New Athearn Engine

[4449daylight]

 I have an Athearn Genesis Big Boy, Challenger, and the new FEF-3. All run very well, and are well made.

[Ozzie21]

I had a few of the Athearn light mikes and after adding weight all pulled reasonably well. The one and only light pacific I bought did indeed break it's drive gear and has sat in it's box since then. The P2K engines were all great but I think the 0-6-0 was their best offering. The 2-8-4 was in my mind a disaster. Out of 6 engines I bought only one still runs the rest all suffered some sort of failure and those wheels on the first editions, total rubbish. I went back to buying brass engines to get almost correct C&O versions. Same with the Allegheny, buy brass as the very expensive plastic one doesn't really cut it. Now and this is for Gene we should really try and convince Mr B to build an H-7 and a K-3 as brass ones are getting really expensive and rather rare for the H-7.

regards

Charles Emerson

[Atlantic Central]

Ozzie21,

Why does the Rivarossi Allegheny not "cut it" in your opinion? Mine run great and pull nearly as well as my BLI N&W Class A. As for detail they look better than any brass Alegheny I have ever seen.

My personal favorite of the PK2000 steamers is the 0-8-0, later version with the traction tires, but I have two early 2-8-8-2's I am very happy with as well. I do not have the 4-8-2 as it does not fit the theme of my railroad and I heard the early reports of its poor performance.

I will admitt, I am a free lance modeler, and even for those models lettered for a prototype road, I don't get my panties in a bunch over a rivet here or and overfire jet there.

Just my opinion, but since steam locos all went through so many changes, repairs, modifications, etc, worring about such small details seems silly. Except for the off chance you have full set of photos of the loco number you are modeling, taken on the date your are modeling, how do you or anyone else really know how "correct" or incorrect it is?

As for brass, I know many of the newer pieces do run nice, but after my experiances with it in the seventies, you can have it all. I'm not paying that kind of money for locos that require overhauling, ajusting and tuning up to get them running.

At the Chevy prices of Bachmann, Proto, BLI/PCM and similar products if I have to make an ajustment or send in for a warranty replacement that's one thing. But for brass prices it should run perfect out of the box and many don't.

Sheldon

[SteamGene]

I'm all for an H-7 and K-3, as well as any of the later F models.  (C&O, of course - who needs a PRR K-3?)
Gene

[Ozzie21]

Well detail wise it's sort of okay though the stack the wrong height for the engine number. It's a bit to long, the amount of daylight under the boiler is way to much and the wheels are way undersize. I'm afraid I'll stick with my crown series brass ones which are excellect runners that will out pull a Hornby Allegheny of which I had three which all spat off their traction tyres same as the BLI "A" class and T-1. The P2K 0-8-0 is an excellent model but I'm finding plastic to be a bit more fragile than brass and when it comes to repairs soldering is a lot longer lasting than glueing.

Ozzie21

Ozzie21,

Why does the Rivarossi Allegheny not "cut it" in your opinion? Mine run great and pull nearly as well as my BLI N&W Class A. As for detail they look better than any brass Alegheny I have ever seen.

My personal favorite of the PK2000 steamers is the 0-8-0, later version with the traction tires, but I have two early 2-8-8-2's I am very happy with as well. I do not have the 4-8-2 as it does not fit the theme of my railroad and I heard the early reports of its poor performance.

I will admitt, I am a free lance modeler, and even for those models lettered for a prototype road, I don't get my panties in a bunch over a rivet here or and overfire jet there.

Just my opinion, but since steam locos all went through so many changes, repairs, modifications, etc, worring about such small details seems silly. Except for the off chance you have full set of photos of the loco number you are modeling, taken on the date your are modeling, how do you or anyone else really know how "correct" or incorrect it is?

As for brass, I know many of the newer pieces do run nice, but after my experiances with it in the seventies, you can have it all. I'm not paying that kind of money for locos that require overhauling, ajusting and tuning up to get them running.

At the Chevy prices of Bachmann, Proto, BLI/PCM and similar products if I have to make an ajustment or send in for a warranty replacement that's one thing. But for brass prices it should run perfect out of the box and many don't.

