4-4-0 - Your opinions, please

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Remember that MR's pulling test is on "straight and level" track.  Your mileage may vary greatly.
Gene

"Objects in the mirror may not be as large as they appear"? 

[Beatthe9ers]

It's all academic now anyway.  Thanks to the wonderful ebay tip, I just won an auction for $69.99 plus $12 shipping.

The best price I could find anywhere else was $139, plus unknown shipping.  What a deal!!

I'll let you know how much I can pull with it later.

[ebtnut]

I have serious doubts about that "34 freight cars".  In any event, locos like the Richmond were usually good for only about 6-8 freight cars on any kind of typical railroad that wasn't dead flat (and virtually none were).  The Ma & Pa used their almost exclusively in passenger service.  Normal train at least from the 1930's on was one of the baggage-RPO's and one or two coaches.   In the model world, in general one passenger car is equivalent to 2 or 3 standard freight cars in terms of "drag" on the motive power.  As noted, a lot depends on car weights and rolling quality of the trucks.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

It's all academic now anyway.  Thanks to the wonderful ebay tip, I just won an auction for $69.99 plus $12 shipping.

The best price I could find anywhere else was $139, plus unknown shipping.  What a deal!!

I'll let you know how much I can pull with it later.

Yeehaw! Congratulations! You did better than I did! 

[Yampa Bob]

I think this matter of how many cars it will pull is perhaps academic also.  30 frieght cars properly weighted amounts to about 8 pounds total weight.  That is equivalent to about 2,000 tons in full scale.  With metal wheels the friction is very little.

Realistically you will probably never have more than 10 or 12 cars on at the most.  Just as with real trains, it takes a bit to overcome inertia and get up to speed.  It's called "realism".

Except for some loss of traction due to only having 4 drivers, there is no reason why a steam loco shouldn't perform as well as a diesel.  My GP35 can pull 30 cars at over 75 mph. 

Bob

[Beatthe9ers]

Okay, she arrived yesterday and I took her for a quick spin last night.

First of all, I should acknowledge that my disbelief in the low pulling power of the loco that was being reported here truly was born out of ignorance.  This is the first steam loco I have purchased and just the third loco overall.  I have the one that came with a basic set and an RSD-15 diesel.  That was my point of reference.  So when I opened the box, I was a bit surprised at how small the loco is, and immediately thought, 'Ahhh, that's why some are reporting that it will only pull 3 or 4 passenger cars'.  So my apologize for questioning anyone here on what they were saying.  It all makes more sense now.

She looks great.  I had some trouble getting her started (attaching the tender and such) but things went pretty well after a little work.  I hooked up 6 40' reefers to her after running her solo for a while and she pulled them just fine.  They are pretty free rolling cars.  At least I think they are, I don't have too much to compare them to.

Bottom line is that after 3 hours with her, I am so far happy with the purchase.

I have some questions about storage and handling and what is normal operation and such, but I will start another thread with those at a later date.

Parker

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

She looks great.  I had some trouble getting her started (attaching the tender and such) but things went pretty well after a little work.  I hooked up 6 40' reefers to her after running her solo for a while and she pulled them just fine.  They are pretty free rolling cars.  At least I think they are, I don't have too much to compare them to.

Bottom line is that after 3 hours with her, I am so far happy with the purchase.

Sounds like you're as happy with yours as I am with mine. Glad to hear it. 

I had a little trouble attaching the tender, too. I've been in this model train thing for almost all of my 50 years, but those little plug thingies were new to me. 

[richG]

She looks great.  I had some trouble getting her started (attaching the tender and such) but things went pretty well after a little work.  I hooked up 6 40' reefers to her after running her solo for a while and she pulled them just fine.  They are pretty free rolling cars.  At least I think they are, I don't have too much to compare them to.

Bottom line is that after 3 hours with her, I am so far happy with the purchase.

Sounds like you're as happy with yours as I am with mine. Glad to hear it. 

I had a little trouble attaching the tender, too. I've been in this model train thing for almost all of my 50 years, but those little plug thingies were new to me. 

When you want to disconnect those little plugs, DO NOT PULL ON THE WIRES.
Use a jewelers screwdriver to pry the plug out. A few clueless have pulled on the wires to remove the plug and broke one or two wires. Small usually means delicate. The good news is Bachmann has the replacement harness and plugs for a little under $10.00.

Rich

[Pacific Northern]

I am looking for any comments on the Spectrum Richmond 4-4-0 American Modern (items #83401 to #83409) in terms of performance, durability, and general quality.  I am not particularly interested in the historical accuracy or the fine details of the model, to my eye, she looks beautiful.  So if the tender is wrong or the stack is too big, I don't really care.

I'm looking for a steam engine that looks good to me and that will pull 8-10 cars on a flat surface or slight grade and negotiate 18 inch curves.

Does anyone own one?  Are you happy with it?  I've read that the decoder that is installed is of questionable quality.  I see that Bachmann is going to release a new version with sound included, but I also see that the price jump will be significant.  Does anyone have a recommendation of another 4-4-0 manufacturer that you would put above the Spectrum?  Or do you have recommendations of other steam loco's that will negotiate 18 inch curves without too much trouble? 

I don't have DCC yet, but am planning on it in the future and would like to set myself up for an easy conversion, so DCC ready at least is an additional consideration for me.

Thanks for the continued help/information.

Parker

Glad that it all worked out well for you. Yes this engine is in my opinion one of the best models available. That may well be the reason that I have a couple of these and some Spectrum 4-6-0's and a few Spectrum 2-8-0's.

I have downsized my steam roster and mothballed, for the time being, all the larger steamers.  They will come back to the layout after the second level has been added to my layout.