So I am eyeing off a Mehano DCC-Ready Mikado, I am just curious, if it is DCC ready does that mean it was a recent run? And also, is it 9 pin or 8 pin plug?
Thank you if anyone can help me out here.
I would say that that’s a very recent run. DCC Ready can mean a whole lot of things; it could mean, it has a plug, it could just mean the motor is isolated, etc., if it does have a plug it would be an 8-pin plug.
Alex,
The Mehano engines were imported by IHC over a number of years. The last ones I saw were DCC Ready, in that they had a NMRA 8 pin plug(at least the 2-10-2). A couple of thing has happened over the past 5 years or so. IHC is no more, and the remaining inventory was bought up by IHC of Texas. Mehano went under and was bought out by Hornby(IIRC) - My understanding is that they are only producing European design models at this time. There was a ‘rumor’ that IHC of Texas bought up the remaining US model parts and assembled the last of the engines. Their web site said that new products were in store - that was years ago.
For the most part, the IHC engines were decent runners, but sort of light in the pulling department. Many of their models were sort of generic and lacked a lot of detail. The 2-8-2 seem to come in two versions - light on detail/handrails and others with lots of detail. They are a good starting point for a USRA design engine, but I suspect you will need some modeling experience under your belt if you need to convert the model to DCC or modify it.
Looking at their current web site, it appears that they have two versions of the Mehano 2-8-2 - $140 for a non DCC one and $170 for a DCC Ready Great Northern one. They also have loose tender shells and models from other manufacturers for sale - I think the end of the road for the Mehano engines is in sight. A ‘Recent Run’ is probably 5 years old!
Jim
It appears to be this Union Pacific one.
It was my understanding that while Mehano did file under Bankruptcy, they managed to restructure their company and with the cooperation of their creditors downsized their company. They specialize European models only and no longer produce for the North America markets.
With respect to the UK, Mehano contracted with Hornby to import and distribute Mehano in the UK.
If anyone has information to the contrary please share your information.
IIRC, the last model imported and sold by IHC was the 2-10-2 which was DCC / Sound ready with an 8-pin NMRA socket in the tender and holes drilled in the tender floor for a 1 inch round speaker.
I used a different, larger speaker because of the way the power pickup wire from the rear tender truck prevents the use of a round speaker in the speaker cavity – a silly mistake on Mehano’s part.
I have installed decoders and/or sound into several IHC Mehano steam engines that were not DCC ready, and it was not difficult because their motor was already isolated from the frame.
So I did pick up the Mikado, it had no DCC plug or anything, but the motor was isolated from the frame like you mentioned, CACOLE.
It took me about an hour to install an ESU LokSound Select, another thing that complicated things was that the Mikado only picks up power with the 1st, 2nd, and 4th set of drivers only. So I wired the tender pickups into the circuit as well. The TCS Decoder installation photos/instructions were a big help though.
It runs very quietly and smoothly so far, I will load the sound set into the decoder in the morning. (It is nearly 1AM now.)