Mikado detail

[BaltoOhioRRfan]

there is a video of the engine on Facebook under the bachmann account. I believe it shows it on 18 inch radius curves. Might be on 22 inch radius though. Hard to tell.

[RAM]

The way I look at it is does it run great.  I would reather have a great running locomtive than to have a great looking locomotive that runs poorly.  I can always add details.

[Trainman203]

I already have 3 of these engines from the competition, so I won't be getting one. If I was, though, I'd do a few things detail wise:

1.  The biggest thing - blacken the running gear and the driver tires.  The driver tires are over scale but when blackened this error will go away.

2.  Put a fabricated USRA trailing truck on instead of the more modern cast Delta one ..... Although that's a hard call, my road  the Missouri Pacific put Deltas on some of their 1300 class engines.

3.  Blacken the bell, pop valves and whistle.  Look at prototype photos. Although these items, excepting the whistle sometimes, were brass, they didn't stay brass looking very long in service.  Getting rid of shiny stuff like this and the running gear/driver tires goes a long way toward realism.

4.  Trim down the oversized cab window muntins, or since I model the South, take the sash out altogether.

5.  Add cab window awnings.

None of this stuff is a big deal to do.  I'm doing most of it to the engines I already have.

[BaltoOhioRRfan]

I already have 3 of these engines from the competition, so I won't be getting one. If I was, though, I'd do a few things detail wise:

I've gotten 4 from other manufactures(3 from one, 1 from another) but I'd like to get a bachmann one. But they are only doing my road with sound, and I don't do sound so i wont be buying one. 

[TwinZephyr]

What is the origin of that trailing truck?  I see it described as a Delta, but the shape of it does not look like any I recall seeing on a North American locomotive.

[ACY]

I've gotten 4 from other manufactures(3 from one, 1 from another) but I'd like to get a bachmann one. But they are only doing my road with sound, and I don't do sound so i wont be buying one. 

3 easy solutions:
1. Remove the sound decoder and speaker
2. Mute it
3. Program the CVs to disable the sound

Dear Bachmann, could you please post a foto [sic] of the loco on a 20" radius? I would like to see how this loco looks on smaller curves.

there is a video of the engine on Facebook under the bachmann account. I believe it shows it on 18 inch radius curves. Might be on 22 inch radius though. Hard to tell.

The video is 22 inch radius I think, I saw a 22 inch manufacturer's recommended minimum radius listed for this locomotive.

[Trainman203]

I'd have  to look more closely but I bet the front extensions of that trailing truck are heavily trimmed away to help get around our ridiculously sharp model railroad curves, and the even more absurd train set level curves. 

The 2-8-2 trailing truck represents a cast steel item seen appearing after WWI .  Cast frame  trucks  were also replacing fabricated trucks like archbars on freight cars too. Fabricated trucks had too many potential failure points.  The pioneering half cast/half fabricated Andrews trucks were soon followed by early Vulcans and Bettendorfs.

Point of interest.....  the Central of Georgia started calling their Mikados "McArthurs" after Pearl Harbor.  Some of us down here still call them that.

[davidone]

BLI's mikado runs on 18" radius so I would assume the bachmann would run on the same. Time will tell.

[BaltoOhioRRfan]

Point of interest.....  the Central of Georgia started calling their Mikados "McArthurs" after Pearl Harbor.  Some of us down here still call them that.

Baltimore & Ohio also called theirs McArthurs as well. even though i'm a B&O fan i still call em Mikados since it comes off the tongue easier.

Yardmaster and plans in the future to do the Sound versions with non sound and vice-versa? I really like to get one but i don't do sound so i'm not gonna sit here and pay for it just to rip it out of the tender.

[Bucksco]

Road names will switch around at some point.

[davidone]

Who does not like sound? It gives your layout a whole new dimension.

[ebtnut]

Yardmaster - OK, given that the Delta-style trailing truck is the "standard", any chance of including the Hodges style truck as a separate part.  I believe the Light Mountain truck is correct.  Issue would be the distance between the axle and mounting screw centerlines. 

[electrical whiz kid]

Yardmaster;
Are they doing that mike in B&M logo?  Ifnot, are they doing one in "painted unlettered"?
Rich C.

[guslcp]

Who does not like sound? It gives your layout a whole new dimension.

I don't..Just listening to the videos on YouTube drives me up the wall..I did buy a CD with steam engine sounds and that is more than enough to set the "mood" for the railroad...

Gus.

[rogertra]

Who does not like sound? It gives your layout a whole new dimension.

I don't..Just listening to the videos on YouTube drives me up the wall..I did buy a CD with steam engine sounds and that is more than enough to set the "mood" for the railroad...

Gus.

I tend to agree with both of you.  I have sound equipped locomotives but I have the sound turned down so the prime mover and steam chuff, when the locos are working, is just audible from four or five feet away.  All the other sounds, with the exception of the whistle and horns, are turned way down with the bell set to be just audible over the sounds of a working engine, just as in the prototype.

I do find the audio does set a mood but my mood setting is mainly for the correct use of whistle signals and the proper use of the bell.

Truth be told, all and I mean all HO scale sound systems sound like a 1960s tinny transistor radio, with no real bass line, hence the awful tinny sound of the prime mover and steam engine chuff.

If most YouTube videos are to be believed, most modellers have the sound way too loud, which doesn't improve the tinny sound effects, and do not know how to correctly use the whistle and bell.

Cheers

Roger T.