Does anyone have experience with a HO scale DCC ready Rivarossi two truck Heisler locomotive? If so, are these good runners? Any particular reasons to either grab or avoid one? What decoder, if any, did you use?
Hi
I picked one up about 6 months ago from a store on Ebay that listed it as DCC ready, with the can motor. These were the last run of these locos before being discontinued, and from what I understand, is the best of them. I installed a spare Bachmann decoder I had laying around (it was plug and play, no soldering) After breaking it in it runs as well as my Bachmann Shays, low speed is excellent and has become one of my favorite locos. I would avoid purchasing the older versions, I have heard from many that these ran “ok” but no great. Trainworld has them for 75.00 but they are NOT DCC ready, ( I called and asked).
Unfortunately (or fortunately) the customer service people at Train World don’t know their butts from a fruit cake. I got mine 3 years ago from them and it was DCC ready. I can’t imagine the newer ones not DCC ready.
Seriously, I’ve never gotten a correct answer from them. If you order anything from them, go to the manufacturer’s web page and get the part number. That way you know you get what you are asking for.
I agree with Chip. From every account I’ve heard, the Heislers at Trainworld are the last run that were DCC ready. I wouldn’t trust the order taker’s word for it either. They must have quite an inventory of them, because they’ve been selling them for $80 for at least the past 2 years.
http://trainworld.com/closeouts_blowouts_clearance/clearance_ho.htm
I have their Climax. Its a good runner and was sort of DCC ready. I do not have the Heisler because in my mind they are way out of proportion. Maybe there was a prototype that large but it looks more like S scale to me. I have been looking for a Heisler and some of the brass seem more the right size but not the right cost.
I have one of the first run Rivarossi Heislers, and would call it a “fair” runner. As mentioned, these are LARGE Heislers… not completely out of scale, but more in line with the Heislers produced near the end of production for shipment to the large west-coast logging operations. Next to a scale 2-truck shay (such as a PFM Hillcrest shay), it is a large engine. Mine also “throws a rod” every once in awhile - the piston rod comes out of its sleeve at the main crankshaft point under the locomotive. It can be put back in without too much trouble, but is a headache to have such a breakdown. As a result of these difficulties, my Rivarossi Heisler is currently on the display shelf rather than in regular operation.
Bill
When did Rivarossi produce a Climax engine?
If Trainworld had the non-DCC ready version, they would be around 30 years old by now. I think Trainworld needs to study their items better.
i have a new version and have not had any problems with it .it runs up a 3% grade without any prob lems pulling 5 log cars . so i can’t complain about it. has a tsunumi decoder in it.
They never did. Art’s must be a Bachmann.
In reading my back issues of MR I came across the product review when they were first introduced. According to the test results, it was a very good runner, nice slow speed action and the top speed was also nice and slow, in keeping with the loco. And unlike other AHM imports, it had RP25 flanges. This review was referring to the original version of these, some 30 years ago, not any newer ones. I’ve never had one, so I can only report what I read in the review. Sounds like if you can find one, you want the older ones. It might be slightly more difficult to convert to DCC but given that the Rivarossi motors usually had two wires, even if one went right to the loco chassis, it really shouldn’t be hard.
–Randy
HUH? Why? After reading the reviews above, why would you come to this conclusion?
If the ones produced 30 years ago “ran good” with the old open frame motor, why would you believe the newer production with the can motor wouldn’t? And they come DCC ready?
Easy - most of the people are saying the newer ones are only “so-so” runners. If the old ones could do 2-3 SMPH minimum speed on filtered DC, then you’d THINK the can motor ones woudl be even better - but why the “eh” reception then?
Don;t count out the older stuff - I picked up some old Walthers FA’s (nearly 20 years old) for cheap because I happened to have the MR issue where they were reviewed. Mimimum speed - 1SMPH on filtered DC! There aren’t many current production locos that can manage that. And when I got them, indeed they did run that well. Even better with a decent DCC decoder installed. All they needed were some wire grabs to replace the cast on ones - the mechanism under the shell looked cheap as hell but it ran great, the body being the old TM or something was a bit out of date but adding said wire grabs fixed it up real nice.
–Randy
There is a review of the Heisler (Rivarossi) on line and in the August 2003 Model Railroader. Review is good, I would opt for the latest version myself.Yes it is DCC ready as it is 8 plug ready.
Trainworld is selling the the newer version, as discussed here back in '05.
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/31087/401758.aspx#401758
I enjoy upgrading old locos, and there is no comparison between the performance of the old 3 pole Rivarossi motors, and the 5 pole Japanese cans they used later (it also means no motor in the cab). The detail was also improved. For $89, how could you go wrong?
P.S. The search function works now, guys.