HOn3 45 tonner....

[mp15dc]

well Bachmann...here is your 45 tonner narrowed by 2 ft to HOn3.  The walkway and cab were narrowed and all thats left is to narrow the wheels and youve got yourselfs a winner.....Well guys??

[mp15dc]

Overhead view..

[richg]

You omitted a lot of details. Where the parts from NWSL? NWSL has parts for the 70 tonner.

Rich

[mp15dc]

Nope...I didnt. The drive will be custom made. The 70 tonned parts dont work here. The main reason for showing this is to show the Bachmann Dr. how little they need to do in order to enter the HOn3 markets. Bachmann needs to do for HOn3 what they did for On30.

[BestSnowman]

Sure it would be simple for Bachmann, all they'd have to do is make all new tooling. Oh and then they'd have to make a significant investment in production and hope that it takes off like On30.

Of course they couldn't just only do a 45 tonner, they'd need to produce a line of track to go along with it and a line of rolling stock. So I guess you could say it's simple except for all the work.

[mp15dc]

Clearly your a glass half empty types. Most of the tooling is done. The walkway and cab is all that needs to be done. Besides that why would they have to do cars and track? Hold on...im gonna go order some Athearn track to go along with my Micro Engeneering cars.... go play with your choo-choos.

[BestSnowman]

That's might point, it's not as easy to modify the tooling as it is to do a finished shell. And that's just the shell, a new drive has to be developed and tested.

So it's completely reasonable for Bachmann to sell a single item that goes with nothing else they sell? I'd agree if Bachmann was a specialty provider but they really aren't. Just because YOU want it doesn't mean it'd be a big success, just because you modified a single item doesn't mean it's trivial to put it straight in mass production.

[WoundedBear]

I see NWSL has a conversion kit for the 80 ton Shay that swaps it to HOn3........I could see that swap being popular.

http://shop.osorail.com/product.sc?productId=2065

Sid

[CNE Runner]

Hmmm, I don't know whether the GE 45 Ton locomotive would be the wisest choice for HOn3. While the Monks' Island Railway does use a 45-tonner, these were not well received by most period railroad buyers; partly because of their low speed and poor pulling qualities (M.I.Ry. got theirs surplus...you know these crafty New Englanders). The GE 44 Ton locomotive was in much wider use, could pull much more, and had a decent road speed - making for a good (lightweight) road switcher. The 45 Ton locomotive was primarily designed as an inter-industrial unit (much like the lighter Porters, Plymouths, and Whitcombs) and saw little use on railroads.

Ray

[ryeguyisme]

just out of curiousity what did you do with the HO chassis, I'm in need of one or perhaps i'll buy the engine somewhere and sell the shell

[richg]

Hmmm, I don't know whether the GE 45 Ton locomotive would be the wisest choice for HOn3. While the Monks' Island Railway does use a 45-tonner, these were not well received by most period railroad buyers; partly because of their low speed and poor pulling qualities (M.I.Ry. got theirs surplus...you know these crafty New Englanders). The GE 44 Ton locomotive was in much wider use, could pull much more, and had a decent road speed - making for a good (lightweight) road switcher. The 45 Ton locomotive was primarily designed as an inter-industrial unit (much like the lighter Porters, Plymouths, and Whitcombs) and saw little use on railroads.

Ray

Some info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_45-ton_switcher

The standard gauge could handle 20 cars on the level.

The PIne Creek Railroad has a 45 ton Narrow Gauge diesel. It is a former United States Steel 45 ton.

Info on 45 ton narrow gauge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_44-ton_switcher

Rich

[CNE Runner]

OK, let's set the record straight: I didn't say the GE 45-Ton locomotive couldn't pull a certain number of cars. I said the GE 44-Ton locomotive was a better design (and better received...ie bought...by railroad companies) .

I quote from Jay Reed's definitive book on Critters, Dinkeys & Centercabs:
"Despite the model designation and weight, the GE 45 ton model was smaller, less powerful and less robust than the 44 ton model. Indeed, they could start about the same load as a 44 ton, as starting tractive effort is determined almost solely by weight; but the 45 ton was designed to slowly drag loads around inside the confines of an industrial plant, where slow speeds are fully sufficient. The 44 ton was designed for relatively faster switching and branch line service, where speed is required." [Underlining mine.]

Incidentally, the 45 ton model was equipped with two traction motors (one for each truck) whilst the 44 ton model has four traction motors which "...gave them greater acceleration potential, and allowed them to lug heavy loads without overheating the motors, such as might occur with the two-motor locomotives." [sic Reed]

I hope this clears the air,
Ray

[richg]

An advantage of the 45 ton is that they could be run by one person over the 44 tonner which required two people by law. Good for yard work in power companies, steel companies in industries that wanted a small loco for local switching.
Another forum someone mentioned their Spectrum could pull 9 nine cars on the level.
Bullfrog Snot mike make a difference but have never tried the product on my locos.

Rich

[CNE Runner]

Good Afternoon RichG - Again I find myself in the uncomfortable position of disagreeing with your statement that "...could be run by one person over the 44 tonner which required two people by law." Unfortunately that isn't true. Actually one of the selling points (contained within the original GE 44-Ton brochure in my possession) was that the locomotive only required one trainman. Quoting (again) from Jay Reed's book:

"The guiding principal of the 44 ton model was to pack as much power as possible into a locomotive weighing 88,000 lbs (44 tons). The reason for this somewhat dubious endeavor was due to a then prevalent railroad work rule, requiring a fireman in the crew of any locomotive above that weight." [p.58, italics mine]

Your observation that a Bachmann Spectrum could pull 9 cars (the assumption being that they met NMRA standards for weight) on a level track peaked my interest (uh, oh). In the interest of science, I decided to do a little test: 15 40-foot AAR boxcars were coupled to my Bachmann Spectrum GE 45 Ton locomotive. Because my layout is short (a little less than 10' end-to-end), some of the boxcars were 'draped' around a slight curve. Good ol' #4 did a little wheel slip (OK...a lot of wheel slip until things began moving), put her shoulder to the load, and moved all 15 cars a distance of approximately 2' (all that was left to the backdrop). If one calculates the total weight hauled that comes out to 56.25 oz (3.5 lbs)!!! Mr. Bach Man: you build one heck of a locomotive. As RichG mentioned, Bullfrog Snot would definitely allow this little lady to pull much more rolling stock (it should be noted that the locomotive didn't stall...merely spun her wheels for lack of weight).

Retired guys have a lot of time on their hands...can you tell?

Thanks Rich,
Ray

[richg]

Yeah, in my mind I was thinking smaller loco, 45 ton and one crewman. It was the 44 ton that could do this as I have some sound equipped 44 tonners that I found a lot of info about. I have been considering a sound 45 tonner.
I want to make the 44 tonners for the Union Freight that ran them in pairs for the freight that they handled between railroads on the north and south sides of Boston.
I mentioned someone who answered a question in another forum about their 45 tonner and they replaced all the wheels on the rolling stock with all machined metal wheels and tuned the trucks with a truck tuner.

Rich