My new NKP Berk runs great, just a bit slippery

[jdmike]

I love how smooth and quiet my new NKP 759 Berkshire runs, she is a bit slippery in the traction dept, wont pull much as a Berkshire should.  I had the top off and upgraded the main headlight to a Minitronics yelglow golden white LED instead of the yellow one.  This is a total plug and play swap out.  Just shorten the LED leads like the Bachmann one and plug the wires back on.  Have the tender already connected and a test track handy to see if you have the polarity correct, if not just reverse the wires.  I removed the Mars light LED and just tucked it away off to the side as I plan to make the mars functional on my engine.  The LEDs just plug into a tube inside the boiler front.  Boiler removal is a snap!  remove the lead pilot truck, remove the 1 screw under it.  Then remove the 2 screws on either side of the trailing truck that go up into the firebox.   When I pull the boiler shell again to install the working mars light, I will look into additional weight if possible and report back.  I did also go thru and lightly oil all the bearings as both pilot and trailing trucks were squeaking after a short test run.   Excellent engine for the money, I hope Bachmann does a Spectrum version next time around with full sound and working mars light.  The Tsunami does both of those things.   Cheers   Mike

[ABC]

If you can find the room to add weight, it will have a nice effect on the pulling power. My friend who owns my local hobby shop added weight for me in several locos (various manufacturers) that were a bit lacking in pulling power and some of them can almost pull twice as much.

[lmackattack]

this is an easy fix.

remove the boiler and you can add about 2.5oz of weight under it. if you can get the full 2.5 oz up front then you can safely add another 2oz in the cab. When I recived the engine it would struggle with 30 cars on level track.  With the weight I added I Currently can pull about 48  40' Blue box cars with close to stock weight, metal wheels up a 1% grade.  I also added a new decoder and got much better motor control. I can now pull that 45 car string at 2 scale MPH now. before I was lucky to maintain a steady speed below 40mph

[jbsmith]

you may want to clean the wheels and track,,oil on either can cause slipping.

[jdmike]

My initial runs were at the large local club layout. Track is quite clean and the wheels on the Berkshire are brand new and are clean, I checked that.  Pulling power was around 15-20 cars on the various grades, 1.5 to 2 percent, all cars are weighted to NMRA specs and most have metal wheels.  Lots of slipping was involved getting up the grades with that length of train.  I know there is room for additional weight from when I had it appart to swap out the LED's  Mine is very smooth and silent in the motor/gears dept, no noise other than wheels on the rails.   Cheers   Mike

[jdmike]

Parts question.  I dont care for the painted on dual beam mask on the main headlight.  Any idea how I can remove it or get a lense that doesnt have that on it?  I could scrap off the paint with a hobby knife, but that would ruin the finish on the lense.  The effect the mask has, trying to simulate the twin sealed beam lamps just doesnt turn out very well, even with a bright golden white LED.   

[pdlethbridge]

Be careful you don't over do it with the weight in these engines. It could harm the motor.

[jdmike]

There is only a small amount of room infront of the motor and gear box for extra weight.  I dont see it being enough to overstress the motor and gears, she will slip the drivers quite easily.   On another note, what is the recomendation for a speaker in the tender for sound?   I have seen a QSI super bass speaker recomended for better sound, anybody have a Tusnami in thier Berkshire and willing to share what speaker they went with and how it sounds.  I ordered the decoder tonight.   

[pdlethbridge]

My brother had a tsunami installed in his B&M 4-8-2. Absolutely terrible sound

[lmackattack]

I have the factory Bachmann / Tsunami in my 2-8-0 and it sounds great. speaker is facing upwards and hidden by the coal load

put a Tsunami in my Spectrum 4-8-2 sound facing upwards as well and the sounds is almost as good as the 2-8-0

put a tsunami in a IHC hudson sounds ok. the speaker is faing the tracks so this may be why I like the others

Im thinking of buying the QSI sound for the NKP 765 as I think QSI did a sound file  for the C&0 Birkshires?

[rogertra]

Be careful you don't over do it with the weight in these engines. It could harm the motor.

There is a simple rule of thumb that works great with adding additional weight.  If the locomotive, steam or diesel, will still spin its wheels under full throttle, then you have not over weighted the loco.

This is one of the major problems with traction tires, they don't permit the wheels to spin under full load therefore there's a greater risk of burning out the motor with traction tires.

[Pacific Northern]

My brother had a tsunami installed in his B&M 4-8-2. Absolutely terrible sound

There must be a reason why the sound terrible. 

I would check the way the speaker is installed to start.

I would also be curious as to the quality of the speaker used as well. 

I have yet to hear a steam engine with a tsunami installed that did not sound good.

Perhaps your brother has a defective speaker has he contacted the manufacturer?

[jdmike]

if the speaker isnt sealed when its mounted, it can sound like crap.   I have yet to see a Tsunami sound bad if the speaker is of good quality and mounted correctly.   I ordered the Tsunami this week for my Berkshire.   Mike