Sheldon

[Atlantic Central]

OK Ozzie21,

I can't help but ask another question. How, or with what, do you clean your track? OR do you just play that hard? BECAUSE I have never lost, damaged or worn out a traction tire and I have most of those models you mentioned. But based on other comments you have made such as "broken" Proto 2-8-4's, maybe you just play harder than most of us.

And, I know lots of other modelers with all these locos who have not had any problems with mechanisms or traction tires. Just ask Virginian on this board as well. As for pulling power how much do you pull? I have pulled 75 cars with my Class A and have been on the throttle of a Rivarossi Allegheny pulling 68 cars. That was on a friends layout with 1.8% helix grades. Both handle their trains fine with no traction tire problems.

As for being fragile, yes they are, they are models not toys - I have not had to repair any in the first place - so for me its not an issue.

Sheldon

[Ozzie21]

I clean my track with CRC applied to a roller pad. Every month the the track cleaning train gets run around. It's made up of two old bachmann SD45's and 10 40' boxcars. The first four cars have masonite pads under them, the next car is a buffer then the roller car then the last three cars have MDF pads under them. Once a year a I get the bright boy and give the track a good going over. I found the traction tyres on the Rivarossi/Hornby Allegheny a bit soft and they only rolled off on  my superelevated curves  which have now been removed. The BLI A class lasted a lot longer maybe two years before it's traction tyres needed replacing. The BLI T-1's I have got the non traction tyred wheels fitted as soon as I got them out of the box. The P2K 2-8-4's played up from day one, 3 went back straight away, two I repaired and one was basket case but it had the noble distinction of becoming a decent body on IHC Hudson mech. I don't have the ability to run 75 car trains as my longest sidings will only take 40 40' cars.
As for "playing" hard I used to host 2 or three operating sessions a month with two round robin groups plus my regular NMRA group. An average session was around 5 hrs. Now most of my brass locos have had their wheels replaced over the years and some now have stainless steel tyres fitted. BLI locos have stood up better than the Rivarossi locos and the Bachmann locos better than any of the RTR models. And yes I may be old but I do realise that they are models  and not toys.


Ozzie21

OK Ozzie21,

I can't help but ask another question. How, or with what, do you clean your track? OR do you just play that hard? BECAUSE I have never lost, damaged or worn out a traction tire and I have most of those models you mentioned. But based on other comments you have made such as "broken" Proto 2-8-4's, maybe you just play harder than most of us.

And, I know lots of other modelers with all these locos who have not had any problems with mechanisms or traction tires. Just ask Virginian on this board as well. As for pulling power how much do you pull? I have pulled 75 cars with my Class A and have been on the throttle of a Rivarossi Allegheny pulling 68 cars. That was on a friends layout with 1.8% helix grades. Both handle their trains fine with no traction tire problems.

As for being fragile, yes they are, they are models not toys - I have not had to repair any in the first place - so for me its not an issue.

Sheldon

[Atlantic Central]

Ozzie21,

CRC as in electronics cleaner? Just my opinion, but that might be part of your traction tire problem. Even though you obviously wipe it down good with your followup cleaning pads as discribed, CRC seems a bit strong/harsh in my mind.

I think many of us who are traction tire fans will agree that alcohol is the only safe liquid to clean track with in conjuction with traction tires.

And, this is a compliment, you do play hard, that is a lot of operating and no doubt a lot of different "hands" on stuff. I belong to only one round robin group and we only have 3 hour operating sessions on an average of once a month for each member with an operating layout.

I will agree completely that the Bachmann locos are very durable and a great value. Most of my steam fleet is Bachmann Spectrum.

As I might have said before, I have no experiance with the Proto 2-8-4, it does not fit my railroads "scheme" and I heard the bad pulling reports before even thinking about buying one. My railroad does interchange with the C&O so there is that possablity with the new Bachmann model.

The Class A and Reading T-1 are the only BLI/PCM pieces I have. I don't care for sound and/or most of the prototypes in their line do not interest me.

I don't run any ?-10-? anythings because I feel they are too long even for my 36" and larger radius curves. that rules out a lot of BLI/PCM pieces even if I was interested in them.

I know from following your other posts that you where an experianced modeler, and did not mean to imply otherwise. I was just interested in why your "experiances" with the locos in question was so different from myself and others I know and have spoken with.

Thanks for the info.

Sheldon