IHC 2-10-2 Deal

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello all,

IHC has a deal that with the purchase of a 2-10-2 you can also get 8 passenger cars for $180.00.

Questions is how good is the loco and has anyone had any experience with it and the quality of the passenger cars.

Thanks.

2

I took advantage of IHC’s 2-10-2 promotion back in the beginning of this year and I’m not sorry I did. Granted, the locomotive is generic but it is a good consistent runner. With the RP-25 flanges, it runs fine on my code 83, although it struggles with 18” radius. I added a DCC decoder, which was a simple task, even for a rookie like me. The passenger cars….well……you will need to change to metal wheel sets and body-mounted couplers and add some weight.

For the price, I think it’s a deal, if you can live with some inaccuracies. I think you can get the loco for $129 if you don’t want to bother with the passenger cars.

3

I bought one of the sets and the locomotive is a good runner, although generic. I have the Santa Fe roadname, and put a SoundTraxx Tsunami sound decoder into the tender, which was very easy to do because the tender is large.

The IHC passenger cars are a mixed bag. I bought the interiors for them, and added weight as they were assembled by filling the cavities in the floors with lead shot. I also changed the wheelsets to Intermountain 36" wheels and used Kadee #148 body-mounted Whisker couplers instead of the truck-mounted type. This conversion required use of the Jay-Bee coupler mounting pads…

The engine is a good puller and is heavy because it is cast metal, but still can’t manage to pull all 8 properly weighted passenger cars up a 2 percent grade without wheel slippage.

This locomotive should actually be used for freight instead of passenger duty. I think IHC is just using this offer to unload surplus passenger cars because they don’t offer freight cars, but they do sell the locomotive without the passenger cars.

The locomotive is made in Slovenia and has much more detail than any previous IHC offering.

4

I cannot directly speak to the locomotive. A fellow at the club bought one and is happy with it. And there were at least three threads on this form concerning it. Don’t know how far back you want to look but as I recall the first one was started in November of last year.

The passenger cars on the other hand, I do have personal experience. I bought a set of streamlined for my son, and I got a set of heavy weights for myself. Comments:

  1. The wheels are often out of gauge from the factory. A simple check with the gauge and they can be fixed up quick.
  2. The cars are way too light, which can cause frequent derailments. This can be fixed by adding weight.
  3. The cars are wobbly on their bolsters. This can also be fixed by reworking the mounting point. It takes more work and increases the minimum radius the cars will negotiate.
  4. Many of the cars have a European look to the window arrangment. I’ve not been able to map some of the cars to a prototype (US or European).

To make the cars look and run well requires a good deal of effort. I completely replace the trucks, rework the coupler mounting system and put on Kadee’s, add grab irons, vents, interiors, and diaphrams. This more than doubles the original purchase price of the cars.

5

I purchased one of the Boston & Maine IHC 2-10-2’s about 3 months ago. To be honest…I was pretty leary about the purchase because I’ve read TONS of negative reviews about IHC both here, and on the Atlas forums. This locomotive is from a “new line” that IHC has started called the “Premier Gold Series”. As you may already know, it comes DCC ready unlike any of their other locomotives. It also comes with RP25 wheels, again, unlike any of their other locomotives.

When it arrived in the mail, I was pretty impressed. The level of detail is not equal to the likes of Proto 2000 Herritage or BLI, but it is much better than “standard” IHC steam engines that I’ve seen in the past. The decoder installation couldn’t be easier. The tender is HUGE…plenty of room for a Tsunami and 2 speakers if you wanted. In DCC mode, it run flawlessely. I have brought it to my club’s layout several times now and have it pulling 25+ car freight trains each time. Our club’s layout has almost no grade, so I can’t comment on how it pulls up and over mountains.

I’m pretty sure that you will get a few negative reviews here, that’s only natural, but lets keep things in perspective. You can pick up one of these 2-10-2’s for just a little over $120.00. There are other 2-10-2’s out on the market right now (P2K, BLI and Bachmann) but none of them can be had for the same price. The others mentioned have “proven track records” (no pun intended) for quality and levels of detail. When you compare the IHC 2-10-2 to the others, and compare the price for what you get, the IHC is not a bad deal.

As for their passenger cars…I did not get them. They just don’t work for me, or the railroad that I model.

6

I would skip the cars totally since they are IHC and the engine is a really a freight engine.

Now for good news. If you wait a short time, you can get if much cheaper on sales at Trainworld and others places and save at least sixty to eighty dollars as they continue to offer blow outs and sales without buying the cars. Most of the IHC engines get discounted on monthly sales.

Now for the Bad news. It does not have an actual prototype what so ever. It looks kind of familiar and has a tender from a larger newer locomotive, but the air pumps and feed water heater details are not correct. As an engine in general, it does give an impression that it could be rebuilt into something that would be convincing if you replaced the tender, appliance details and some cab work.

If you get it for the right price and are happy with it, go for it. I read on the forum that they do run OK, but MR has not done a review of it. It is so generic that any railroad name they put on it will attract some buyers.

You can get a Bachmann Light USRA model for a resonable price that is has a prototype and DC/DC both installed for less money than the IHC at many discou

7

Thanks all for you thoughts on the 2-10-2. I might just get the engine if I can get it on sale. Looks like a good idea to stay away from the cars…to much work to get everything straight.