From what I’ve seen everyone likes the hobbytown chassis/engines but not the shells is this because of price or lack of detail or something else?
I thought that Hobbytown was a store. I’ve never heard of any Hobbytown engines.
hehehe must be a newbee[;)]. “Hobby Town of Boston” has made die-cast model railroading supplies for several decades. They were purchased a few years back by Bear locomotive. http://bearlocomo.zoovy.com/
Yes, they are die cast and the molds are old so you get a double whammy on “fuzzy” details. They can be spiffied up with brass etched or other die cast parts. It is a lot of work and much harder than working with plastic. Neither are the mechanisms silky smooth silent running right out of the box. It takes some work to get them smooth. BUT, The die-cast weight combine with the high torque motors will allow them to pull a ton.
They also manufacture a clutch mechanism that can allow the locomotives to do some things a normal direct drive cannot. Can be tricky to get used to operating.
Like TZ says, they are not the quietest on first assembly, but as with all kits they do improve with some debugging.
I can certify they will outpull almost anything else on the market. I have one of their PA-1’s and it has had over 200 cars behind it. My F-7 has had over 70 cars behind it, and this is with an old Athearn body and only 6oz of extra weight added to the chassis. My newest chassis for a GP-7 hasn’t really been maxed yet but it has had 50 cars behind it with no extra weight added at all.
These are extremely robust and durable chassis’s and have outpulled and outlasted every other diesel chassis I have ever owned with a minimum of maintanence. Over the yrs I’ve owned probably 200 total diesels from old Mantua, Penn Line, and Athearn to Kato and Overland Brass. The Hobbytowns could pull any 2 of them running in the opposite direction, down the track with no effort at all.
Time and effort to make something run well? What a concept in these days of ready to junk modeling? Two men and a boy to lift my Alco road switcher and it takes an extra layer of homasote to “quiet” the built in sound! I have needless to say been a fan of 'Hobbytown" motive power!
Will
I have a Hobby Town E Unit. My now 8 year old, could not say his V’s very well when he was little, so the loco is still affectionately called “The Hebby Train”. It really is a beast and will, as mentioned, pull anything. It does not like 18" radius curves and sparks like mad if the metal truck hits the metal body. The kids would turn off the lights and run it this way on purpose! Now I have gone DCC is does not get run very much.
I recently bought two Hobbytown drives for some old Mantua die cast metal bodies of the Baldwin RF-16. The sound they make, well, they DON’T need a sound simulator, and they’ll pull the paint off the walls. A lot of weight on drivers and great pulling power. I detailed them up like the Pennsy’s, with Trainfone antennas and everything and they look great, too.
Hobbytown kits are a great value. Their durability, exquisite detail, and pulling power truly make these locomotives a standard in the model railroad industry. I would highly recommend these locomotives for a beginner or seasoned veteran alike. So don’t miss your chance to own a locomotive that has come to be known as the backbone of our hobby!
I thought they could be changed to DCC? am I mistaken?
I still have my Dads Hobbytown RS3s…My Dad built these engines in the early 60s…Guess what? 43-45 years later and they STILL RUN!!!
I had a Hobby town F7 with a Athearn shell and yes it would pull the paint of the wall but you could also make it creep so slow you could hardly see it move and it would do that all day. They are great drives way ahead of their time. Cox 47
I have six hobbytown engines I’ve bought over the years and repowered them with atlas motors and flywheels to quiet them down ,they work great and still pull anything you put behind them. Boxcar
There is a member at the club that still builds Hobbytown RS3s.He uses Atlas hand rails.Last track I had he had around 12.[:D]
I’ve got a hobbytown RS3 it’s missing the rear truck but I think I’ve found a whole engine that I can hopefully down the road salvage parts off of to re-build mine. Very unique drive to them, I can certainly see why they last so long considering all the metal gears and frame.
Thanks for the link, too bad they don’t offer any steam kits. (that’s all I run) I had never heard of them before. (I have only been model railroading for a few years)
No, you aren’t mistaken. What was said that made you doubt? Actually I have yet to see something that couldn’t be converted to command control.
From the two units I built, I don’t see why not. The motor is isolated completely from the frame (I have the newer can motor version) and is fed by two wires. It seems like the DCC module could easily be connected right there.
NOTE: I don’t use DCC, only have a rough understanding of how it’s wired.
All of my chassis have the open frame Pittman motors in them and I have not had a problem with decoder installation or damage. These were a two wire to the motor install even on plain DC. Prior to decoder installation, I tested each motor as to full load, stall and startup amperage, and even the large seven pole motor in the PA stays well within the current ratings of most normal HO (1-1.5 amp) decoders.
Wow. This thread probably has gotten Hobbytown more attention than all their tiny adds in the magazines! I’ve always wondered about them . . . . guess I’ll have to check one out!