How are the mechanisms on the Hallmark E5?

[Great Northern Fan 54]

So I recently scored a Hallmark E5A-B Set for less than $200 and I would like to know how good their mechanisms are.

[caldreamer]

According to the Spook Show site (see URL below), these are pretty bad units.  They have a number of issues that caused him to rate them a "D".

http://www.spookshow.net/loco/kumatae.html

        Caldreamer

[gmpullman]

caldreamer

According to the Spook Show site (see URL below), these are pretty bad units.

Isn't most of that SpookShow stuff N scale? The OP doesn't say but I assumed he meant HO.

BrassTrains rates them as running well but a little noisy. At least they have fully-enclosed axle gears, that's a plus.

Good Luck, Ed

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Several years ago, I purchased my Hallmark E5 A and B from an Ebay seller. The original drive had been removed and replaced with a Hobbytown drive. It works great on DC, but I never converted it to DCC after changing my layout to DCC.  

[Overmod]

caldreamer

They have a number of issues that caused him to rate them a "D".

But he also pointed out that effective fixes were easy and cheap, and once those were made he graded them B.

I would add that we now have a better choice of high-torque motors...