In NYC Transit's defense, it was primarily built by individual, private companies which had different vehicular specs based on their tunnel designs.  These were later consolidated and taken over by the government but not before the system was allowed to deteriorate when vehicles were supposed to "replace transit" during the post-war boom.

DC Metro is great but it had some advantages to its construction, namely; it's the nation's capitol so it is going to get favoritism when it comes to government funding for capital construction as well as expediency.  It was also constructed when it was apparent that cars alone would not be sufficient to improve transportation in major metropolitan areas. 

One thing that still has DC Metro beet by NYC Transit is that there is WAY more redundancy built into the NYC transit system.  There are still options to get where you want to go using the subway system.  DC METRO's redundancy mostly occurs closer to downtown (as the redundancy concept in todays transportation planning dictates).  But once outside the core, you're pretty much screwed if something happens along your line.  The stations in DC are also located in odd places at times.  The station names can be misleading as it will be named after a certain place/center/landmark, but the actual destination is pushing 1/2 mile.

I could go on but I'll save the rest for my co-workers, lol.

I still like both systems.  Both have there strengths and weaknesses but can be attributed to construction at different times, generations even.

Quote from: Ken S. on August 24, 2010, 03:51:37 PM

Quote from: mlrr on August 13, 2010, 07:30:25 AM
There's more that Bachmann would have to do to improve the Amfleet model.  I personally feel the original tooling had more accurate dimensions.  It almost seems as if the re-tooled Bachmann "Silver Series" amfleet tried to mimmic Walthers' style a little bit.

I wouldn't bet on Bachmann re-tooling the Amfleet I in the currnet series for a while as it's still relatively new tooling.

I'd much rather encourage Bachmann to not only re-evaluate the quality and accuracy of the paint jobs for the Amfleet I paint schemes but produce the Amfleet I in its spectrum line.  Imagine an Amfleet I that is on par with the accuracy of the Acela Express passenger cars (**Note: Bachmann has a big light blue splotch on the Acela Cafe car that should actually be Green otherwise the paint is correct everywhere else)

Otherwise I wouldn't write Walthers off just yet.  Remember, Kato was coming out with the HO Superliners with interiors when Walthers "retired" their Superliners and low and behold, Walthers not only has Superliners with interiors, but a real metal finish!  Who knows what to expect in a few years as far as Walthers Amfleets go.

I found it interesting that Walthers never bothered with the Amfleets in Phase IVB yet tooled and offered a HEP version of the Great Dome in that scheme.

VERY good point!  I noticed that myself.  I'm tempted to say that the Full Dome was a new product all together.  I don't recall that being in their product line until the last few years.

My parents are down here for the weekend 

That also means that my train room/office/guest bedroom is being used = partial dismanteling of my layout = no train running   

Is it worth it?  Yes

Thanks Jim!

Just an update, I operated one of my HHPs with semi-hardwired decoder last weekend with a five-car Amfleet I consist and it easily made it up to 125 MPH with my NCE throttle set at 123/126 throttle.  No additional modifications were necessary .

I just noticed that whoever assembled one of my HHPs put the wrong roof shroud on one side. 

One side of the roof shroud should have a bunch of little vents and be solid for the most part.  The other side should have one long vent (colored black).  It should also be tooled such that it can easily rest over the access box for the pantograph/track power switch.

Note the two photos below.  They show both sides of the locomotive.  Pay close attention to the roof to see what I'm talking about.  The roof shrouds on both sides resemble what is shown in the second photo.


source: http://www.inventivecomputing.com/acela.html



I just noticed this on one of my locos the other day (number 650).  The others are fine.  The reason this got by me is that I mainly view trains from the inside of my layout as they are virtually up against the wall so I spend 99% of my time looking at one side of my locomotives and rollingstock.  I have another HHP which is still sealed in its box and I'm a little nervous about opening it and discovering the same problem.  I bought both of them around the same time. 

Has anyone else noticed this?

All my other HHPs are fine, I just happened to get one that slipped through the cracks 

I was referring to my older locos of the same model type with the older PC board.  They have Digitrax decoders.

I'm curious.  Would cutting the capacitors also improve the motor's response to the throttle.  On my NCE powerhouse Pro, I have to throttle up pretty high for the engine to start moving.  I've played with the start voltages ever since I got the HHPs.  There's really no improvement.

I found the two different boards on Bachmann's website:

Note the subtle differences between the two:

Earlier version w/o LED = $30



Newer Version (w/LEDs) = $40



I plan on doing the last modification tonight (hopefully).  I'll try and post those pictures as well.

