Does anyone know how good the IHC PREMIER SERIES 4-6-2 PACIFIC locomotives are? How’s the quality? What’s their minimum curve radius? How much can they pull?
As always, any and all information is greatly appreciated.
I have one. It works fine on 18" radius curves. It can probably pull 20 cars at least, but I can not say for sure as I have not had a long enough track to try this. I have had mine for about 3 years and never had a problem. They are certainly not any where close to the detail standards of the higher end plastic models, but then again they are not close to the price either. The running gear is very shiny, with no blackened wheels. I think they are quite good value for money.
Don’t let the name PREMIER fool you.
It’s not a top notch loco. I had the premier 4-8-2 Mountain 16 1/4 oz , 4 ounces more than the Pacific.
Take a look at www.ihc-hobby.com click on, ON LINE CATALOG, then HO and scroll down to the Pacifics and click for the description.
They go for $70.00 according to their ad in MR and they are probably worth it.
I would be concerned about their . 12.6 ounces up a grade
A comparable would be the Mantua Pacific, DCC ready, also in MR by trainworld for $75.00
See it at www.modelpower.com and click on mantua classics.
Don’t expect a heck of a lot for that price range but both should be good starters.
I have several different IHC Premier models, all the way from their 2-6-0 to a Mountain, and they all run very smoothly. IHC locomotives appear to be made by Rivarossi or Mehano, and they all use high quality can motors. The only really noticeable difference between IHC and Rivarossi is the amount of detail and that the IHC models all use chrome wire for the handrails instead of dark colors. I can’t speak for the newer IHC models, but the older ones I have were not DCC ready. I have managed to install decoders into all of them with little effort, but they didn’t have the NMRA plug for a decoder like Bachmann and some other newer models.
I have one. I have no problems hauling 5 Athearn passenger cars up a 3.5% grade.
The quality is decent but as cacole said, the detail is lacking.
Gordon
Cool, thanks for the input. Think I’m going to pass on this one too. Just don’t have the money at the moment to buy a whole second train/more track.