Rivarossi new tooling

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hope all had a good holliday!

I have a question about Rivarossi’s new tooling. HO scale.

Specifically the motors and transmission.

I see that in the American style loco’s, are using double cardan transmission shafts with new motors.

Does anyone have any of these yet and how are they with low current draw, smoothness, quietness, and I’m hoping new ways of picking up current.

And of course the European styles I see are using motors in the tender. The same questions apply to these as well.

Any answers are greatly aprreciated about the new Rivarossi’s.

2

I’m interested myself, SCL, but so far I haven’t heard or read any info on the retooling. The 90’s revisions to the drive trains were very good, with the exception of the Pacific, which had an idler gear pin that sheared off and made the loco unusable.

3

Nelson,

I have a train show to go to on the 13th. I am hoping to get some answers.

The train show here is always very smalll compared to up north and I am afraid that I will not be able to get any answers on Rivarossi.

I am wondering if I should sell my NYC4-6-4 blue box. And invest in a new one.

I have hard wired the tender to the locomotive for better current transmission, and turned the back tender wheels around to pick up opposite of the front tender wheels.

It has made a big improvement when it comes to turnouts, but the older technology still has its limits.

4

I don’t think there have even been any of the new Rivarossi models available long enough for users to know the answer to your question. Problems usually don’t show up for the first six months to one year, and many users who do encounter problems are ashamed to admit that they purchased a lemon. We must also take into account the probability of users who have them being members of this forum.

5

I didn’t know that anyone had revived the Rivarossi line. I bought their most recent 2-8-4 a couple of years ago and it 200% better than the old AHM/RIV Berk I had in the 70’s.

6

The only place I know of that is carrying the new line is Eurolokshop.com

Also ebay has em, but I do not know where thay are getting them from.

I am waiting for the new Orient Express cars to come out. I ordered them and they are supposed to be sometime in 2007.

They are supposed to be close coupling, it’s difficult to see from the pictures, I hope they are.

7

I would strongly recommend that you consider BLI’s Hudson instead of Rivarossi’s. Whatever improvements they’ve made, they can’t beat Trainworld’s $130 for BLI’s first run versions. I bought a second run J1D for $170 on eBay. The sound and performance are top-notch; it pulls like the Devil, and I haven’t even put the traction tires on yet.

8

Rivirossi was bought out by Hornby and imported by Walthers.

I just recently picked up my H-8 2-6-6-6. The DCC conversion was as simple as plugging a chip into the DCC socket in the tender. The detailing is wonderful and it’s smooth as silk with my tsunami installed. But I can’t attest to the current power pull as it is DCC.

However there are a ton of details parts, some quite small that are not applied and there are no instructions included with the kit. From my understanding the molds are the same from the last build, so if you can grab those instructions you shouldn’t have issue.

It comes with two sets of drivers. One set rubber traction and one set standard metal. The standard metal is installed. There’s also an optional short cab for anything below R22