Magnum, is that a Mopar thing? If so I like it being Cuda Ken and all. So you think 20 cars are to many for a Hudson? My Heavy Mike BLI after cleaning the wheels with 600 grit sand paper has pulled 30 cars. My M1a has pulled 35 cars (will add I am on the second set of center gears) and Class class J has pulled 40 cars.
Will up date later about the PK2 steamer.
Cuda Ken Draging way to much again.
I hate Rust
Most of the locos -- steam and diesel on my layout -- are Proto 2000 (or 1000 in one case). Most were bought as DCC and some I installed DCC into.
I have mostly DCC simply because my experience has been good with them and I wanted some sort of standardization.
I also have BLI, Atlas and Athearn Genesis locos as well as a TrueLine C-Liner. All DCC and my experience with all of them has been satisfactory.
c
Craig
DMW
My minimum is 15 cars on a 3% with a little slip. Being able to stop/hold and restart this train is a very big plus in my home. My BLI Heavy Mike did 16 on a 3% under these conditions a few times. I can run 24-26 uphill with the M1a also from BLI. But I like to hold the M1 down to about 16 cars so it can restart this train on the grade should it be stopped.
The reason for the 15 car standard on 3% is I dont have room to run longer trains. I do have a ABBA Set capable of putting down one pound or so of TE and at that point I can run any train I want to up any grade out there.
cudaken wrote: Thanks for the answers guys. I all so have a Hudson by BLI, at first it was a big pain in the butt and sat a lot. 2 Problems,1 With a heavy load say 20 cars rear drive wheel would come off in a turn up a grade. Threw in half Oz of lead in the cab (will open engine later and do it right) and seems OK now....
Thanks for the answers guys.
I all so have a Hudson by BLI, at first it was a big pain in the butt and sat a lot. 2 Problems,
1 With a heavy load say 20 cars rear drive wheel would come off in a turn up a grade. Threw in half Oz of lead in the cab (will open engine later and do it right) and seems OK now.
...
Twenty cars on an HO scale Hudson?!! Going uphill and around a curve, no less?!! Good God, Magnum!
Remember from your earlier thread(s), just because the real thing can do it doesn't mean the HO scale model can and/or should.
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
Ken--
I've heard very good reports about the latest runs of the Proto 2000 steamers. I've got two of the earlier runs, their USRA 0-8-0 and their 2-8-8-2, which I find are beautifully detailed but very lacking in the pulling department. It's kind of put me off of investing in any more Proto steamers. However, as I said, I understand that their later runs (with traction tires) are very good pullers. However, I'd look for discounts, as I think their retail prices are pretty high.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Ken, all the P2K locos are DCC ready (not equipped) with a socket in the tender.
I didn't know Riv made a 2-6-6-2. Bachmann Spectrum does, and it is a rather small locomotive. Riv does make a 2-6-6-6, not small at all, and it is the latest technology, a far cry above the older Riv stuff. I don't know for sure, but I think there are both old and new Riv 4-8-8-4s, and 4-8-4s out there, so watch what you get.
2 Cooper spring would not keep the front trucks planted to the rails, it finaly broke off. Best thing to happen to the engine I will add! I added just a little over a 1/4 Oz of lead to the front truck and tracks very well now. (watch it derail the next time around)
I like the sound of it better than all the other sound engines I have at this point.
There are 2 driffrent PK Y-3's I am looking at both the same prices. Never have sound, 1 is at my LHS and at a internet store. One on line is DCC ready and LHS is DC only. If LHS will in stall a decoder I will go with it.
Can you install a 8 pin plug with out a decoder in a DC only engine? Reason I asked I was thinking about using the same decoder in two driffrent engines to save a little cash.
Darth let us know what you think of the 2-6-6-2 Rivarossi. It is all so a maker that my HLS says to stay away from. He has 3 big boys by Rivarossi with DCC for $228.00 but he says they run poorly. I will add Ken at K-10 Trains is not a big fan of steam engines.
Cuda Ken
I like them.
I was very disppointed in the Y3's lack of pull but... frankly it is very advanced with QSI and is smooth forward and backwards. Beats my BLI stuff and all hands down.
I have a Heavy 2-10-2 also from Proto and it is the best running engine in the entire roundhouse. I dont care for the floppy and loose drive side to side play but run large radius so it's not a problem.
I will buy more of them in the future. I can always use a helper with these engines.
Reinhard
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In my not so humble opinion, the P2K Heritage steam engines are as good as it gets looks, detail, and mechanism wise. They lack a little weight to be the best pullers, but the latest versions also come with a set of traction tired drivers, so that should solve that issue henceforth.
I think I have 5 or 6 of the 2-8-8-2s, and love them. I did take them all apart to get the engines approximately 180 degrees out of synch the way I like, install LED lighting, and I changed the front cylinders on some (N&W retrofitted Y-5 front engines on some), and I almost needed more hands than I possess to get them back together. The parts all fit wonderfully for a plastic model, but man is that a trick lining up all those parts at once. I have weighted and repainted two, and they pull okay now. I prefer the articulation on plastic steam engines (both pivoted at the center of each engine) to the more realistic articulation (rear engine rigid, front engine pivoted from the rear) you find on brass models. It runs a lot smoother on a lot smaller curves, and is more forgiving of less than perfecto trackwork as well. Someday I will get around to adding sound, at least in a couple of the VGN ones. I also have the 0-8-0 and the 2-8-4 (in VGN of course - my 30 year holdout for something other than brass PAID OFF !!) and they both also run like Swiss watches.
I got a lot of great deals on eBay back when LifeLike was making these, and because of their fantastic, now long gone, forever to be loudly lamented, fabulous parts availability, I didn't worry about anything. I guess I paid about $135 average (?). I got the 2-8-4 from my late lamented LHS.
I could not give anything a higher recommendation than these.
I've got a P2K 0-6-0. It's a great little engine. It was my first sound engine, too. It doesn't have a lot of pulling power, but it's not a heavy engine and the problem is wheel slippage. It came with traction tires, but I haven't installed them.
I've also got a BLI Hudson 4-6-4. That's also a really nice engine. The sound in the Hudson is a bit muddier, particularly on the whistle. Actually, it sounds like a torn speaker cone, but nobody else has noticed it and I can live with it, if in fact that's what the problem is.
The 0-6-0 cost about $250, discounted at my LHS, and the Hudson only about $130 from Trainworld.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Looking at a Y-3 (I think I got that right) by Proto. Whay do you folks think of the PK2 steam engines? LHS thinks they are over priced for what they are. He prefers BLI's. How would you rate PK's steam vers BLI's?