Quote from: sedfred on March 30, 2015, 09:51:47 PM
i just started HO modelling last year and have 5 locomotives, a usra 0-6-0, union pacific 4-8-4 ( from the overland limited set) an f9, a spectrum 4-4-0, and an athearn sw1500. i want to start getting bigger locomotives but i can't decide on the 2-8-0 or 2-8-4. what are the pros and cons of each? does anyone have personal experience with one or the other? which is better overall?

Another option is the upcoming USRA Light 2-8-2 Mikado or if you can find them still, the USRA Light 2-10-2. I have a USRA Light 2-10-2 in DMIR and when I get a layout up and runny, I plan on using the 2-10-2 on slow moving freight runs (as the DMIR never ran theirs at more than 35 MPH anyway because of track speed limits as the speed limit on the DMIR main was only 35 MPH to begin with and the DMIR USRA 2-10-2's had a problem of shaking themselves to pieces if they went faster than 35 MPH) that would involve a bit of switching as some railroads used larger engines for switching (For example 2-8-8-2 articulated locomotives on the DMIR moving ore cars around the ore docks) after diesels became the main motive power on main line passenger trains and the larger (and newer) steam engines (for example 4-8-4's, 4-8-2's, and 2-8-4's) were moved to freight service and the engines that used to run the freight trains (like the USRA 2-10-2's) were moved to local freight (for this example the 2-10-2, which would have handled by for example a 2-8-2) and yard duties (again for this example the 2-8-2 to replace the smaller switchers like the USRA 0-8-0). So a 2-8-2 and 2-10-2 would also look good among a fleet of smaller sized locomotives.

I personally have 2 2-8-0 steam engines and 1 2-8-4 steam engine. All three are Bachmann made engines and I would say in terms of pulling power the 2-8-0 is almost as strong as the 2-8-4 however if you went with a 2-8-4 I can verify that there is plenty of room inside the boiler shell to add a couple more ounces worth of weight, while you can't do that with the 2-8-0. But if you are looking for one that will look good on a smaller layout, the 2-8-0 is the engine to go with.

Quote from: sedfred on March 31, 2015, 01:40:36 PM
i saw that there are now Thomas narrow gauge products listed, if there are Thomas ones that run on n scale track? will there be regular locos like forneys in ho scale also? do you think there is a chance of that happening? I haven't heard a single thing about non Thomas narrow gauge products.

Bachmann Branchline will have a line of 009 guage engines cars and buildings starting with some World War 1 era Baldwin built narrow guage 4-6-0 tank engines some open wagons and some box cars.

Quote from: Trainman203 on March 10, 2015, 12:14:07 AM
Milwaukee, how many cars you want that ten wheeler to pull?  Mine will pull a dozen cars up a 2 1/2 percent.  The real ones didn't do any better.  Their era was one of short trains. A 25 car freight was a long train.  Double headers were common.

I have the 63" Driver version and usually I would have it pulling 3 or 4 Athearn heavyweight coaches or around 8 or 9 freight cars between 24' (an Athearn 24' Ore Car) and 40' (which is, on my model railroad, the standard box car length and most by Athearn made), and the occasional Accurail 41' gondola in DM&IR, plus a caboose and I don't have an incline on my railroad as I tried adding one when I was building my last railroad and it was to be a 4% grade (I know. A 4% grade with a 4-6-0 with 63" drivers is impossible) and the 4-6-0 and even my 2-8-0's (which can each pull a train of about 34 HO scale freight cars ranging from 24' to 50' plus a caboose with just one 2-8-0) could hardly manage to START making their way up the incline. Even the GP-40 I have had trouble with it so I got rid of the incline before I even glued it down. I know they never really hauled very much in terms of weight in real life. I have seen pictures of 4-6-0's of around the same size pulling around 6 Heavyweights (usually a baggage car, an RPO, a couple coaches, a dining car and an observation car) at a time with one engine for a run from say, St. Paul, MN to Duluth, MN or 2 or 3 coaches on a branchline from say St. Paul, MN to Stillwater, MN.

