wondering if anyone converted the dummy coupler at the front of a IHC 2-10-2 so that it is functional. Here in Canada the grocery stores that carry the President’s Choice label have a different train set each christmas. Last years set included the 2-10-2, an 18 inch oval track, cheap power pack and throw away freight cars. All this for only $99. This year when the new train set comes out the old one will be reduced by 50% and this makes me want to buy another train set and then have two of these steam engines double head freights.
IIRC there is not direct replacement for the front coupler. Youll have to pull out the plastic one and trim down a #58 to fit…of course it wont have any left to right swing, but itll operate.
Yes, they were all snapped up locally well before Christmas, and I had a manager inquire of the national supplier if any were left for one of our members here. Answer was, “Fuggettabouttitt.”
Soooooooooooooooooooooooo…get yer mitts in the pile early, guys and girls, if you like what you see this year. I’m willing to take bets that the supplies will last less than 48 hours.
I put a Kadee in the pilot of an IHC 2-6-0 a while ago. Works well. I looked at the Kadee conversion list and the largest IHC steamer listed is a 2-8-2 which is shown as taking a #36 in the pilot. The thirty series Kadee’s have a very tiny round coupler box with a hairspring instead of the bronze spring. The thirty series comes in long, short, and medium length. Each length can be had in center-set, over-set, and under-set. Most of the IHC’s seem to take a centerset coupler. A long coupler always works. I’d try a #36 (long, centerset) and see what happens. If coupler comes out too high or too low, switch to an long under set (31) or long over-set (39) as required.
I had to do considerable Dremel work on the pilot to enlarge the coupler hole in the pilot enough to pass the shank of the coupler. I drilled a mounting hole in the pilot deck and secured the coupler box with a black nylon screw which is nearly invisible against the black plastic pilot. I don’t have much side-to-side motion in the coupler but it is enough for double heading work.
Loathar, I think some of us decided that it is not the same engine, but close enough that it is still worth getting and doing a bit of bashing and detailing, as mswosun did around Christmas. Might be worth digging up his name and finding that thread. I don’t know who started the thread, might have been he.
Is that the Bachmann Vanderbilt tender with your 2-10-2? If so, was your conversion similar to that described by Mosun for his 2-10-2, which he generously described in great detail early this year on the internet?
GUB and selector, there are still some sets available here in the Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge area. Maybe a manager in a store near you can contact some of the store managers here to get some shipped out. The numbers are going down but hoping that some will be around when the new set comes out. I too am looking forward to what the next offering will be.
dstarr, thank you very much for the information. I will certainly try to do the same with my engine to get a coupler on the front.
msowsun , thank you for the pictures. They helped a lot.
For those that I did not mention in my replies thank you. Everybodies information is appreciated and will be followed up.
Not sure. The Bachmann Tender is an SP oil tender. I cut a hole in the deck for a speaker and used styrene to build up the Coal Bin Sides. I then took some black foam, shaped it and covered it with Coal trailings. I then wetted it the same way one does ballast and then used a water based clear coat to keep the coal in place. This does not impare the sound what so ever and I will be doing this on several other engines speaker baffle/Fake Coal.
Thanks for the infor, da_kraut! In fact, it is/was Pathfinder who was looking, and for whom I inquired. I hope he won’t smack me for mentioning it, but I also hope he sees this and acts if he is still interested.
The model that is sold by President’s Choice is the same version as what they are selling on ebay if it is a Canadian National locomotive numbered 4100. These units are not DCC ready but everything else is identical to the other 2-10-2 representing different railroads.
I have one of these IHC 2-10-2’s that came with the PC set… I know it runs really well and all that, but I’m wondering, since it’s essentially the same as the new models you can still get from IHC, is it possible to install a decoder somewhere inside it? I know the new ones you can get come DCC equipped, so obviously there is somewhere in there where they found space for a decoder slot.
I was also interested in doing the conversion of cab and tender I’ve seen on other models, and I’m just curious if you can get the all-weather cab ready made, or not. I believe the tender is a model you can order separatly, but I am also really wondering about the cab.
You should be able to install a decoder in it. The 2-10-2 I have is DCC ready and the board is in the tender. All that I would need to do is open up the tender and swap out the dummy plug on the board with a decoder.
A friend of mine sent me one of those sets with the 2-10-2 some time back. I toyed with the idea of putting a working coupler on the front but eventually decided against it. I only run it a couple of times a year so it doesn’t seem worthwhile to me to go to all that trouble.
