My Olive Green Russian Iron 4-4-0 is aging, and with the wiring all worn out, it needs a new board.   That is not a problem, but also there is cosmetic wear and tear on the paint work.  A new cab, along with new wheels given how sharp the flanges are becoming, a new head lamp bracket, and possibly domes.   Those parts are not shown for the Olive Green 4-4-0 or the Lake Russian Iron 4-4-0, or Eureka & Palisade 4-4-0.   Only black and red wheels are what are shown, the correct colors of cabs, boilers, domes, wheels, tenders, head lamps, and brackets should be offered, because those who run their beautiful 4-4-0 Americans a lot will need new parts both mechanically, and cosmetically, like how the C-19 has them available.

Also the Spectrum 2-6-0 Mogul needs a bigger inventory of parts.  The boilers, cabs, frames, cylinders, brackets, pilots, "blind center drive wheels", brake pumps and brake shoe assemblies should be offered in the inventory.  Also the bottom cover plates on these 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s fall apart and break all the time so new ones, possibly metal cover plates should be offered because the plastic ones are fragile when and break when needing to remove the gear box to replace the drive gears.

I hope this is noticed and these parts get offered in the future.  There are a lot of aging locomotives that run, and with them being available on the K-27, and C-19s, they should also be offered on the Spectrum 4-4-0s and 2-6-0s.

Thank you.

Caboose Hobbies is already allowing pre-orders, so I'm now really anxious for these beauties to come out.  I am dying to get my hands one of them.   I am debating the Eureka & Palisade, and D&RGW.  My friends are all going after the Grizzly Flats Emma Nevada, so I've gotta get one of the other 2. LOL.      I so can't wait.

The Eureka & Palisade 4-4-0 is one of the top 3 hardest Spectrum 4-4-0s to find.   The other 2 being the South Pacific Coast #3, and the painted unlettered black.   Heck the Eureka & Palisades sold like hot cakes when they first came out.  Though the Olive Green 4-4-0 (Which is actually a very dark blue) does pop up on Ebay quite often, as does the Lake Russian Iron 4-4-0 (Which is a Burgandy color), and those 2 are fairly close to the Eureka & Palisade.  Train World Online does sell the Baltimore & Lehigh number #6, and Ebay gets quite a number of the Denver & Rio Grande and Painted Unlettered Russian Iron models as well, but good luck finding the Top 3 (SPC #3, painted unlettered black, and Eureka & Palisade) because those 3 are extremely rare and very tough to find.

I am also Anxious on those new Moguls.  I have money put away in an account for one of these beauties.  I am debating between Eureka & Palisade or Emma Nevada, or even possibly the D&RGW, but I need them to come out in order to make a verdict, and I'm getting itchy, so I'm really dying to have one of those beauties.   Not to mention they go great with the Spectrum Freight Cars.   I hope they come out really soon because I sooooo can't wait.   

No doubt they'll be drop dead stunning when they're out.

I would really like to see re-runs of the Heisler locomotives.   They were good engines with some electrical quirks, and the drive shaft didn't rotate well without modification, but overall it had metal trucks, a metal drive line and was pretty much well ahead of its time.  It wouldn't need too much retooling, just a better drive shaft, and even more DCC ready with cooling fan and the electrical upgrades the Climax had.   It would sell pretty well for the Large Scale recession we're in, and a lot of my fellow model railroad club members, want to see Heisler re-runs.   So, Heisler re-runs should be a must.  Not much re-tooling, just drive shaft and electrical upgrades and maybe different road names.

I heard through the grapevine from NMRA that there will be new Spectrum Moguls coming out within the next 2 years or so. 

Road names:

Denver & Rio Grande

Eureka & Palisade

Grizzly Flats Railroad

Is this true, or is it a rumor? I'd love to know, so I can start budgeting for the engines.

Unfortunately, only the smoke stacks are available for the Heisler, but I also found out, that it was the bolster pick up that went bad since the pick up film wore out.   I just wired the motor and pick ups to the main circuit board, set it up so it's in the common Large Scale run, and it works great.

Understandable.   

But incase anyone wants to keep their old Climax, but get it running again or update it, I hope this information helps.

The old trucks are known to have problems, and if run out doors under very high temperatures with a lot of friction, wear, evaporation, and corrosion, the plastic trucks will become brittle, and will either break or melt from the heat.   However, this problem won't happen with the diecast trucks which have the metal gears, hence why the shays were given the option for new trucks.   The Climax should have this option too, but more work is required, which in the long run is worth it.

The cylinder assembly is very easy to replace.  Unscrew the 2 screws holding it onto the frame, then gently pry up on the engine set using a flat head screw driver.  Be careful when removing the engine set because the reverser has a bar sliding through a hole in the bottom of the cab, so you'll want to move the reverser a little bit before the engine set comes off.  Then cut the wires going to the cylinder set's chuffer. 

Solder on a phoenix Sound reed switch onto the 2 wires that were going to the chuffer in the cylinders.  When the new cylinders arrive, glue the chuff reed switch onto the cylinder set by placing it by the rear crank right by the U-joint that connects to the teliscoping coupler that connects the shaft.  Then place 3 magnets 120 degrees apart on the U-joint that is connected to the cylinder set.  This way whenever you want to add sound, you will have an authentic sounding 6 beat chuff in your shay.   

