I’m wondering how people get on with running H0 F40PHs (or other locos) with the Walthers or Kato Bi Level cars and /or the Walthers Horizon Commuter cars in push mode with four or more cars in the consist?
(I vaguely recall that Athearn also did some cab cars for the surfliner???)
Has anyone experience of these and/or hints on getting them to run reliably on good quality ready made track?
Has anyone added weight at the cab end for example?
TIA [8D]
Guys,
In your answers to Dave’s question please let us know:
I look forward to hearing from some people who have some experience with push-pull trains (model variety).
PS. I am not hi-jacking Dave’s topic. We were working on it in a different forum, just moved over here.
Why didn’t I think of that? [%-)]
Oh yeah… and what number switches you can push them through - at reasonable line speed - please…
TIA [8D]
I run CNW commuter train in push mode alot with no problems, but I use cars from Kato. I tried with Walthers car with out any success.
Hello!
I have Athearn Bi-Levels and a F59PHI painted for AMT Montreal.
They run great at any speed, both directions.
I use the metal wheels the cars came with.
Atlas flextrack and Peco Turnouts (#6)
Kadee #5’s
30in on the main.
Hope this helps.[:)]
I run both a Kato Amtrak set and a Athearn AMT set is both directions at scale speed around 22" radius and have never once had a derail, the Katos run beautifully. I have #6 turnouts on my layout, i also have one snap switch on a siding and the katos take is with no problems.
I run the Walthers Trainline F40 and the Horizon cars straight out of the box (switch to Kadee #5 when stock couplers give problems).
6 cars is about the maximum, wheelsets are not great rollers.
I can run Atlas #6 turnouts at speed (including a double crossover) and at reduced speed through #4 with no problem.
Getting the trackwork smooth was the key for me.
Diaphragms can hang-up in push mode, still trying to figure that one out.
Mainline radius 26 to 30", yards at 24" including old Model Power double slip.
The Walther’s Bi-levels are very trouble some, but you can push the Kato’s all day at full speed and they’ll never derail. Someone at Kato did a very good job designing them.
I run Walthers Bi-Levels, Walthers Amfleet and Athearn Bombardiers in push-pull with Genesis F7s, P1K C-liners and Athearn P40s. All three run well, the plastic wheelsets on the walthers cars I replaced with metal and this made a good difference in ride quality. My main commuter line has a minimum radius of 32" and there are a couple #6 turnouts, which they all run through quite well. My longest trains are about 8 cars (including the CCU.) Good trackwork, in my oppinion is more importaint than almost anything else in model railroading. If the track is quailty and well laid, then everything that should be able to run on it will run well with minimal fuss. Cheers! ~METRO
I’ve got a 4-car set of the Life-Like R-17 subway cars. One car is powered, and I put a video camera in one of the others. I also beefed up the lighting in the camera car with LEDs, so I usually run that train in push mode. I never have any problems at all, unless I mess up on throwing a turnout. The camera car is a bit heavier than the other un-motored units, but not much. I did try running them in push mode before I added the camera, and I still had no problems at all.
I regularly run 10 Athearn Bombardier GO Transit cars being pushed by an Atlas GP40 with no problems. I did have problems with them uncoupling if I pulled them but I’ve swapped the couplers for Kadee #5’s and I haven’t had any problems.
Avoid pushing the Walthers cars, I have a set of the Walthers cars(bought em before the Katos came out) They’re too light, and the trucks suck, I may replace the trucks under the walthers cars with the Kato trucks.
I guess my experience with the Walthers’ bi-levels has been better than most. I’ve run them in push mode with a 6 car consist through a 24" curve into a passenger train station with #5 switches without any problems. I did, however, run them fairly slow through the yard throat. I did not modify the bi-levels and ran them as they came out of the box.
Here is my Athearn RTR cars that I run with a Walther’s Trainline F40PH.
This shot was taken at the Livingston Model Railroad Club in Montana as my F40PH pushed this train up a steep grade.
A fellow club member from the Pomona Valley Model Railroad Club told me to contact Athearn and have them send me the wider wheelsets for these cars. I was having problems with the cars short wheel span as the wheels would fall into the frogs at all the switches. Now with the new wheels that I received FREE, I’ve had no problems with pushing or pulling. I also help to change out the couplers.
Somewhere I have a website of a company that offers headlights for the cabcar.
I put them (Walthers bi-levels and Athearn Bombardier cars) on the track (regular Atlas track + flex track, not sure what brand…) and turn on the power pack (MRC Tech II) and they run fine for me. The only maintenance that has had to be done is on the Athearn cars, that can get their wheels out of guage easily.
I run 4 Walthers horizon cars (custom painted to Septa) with an Atlas AEM7. The cars backed up pretty well through 24" + radii on Atlas code 100 flex and #6 tournouts until I added diaphrams as someone above mentioned. I think I need to put a flat piece of styrene on the ends of the diaphrams to keep the close coupled diaphrams from binding on each other when the couplers compress when pushed aorund curves, the trucks get lifted and derail at higher speeds as a result. Going forward their fine without the compression
I added DCC control to the cab unit for head/tail lights and inserted a sound recorder with 2 sampled sounds from Suburaban station in Philly so it has authentic station announcements. I’m Still working out the kinks with the activation control but its a change from stanard engine sounds. I also inserted grain of wheat bulbs in each stairwell/step light on every car and carried the control back the the DCC module in the cab unit tying them into the headlight/taillights. Just throwing out ideas of what can be done to enhance them.
I also have a Jouef 10 car unit TGV that runs flawlessly forward and back, these cars are articulated and I’ve found that any articulated car runs better then coupled cars in reverse presumably because there are no couplers to speak of.
My Lima HST 125 5-car unit also runs flawlessly forward and back, it has the euro hook couplers with the bumpers which are curved (kinda like a giant old mantua style). These really make pushing a breeze, however they lack prototype appearance.
Almost forgot,
I also run a a Bachmann F40PH that I added an MRC 1627 ? (Diesel sound decoder) and lots of lighting to (steady on Ditch lights that flash w/ horn. double headlight on nose /reverse red cyclops above cab with rear headlights and twin double strobes on top of the cab*). I use it to push/pull ER model’s Talgo Amtrak set. With 2 add on cars, the train is 8 cars long (again articulated with only single axles between the cars) and this too runs backward without an issue. Walthers had this set on sale for about $60 this summer, not sure if it still is, but it is well made and runs great (mind you its unpowered and requires an engine (typically an F40PH).
*I use 2 DCC decoders to achieve this funcitonality and the non sound module controls the motor and double strobes and is very well timed to the MRC sounds. MRCs motor control was sub standard IMO so I added the second controller and extra FX.