My prototype rerquires a small fleet of Baldwin’s, circa 1870-1890, and options are thin. It looks like either brass and big bucks, or MDC’s Old Time Consolidated.
Anyone here own one? How do they pull? Is a 4.3 percent grade with maybe three old time shorty boxcars or passenger cars out of the question? What if I add traction tires? I hear the gears in the MDC aren’t all that to start with, will a better ratio make it do what I need? Are different ratios even available? Traction tires, are they around? Do you need your own machine shop to install them properly?
A good report woukd allow me to buy three or four, if an initial purchase passes the test on my layout. A bad report would probably limit me to one, for lower level yard work, at some undetermined point in the future.
Seems like I heard of a Bachmann old time 2-8-0, is that true? If so, I assume they are no longer in production as I can’t find them on the Bachmann sites. Lots of late model consolidateds. but no OT’s. Is this true? How do the two compare? Which is noisier? Smoother? Stronger?
I own 2 MDC 2-8-0 loco’s, the factory gearing is pretty good, but I ended up regearing with the NWSL gears and new motor some years back, just to quiet it down. The loco’s I have are good running, but the drawback is they do not pull allot, about 8 freight cars on level track. I added some weight to the loco here and there and it helped some, but not the way I hoped. As far as adding traction tires this would be a big help on pulling up your grade you have, and yes there is some machining to be done. As far as other loco’s out there that you are looking for for your era, try ebay, you might find something!
I have operated on a layout that uses MDC Old-Time 2-8-0 (and other MDC engines) and they have been remtored with can motors and NWSL gears. They ran very well.
Caveat : the layout was mostly level. I have never operated them on a 4% grade (and hopefully won’t ever have to).
As far as I know the only other plastic old time 2-8-0 in HO was a Model Power one that had a powered tender. I wasn’t impressed with it. The locomotive portion looked OK but the tender portion was too big and clunky looking.
If you are talking about N scale, I have two. They come with traction tires and are excellent runners. In N scale steam, they’re tops. You may want to get the Athearn version as it comes with working knuckle couplers installed. The MDC knuckle couplers that are included to replace the already installed Rapidos are substandard. I have not converted mine over to Microtrains couplers because I haven’t been able to open the couple pocket on the tender’s rear truck. I am afraid that I will break something if I try any harder. The pilot coupler is no too hard to open. The cow catcher comes off and the pocket is right there. None of the MDC steam engine’s packaging gives any diagrams or instructions that would help with this. In N scale, the MDC 2-8-0 and 2-6-0 are excellent. One of mine didn’t initially run as smoothely as the other until it was broken in. Now they are both wonderful. I’ve talked with some guys at the train shows who have been modelling N scale for a long time and everyone who owns one, says that they are very good little engines.
Chip–I have two older MDC ‘old-timer’ 2-8-0’s–they are very close to the older Rio Grande 900 series built before the turn of the 20th century. I use one for switching and light way-freights, the other is dressed up in “Bumblebee” colors and is the official “Movie Train” of the Yuba River Sub. Don’t expect a lot of pulling power from them (but then the prototypes weren’t heavy haulers, either). I haven’t gone to NWSL gearing yet, but it would definitely cut down on the gear noise. They’re not bad little locos, however since I’m not DCC, I don’t know how difficult a conversion they’d present. However, with the MDC reduction gearing that comes with them, they double-head quite nicely, and that would improve your pulling power up your grades.
Tom