Then gently slide the reverser in the hole located near the bottom of the cab, the slide the cylinder set through the slots on the firebox and screw it down back onto the frame and you're good to go.

Hello, I thought I'd give helpful information on how to update an Old Bachmann Climax by swapping out the old plastic trucks to the new diecast trucks.

You will need some siscors, extra wire, heat shrink tubing of the right size, a heat shrink gun or butane lighter, a soldering iron, a dremel with a small grinding wheel, along with a drill bit, and safety glasses.

First step, remove the old plastic trucks, and cut the wires off the old pick ups that run to the motor, but keep the plastic mounts.   

Second Step, remove the mounts off the diecast trucks, because you won't need them.   

Note, The plastic mounts won't fit at first, so they need to be cut down to size by using a dremel tool with a small grinding wheel at the end.   

Third Step, Lightly grind off both ends of the old mount, so it's even on both ends, then dry fit the new truck on the mount so it fits nice and snug.  Shortly after dry fitting the truck, pull it back off.

Forth Step, swap out the grinding wheel for a drill bit on the dremel and drill four small holes on the top of the mount, but not too close to the bolster.   Drill 2 holes in front of the bolster, and 2 holes behind the bolster.  The wires for the motor, and picks need to go through the truck somewhere, so that's why we're adding four small holes to the top of the mount. 

Fifth step, unscrew the bolster pick ups and cut the wires off of them.   This will make it a more direct and simple operation, and will ensure your locomotive's long life of operation.

Sixth step, get your extended wires, soldering iron, heat shrink tubing, and heat shrink gun and/or butane lighter, and solder on your extended wires onto those that were cut from the bolster pick up.   Then cut some heat shrink tubing to cover the connections.   Repeat this process for the wires that were on the mount wired onto the old pick up plates for the old trucks.

Seventh Step, run all four wires through the small holes you drilled on the top of the truck mount.  Red goes on the right hand side, and black goes on the left hand side for common large scale run.

Eighth Step, get the new diecast trucks.  You will see that the wires that go to the pick ups and motor are small mounts, and attached to small metal plates.   Unscrew the small mounts, and cut the wires from the small metal plates.

Ninth Step, cut some of the extended wires, slide on some heat shrink tubing onto the wires and solder the wires you have on the right hand side of the mount to wires on the right hand side of the truck.  And then solder the wires you have on the left hand side of the mount, to the left hand side of the truck.   Then using your heat shrink tubing, cover the wire connections.

Tenth Step, slide your new diecast truck onto the mount, and screw everything back together.

Repeat this whole 10-step process on the other truck as well.

That's it, you're old 1998 Climax is now updated with new 2011 Metal Diecast trucks.  Your engine should now run a whole lot better and last a whole lot longer too.

I hope this helps.

Hello, my Heiser's rear truck has finally given out the ghost after 8 years of hard operation.   It probably won't be long until the front truck wears out too, so I have completely disassembled the rear truck to replace the motor, wires, and electrical pick ups.  But before I rebuild the trucks to order the motor and pick ups, is it possible to get a hold of brand new trucks?   If not, then are roller pick-ups, and the 5-pole can motors, available to purchase?

Thank you.

I'll give that a try, but if now lucky, I guess I can buy a Meadow River Lumber Company Shay and turn that into Westside #10.   I can make the retrofit to the running board and air tank on the right hand side no problem.  The westinghouse Cross Compound Air compressor, oil tank, and superheated external dry pipe I can order from precision scale.   The whistle turret, I can get from the Bachmann Mallet parts, and the headlamps I see lots of those available from various Bachmann engines.

I have been wanting to order a balloon stack for the shay for the longest time, but the balloon stack is for some reason, stated to always be "out of stock".   I have called for it multiple times, and kept getting the same answer, "check back in a couple weeks," and I have done that, still no balloon stacks.    Are these stacks out of stock and out of production for good?  I'd really like a balloon stack for my shay, since I plan to eventually do a kitbash to on of my 3-truck shays into Westside Lumber Company 10 in her current working life where she wears a balloon stack on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad.   I have also tried to look for many other balloon Radley & Hunter stacks, but none are as close to the one on Westside number 10 as the Bachmann Balloon stacks.   I'd really like a couple of the stacks, and I hope they'll be back in stock soon.

Also, it's a very tight fit so where should I put the sound board?  There is a cooling fan the is litterally right on to top of the dummy plug, and if I removed the cooling fan, I'd have the room I need, but there would be no way for the electronics to stay cool.  Where would be a good location for the small PB-11V6 sound board in the tender tank?   Thank you?

Also can the speaker installed on the Climax handle the high powerful loud volume on that of a Phoenix PB-11V6 sound unit?   If not what is the diameter of the speaker so I can get the right one from Phoenix?  The reason I asked this is because I used the speaker already supplied from Bachmann on the Industrial Mogul and hooked it up to the Phoenix Sound Board.  However, on full blast, it barely lasted 5 minutes before giving out the ghost, and I had to order speaker from Phoenix that could handle the volume.