HO Russian Decapod Question

[MarkInLA]

Hi..Are all HO DCC Bachmann Russian Decapods exactly the same mechanically ? I.E. Aside from road name and with/without white wall tires are they all Spectrum, all with Tsunami decoders, all with flywheels and ( I think I read ) belt drive ? Or, are some non-spectrum?  Also, will they negotiate a 20-22" radius curve ?
Thanks,
Mark

[richg]

Hi..Are all HO DCC Bachmann Russian Decapods exactly the same mechanically ? I.E. Aside from road name and with/without white wall tires are they all Spectrum, all with Tsunami decoders, all with flywheels and ( I think I read ) belt drive ? Or, are some non-spectrum?  Also, will they negotiate a 20-22" radius curve ?
Thanks,
Mark

Go look at the Product Descriptions and the loco diagrams in Parts and Service. They will handle 20 to 22 inch.

Rich

[Doneldon]

Mark-

All of Bachmann's current decapods are Spectrum locos with the same mechanicals. They do not all have DCC or sound.

                                                                                                                                                                       -- D

[MarkInLA]

Thanks rails, this is what I thought..It looks really good.. I Especially like the air space between frame and boiler. My Ten Wheeler has this profile but very poor headlight..While my Mogul has near no airspace as it should but has a headlight which could burn out your retina (and it's not even Spectrum ) !! Go figure !!  Looks like Bachmann has cornered the HO steam-with-sound market, huh ? What a weird felling it is when you're running and hit button 8 and turn off sound ...Hard to believe now that the hobby was silent like that all those decades ; and with all the analog, non-indepenency hang-ups to boot !! 

[electrical whiz kid]

Mark;
Everything has a beginning, as such does model railroading as a hobby.  You are correct in your feelings about where it is.  I rememberer it where it was...
The Russian is a pretty good locomotive, but to my mind, looked a little too "Russian" to suit me, so I made some changes on my two, sort of to "Americanize" them.  I did the same thing to the two SY mikes I have-I caLL 'em my "green card mikes"; finished they look a little llike a cross between a K-36 and #40, which ran at Valley railroad at Essex, Ct.
BTW, for all of you in Ct, they now have a "New Haven" mike-no, not the real thing, but close enough for flavour, including the herald, and the loco number, which is in keeping with the J-1s new Haven had on it's roster.
RIch C.

[wjstix]

My 2-10-0 is one of my best engines, I got one with factory sound a few years back. As it happened, the railroad I grew up watching, the Minneapolis Northfield & Southern was one of the roads that actually owned these, so I decorated it for the MN&S.

May be not everyone knows their story...during the 1st World War, Imperial Russia was an ally of the UK, France and (once we entered the war) the USA. To help their war effort, a US builder (I think Baldwin) was contracted to build engines for export to Russia, based on their standard 5-foot gauge 2-10-0. However, before they were completed, the Bolshevik Revolution turned the country into the Communist USSR, and they withdrew from the war. President Wilson embargoed the engines from being shipped, and they were converted to standard gauge and sold to US railroads.

[MarkInLA]

Thanks for the above explainations..Yes, I thought I'd heard the Russia/Wilson story..But I didn't know what US RRs did use them..E Whiz Kid, could you explain what needs to be changed to Americanize loco ? I'm guessing smokestack modified . Or something on the tender, maybe...I'm going to look at her again on ebay, see if I can spot unamerican-looking parts or such..It does look like I'm going to buy one now,though ..Thanks again.....Mark in L.A.   

[richg]

A little info about this loco.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-10-0

Rich

[MarkInLA]

richg,,just read the wikipedia stories...My HO RR is a switchback, standard guage..This is even more reason to buy the 'Dek'...!

[rogertra]

These images have been posted here before but here's what I did to mine to make them look less "Russian": -

[wjstix]

Thanks for the above explainations..Yes, I thought I'd heard the Russia/Wilson story..But I didn't know what US RRs did use them..E Whiz Kid, could you explain what needs to be changed to Americanize loco ? I'm guessing smokestack modified . Or something on the tender, maybe...I'm going to look at her again on ebay, see if I can spot unamerican-looking parts or such..It does look like I'm going to buy one now,though ..Thanks again.....Mark in L.A.   

You're a little mixed-up. The real engines were built to be used on the Russian rail line. When they weren't able to sell them, the builder converted them to US track gauge and added standard American parts and sold them to US railroads.

The model engine is of the engine AFTER it was modified for sale to US railroads. I'm sure some Russian model railroaders have modified the engine to look like the similar engines that ran in Russia for many years, but the model is right to use on a US layout as it comes out of the box.

[ebtnut]

Among the railroads that used them were the Western Maryland, the Susquehanna, the Erie, and the Seaboard.  Since the railroads were under the control of the USRA, the locos were pretty widely distributed. The Russian Decs were modified for use in the U.S. through the simple expedient of installing new, wider tires on the driver centers to bring them down to 56 1/2" gauge.   I suspect the wheels on the tenders were simply pressed in a bit further on the axles to do the same.  This worked OK back in the day.  However, I am told by a former member that when the Illinois RR Museum first got their Russian up and running, it almost derailed when it ran through one of their self-guarding frogs with the wide tires. 

[wjstix]

Don's Depot has some good old pics of the MN&S decapods. These were built by Alco-Brooks, then seized by the USRA in the latter days of WW1 and sold to US engines.

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr455.htm

The MN&S also had a later built one. Back in 1945, the US again was building engines for export to the USSR as part of the war effort. One engine was damaged at the dock (in I think Philadelphia?) and returned to the builder for repair. By the time it was finished, the war had ended and the US no longer sold engines to the USSR. (You'll remember this if you're familiar with the story of the Milwaukee's "Little Joe" electrics.) Anyway, the lone decapod ended up being bought by the MN&S, who already had several from the first war.