027 and 773!!!

[stuartmit]

Most likely because I am not soooo knowledgeable, I was surprised to find to discover over this weekend that my Madison cars, and also my 773 Hudson will run throught the curve branch if #1122 027 switches. I had always imagined that to be impossible. No question the sight of these longer pieces negoiating that 027 dimensioned curved branch is a little strange, I had never even attempted it before. I think the factory instruction sheet which comes with the 773 says something like For O Gauge at the top. I must say most of my curves are least the old Marx 034 curves or 042 from various mfr'rs

 

The switches are out of view so the sight isnt so strange. Further I am plotting replacement of one of the switches with a Gargraves or Ross unit.

So if anyone else has imagined that the aprroximately scale Hudson can't be run on 027, apparently it can.

 

By the way, it seems like the motor in the 773 demands more power (watts, right) than the motor in my turbine. I realize that the gearing is different and it seems to run more slowly, but as i improve my electrical work, I notice the 773 is much less tolerant of places where a jumper is needed than is the 671.

[lionelsoni]

I run my two 773s on my O27 layout.  The 1950 model is unmodified and stays in O34 territory.  I have made quite a few modifications to the 1960s model to make it more comfortable on O27.  It's greatest weakness is backing up through the O27 turnouts.  Lionel left the scale flanges on the trailing truck when they deepened the other flanges for toy-train track, making it hard to back up without derailing.

Have you noticed that the 773's cranks have a PRR-style left-hand lead, despite the locomotive's being intended as a very-NYC Hudson?  And the left-side eccentric crank is on the wrong side of the main crank.  I reversed them on mine.

[BigAl 956]

Very interesting. I always assumed the 773 required O72 curves and switches.

[phillyreading]

I like the design of the Gargraves and Ross switches better then the Lionel switches in 027 track. Ross Custtom switches work with more brands of trains then Gargraves switches, and Ross may cost a little more but they are worth it.

Lee Fritz

[Penny Trains]

lionelsoni

Have you noticed that the 773's cranks have a PRR-style left-hand lead, despite the locomotive's being intended as a very-NYC Hudson? And the left-side eccentric crank is on the wrong side of the main crank.

You've lost me....I've never heard of that.

[lionelsoni]

 

On almost all  2-cylinder steam locomotives, the rotation of the right-side crank (the one that the main rod is connected to) is 90 degrees ahead of the left-side crank.  But the PRR, the mortal enemy of the NYC, and the railroad that had cabins instead of cabooses, used position-light signals, and ironically styled itself "the standard railroad of the world," did it the other way.

The eccentric crank (the little offset crank that drives the valve gear) on each side of the locomotive leads or trails the main crank, according to the type of valves used.  Lionel built the 773 with the eccentric crank leading on one side and trailing on the other, guaranteeing that one would be wrong.