Quote from: Trainman203 on March 08, 2015, 09:35:46 PM
Yes I miss the 4-6-0's too.  I have 6 to hold out against repairs. They sold out fast, maybe the Bach Man will bring them back on day, with better headlights.

Yeah the 4-6-0 I have may not be able to pull long trains but they are a darn good engine regardless. But I will agree that the headlight on the 4-6-0 and even the 2-8-0 could be better. Compared to some of the other engines in my fleet which includes 3 4-8-4 Northerns (1 Santa Fe, 1 Southern Pacific and 1 Athearn Genesis Union Pacific), 2 2-8-0 Consolidations (1 Bachmann Spectrum and 1 Bachmann Standard line), 1 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler (Bachmann Spectrum), 1 2-10-2 USRA Light Santa Fe (Bachmann Spectrum), 1 2-8-4 Berkshire (Bachmann Standard line), 1 GP-38-2 (Athearn Genesis), 1 GP-40 (Bachmann Standard line), and 1 ALCO S4 (Bachmann Standard Sound Value line) the only ones that could have brighter headlights are the 2-8-0's and the 4-6-0.

As far as the question of if the train (the passenger cars) were supplied by Lima Locomotive Works in addition to the locomotive, that would be a no. The Locomotives (the GS-2, GS-3, GS-4-A [Running numbers 4430-4449 built in 1941], GS-4-B [identical to GS-4-A as I use the A and B designations to note the fact that the GS-4-B was merely a second order of 8 GS-4 class locomotives but with running numbers 4450-4457 built in 1942 and as such were often referred to as "War-Babies" as they were War-Time copies of an existing design], Gs-5 [identical to the GS-4 class engines but with roller bearings instead of friction bearings as on the GS-2 to GS-4 locomotives and carrying running numbers 4458 and 4459], and GS-6 [and the almost identical GS-64-77 class on the Western Pacific as the Western Pacific ones which Bachmann has modeled were originally supposed to be GS-6 class engines for the Southern Pacific but were sent to the Western Pacific by the War Production Board instead and were fitted with different oil feed systems on the Southern Pacific version] were all suplied by Lima while the passenger cars were supplied by American Car and Foundry if I remember my Southern Pacific Daylight history correctly. As for generator coaches, those are a more modern idea for steam hauled excursion runs if the train doesn't have a diesel behind the steam locomotive to provide power for the passenger cars as back in the day, as already stated, power for the passenger cars was provided either by the locomotives steam powered electric generator units (or Dynamos if you prefer to call them that) or by electric generators on the passenger cars connected the axle by a drive belt.

Thats too bad. I was looking at one of the sound value berkshires and have been hoping that the cvs for the 2-8-4 would be put up there so I could see what the whistles are.

The trucks on the Harry Potter train sets don't have metal wheels since those coaches were made before Bachmann Branchline (of which the toolings for the engine and coaches originated from) even started introducing metal wheels on their BR MK1 coaches (made from the same toolings as the Harry Potter set coaches). If you want metal wheels for the Ratio kits, you could use the wheels from the Bachmann Annie and Clarabel as those should be the correct style wheels.

Most Bachmann engines don't have smoke generators. The only ones that do are the Standard Line USRA engines which are the 0-6-0, 2-6-0 (the 0-6-0 but with a pilot truck. Not the Sound Value ALCo Version) and the 2-6-2 (which is the 0-6-0/2-6-0 but with a trailing truck added as well as the pilot truck). The rest of the engines from Bachmann (Standard and Spectrum lines) would have to be modified to have smoke generators.