Quote from: ac_catenary on August 24, 2010, 08:28:29 AM
I have had similar problems with the first run of the Acela and HHP-8 locomotives and was considering turning up the voltage because a Friend of mine had similar problems with an acela equipped with Sound. He turned up the booster and speed problem was solved.   I will remove the capacitors and see what happens

Please keep us informed.  My hardwiring method was pretty straight forward for me. 

Are the capacitors between the pick-ups and the motor or the decoder and the motor?  I assume its the latter since the motor bypass seemed to yield noticeable results.

I shy away from trying to use higher track voltages than necessary although this was the first thing I thought about doing.  Tampering with the track voltage leaves room for all types of problems down the road including the possibility of frying the custom bulbs you spent time installing in another locomotive, etc.

Lubrication is not the main problem but as you indicated as well as others, it's the PC board.  I do remember the suggestion of cutting the capacitors but given the little experience I have in circuitry I did not want to risk cutting the wrong thing.

**Update**

The problem with the HHPs speed (650, 655 and 664) is in fact the PC Board.  The newer run (651, 656 and 663) have an optomized circuit board which explains why my 651 runs much better.  Unfortunately, Bachmann's price tag for the optomized PCB is $40/each.  I would've though $20 tops but that's another story.

I have a solution and it's been proven on two of the three HHPs I have from the first run (650 and 664). 

I was reluctant to hardwire the entire decoder to the locomotive especially since the circuit board already has the appropriate resistors for the LEDs.

The solution (and I wish I thought of this sooner, it just never occurred to me even when people were saying "hardwire hardwire hardwire").  You can still maintain use of the circuit board.  Just bypass the PCB with the motor leads.  The orange wire on the decoder harness should be spliced and connected to the red wire (M+) motor lead and the gray wire from the decoder harness to the black wire motor lead (M-).

The process takes less than 20 minutes.

By doing this, the current from the decoder to the motor does not have to run through the PCB on the HHP.  My locos now get up to 128 scale MPH (with no load).  I was lucky if they'd reached 100 MPH before.

Hope this helps everyone else who is curious about this and have noticed this before.

ac_catenary,

I've seen your video on Youtube.  Nice job!  I purchased a large number of programmable QSI Solutions decoders in anticipation of the Acela soundset.  What I look forward to most is the unique horn.

There's more that Bachmann would have to do to improve the Amfleet model.  I personally feel the original tooling had more accurate dimensions.  It almost seems as if the re-tooled Bachmann "Silver Series" amfleet tried to mimmic Walthers' style a little bit.

I wouldn't bet on Bachmann re-tooling the Amfleet I in the currnet series for a while as it's still relatively new tooling.

I'd much rather encourage Bachmann to not only re-evaluate the quality and accuracy of the paint jobs for the Amfleet I paint schemes but produce the Amfleet I in its spectrum line.  Imagine an Amfleet I that is on par with the accuracy of the Acela Express passenger cars (**Note: Bachmann has a big light blue splotch on the Acela Cafe car that should actually be Green otherwise the paint is correct everywhere else)

Otherwise I wouldn't write Walthers off just yet.  Remember, Kato was coming out with the HO Superliners with interiors when Walthers "retired" their Superliners and low and behold, Walthers not only has Superliners with interiors, but a real metal finish!  Who knows what to expect in a few years as far as Walthers Amfleets go.

Quote from: Ken S. on July 25, 2010, 01:02:42 AM

Quote from: Blink_182_Fan on July 25, 2010, 12:23:21 AM
Im going to just so that there's no drag on these cars and so that the lights themselves aren't draining power from my power pack. It's a feature I could care less about, but that's just me.

That's why I'm thinking about doing it. But, I think the HHP is a poor hauler anyway since it strained pulling 4 Walthers Comets and strains when pulling my Three Rivers consist.

You may have to check the rollability of the cars in your consist.  This has been an issue for me in the past.  Apply conductalube to the axle bearings and make sure that if there are any Walthers-style pickup shoes making contact with the axles that they are not tightly pressed against them.

The HHPs are actually very good haulers.  The latest run actually runs at prototypical speeds under DCC.  the older run not so much.  I have to call the Bachmann parts department to see if they can send replacement circuit boards (I think that's the source of the problem) or perhaps the motor).

QSI Solutions has plans for Acela and HHP sound sets.  I'm not sure what the status is not that but I've made my fair share of requests both in person and through email.  There's plenty of room for a speaker and the decoder as well as other lighting features (namely ditch lights).