I hope to soon have some operating track, not to say a layout. I know that lubrication is an issue for these locomotives, but I have two questions. A) How many cars should I expect them to pull when properly adjusted and lubed? B) Would I do better to replace these with Spectrum Heavy 4-8-2, 2-10-2, 2-8-4; BLI or others. Beauty is good, but trumped by mechanical heartiness for me. Thanks- Mike
Mike, there are a lot of variables when it come to how much a engine should pull. Main 2 are how well the cars roll and radius of turns.
Quality of rolling stock is a big issue. When I started I had a lot of stock Tyco and cheap Bachmann cars. My Athearn F7 could pull around 10 to 12 cars. Then I upgrade the cars with better axles cleaned the axle journals of the trucks with a truck tuner tool and added body mounted couplers. Then I was up to 25 cars, but would fall over in turns. I was using 18 inch at the time. So next I brought up the cars to NMRA weight standards and was pulling 30 cars with no string lining (falling over in turns) with the same F7.
I know you where looking for a simple answer, but in this hobby the answers can have a lot of variables.
Before you up grade anything run them and work on your rolling stock.
If I where to guess I would say the Hudson should pull 20 to 25 free wheeling cars, about the same as my BLI Hudson. Challenger, I would guess around 40 to 50 cars around a 22 to 24 inch turn.
If you are looking for affordable heavy pullers, look at Proto 2000 E-6’s! Running 2 of them I pulled 75 cars around 18 inch turns (cars had major work done to them) and was only limited by my tight turns.
You might all so look at BLI Blue Line or Paragon II Y6 b by BLI for steam power. I have a PCM (high end BLI) Y6 b and has dragged 75 cars up a 1.2% grade at my club layout with no real effort.
One last bit of advise from a long train lover. Don’t push them two hard unless you like fixing things! Ask me how I know? [:-^] Max I will pull by steam (not counting my PCM Y6 or Big Boy) is 20 cars. Diesels is 25 cars(E-6 35) unless doubled headed.
Have fun and lay some track.
Cuda Ken
Rivarossi has always used a red box for their trains (except for the ones imported by AHM and IHC). Do your steam engines have the large flanges and cab mounted motor, or small flanges and boiler mounted motor?
The older ones with the cab motor and large flanges can be made to run very well, but they’re not very strong pullers. The Challenger has two tires and a pretty strong motor, and may be able to handle 50 cars or so. The 2-8-4 (which is one I also have) may be able to pull 30 cars, or possibly 40 with a little weight added to the front. The 4-6-4 could probably also pull up to 30 cars, since they came with two tires.
The newer ones are a little heavier and have a powerful motor. They’re still a bit lighter than equally sized steam engines from other manufacturers, but they’re very smooth runners. They also usually have a traction tire or two to make up for the lack of weight.
The newer steam engines from Bachmann Spectrum, BLI, Athearn Genesis, and a few others, are better than most of Rivarossi’s steam engines. But if you can keep the ones you’ve already got running well, I’d say go ahead and use them.