Hey Mr B, how about a small 2-8-0 for the Spectrum range?

[Pacific Northern]

don,
to be honest, i am a diesel man. it's my fiance who loves steam, and what steam i have was bought with her in mind. as such i haven't tinkered much with weighting them.  i know that the roundhouse 2-8-0 proves it can be done. i also know that one will pull about 10 cars on a 4% grade. the bachmann 2-6-0 i have, thought a larger engine, barely pulls half that.

If you had noticed the Roundhouse 2-8-0 has traction tires on the last set of drivers, the Bachmann Spectrum engines do not.

No wonder the Roundhouse engine pulls more.

[rogertra]

don,
to be honest, i am a diesel man. it's my fiance who loves steam, and what steam i have was bought with her in mind. as such i haven't tinkered much with weighting them.  i know that the roundhouse 2-8-0 proves it can be done. i also know that one will pull about 10 cars on a 4% grade. the bachmann 2-6-0 i have, thought a larger engine, barely pulls half that.

If you had noticed the Roundhouse 2-8-0 has traction tires on the last set of drivers, the Bachmann Spectrum engines do not.

No wonder the Roundhouse engine pulls more.

First.  Even a real 2-6-0 would have lots of trouble pulling 5 to 6 cars up a 4% grade, which is really, really, really steep grade.

My carefully weighted and balanced Spectrum 2-8-0s pull 18 to 20 cars plus van on more realistic grades, why would I want nasty traction tires and why would I want to pull more than 20 cars?

My unmodified Bachmann Alco 2-6-0s handle 16 car cuts when switching the yard, and without nasty traction tires, why would I want it to handle more?

You may notice I am against traction tires.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

First.  Even a real 2-6-0 would have lots of trouble pulling 5 to 6 cars up a 4% grade, which is really, really, really steep grade.

Four percent is the grade on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic (formerly D&RGW) eastbound out of Chama, New Mexico, to the summit of Cumbres Pass. Even the Mikados used on the C&TS can pull only about eight passenger cars up that grade. More cars than that, they have to double-head.

[ryeguyisme]

An IHC mogul can luckily maybe pull 2 cars up a 4%, One of my brass M-75 4-8-2's Can pull 30+ cars up a 4% and I haven't even maxed that out yet. The locomotive weight over the drivers, makes a considerable difference. The M-75 weighs in at about 21-24 ounces

[jward]

that was my point. the roundhouse 2-8-0, though much smaller than the alco 2-6-0, is also much heavier. to be honest i never noticed the traction tire until it was pointed out. the roundhouse 2-8-0 pulls like an atlas diesel, which are also singnficantly heavier than their bachmann counterparts. added weight is both desirable and doable.

[rogertra]

Weight over the drivers and a carefully balance locomotive is, in my opinion, much better than traction tire.

When you add weight to a locomotive you always ensure that under full load and when it stalls it can always spin its driving wheels so you do not burn out the motor.

That is one of the reasons that I don't like traction tires.  When the engine stalls with a full trailing load, the wheels cannot spin so you have the possibility of the motor burning out.  This is especially probably if the loco stalls in a tunnel.

The next issue I have with traction tires is they wear out and how do you get replacements in several years from now?

And the final issue with traction ties is as they wear, the introduce an unrealistic wobble to the engine as it moves along the track.

Yep.  No traction tires for me.