new guts for a bowser

[Anonymous]

i'm planning to use mostly bowser kits for the steam locos on my rock island layout and was checking out there site the other day.i was impressed with amount of detail they offer but not with ther drive systems. i noticed in one shot of the northern you can see the brass gear quite clearly. and i've heard open frame motors in older brass engines.very annoying. plase tell me that the NWSL kits fix this problem i'm not so much concerned about the motor as i am about seeing gears. i want to achive a fairly high level of detail and really want to go with the bowser USRA locos.

[orsonroy]

NWSL does carry gear towers and motors that will work in Bowser engines, but you'll either have to know what you're looking at, or actually call NWSL and talk to someone for recommendations. NWSL doesn't make a "Bowser XXX engine regear and remotor kit". You'll have to disassemble the driver set with the gear, remove the existing gear, add the new gear or gear tower, re-add and quarter the drivers, fabricate a motor mount, add the motor, and fabricte the connection between the motor and the gearbox.

A simpler solution is to add an Alliance "Helix Humper" remoroting kit. Alliance (formerly Alco) makes these "kits" as drop in relpacements for Mantua and Bowser steamers. The "kit" is actually a one-piece drop in, consisting of a flat can motor, idler gear and motor saddle. You might have to mill out some of the boiler near the top of the motor housing, but in general, these are drop in replacements for the Pittman motor. They work great, and I have enough Alliance kits to remotor all the Bowsers and Mantuas I'm keeping on my fleet. They greatly improve slow speed control and don't adversely affect pulling performance. And yes, they're MUCH quieter than the Pittmans! Bowser carries these remotoring kits; check their website.

Since you're going to be populating your roster with Bowser USRA engines, here's a tip: ALL the cabs are wrong! The Bowser (ex-Cary) USRA light cab is OK at a distance, but I have NO idea of what Bowser was smoking when they designed the cabs for their 4-8-2 and 2-10-2! Greenway products makes a $19.95 all-brass USRA cab that's dead-on correct. Keep in mind that EVERY Bowser USRA engine is wrong in some way, and pretty big ways at that (the valve gear is wrong on the light Mike, for instance). Plastic manufacturers have come out with models of every USRA engine but the 2-10-2, and they're ALL better than the Bowser engines. They might not have the pulling power of an all-metal engine, but the difference (25 cars as opposed to 100; who has the room to pull 100-car trains?) isn't worth the time to screw around with the Bowsers. I'd save building a steam kit for assembling a Pennsy fleet (and BLI is working on killing off THAT procedure!), or if you really love building steam kits.

[Anonymous]

who makes a suitable Northern loco from plastic? have the old bachmann 4-8-4's gotten better?

[orsonroy]

The only plastic Northerns currently in production are the Bachmann standard line engines (N&W J, NYC Niagara) and BLI (ATSF, with N&W J coming this year). You can also pick up the older Bachmann ATSF 4-8-4 on Ebay. Bowser makes new frames, drivers and motors for the Bachmann engines that really improve performance (they usee the existing valve gear, trucks and cylinders). Bowser's also got a freelance 4-8-4 as a white metal kit.