Starter Sets?

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Do any of the current starter sets come with the anniversary (metal components) engine?

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Hi, SALF

The latest set with an Annie is 90059.   For some reason the coaches in the set are not lighted like they are in most sets.  The set went in the catalog in 2007 and may have been in till 2012.

90059   WP&Y   White Pass & Yukon   2007  Pass   14   Annie   Coach #214 Lake Spirit   Observation #240 Lake Bennett   


It is definitely not in the 2013 and 2014 catalog anymore.  I am moving to Denver and my catalogs are packed away.  Wade Colyer may chime in and help with the date.     I suspect some store might still have this set, but I would get one quick as once they are gone they are gone.  I didn't see one at Trainworld but they do have the Annies separately at a reasonable prices and they are the version six chassis with the metal gears and new front truck.  They would be in the number series below:

91601   EBT   10   2011   ~ Loco   4-6-0 Annie  East Broad Top            Ver 6 Metal Gears
91602   D&RGW   178   2011   ~ Loco   4-6-0 Annie  Denver & Rio Grande Western            Ver 6 Metal Gears
91603   RGS   25   2011   ~ Loco   4-6-0 Annie  Rio Grande Southern            Ver 6 Metal Gears
91604   SPC   22   2011   ~ Loco   4-6-0 Annie  South Pacific Coast            Ver 6 Metal Gears
91605   D&RG   10   2011   ~ Loco   4-6-0 Annie  Denver & Rio Grande           Ver 6 Metal Gears
91606   ET&WNC   11   2011   ~ Loco   4-6-0 Annie  Denver & Rio Grande Western            Ver 6 Metal Gears
91607   none   none   2011   ~ Loco   4-6-0 Annie painted unlettered Black            Ver 6 Metal Gears

If all else fails there is Ebay but I would stick with new in box only.

Happy huntng,

Bill

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Thanks Bill, I'm on the prowl 

[Loco Bill Canelos]

SALF

See my private email back to you.  New in box is the only safe way on Ebay.  Don't trust, but question everything.  Items may look great be called excellent (excellent what? looking but not running?).  Ask how smooth it runs backward and forwards even better ask them to post a you tube vidio of it actually running, with the sound working and light working in both directions.

Good luck and don't end up 

Bill

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Thanks again Bill!

I went ahead and bought it.  It'll be my only G-scale/large scale piece right now and be put on display.  I've been thru apprenticeships for drafting, machinist, and electronics, hopefully I won't need to use those skills when it arrives LOL!

My main focus is in O scale, that's my layout anyway.  But I do have my old HO stuff and have always wanted to get a G-scale engine and a Seaboard Air Line boxcar.  I may eventually get some track and other cars to run.  Who knows, I may sell off all my stuff ang whole hog G 

BobD.

[Loco Bill Canelos]

It was a good deal, especially with your skills.  Who knows maybe is is great,.

Good luck

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Got my Annie in yesterday, and I thought O scale was big  

Bill, the headlight was simply not snapped in and the plug on the rear doesn't appear to be an issue.  The piece of frame that holds the cow-catcher in place was broken, but I used some MEK to glue the stand-offs back on and it should hold.  The stand-off that the screw under the pilot truck screws into was also broken, but MEK fixed that also.

Right now I have it apart.  I hope I can get it all back together, it might be 3 weeks before I can re-assemble it (my son-in-law is coming home today from Sicily for a couple of weeks).

I have a bunch of questions, but first off is what to use for power.

I have an Aristo-Craft 55470 DC Train Engineer Wireless Set, left over from my HO days.  It's rated for 10 amps, but I don't have a power supply to hook to it, any recommendations?

Would a power supply out of a computer work?  It should, the couple I kept have 5 and 12 volt outputs, will have to check the current rating.

Bob

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Bob I am not knowledgeable about the computer power supplies.  But any 2 to 5 AMP power supply should be fine.  If you plan to expand get at least a 5 amp supply.

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Bill,

I have 3 computer PSs, the one I rigged up a while back is rated for 12vdc and 10 amps, even put an ON/OFF switch on the case.  Not sure what the other 2 are rated for but I might take a look at them too.  These should be enough to get the engine moving.

Bob

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Oh, if it isn't already apparent, I got away from a starter set and going towards individual components.  Once I get the engine like I want it I'll start looking for indoor track.

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

I got the engine back together, without any leftover parts 

I wanted to use the Aristo-Craft TE but I need a 16-24vdc power supply, the computer power supplies don't put out enough voltage to make the TE unit kick in.

I wanted to make sure the engine ran so I simply clipped the computer PS wires to the pony truck and turned on the power.

It seemed to run fine and had good chuff from the speaker (once I located a 9volt battery).  The headlight came on, but I forgot to swap the leads to test the reverse light on the tender.

The engine was obviously dropped at some point, but I repaired everything I found broken.  Also, the black lead to the pony truck was burnt through, so I replaced both wires while I had it apart.  I disconnected the smoke unit, probably never wire it back to the switch.

I may eventually take it back apart and paint it but right now I have other projects (O scale) I need to finish.

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Update on my last post.

I had 2 power supplies from my daughters old laptop computer, both 18.5vdc, 3.5amp PSs.

I hooked one to my ART-5470 Train Engineer (polarity has to be correct), set the mode switch to PWC and the engine started nice and slow, with a few presses of the FAST button it slowly got up to speed.  Pressing the SLOW button eventually brought it to a stop.  I also tried the Linear setting but didn't like the sudden increases in speed, at least compared to the PWC (the instructions say not to use it with a non-Aristo-Craft engine, but it ran fine).

These PSs are the typical small bricks you would see on any laptop, not sure what they cost  but I had them in my parts box for a few years now.

Now to put it on some track!

Bob D.