What makes the Big Hauler an "Annie" and has any one installed the Airwire system in one
I would like to know what batteries you used and how many to give good results
Rail 361
The Annie is the redesigned model of the Big Hauler. The Annie has metal side rods, wheels, details, etc. The Big Hauler is all plastic.
Do not know about the airwire though, I use RCS.
The "Annie" or Anniversary Issue is an updated version of the standby Big Hauler. It has metal side rods and more details than the plastic versions. I converted one to Airwire and battery operation about a year ago. The system works fine. I was able to install the Airwire decoder, a 14.9V lithium battery set and a Phoenix sound card in the tender. Paul Norton has a nice series of web pages on battery conversions, including the Annie. Go to http://ovgrs.editme.com/Annie for some ideas on how to get started. I also just finished an Airwire-battery conversion on my Bachmann Spectrum 2-6-0. In this conversion the tender space is very limited so everything was moved to a trailing box car with connection to the locomotive via MU plugs. This conversion was even easier than the Annie. I run short trains but have grades over 4% and get about 3 hours of run time on the batteries.
I could not be happier with the results using Airwire. Good luck....and Happy Railroading!!
Frank - Shenandoah and Potomac Valley Garden Railroad Club
The Annie is a great model for the price. I have one and it has ben a very very dependable runner, and a surprisingly good puller. I'm usng track power and Aristo's 75 mhz onboard reciever
Installingthe remote decoder was not too bad. Isolate the motor leads, and in my case, combine all track power leads, wire the lights. The hard part is gettiing the thng back together. I'm planning to convert mine to QSI and Airwre soon.
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