Steam engine questions.

Anonymous

Member since
April 2003
305,205 posts

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 7:03 PM

Ok, I'm not a Big Steam person, I usually model late modern. But Occassionally i see one or two that catch my eye.

This time, I see Lionel has in HO sclae a 4-6-6-4 Challenger, my question on this one, has anyone tried it and if so, what's your take on it? I know Lionel is a good large scale company, but not sure on their HO quality, so I seek a review from those that have tried it.

I also see that Rivarossi has redone their 4-8-4 Northern, I know in the past that their engines weren't that great. But since this is a completely redone engine, along with the cars (which I'm told are far better than the old ones), I seek someones review of the new 4-8-4's.

Thank you in advance.
Jay.

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Anonymous

Member since
April 2003
305,205 posts

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 7:10 PM

I bet N I G EL has a qualified opinion.

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cacole

Member since
July 2003
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
13,757 posts

Posted by cacole on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 7:51 PM

As of 19 November, I haven't received my Lionel Challenger that was placed on back order shortly after they announced that one would be produced; however, the dealer from whom I ordered it received them a couple of days ago and mine should finally be enroute. I'll post more about my impression of it after a week or so of daily running to get it broken in. If you can believe Lionel's hype, it should be fantastic because it is cast metal with a DCC decoder and sound system built in. At $550 a pop, it had better be good!

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Anonymous

Member since
April 2003
305,205 posts

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, November 20, 2003 8:09 AM

Hmm...$550 a pop, bit steep, But it has some interesting aspects:

Die cast body, not plastic
Built in DCC decoder with sound (and it's a pretty elaborate sound setup)
Fully detailed Cab with a lighted firebox
Is smoke ready (just needs the generator)
Moving windows

Ok, it better be good, but i think I'll have to wait for the price to come down a bit.

Rivarossi's 4-8-4 Northerns, say it's totally retooled, with a new drive, dcc ready and more prototypical detail. and it's about $220 average.

Hmm......

Jay

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AggroJones

Member since
July 2002
From: California
3,722 posts

Posted by AggroJones on Thursday, November 20, 2003 1:50 PM

The new Rivarossi FEF can be had for $150 at First Hobby.

"Being misunderstood is the fate of all true geniuses"

EXPERIMENTATION TO BRING INNOVATION

http://community.webshots.com/album/288541251nntnEK?start=588

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nfmisso

Member since
December 2001
From: San Jose, California
3,154 posts

Posted by nfmisso on Thursday, November 20, 2003 3:21 PM

I have no experience with either model.

Nigel N&W in HO scale, 1950 - 1955 (..and some a bit newer too) Now in San Jose, California

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cacole

Member since
July 2003
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
13,757 posts

Posted by cacole on Thursday, November 20, 2003 4:17 PM

But Rivarossi is probably still plastic and underweight. They use traction tires to make up for the lack of weight, which create nothing but problems in the dry Arizona climate because they dry out and come off too soon and you must then take the side rods off to put a new traction tire on. I have six or seven Rivarossi models and will purchase no more.

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nfmisso

Member since
December 2001
From: San Jose, California
3,154 posts

Posted by nfmisso on Thursday, November 20, 2003 5:07 PM

QUOTE: Originally posted by NTDN
This time, I see Lionel has in HO sclae a 4-6-6-4 Challenger, my question on this one, has anyone tried it and if so, what's your take on it? I know Lionel is a good large scale company, but not sure on their HO quality, so I seek a review from those that have tried it.

See: http://www.dcctrains.com/technews/loconews/lionel-challenger.htm

Nigel N&W in HO scale, 1950 - 1955 (..and some a bit newer too) Now in San Jose, California

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Anonymous

Member since
April 2003
305,205 posts

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, November 20, 2003 5:20 PM

QUOTE: Originally posted by cacole

But Rivarossi is probably still plastic and underweight. They use traction tires to make up for the lack of weight.

Hmm....hope not, all the pictures i see are showing standard wheels on the new one, maybe they've finally changed. but if they have traction tires, Then it'll be a no go then.

But then again, I'm asking if anyone has one of the new ones and what they think of it. Hopefully when they "Completely Revised" it that included weight and standard wheels.

Jay.

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Anonymous

Member since
April 2003
305,205 posts

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, November 20, 2003 5:20 PM

Nigel,

You may want to contact Tony about the page link you posted. It is blank. I did a view source and here's what I got:
[code]
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"></HEAD>
<BODY></BODY></HTML>
[/code]

Nuttin' inside the body tags -- [:0]