This review is on Rivarossi's 0-6-0 with tender, made for AHM in the mid' 70s. Normally on this version of the 0-6-0, the entire engine is painted black, but I did a little detail painting on it a few days ago. I believe there are three other versions of this 0-6-0. One has two straight wires going across the boiler as the railings, but they don't look very good. I think there's another version with full railings that do look good, but it doesn't have a valve gear like the deluxe version of this engine, which I think I've only seen once or twice. This version has molded on railings that look fairly decent, but it doesn't have a valve gear. The shell is very detailed, with lots of molded-on piping and other details. It also has safety tread detail on all the walkways, which helps give it a nice high quality look. The bell is molded on and painted black, so it doesn't really look like a bell unless you put brass colored paint on it. The drive wheels, except for the over-sized flanges, are very well detailed, with rivet details around the counter-weights, and can be seen through. The crossheads are black plastic instead of metal, so they don't look too realistic. The front coupler is a dummy and doesn't look like it can be replaced easily. The tender is nicely detailed, with molded-on grab irons on the front and back, a dummy backup light, and a detailed coal load. The cab doesn't have any room for interior detailing because of the motor, but it looks like there should be enough room for a modified crew. The motor sticks out of the cab a couple scale feet, so that part of the engine doesn't look too realistic. The lettering that the original owner didn't paint over is nice and clear, so I'm sure the rest was just as good. The 0-6-0 comes with only 4 drivers picking up all the electricity and surges a lot, so the tender needs to be modified for electrical pickup. I described how to do that here: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=62354 Now that it has a good electrical system, it runs very smoothly at all speeds. The motor isn't the quietest, but it's quiet enough. The speed at 12 volts is 94 scale MPH, which is fast for an 0-6-0. If the worm can be replaced, the speed should be closer to 47 scale MPH. The current draw running free was about 0.37 amps, but about 0.1 of that is from the large light bulb. The maximum stall current at 12 volts was about 1.45 amps. The minimum speed I could get it to run steadily at was about 8.5 scale MPH, but again, that should be cut in half with a different worm. The motor is a 3 pole can/pancake type, but it works as well as a 5 pole skewed can motor. All the linkage works real smoothly and quietly, and doesn't cause any binding. The gears are all metal, but they only make a faint whining at higher speeds that's barely noticable. The motor heats up quite a bit when it's run for very long, so you'll want to let it sit for a few minutes every little while. This is one of the few Rivarossi engines without any traction tires, but I got it to pull 10 free rolling cars with only a little slipping when it started. The rear coupler is a frame mounted X2F, and the Rivarossi design makes it so you'll need a special knuckle coupler if you want to replace it. The motor is almost isolated from the frame, and only needs the steel plate going to the right brush cut off to isolate it. There's plenty of room in the tender for a DCC board, but I'm not so sure about sound. Rivarossi's 0-6-0 is a very nice steam engine for someone looking for an inexpensive steamer, and, with a little work, runs as well as the highest quality steam engines available today.
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