Tony’s performed a short review of the weiht and pulling power of the PCM and Tix Big Boy.
All this and the Genesis Big Boy is due this week also.
The Genesis is gonna be plastic, isn’t it? The PCM and Trix are die-cast. Unless Athearn cheats with traction tires, should be no contest. Plus MRC sound…blech!
–Randy
I like the crispness of the loco on the right…Trix?
Crandell,
Yes. Under the last picture it states that the Trix (or reigning champ) is on the right. I will have to say that the stack unit does look pretty nice on the PCM. What’s with the coupler grate though on the “cow catcher”…?
Tom
The gate swings open and closed and is not all of the way closed on the PCM model. The Trix seems to open all of the way.
The PCM weight of almost 4 lbs. is amazing. That must include the tender also.
It looks like the Trix has the gate removed.
The Genesis is plastic and about half the street price of the Trix or PCM Big Boy, and will have traction tires like the Genesis Challengers. The detail on the Genesis Challengers is almost equal to the best brass models that have been available, but the Genesis sound is very poor and I replaced the MRC with a tsunami.
I expect the Genesis Big Boy to be a good looking model.
.
Thanks, Tom. I hadn’t seen that.
I like the Big Boy, in general, but I have no special hankering for one. I have the Lionel Challenger, and it does the trick for me…it’s enough (very reliable and capable locomotive, too!)
The C&O Allegheny appeals to me, but I also like the PRR Q2. My biggest non-articulated is the PRR J-1, and I am most pleased with my BLI version. So, I am happy for others that the Big Boy is getting plentiful if they desire one because it is sure to mean MSRP’s will become a standing joke…not that they are not already, mind you. You done good with your Trix. Now that one I would like, but I am in no position to capitalize right now. Two adult daughters returning home to live. [B)]
True, I too suspect the PCM and Trix will be better pullers than the Athearn, but just by being die-cast doesn’t guaruntee a loco will be a good puller, never mind a better puller than a plastic version of the same loco. The Lionel diecast challenger is a much worse puller than the Athearn plastic version, (dare I say even without traction tires.) The Lionel is clearly heavier than the Athearn, so you would think it should be the better puller, however, it’s not. Many have even complained that their Lionel challenger could hardly pull itself around their layout, let alone with a decent sized train. Maybe they had extreme grades, I don’t know. But the plastic one in that competition wins that contest hands down.
Now, having said that, it’s obvious that the PCM and Trix locos do not suffer such issues as the Lionel did and they should be better pullers than the Athearn. Further, I also think the MRC sound in the challenger is not as good as the sound I get from my Quantum equipped locos - heck, even the Lionel was better in that regard (it has Quantum), however, personally I don’t think the MRC is horrible either. It’s actually quite decent. It’s the functionality/operating of the MRC sound that annoys me. Things like the horn retriggering itself at times, even though you held the button down solidly. Further, they got got the compound vs non comp
Greg
In my opinion, there is nothing wrong in using traction tires, but it is a high maintenance item using traction tires since they will wear out or come off if the engine spins. I have several models with traction tires and one of my Genesis Challengers recently lost one, but it has not
I think I read that post, too, or heard of the person who complained about his Lionel Challenger. However, mine is a star performer, and right out of the box, to boot. It isn’t as detailed as the Athearn, or certainly not as nicely detailed as the P2K steamers, but they still did a decent enough job, and it really does pull well. Very steady on its feet. A bonus is the BEMF, which none of my BLI’s has.
The replacement chips for the BLI has the feedback if I remember correctly. Some of the chips are now available with other enhancements also. I have not received any yet, but was told they do a much better job than the orginal.
Check Tony’s Trains and other retailers.
My reasons for not liking traction tires stem from the crappy ones on cheap stuff years ago, like Tyco and Life-Like, plus a couple of things. It reduces the wheels available for electrical pickup (ok maybe not a problem in a Big Boy or Challenger…) and there is the potential to stall the motor - the loco should NEVER be able to stall the motor out if the load is too great. You’re just asking for a burned up motor and/or decoder. If you hold the coupler so the engine can’t move forward - the wheels should spin. If they don’t, that’s no good. Proper weight and even more important in a steam loco, proper BALANCE is they key. If the lead or trailing trucks are sprung too tightly - this pulls weight off the drivers and kills pulling power. A traction tire is not the fix for this. If the a model Big Boy weights 5 ounces - this is a problem, and a traction tire is not the answer. If a loco has all its weight crammed up in the nose of the boiler so most of it rests on the lead truck - this is a problem, and a traction tire is not the answer.
–Randy
Agree 100%, Randy. I had frustrating problems with the trailing truck on a BLI Niagara. It was causing intermittent shorts and it didn’t track very well. The front wasn’t much better. I backed off the front truck’s screw a bit, and finally removed the rear truck in desperation to give it a good whack, I was so mad at it. The first pivot was very sloppy (this is a complicated truck suspension!). I took a drift pin and gave that pivot/rivet a solid whack with a hammer. It tightened it up nicely, removed all the wobbling, still allowed the truck to pivot,and stopped the shorting. No problems since.
The only thing the Lionel Challenger did was help me to realize that I needed to take remedial track laying. Once I passed that course, it was happy.