Henry wouldn't have had a number before coming to Sodor as he was (like Gordon) an experimental engine and didn't receive a number. How ever unlike Gordon, Henry was built by the most likely the Midland Railway sometime around 1919 or 1920 from plans stolen from Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley (who had designed Gordon) for a hybrid Ivatt C1/Gresley A1 4-6-0 (or 4-4-2 or 4-6-2 depending on the illustrations as the early Railway Series illustrations had Henry depicted as a 4-6-0, 4-6-2 and 4-4-2 of which a 4-4-2 was what Henry was supposed to be according to the Rev W Awdry or his son Christopher) and was flawed in his design (the firebox being the culprit). And as an experiment and a flawed engine, Henry wouldn't have been given a number and was sold to the NWR in 1922. Gordon wouldn't have had a number either as he was an experimental engine as well and was sold to the NWR around a year after Henry after the grouping in 1923 which created the LNER, LMS, GWR and Southern Railways. Not much is known about Edward's life before Sodor so no one really knows what his number would have been prior to arriving on the NWR. James is like Edward, not much known about his history before Sodor including his number. And Percy wouldn't have had a number before Sodor as he was purchased by the NWR only a couple years after he was built (having been built sometime between 1928 and 1932 and purchased by the NWR in 1935 from a workshop somewhere) otherwise Percy's history in the years between him being built and being purchased by the NWR are unknown.

Might you be able to post some pictures of the trucks of the coaches? It would help in identifying a solution to what you wish to do. I had to do something similar to some Bachmann Branchline Thompson coaches a couple of years ago to run them with my model of Tornado (I know it isn't correct to have Tornado running with coaches built about 60 years before and retired about 40 years before Tornado was built in real life but they were inexpensive and looked nice) which I converted to knuckle couplers a couple days after it (Tornado) arrived at my house. I took the stock couplings and cut the loop off the end and removed the hook from the stock coupling bar (the part that is the coupler on one end and mounts to the truck at the other end) and glued a Kadee coupler box and #5 coupling on the end of the stock coupling bar where the hook and loop coupling was. That is always an idea you could use since the coaches in the HE train set was made in 2001 which was well before the introduction of the NEM coupling pocket on British outline coaches, wagons, and engines.

I have 6 Bachmann Branchline BR MK1 coaches like I had suggested earlier and they don't have talgo style couplings. They have a NEM 362 coupler pocket mounted to the coach frames and I have them fitted with Kadee NEM 362 Long Shank Knuckle couplings on the outer ends of the consist and the included brake pipe looking close couplings for between the coaches.

The coaches in the Hogwarts Express set are based on the Bachmann Branchline BR MK1 coaches as those were the style of coaches used in the movies so to get a new one and repaint it would give you a good transition car as Len said. One I would recommend would be a Second Corridor (or SK for short) or a Second Open (SO for short) or even a First Corridor (FK for short) or even another brake coach like a Brake Composite Corridor (BCK for short) or a Brake Second Corridor (BSK for short) would look best as those appear to be style of BR MK1's used on the train in the movies with the Second Open or First Open not really being seen on the train until movie 6. As for the knuckle couplers, as Len stated there are several from Kadee that can be used. My personal favorite for use with BR MK1 coaches (if you get a Bachmann Branchline MK1 coach to repaint and use as a Transition Car) is the Kadee #19 Long shank coupler as it couples close but not so close it interferes with the coupling of coaches to locomotives or other coaches, but you would have to use a coupling with a higher knuckle (underset shank) on the engine (I assume you with add a knuckle coupling the back of the HE locomotive) to be at about the same height as the one on the MK1 coach and for that I would recommend the Kadee #27,#37 or #147 Medium Underset Shank knuckle couplers

It wouldn't be the wheels on the cars. More likely the wheels on the engine or tender. I know it wouldn't be the wheels on the freight cars aren't the cause of a possible short as I purchased this set for my grandfather for Christmas and the wheels on the freight cars are plastic. Might be that one of the tender trucks is backwards. I have seen that as a common issue with new trains not working right away here on the forums. Hope the info helps and that you figure out the problem and get the train working.

The diesel would be a reasonably easy switch to a full Soundtraxx Tsunami decoder(Soundtraxx makes the sound decoders and sound value decoders for Bachmann). An TSU-AT1000 EMD 567 (1st Gen) prime mover should do the trick. All you would need to do this is a new headlight bulb and a soldering iron and some solder and about half an hour to an hour of free time. The other engine is harder to determin how easy it would be to fit with a full decoder as you did not mention what it is.