Here's an opportunity for Bachmann to do a currently operating 3 foot gauge locomotive for On30. C&C #9 is the sole surviving  locomotive of its type. On another topic, a picture of #9 was shown with a snowplow attached. The restoration is fantastic, well worth a trip to Colorado.

This is a perfect chance for Bachmann to do a true spectrum version of the C&S mogul with a few versions, normal pilot, snowplow with curtains in the cab and the later and chunkier tender that most C&S moguls used after 1920. Come on, Bachmann, give us a mogul like the large scale Annie with all the detail upgrades. Besides, the larger tender will house DCC and sound.....

The idea of flywheels was to improve the intial momentum when starting. The other benefit was a more gradual coast down when the throttle was closed.. It was supposed to mimic what a real locomotive would act like and for the most part, they do. For some locomotives with tower gearheads, the effect is negated by the gears. When designed and implemented well, the flywheel drive system give realistic motion when starting and stopping. A secondary benefit is the ability to coast and not have jerky starts and stops.

Tony,

I added six ounces in the motor car. Two more ounces in the trailer. Tracks nicely. I dded a flywheel on the can motor. It helps a lot but the original tower gear drive eats some of the inertia. Just got it out of the box after all this .

Yes, the protoype did do the Carlsbad-Clovis run.

For easy added weight, I use car wheel weights. Easy to cut and self-sticking.

Woody,

It creates a lot of talk when I go to the club with my M190. I also have all three Bahcmann doodlebugs.  I usually pull five period frieght cars with a Santa Fe coach and do local switching with it as the Santa Fe did.  I used the original ower truck with some adapted plastic gears to cut the hoiwl. I have a big Canon can motor in it, there's no problem with power.
I have a lot of equipment in HO that I use only at club layouts. The M-190 and Pioneer Zephyr are real crowd pleasers

I agree with Roger on the quality of the sound. My 1:20.3 sound systems have enough bass to make my neighbors run when I turn the sound upp outside. A lot of sound is based on wattage and these small HO sized systems just can't deliver and the speaker size would never handle it if the power was available.

PFM and later PBL offered a noise system that could be set up on the layout and it actually delivered a lot od nice steam and diesel sound. I buy without sound or DCC as I build my own power supplies and have excellent controllers.  Many of my locomotives do have DCC so I can play at other homes when I like, but no sound.

Real trains really transmit sound, I live 1/2 mile from the NS main line and I hear it all. That's the sound system I want.

The M-190 was made in HO by Hallmark back in the early 70s. I had to remotor mine as the original motor was huge and  the mechanisim wasn't all that great.

The M-190 was in Pullman green when delivered and later in silverr with the Warbonnet scheme. It originally had four traction motors and pulled frieght cars in mixed train service. later, two motors were removed but it still would pull two or three passenger cars, somtimes with an ex-Super Chief observation car. It is now preserved at the California Railroad museum.  The Santa Fe  had over seventy Gas Electric cars

The trucks are accurate for the most part. The wheels used are metal on one side and plastic on the othere for a lighting kit. They are designed to operate down to 18" radius in present form.

I have replace my wheels with Intermopuntain metal wheels. They are polarized so you can still put lights in. They roll much better. I usually add an addition ounce of weight, 1/2 at each end to aid tracking. If you have less than 24 inch radius, the current couplers on the truck are essential for good running.

One additional note: The Intermountain wheels should be 36" as the Athearn originals match the prototype.

Adolf thought he was a railway designer as well. He had a far fetched idea about a super train though his empire that would require an enourmous locomotive. No details on the smoke lifters on that project.

The Daylight 4-8-4s traveled at 80 mph when not stopping or on Cuesta Grade. The small lifter used on that locomotive group was very effective at those speeds. The 4300 series mountains also had the same lifter. The WP found that teh elephant ears caused a visiblity problem.

The european railways went to a higher mounted lifter that allowed better visibility because it had the lower piece removed so the track could be better seen.

Actually quite a few railroads used smoke deflectors. They just didn't use "elephant ears" as many railroaders called them The Western Pacific experimented and finally adopted a modified smoke stack. The AT&SF used a long extension for the smoke stack which was air actuated. The Milwaukee used a special lifter built into the casing shroud over the domes as did the SP, C&NW, NYC, and a few other roads. This meant easier access to the feedwater heater and other appliances. The D&H, NYC and UP used the large deflectors on but a few locomotives. The more compact applications were just as effective in normal operations. Anyone who has seen 4449 in action will note that the smoke is lifted almost 20 feet above teh train when there is some.  The coal roads had more of a need to direct ash and cinders away from the passenger cars.

I agree with Gene on the last. I think the magazines should dump  the 4' x 8' platfoprm for a set of modules that would be sized to fit in an average room, say 2' x 4' long with corners that have a minimum of 36 inch radius. I have a set I boult and it occupies an area of 6.5 " x 9.5 '. Large for some people but can be fit into an average room pretty easily.

4' x 8' was done in the late 40s and 50s because it was there was that handy piece of plywood available. Even with that, 22 inch radius will fit on a piece of plywood easily. I'm using modles these days to save space, I assemble them for my HO layout when I have that urge. Same with my On3 modules.  There may be an Sn3 set of modules soon. Modules allow me to play and still have a large On30 layout.

Disappointed, Take some time to look at your track. If there appeares to be a problem, fix it. If you aren't sure aboput your K4, find a frined with a layout and try it there. If it runs normally, get back and fix your layout. All of us have the same problem at one time or another.

The latest batch has coloring like the last Daylights run. It is not the original coloring by any stretch of the imagination. I don't know how the chinese mix paints but they could have done a lot better. I have brass factory painted GS-4s that are correct.  I also have opriginal slides and negatives of the locomotives. Mr. Bachmann, this batch really has screwed up colors. I have four different models here in my den to compare to besides my HO stuff.

This conversion was done as a tongue in cheek gag on John Allen. He approved. Every now and then you can pick up a small locomotive already converted.

Gene,

Quite a project. I like the parts you've gotten done. If you were closer to Knoxville I wouldn't mind helping.  I can also take pro pictures for you.

The viaduct will be impressive after the scenery is in. I took the liberty to spin through the slide show and see a few points are roughed in well. This makes it easier to see what your operation will be.

Actually, the Northern Pacific 2-8-8-4 was larger in many respects than the Big Boy. After stem had been succeeded by diesels, the NP relocated part of its line due to a new reservoir being made . The decided that mechanical tamping would take too long so they pulled a 2-8-8-4 out of the deadline and used it to tamp the roadbed into place. .

It had a larger firebox than the big boy and 2-6-6-6. (Source: Trains Magazine)

One of the curses of smaller model railroad scales is the necssity for small, delicate parts.  However, most manufacturers use someone else to do the packaging. They don't usually know much about the product except that it has to get to the customer intact.

I model a few scales at once, HO, On3/30 and 1:20.3. My biggest complaint is that the HO boxes, even those for brass models, would always damage the model when removing it.  I have modified all of my boxes like that for coupler clearence and detail points.  I like the packaging the new Berkshire came in as it opens and allows easy removal and storage later. The one that was terrible is the packaging used on the GE44ton when it first appeared.

Sheldon, your empire sounds great, same for yours Gene. Any pictures?

I like the connectors Bachmann uses, while I would like the wires to be more supple, they would tend to break. A location above the drawbar would be much better as well. I usually connect teh locomotive and tender in a cradle and then put them on the track. Same for removal and storage.