Today’s review is on IHC’s 2-6-0 standard Mogul. IHC also offers a 2-6-0 Camel Back. The Mogul is priced $98.98 retail but is inexpensive for a higher-than-train-set-quality engine and can be found for much cheaper.
The IHC Mogul uses the shell that Pemco made in the 1980’s. The shell has good detailing and more detail parts than most other IHC steamers, but most of the detail is still cast on. The coats of paint are smooth and even and the color seperation is done more sharply than on most other IHC engines. The cab has an interior in it and it is well detailed. All of the railings are nickel silver and the handrail stancions are plated plastic. When the headlight shines at full brightness it shows through the whole headlight housing a little.That can be fixed by painting some black around most of the lightbulb, but leaving the part that you can see unpainted. The bell is solid brass, but it is oversized and doesn’t have a hanger like it should. It can be easily replaced by a bell from Bowser.
When I tested the engine it started moving at about 3.2 volts. I could keep it moving at 3 volts at about 10 scale MPH. At 12 volts it went around 100 scale MPH at 0.03 amps. It ran very smoothly through the entire speed range. The stall current is between 0.15 amps and 0.25 amps. The motor is a very cheap and small 3 pole motor. It isn’t very powerful and the armature isn’t skewed like IHC’s larger motors. It ran nearly silent without the shell on. With the shell on it was louder, but still fairly quiet. The shell amplifies the motor heavily. All of the weight is in the shell and it’s very heavy for a plastic steam engine of it’s size. I got it to pull 11 free rolling cars before the wheels started to slip. At 13 cars the wheels slipped so much that it couldn’t make it to half of it’s speed, so it’s a very light duty engine
Does anyone have a suggested replacement motor? I plan on converting mine to DCC as soon as it arrives so I might as well change the motor while I’m at it.
BB
The Pemco shell is based upon a SP M21 prototype, by far, the most efficient moguls constructed by the SP shops, they could handle the same tonnage on level track as a
MT class 4-8-2, hence the nickname “valley malley”. The orginal Pemco utilized tender drive as opposed to the current offering.
I have owned an IHC Camelback since '02 and it has been a reliable runner on my layout. Not as detailed as Mantua’s Camelback but reliable steam for under $100. Actually, I picked up mine for around $65.
I’m not a huge steam guy, but love our two IHC Consolidations. For the $$, they are tough to beat. Here’s one we got off ebay that had extra detailing added and was practically new. Seems it got dirty in the Platte Canyon Mining District! [:D]
Nuh uh. The Pemco shell was based on the SP M-4, which were built in the very early 20th Century by both Cooke and Schenectady. The E-23 4-4-0 used the same boiler. The term “Valley Malley” actually referred more to the M-6 and M-9 classes which could pull about as much in the San Joaquin Valley as an AC 4-8-8-2 in the Mountains.
The M-21’s were built by the T&NO in the late 20’s using boilers off some small 2-6-6-2’s that the T&NO had. They had a tractive effort of 43,000 lbs, which was close to the MK-2 and MK-4 Mikado rating ot 45,000 lbs. The M-21’s were actually referred to as “Little Mikes” as a result. 9 of the 10 M-21’s were transferred to the Pacific Lines in 1939, but were returned to the T&NO in 1942.
That’s a nice looking engine!! One advantage to having not too much detail cast on is that you can add your own very easily.[:D][:D] I bet my IHC 2-8-2 would look good with a Bowser Super Detail Kit.[:D][:D][:D][:D]
You will, and it’s easy! Aside from the physical details, ours has painted drivers, a coat of dull cote and some chalk for weathering. Nothin to it.[8D]
I’ve got $35 plus an old decoder in our Consolidation. The decoder installation is the IHC’s Achilles tendon. They are a bit of a pain to install. Other than that, no complaints at all.
If you pay 100$ for one of those, your paying too much, if you pay more then 50 dollars for one then you’ve been robbed, for 110 dollars you could get a bachman spectrum heavy mountain from trainland, and for 20 dollars LESS then the list price for the IHC mogul you can get a spectrum 2-8-0. Better detailed, better drives at a cheaper or only slighly more expenisve price.
Not to be a snob, but IHC is charging way too much for what basicly amounts to a good drive.
Darth- Never mind the above comments, You keep your reveiws coming! That’s why they call them reveiws. One person makes observations on a product and the rest make a desision based on their observations. (not on somebody saying HUT UHN, YOUR GETTING RIPPED OFF) with out any scientific facts to base THEIR reveiw on.
I’ll say again, THANK YOU! I also was looking at this IHC product. (What might be wrong for someone else, may be right for me, without the feeling of being RIPPED OFF)[soapbox]
I’ve been kinda interested in an IHC 2-6-0. I don’t like the looks of that tiny motor, but if it runs ok that’s good. 11 cars is disappointing. But I bet I could get it to pull 13 cars ok. just got to get it rolling and keep the speed up. Besides I think I have what’s called the “engineers touch” aka. being able to get a loco to pull almost anything. You just have to go real easy on the throttle.
100 SMPH on 12 volts? MRC packs put out 18 to the track. Is there any way to gear it down so it runs slower?[:P] aka. is the worm gear interchangeable w/ another brands gear like on the IHC FP-45s?
I like my IHC White Pass Mike. At present it is the only loco on my layout with a Tsunami. It is a medium-light puller, in my estimation…it could use another 3-4 oz of weight, which I may add this fall when I run out of things to do. Also, it seems to have an odd lunging action as is decelerates. It will do 3/4 of a revolution of the drivers, and then slow barely perceptively, than lurch forward, and then slow, etc. It is slight, but noticeable. While I am adding weight, I will have a look at the drive.
The IHC Mogul is a good loco for the price, and a nice hauler. Eleven cars is pretty prototyical for this particular SP-based loco, it’s an M-2, which was pretty largely a branch-line hauler. As Andre says, it’s the later, heavier series of SP “Valley Mallets” that did the big hauling in the San Joaquin Valley. I had one of the IHC M-2’s several years ago, gave it to my nephew, not because it was a bad loco (far from it, in fact), but only because it didn’t fit my layout. Nice basic detail, and like most IHC locos, easy to superdetail with Cal-Scale or PSC castings to make it more prototypical. A little noisy at first, but smoothed out nice after breaking in.
No complaints from this end. I’ve got one other IHC loco on my roster–a Heavy USRA 4-8-2 , and it’s just fine. I’m still considering their new Santa Fe 2-10-2. They make good basic locos, it’s what you want to do with detailing after, that counts.
Tom
