How much better, if any, are the current PRR K4's over the early runs??

[jdmike]

I am in the market for a K4 engine, years ago I had one of early spectrum engines and was disappointed in the pulling power and poor headlight output.  Are the current runs any better, ie what upgrades have Bachmann done to the Pennsy engine since the first ones.  Obviously sound/dcc is one, but I am more concerned with pulling ablities and a decently bright headlight when compared to the first runs. Thanks in advance.  Mike

[richg]

I would have to assume it has the same drive as the 4-6-0. Not sure.

Put a quality decoder with BEMF in and cut the one or two capacitors off the PC board.
Don't know if Bachamnn is going to a better non sound decoder.

Rich

[Atlantic Central]

I would have to assume it has the same drive as the 4-6-0. Not sure.

Put a quality decoder with BEMF in and cut the one or two capacitors off the PC board.
Don't know if Bachamnn is going to a better non sound decoder.

Rich

Why would you assume that? The K4 is a completely differnt model from the 4-6-0.

jdmike,

The K4's do suffer from poor pulling power out of the box, but they are easy to ad weight too. I know a number of people who have had good success adding weight and or BullFrogSnott traction tires or both.

While there have been a few small changes over the years, I don't suspect there is much difference on the pulling power issue.

As fo the headlight, are you running DC or DCC? I don't quite understand why headlights are such a big deal with some people. Fact is, most steam ran lights off during the day. Only in the last days of steam did it become common for headlights (steam or diesel) to be on in the daylight.

Headlight brightness is effected by lots of factors, amd can be easily corrected with a different bulb or LED - again, depending on what you are powering your trains with, DC or DCC.

Sheldon

[richg]

I am in the market for a K4 engine, years ago I had one of early spectrum engines and was disappointed in the pulling power and poor headlight output.  Are the current runs any better, ie what upgrades have Bachmann done to the Pennsy engine since the first ones.  Obviously sound/dcc is one, but I am more concerned with pulling ablities and a decently bright headlight when compared to the first runs. Thanks in advance.  Mike

I forgot the diagrams page again.
I went to the diagrams page and the 4-6-2 does seem to have a better drive than the 4-4-0 and 4-6-0. I see a flywheel which usually indicates a better drive.
My 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 do not have flywheels.
Your mileage may vary.

As indicated, add weight. I use lead shot and put the shot in where I can. I try to put the weight so it is pretty much balanced over all the drivers.

Rich

[bobwrgt]

The newer Spectrum K-4 is much better that the first release. It had a major redesign and upgrade. There is a different connection between engine and tender. The tender now has electrical pick-up on both trucks.The tender wiring is connected to the engine.  I have two newer ones and have had no problems pulling a long train.
The headlight is still dim. To get a brighter light you will have to change to a led. The light tube that comes out of the boiler is to small for a bulb.

If it was in the center of the front boiler door it would be bright but the PRR had it on top.
The k-4 is getting harder to find as Bachmann is not making them this year.

Bob

[jdmike]

Thanks for the info,  I can upgrade to a LED.  My home layout is DCC, but the club I belong to is analog DC.  If I get a non sound version, I would upgrade it to a QSI Revolution sound board.  I remember my old K4 had a split chassis design like a N scale engine.  Can motor with a worm/flywheel set up.  If there is room for a bit more weight, that helps.  I would love to pick up one of the Diecast MTH or BLI ones, but they are very hard to find in the 1361 road number.   And PRR did run with thier headlights on very early compared to many other roads during the steam era.  Maybe because many miles of urban trackage with lots of road crossings.  If I can get some stuff sold that is excess to my needs, I will pick up a K4 shortly.   Mike

[richg]

The newer Spectrum K-4 is much better that the first release. It had a major redesign and upgrade. There is a different connection between engine and tender. The tender now has electrical pick-up on both trucks.The tender wiring is connected to the engine.  I have two newer ones and have had no problems pulling a long train.
The headlight is still dim. To get a brighter light you will have to change to a led. The light tube that comes out of the boiler is to small for a bulb.

If it was in the center of the front boiler door it would be bright but the PRR had it on top.
The k-4 is getting harder to find as Bachmann is not making them this year.

Bob

I had to install a LED on my Spectrum 4-6-0 has the light was somewhat dim because of the light tube. After the fact, I realized the LED resistor value was to high. I think it was about 2.6 k on the PC board and 1k is a better value. I did some comparisons after and did see a difference in brightness. With the factory resistor, the LED current was about 4.5ma. With a 1k resistor, the current was about 10 ma.

Rich

[jdmike]

I have put Miniatroncs 3mm yelglow LED's in a few of my DCC and Analog engines, I use the 470ohm resistor on both set ups unless the decoder already has outputs just for LED's  I am working on a trade deal for a recent run K4 with factory DCC.  I will be putting sound in it if I end up with the engine.   Mike

[Doneldon]

jdm-

It's easy to renumber locos.

                     -- D

[Pacific Northern]

I am in the market for a K4 engine, years ago I had one of early spectrum engines and was disappointed in the pulling power and poor headlight output.  Are the current runs any better, ie what upgrades have Bachmann done to the Pennsy engine since the first ones.  Obviously sound/dcc is one, but I am more concerned with pulling ablities and a decently bright headlight when compared to the first runs. Thanks in advance.  Mike

I forgot the diagrams page again.
I went to the diagrams page and the 4-6-2 does seem to have a better drive than the 4-4-0 and 4-6-0. I see a flywheel which usually indicates a better drive.
My 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 do not have flywheels.
Your mileage may vary.

As indicated, add weight. I use lead shot and put the shot in where I can. I try to put the weight so it is pretty much balanced over all the drivers.

Rich

The HO Spectrum 4-4-0 and 4-6-0 do come with brass flywheels.

[jdmike]

Got my K4 today, comes from the production run just prior to the dcc/onboard series, its dcc ready but not dcc equipted.  This is perfect as I have a QSI Revolution thats going in it shortly.  Its beautiful, both running and in the looks dept.  Much nicer than the first run K4 I had years ago.    I do plan to upgrade the headlight to a LED shortly.    Speaking of that, does anybody have a instuction booklet handy and can tell me how the boiler shell comes off?   He had lost the box and books when he moved so I didnt get them.   Thanks   Mike