Quote from: Bill Miller on November 11, 2008, 06:34:40 AM
I checked the Great Planes (Tower Hobbies) web-site yesterday and they are now saying it will be June 09 before the 4-6-0's are released. They are almost always correct on release dates and up-date the web-site daily.

Has something happened to delay the release of these locomotives that has pushed the date back to June?

Mr. Bachmann,
Any confirmation of this rumor? If it's true, some of us may want to change our Santa's list, so as not to be left with nothing under the tree this year! I see Walthers still lists it as Nov '08, but then again, they haven't posted any pictures yet either! Inquiring minds need to know...

Railtwister

Measuring it with a scale rule would give you some idea if the proportions seem reasonable for On30. If you model mostly 3' gauge prototypes, it's probably a bit small, but for 2' prototypes or 1/4" scale industrial equipment it might be fine. Going in the other direction, I have thought a couple of times that the On30 inside frame 4-4-0 would be a great candidate for a kitbash into an Sn42 locomotive.

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

Thanks John,
I think I understand now, but the only thing I'm not sure of from looking at the picture in your link, is where is the green wire (or its attachment pad)? A 14mm speaker seems a bit small, given the size of the railbus. Was the limiting factor here the required height or thickness of the speaker, in order to keep it out of sight up in the roof? Glad to hear you seem to have it under control.

Thanks,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

John,

Do you mean that you are using a decoder that has an additional plug (susi) built in for adding a separate sound board, or did you remove the original decoder that you attached the green wire to and replace it with an all-in-one sound decoder (and did IT have the green wire attached to the plug, or did you have to add this on the sound unit as well)?

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

Hi John,

I'm glad to hear that you were able to get the light board to work with a different decoder. Now the issue becomes one of whether or not the sound decoder's function can be "re-mapped" via programming CV's to other function numbers, if any are available. This is getting beyond my knowledge level, I'm afraid. Perhaps some diligent reading of the sound unit's instructions will help. Another possibility would be to use a sound decoder that is meant to be used with a separate locomotive control decoder with multiple functions. To use the function 1 on your decoder, did you need to do any extra wiring or was it already wired with the DCC ready plug? Does your sound decoder have any extra function wires that don't go to the plug (I think most US  decoders use green & purple for extra functions)? Also what kind of plug is in the railbus, is it the typical NMRA style 8 pin plug, or a JST, or a different proprietary plug? Good luck, and keep us posted on any progress you make.

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL

I'm disappointed to hear of your problem with the lighting circuitry of the Bachmann On30 Railbus when used with the sound decoder. Since the Bachmann instruction sheet indicates that the lights are controlled by function 10 ("0") for on & off, AND also by function 1 for dimming, I wonder if this could be part of the problem, since most sound decoders are wired internally to use function 1 for one of the sounds (usually the bell). In our local club, we have noticed that out of two of the Railbus units we tried on our modular layout this past weekend, on one of them the lights would only flash on then off once when function 1 was set to turn them on, while the other unit worked just fine. The owner said both worked fine on his home layout which uses the Bachmann DCC system (our modules use Lenz). We are wondering if it's just a compatibility issue with Bachmann & Lenz.  Where are the DCC Standards when you really need them?

Also looking for answers,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA
Florida On30 Renegades

Patience, Dusten, patience!

Regards,
Bill

Compared to the inside frame 4-4-0, the new outside frame 4-4-0 is huge. It fits very well on a layout with the outside frame 2-8-0 (which I feel is Bachmann's sweetest loco to date, followed closely by the Forneys). The O.F. 4-4-0 is a real beauty though. I hadn't intended to get one initially, but after talking on the web to a friend who has one, I jumped in with both feet and ordered one (I was holding out for a SR&RL 2-6-2 #24, but that'll probably take awhile!). This weekend, one of our group brought his O.F. 4-4-0 to our module setup, and I got to see and feel it in person (the one I ordered won't be here until next week), and watch it run on our layout. Now that I've seen it up close, I can't wait for UPS to deliver mine! If, like me, you already have the I.F. 4-4-0, and think that's enough 4-4-0's, you might want to reconsider. The outside framed version is a whole different animal, and it's a real 30" gauge prototype, not a cheater from a different gauge. Great job Bachmann!!!

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

Quote from: br549 on October 01, 2008, 07:17:14 PM
None found "In stock" ...   

If you call these guys, they have at least one #454 in stock - on display (I saw it there today). Use the phone, not their website, & ask for either John Sabol (train dept mgr) or Ron. Price was over $400 but less than $500 (sorry I don't remember exactly). They also have several K-28's and C-19's on display if you're interested. Good luck!

Warrick Custom Hobbies
7676 Peters Rd
Plantation, FL 33324
Phone: (954) 370-0708

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL  U$A

Quote from: Frisco on September 29, 2008, 11:54:18 AMI think that Bachmann could make one of these that could go around 22" curves. They made the OF 2-8-0 and that can go around 18" curves( I have heard that it can go around curves as sharp as 12" but have not seen it myself). Being that a K-27 is not that much larger than the OF 2-8-0 I don't think that 22" is not possible.

