4-0 at a train show.Since it was partly dis-assembled I put it on my list of things to do in the future.Last winter I put it together,cleaned and lubed it ran it and was surprized by its power.It can haul 11 cars up my worst hill,a Bachmann 2-8-0 is only good for 6 cars.The Varney was built with lead weights,I think Bowser still builds the Varney design. Joe

7

Over half of my fleet are BB’s.

Out of roughly 40 Athearn loco’s in 7 years, I’ve only come across one where I had to re-guage the wheels.

As for what out pulling who, I find a lot has to do with what loco is being used.

My P1K RS11 is very light & will not haul a lot of cars on my layout.

My P1K C-liner, will out pull the RS11

My BB GP’s will haul more than the RS11 & as much as the C-Liner

My BB SD’s & AC’s will out haul the above.

My P2K PA’s & SD’s will out haul everything mainly due to the weight of the loco’s.

I do have fun hauling out the old loco’s. My Dad’s loco’s from the 60’s are great as they make the BB’s sound quiet in comparison [:D]

Gordon

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[#ditto]

Half my fleet of 80 some odd locos are old athearn BB’s, as long as you keep um clean and maintained they run fine, Have no problems with them, they are industructable IMHO. The details may not meet modern stuff, but their like the energizer bunny. running and running