Hmm.

Lots of good replies here, food for thought.

I managed to find a few trees to bark with this particular subject.

I have been thinking of Sound and DCC with these engines and would prefer that they come out of the factory already installed. Maybe if I wait long enough a good one will come out.

I enjoyed the Photos very much, those engines were very well done.

I have actually phased out number 5's in favor of the Kadee whisker 148's, all plastic couplers and wheels thrown away on sight; they dont recieve a moment's consideration.

Back on topic:

Edited...

I probably will end up purchasing a 4-4-0 in the spectrum, I just dont know yet which way Im going to go. I still have a few Microscale B&O steam sets.

I think I will get one of those Russians and use modeler's license and letter it for the B&O, it might go well with the Roundhouse pax set.

I stumbled across the Russian Paint on the Spectrum 4-4-0 and did some research.

There is supposed to be a B&O Version of this Spectrum engine soon, I cannot find any imagery or any specific information.

There are older standard engines on the listings which confuses me and are not DCC and appear to be those from years ago.

Can anyone show photo or share more information?

Thanks! Much appreciated.

Im going to beg pardon and ask a question for the Baltimore Folks on this thread. I keep thinking that Taylor Ave at Hartford Road might have been a loop at one time for a trolley line. Does anyone know anything about that route in that part of the city about the time of ww2?

I confess Im not aware of any ma's and pa's cabooses out lately, is there a link or additional more specific information to this product?

Good catch Craig.

I think there are replacement trucks or couplers equippted to go on the old horn and hook style of those days.

One idea to ease the transition is to convert a car with one end kadee and the other left as a horn and hook and use it to pull the older stock until you either upgrade em or replace them with newer stock.

Sorry for the soapbox on Kadee, something about plastic couplers tips me into the abyss.

That was GREAT!

 

I toss all plastic couplers on sight. Have thrown them away for the last 15+ years.

The old standard in my home was number 5 from Kadee.

Now I use number 148 whiskers as I am getting older and those brass plates are a PAIN.

I still toss ALL plastic couplers... mchenrys, 1996 Bachmann plastic couplers, any other plastic couplers ON SIGHT.

The plastic couplers go straight to the trash can and thence to the landfill to sit for 5000 years buried, sometimes still in the little baggie or cardstock they arrived on.

Whenever I buy rolling stock kit or RTR, I automatically buy Kadee as well without any qualms on the excellent quality. Metal wheels too but not on topic for this thread.

Never had a Kadee fail. Not ever in my 30+ years in the hobby.

I keep a pile of kadee couplers at the workbench whenever I run trains, I usually see it part when a el-crappo plastic coupler finally parts and breaks. It only takes moments to replace never to have the same problem ever again.

If the HO scale manufactors will quit trying to save a dollar on something that we the buyer have to fix... and use Kadee at the factory, I will imagine sales will improve because we see the quality. Especially when they pass the gauge test the first time without modification.

Lesson: Buy a pile of Kadees and install them yourself right away, save yourself the headache of plastic couplers. We are trying to enjoy trains and de-stress from troubles not fix them because factories trying to be cheap.

To see a new HO scale model have a little "Kaydee-compatible" couplers line in the spec sheet means:

We have crappy couplers, YOU buy Kadees and put em on yourself."

I ordered the Baltimore version sight unseen this week.

I visited the Baltimore Trolley Museum's website and they had some Witt Imagery.

I have questions:

1- Are there only one road number availible for each road?

2- Are these cars run in solo only? or pairs?

I am happy to look forward to this new item, thanks Bachmann!

I went ahead and tore the engine down  to all it's parts.

The pin diagram is as follows...

Viewing from above the cab with the engineer to the right, firebox in the center and the Fireman to the left.

There are 6 pins below the cab. There are 6 wires in a row going to all of the pins via a small circut board.

Now working in pairs from left to right are the pins to the following:

Fireman pins 2 = Motor

Center two pins firebox = Light. Apparently a LED driven by a circut board.

Engineer Pins x 2 on the right (Identified by being in it's own box and oriented fore and aft instead of amidships)

Those two pins by themselves are the track power pickup from the tender wheels.

The driving wheels have a pick up rod, pilot wheels pickup all coming down to two wires just behind the rear most driving wheel. Those two wires do join the other two wires from the tender at the circut board.

There you have it folks, I dont know if this is a prescribed pin layout for ALL engines but for the 4-6-0 I had that is what it's wired for.

The engine sustained too much damage trying to find the "Secret" screws under the cab, under the motor, inside the split frame etc... it all went into the trash. Good riddance too. They say you cannot have an omlette without breaking an egg once in a while.

I probably will wait and buy a completely factory assembled sound (For small steam below 4-6-2 and on down to 4-4-0's) and DCC equiptted engine and save myself the trouble of trying to hammer decoders and sound into analog engines.

Hello everyone.

I am seeking information on the pins under the cab of the Spectrum 4-6-0 Ma and Pa unit number 27.

I have decided to explore moving the Sound and DCC equippted tender from the Roundhouse 4-4-0 to use on the 4-6-0.

Im thinking each of the wires on that 4-4-0 tender should mate up with the pins under the 4-6-0 cab and allow the engine to have DCC and Sound.

Otherwise my alternative is to purchase a tender that is somewhat larger and build a DCC/Sound installation into it for the 4-6-0 and I am not ready to do that just yet.

I look forward to hearing what you think my best option is.