4-4-0 Reno by Pocher!! Any Info on this!

[Anonymous]

I just went to my local hobby store, and they had a used 4-4-0 Reno for 30 dollars, I loved it could not resist and bought it. Is there any info that anyone has on this engine? I am looking for both Prototype info and the Maker of the model info if anyone has any. This is my first step into steam and thinking about using it for a tourist museum excursion (as suggested by another MRRer in another thread in this forums labeled "switching to steam"!!

[SpaceMouse]

Can you tells us any more about it. Any markings on the bottom? How about a picture?

[rrinker]

The Reno was from the Virginia and Truckee railroad. So are the other two Pocher locos, the Genoa and Bowker. These used to be imported under the AHM name, and more recently by IHC. Oh yeah, there's one more, the Inyo. Reno, Genoa, and Inyo are all 4-4-0, the Bowker is a 2-4-0. I have a Reno, a Genoa, and Bowker.

It's a reasonable facsimile. Mine is old (early 70's) and runs quite nicely. Pulls a boatload of cars becase it has traction tires. $30 is a good price - a very good price. Last ads I saw for them had a list price of I think $79.95.

--Randy

[Jetrock]

Well, it would probably help to have more information about this model--a photograph would help. I would hazard a guess, though, that it is a model of the Virginia & Truckee #11, the "Reno", built by Baldwin in 1872. 16x24 inch cylinders, 56-3/4" drivers, 130 lb. boiler pressure, 11,920 lb. tractive force, weighing 45,500 lbs. on drivers, 65,000 lbs. total. Sold to MGM Pictures in 1945 for $5,000.

The Virginia & Truckee was a Nevada railroad that ran between Virginia City and Reno via Carson City, primarily in the silver mining business. Their locomotives tend to be long on charm, and a couple of them are still around--the V&T was using many of their 1870s vintage steamers in mainline service until the 1940s, and were often used in TV and films.

Does the engine look something like this?


Quite frankly, it's probably not going to run spectacularly well. If you model the 1930s or later, you might consider setting a piece of flextrack near your City Hall or library or other community building, and parking the Reno out there as a historic display locomotive.

[IRONROOSTER]

IHC has 4-4-0's for sale. The V&T ones are sold out, but there are others.
http://www.ihc-hobby.com/cgi-bin/bsc.cgi?sn=2X943N1N58S619797S82176430I549

Enjoy
Paul

[CP5415]

Jetrock

That's the exact V&T locomotive I have.

It runs great, especially since it's from the 60's & I have the matching passenger cars for it as well.

Gordon

[jsoderq]

Pocher was a European manufacturer that only made a few American items. They had a bad fire at the factory and went out of business. They had 2 or 3 oldtime passnger cars and the molds for them ended up ay Concor.

[Anonymous]

That picture is EXACTLY it. Thats the one I just bought, took it apart to clean it (what a mess) and put it back together , DONT WORK NOW, LOL< have it apart now and doing more work, I know whats wrong with it, I have a few questions thought for ya. As the model goes, How is the headlamp installed, Is it soldered in there or does it just lay there, mine fell out in my hand when i picked it up but worked before I picked it up. ???
Wierd, In any ways, It seems liek a great Loco, and to be honest, Its the slowest running loco on my layout, Starts up at an 8 when most start up at about 16. Jerky til about 13 but still, Darn, Very nice! WIll let you know more when I finish fixin it

[rrinker]

The OLD ones from the 60's have an open-frame motor (you cna see it from underneath the tender). Later ones fromt he 70's, like mine, have an enclosed motor (all you see under the tender is the smooth motor case). I have no idea if there is a third or fourth variation with the newest ones. The old open frame ones run so-so, my 70's edition runs quote well. Very quiet and smooth.

Both have too-deep flanges, and don;t run on my Code 83 track though. Otherwise, I'd have some sort of a museum train to run, as I have a couple of Tyco and AHM cars to match the locos.


--Randy

[Anonymous]

I dont have a date on this thing, But now, It completely messed up, The springs on between the trucks and the frame dont stay n position, and I cant tell if the moter is isolated If all wires were taken off the motor, IF so, I want to put in a DCC decoder in that bad boy, I just dont know about these springs BETWEEN the Frame of the tender and the trucks. It goes a little like this, Frame, washer, spring, truck, screw spring screw. And apparently it gets one side power from the Engine its self, and the other side of the track from the tender, ODD, But I just dont know if the moter is isolated! I will have to find out! But dont know how to find out!

[rrinker]

It's probably not isolated, but probbaly not hard to do, either. I haven't taken mine apart, but there's probably just a metal strip in the tender floor connecting the truck pins, and the motor might make direct contact with that. Just put a strip of tape there to isolate the motor and it should be good to go. The other terminal comes from the wire to the loco itself. Fitting the decoder could be interesting - the boiler shell is small and filled with a weight, and the tender is packed full of motor. Not much room in there.
Low current draw though - somewhere I have the original AHM instruction sheet and they used to give the current draw as part of the specs. The 60's versions probably draw a lot more.

--Randy

[randybc2003]

Take Heart. I have several little 4-4-0s, and love them. My Genoa from late 60''s still running.
Look on the bottom for of the tender for screws. There probably 2 in the ""water leg" of the tender. Remove them. You may unscrsew the drawbar too. Plastic hooks at the back of the tender hold the shell to the frame, and just "un-hook". I have 3 different motors in my fleet. Riverossi (sp?) in the latest edition put sume modern CAN motors. Fast and powerful!! Motor is isolated, but just cut the wires on the terminals, and solder the decoder wires in place. I use DZ123 or DN121, etc. Somewhere in the I-net I've posted a picture.
Have fun!

P.S. You might have to join the group but take a look at my decoder instalation at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vandtmodelers1869/
go to the PHOTOS section, and look at my album - only one photo in it.

[Anonymous]

yea, tyhe motor is Isolated I just hooked up a decoder. I hooked the track leads to the decoder DIRECTLy to the track and the motor leads to the motor proper. It worked like a charm, Now, and BUT, The trucks were NOT on the tender. Just basically seeing if it would work. Now, ALl I need to do is just find , OH drats, I need to take a break from this for a day or two, LOL, its frustraighting, BUT i think its a completly plastic frame, ANd I dont know or dont wanna know how to take the motor out, I need to go lay some ballast!