N scale Concor PA1. INCREDIBLE!!!!

[Anonymous]

Bought this little guy (PA1) on ebay for $55.00. After receiving it I was a little disappointed because for some reason I thought the B unit was powered. Anyway, I placed it on the test track and was amazed at it's performance. I coupled 29 superliner cars 4 material handling cars + the B unit to it and it pulled them all. I couldn't add any more cars to it because I only had enough space to fit a coupler between it and the rear car. I have other engines that can also pull this much cars but they do so after skidding for a few seconds and also I have to put them over 50 scl mls. This little guy responds the minute juice gets to the motor and it pulls them without stalling even at speeds less than 25 scl mls. I remember the seller wrote that it was made by Kato for Concor, can't confirm this. I now happy and couldn't careless if the B unit is powered or not.

I don't have all the engines N scale have to offer but so far this little guy is the best out the box engine that I've got. I have photos which I'll post by tomorrow.
If someone can tell me how to post video clips I'll galdly post that too.

[dgwinup]

verse2damax,
These are great little units! I love them. Been buying them for 40+ years. There are powered B units that are every bit as powerful as the A units. Can't imagine how many cars you could pull with a powered A-B set or even better, an A-B-B-A set. I've never tried to put enough cars behind a lash-up like that because the train length is so long, I always have clothesline derailments somewhere in the middle of the train.

You got these for a pretty good price. I've seen them go much higher, even seen some auctions that START at $55!

Good luck and enjoy!

Darrell, quiet...for now

[skiloff]

How old is it? I bought a Concor when I first tried N scale about 16 years ago. I remember it was $90 then so I thought it would be a great engine. I had a lot of trouble with it, but perhaps it was more my lousy track than the engine. I'll be sure to look at Concor now, too.

[cjcrescent]

These locos were originally made for Concor by Kato. They were, when originally imported the best ruuning N-scale locomotives made. They are still some of the best from what I've heard.

[Anonymous]

skiloff, my guess is that it's very old. I'm going to post a picture of the box. I'm sure one of our fellow members will know. There's also a glimpse of it in the photo above.

[Wdlgln005]

http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/concorpa.html

http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/cckatopa.html

http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/katopa.html

Which of the 3 do you have? The Kato/Japan or ConCor/Kato/Japan or ConCor/USA/China parts should be clearly marked on the bottom of the unit. The ConCor design suffers from the truck mount coupler, designed for sharper curves of the early days of Nscale. The heavy weight makes it a strong puller, filling the shell + all wheel pickup. Older models used metal gears in the trucks, making a coffee grinder effect. That can be repaired with cleaning & relubing. At least the motor must still be good. Spare parts may be very difficult to find.

[Anonymous]

I have a set of the same loco in DRGW, it run verry smooth and quiet. It is as quiet as my new PA-1 set that was just released from Kato. i love the PA's i will have a set in 3 schemes that DRGW had over the years.

[Anonymous]

Wdlgln005, I'm currently at work but from your discription it's the one with “the truck mount coupler, heavy weight makes it a strong puller, filling the shell + all wheel pickup”.

How is it compared to the kato version?

I can tell you straight out of the box it's a far better puller especially at low speeds than my Kato P42s or the OMI P40s (in my sig below).

Did Amtrak have any of these on their roster?

[Wdlgln005]

The ConCor PA's was one of the first models Kato produced for the North American market. It came out in 1968! The later version came out in 1998. A lot changed over 30 years, and not just the price!

The 1968 version had a very good motor & split frame design. flywheels came later with the Atlas/Kato RS3/GP models in 1980. The weight fills the carbody frame producing the kind of performance you have. The problem is in some of the details. At least you have a good motor. Take care of it so your model dosen't become a shelf sitter.

The first one is the use of Rapido couplers & a truck with a very wide swing. It will go thru tight 9" curves common at the time. The later version likes 11" or better curves. Also, Kato has their own version of coupler.

Amtrak never owned any PA's. The last 4 in any service were the ATSF units on D&H in the 70's. By then, the Alco engines were on ther last legs. Come to think of it, even the E&F units Amtrak inherited were on their last legs too.

[Anonymous]

Here are the photos.





I still wish I was able to post the video clip, that is more amazing.

Wdlgln005, thanks for the info. Concor I guess is considerate to Amtrak fans like my self.

[Wdlgln005]

Thanks for the photo. Those old PA's can pull a full train!
THe November 2004 Railfan & Railroad has a nice article about the D&H units. It appears they were sent to Boise for rebuilding by M-K. One was sent east on the San Francisco Zephyr. They have a great shot of a PA leading the consist from Galesburg into Chicago, with 2 SDP40F's behind. A second unit was placed in the Empire Builder. THe PA's were rebuilt with 2400hp Alco engines, making them PA4's.

The PA's were assigned to the Amtrak Adirondack from March 1975 untul October 1978. Since that time, they have been looking for other work to do. Sadly, they wound up in Mexico, ending up as junk. It wall take a lot of time & effort to get them looking good again.

On your layout, you must have a "master mechanic" that knows how to keep old Alcos running.