Hi all … The inexpensive loco I started with has the drive motor and brushes in the coal tender, while the gear box, etc. are in the engine. The brushes look flimsy to me - small copper springs rubbing against the metal axles. I just finished putting down the track for part of my first layout and I’m having all kinds of contact trouble.
My question is this: What brand of steam locos have all the components in the engine or what is the best brand of steam locos to look at? I need a 4-6-0 to model the Wreck of theOld 97, a well-known bluegrass tune.
I have had my eyeball on a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 for quite a while, because I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. They seem to be a good quality, “entry-level” (i.e. won’t cost an arm and a leg) steam loco. I’ve seen them on some friends’ layouts and they perform very well.
There’s also a Bachmann Spectrum 4-6-0, and I’d guess it’s also decent quality. I don’t know anything about the specific prototype you’re trying to model, so you’ll have to see if that will work for yourself.
Probably the least expensive place you can get these locos is at www.trainworld.com
I actually only own one steam loco at the moment, but I’ve looked at several different ones recently. Seems to me that 99% of them out there today have the motor and mechanism and everything in the loco itself. The tender is usually either empty or has the DCC decoder, speakers, etc. in it.
I have 4 of the Bachman Spectrum 4-6-0s, and recommend them highly, when certain precautions are taken.
These locomotives are light, and they won’t pull much up steep grades. I wouldn’t go with any steeper than 3% next time around. I currently have a 5% grade, and the loco can pull one box car up it, two on a good day with a tailwind.
Bachman apparantly has no quality control procedures in place at their factories. A lot of problems get shipped out. You have to test run all of them before plunking down any money. Look for wobbles, poor performance at low speeds, headlights out, and finish issues.
The good ones are exceptional, smooth as silk and a real pleasure to run. Out of 7 locomotives, 4 of them are fantastic, and three didn’t pass the test and never came home with me. The detail is so dense, you’ll have troubles finding ways to pick them up when need be. Beautiful, good runners, motor and drive in the boiler, just make sure you get a good one and not one of the clunkers.
I would agree about testing the loco before paying up. The one large Bachmann steamer I have didn’t run well at all straight from the box, it took considerable tuning (regauging the drivers and sorting the quartering out) to make it behave well. That done, it’s a very good performer so the basic design is clearly sound but the quality control could use a little work.
Regarding the existing loco, have you tried cleaning the wheels and the pickups? Also worth checking that the pickups are making good contact with the wheels, I’ve had a few that suffered from this problem. Hope this is of help
I do not know of any currently manufactured decent quality locos thet do not have all the major power components in the engine itself.
It used to be you could drive South out of Lynchburg on US29 and stop and eat at the Old 97 restaurant, which was very near the actual wreck site, but it closed some years ago. I like that song too. I think the 4-6-0 Spectrum will suit you, but I don’t know if it comes in ‘Southern’ trim or not. You can add some weight to make it pull a little better.
Jeffers_MZ makes a very good point of “why” it is better to buy locomotives when at all possible, at your LHS. You can test them, and make sure they are not “clunkers”. You cannot do that when buying on the internet of course, you must send it back if you have a problem engine. I find that a good LHS will match the price very close to the volume internet guys, especially if you are a frequent customer.
Mine all wear Southern livery, soon to become D&RG. I’ve figured out how to get about 3/4 ounce into them without looking too strange, but there isn’t a lot of room without major disassembly.
“…Oh he was going down the grade, making 90 miles an hour, when his whistle broke into a scream…He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle, and scalded to death by the steam…”
Good song, good song. Should make an interesting modeling piece.[tup]
Those flimsy-looking brass (more likely phosphor bronze) wipers are more durable than you might think. I’ve had some in operation for close to a half century, and have only had one wear out.
Back in the days of humongous open-frame motors, tender drives were common for locos with small boilers. The most extreme examples I have ever seen were some French (I think) prototype locos which had the entire drive in the tender (tender axles powered like a diesel) and light weight, unpowered frames under the boilers. With no gearbox in the way, the owner had arranged a mechanism to reverse the valve gear so the valves had the proper lead with the loco backing up.
Southern 4-6-0 1102 was built by Baldwin in 1903,and plunged off a trestle on September 27 of that year.She was rebuilt and scrapped in 1935.She had slide valves,a fairly large cab with doors in the front,and an overall “old” look,with a square oil type headlight on top,a large pilot, tall skinny domes,and the third set of drivers under the firebox.
I have a Bachmann 0-6-0 that is DCC ready. This means for this locomotive, that there is a jumper that is removed and a DCC decoder must be soldered in place. I purchased a Bachmann decoder and soldered it in place. I ran it for one hour at slow speeds. All of a sudden, it stopped and fried the chip. I contacted Bachmann in PA to find out what I did wrong. They said that they couldn’t tell but were willing to replace the decoder free. (I thank them for that). When the new decoder came in, I replaced it. I ran it for 10 minutes (again everything worked) then it fried itself out.
Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? Is this motor drawing too much current? I know the space is tight, should I use another decoder?