While it may be possible that Bachmann MIGHT be able engineer it to go around a sharper curve than 26", that doesn't mean it wouldn't look even more out of place on such sharp curves. As it is the MMI model looks pretty odd on 26-28" curves, and both my Forneys and  OF 2-8-0 look out of place on 24" curves (30" would look much better). Don't get me wrong, I really love the Forneys, and I would much rather see Bachmann do a SR&RL #24 2-6-2, which hasn't already been done by someone else in On30.

Bill

Quote from: br549 on September 30, 2008, 05:31:22 PM

"Yo Bill"  FYI MMI is sold out of K27's     Not a good seller eh?

Since they are still available at local dealers, I don't consider them "sold out". I might ask, how many years has it been since they were first available? And even if they were sold out, how many additional sales are still left out there? Let's not forget that MMI had the distinct marketing advantage of being the first to offer an On30 K-27, something Bachmann will not have. I made no comment about them being a good or bad seller, merely that they are still on the shelves at some dealers (and dealers don't like to see merchandise sitting on shelves for years).

Bill

Quote from: Frisco on September 23, 2008, 06:53:43 PM

Quote from: railtwister on September 23, 2008, 10:35:17 AM
While I'm not particularly interested in an On30 Heisler at this time (especially if it's going to suffer from the typical 'split gear syndrome' so common with existing Shays & Climaxes),
I think the LAST thing we need in On30 is duplicated products, and the K-27 would be just that. If you want a K-27 so bad, put your money where your mouth is - go out and get yourself one of the MMI models. Just don't saddle the rest of us in On30 with even more unsold K's sitting on the dealer's shelves!

I don't have space for the 26" radius curves required by these locomotives.

Are you saying then, that you WOULD have space for one built by Bachmann? Keep in mind that radius capability of any loco is a function of several things such as rigid wheelbase length, wheel diameter & spacing, number of flanged drivers, and back to back spacing of the wheels. Most of these items are dictated by the prototype dimensions, and even if Bachmann DID make a K-27, it would likely have a similar radius capability to the MMI On30 model, unless they made major deviations from scale dimensions (besides going from 36" gauge to 30"). Also, deviating in gauge from 36" to 30" only exacerbates these issues!

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

The problem really doesn't involve the fact that the loco is a "Geared" type (shay, climax, heisler, etc.), because this problem can happen on any loco, steam or diesel. The problems  appears when a gear develops a crack, usually in the 'valley' between the teeth. This allows the gear to open up slightly, and this increases the spacing between the two teeth adjacent to the crack. If the spacing increase is slight, it will usually result in a clicking noise accompanied by a slight jump as the crack rotates through the worm or next gear in the transmission. The bigger the gap in the crack, the more noticeable the noise and 'jump' becomes. the worse case scenario will have the gear jam up when meshing with other gears, or the cracked gear will open enough to lose it's grip on the axle, and just spin freely without transmitting any power to the wheels. the causes of this problem can be axle hole in the gear not being large enough, and stress building up when the gear is mounted on the axle, or the gear material not being stable, and suffering from shrinkage as it ages, impurities in the gear material itself,  or just the stress of the gear doing it's job causing it to crack at the weakest spot. On rare occasions it may even happen with a brass gear, though it is more common with plastic gears. The only good fix is to replace the gear with a new one. Without replacement parts, the loco becomes a write-off.

This has been a major problem with many locos, even the expensive brass ones, and has been a chronic problem with certain manufacturers. It also seems more common in gear sets that use small gears with very little 'meat' between the teeth 'valleys' and the axle hole.

Hope this helps,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL USA

While I'm not particularly interested in an On30 Heisler at this time (especially if it's going to suffer from the typical 'split gear syndrome' so common with existing Shays & Climaxes),
I think the LAST thing we need in On30 is duplicated products, and the K-27 would be just that. If you want a K-27 so bad, put your money where your mouth is - go out and get yourself one of the MMI models. Just don't saddle the rest of us in On30 with even more unsold K's sitting on the dealer's shelves!

Bill

Mr. Bach-man and Mr. Riley,

With all the talk about a WWI type loco, and foreign (to the US) loco prototypes, I would like to again state that if Bachmann were to release a Beyer-Garrett type loco, especially if it was one of the smaller versions, in On30, I would find it impossible to resist. This is in spite of the fact that since the release of the Forney, I have decided to focus my On30 modeling on mimicking the Maine Two footers (and subsequently purchased three of them).  Yes, I did recently purchase a 4-4-0 in a weak moment (hey, it was just another one of those "irresistable" items), and I also have an O-F Consolidation (which I justify by thinking the prototype two footers would have had one eventually, as a logical step up from one of the 2-6-2's), but I really AM going to limit my focus to Maine 2 Footers, no, REALLY!

Please, Mr. Bach-man and Mr. Riley, just don't come out with a SR&RL 2-6-2 at the same time as a Beyer-Garrett, because that would really cause me to go into financial meltdown!

Regards,
Bill Nielsen
Oakland Park, FL
Florida On30 Renegades at Yahoo-Groups