Just as the comment that a Mike could pull 100 cars is true on level track, once you start adding grades on par with what model railroads use you end up with things like B&O using three EM-1s on a 75 car drag or DRG&W using two L-131 type 2-8-8-2s on 58 cars.  In the case of the EM-1s the minimum speed got down to around ten miles an hour and in the case of the L-131s two engines were used so that speed could be held above 25 mph throughout the run.

     Given the fact that both curves and grades increase resistance (and sharp curves are speed limited as well), most layouts should be looking at what heavy power they need to pull twenty or thirty cars rather than worrying about getting their average single engine to pull more than ten or twelve cars and possibly 15 or so with some of the more powerful modern engines.
 
     When I had a fairly large layout I had a scale for engines such that when a train came in with a Mike but needed greater speed on the next leg of its journey it would have a Mohawk replace the Mike.  When several trains were combined, an even larger engine would replace the others.  I'm not afraid to weight an engine when I need to, shoot, I have a couple of brass articulateds that weight in at 4 1/2 pounds each.  That's enough weight with the motors they have to combine three other trains for the next leg of the route and fit into the scale car limits very well.  It's also enough weight to pull 120 hoppers with various flavors of trucks in a test run on someone else's layout.   Do my Connies or Mikes need to do that even on straight and level track?  Not unless I want it to look like the RR management is stupid for buying the larger engines.  When it comes to diesels, the dynamic brakes sold them to RR management as much as anything else and it takes several engines to hold the train back with dynamic braking and limit the brake applications.  The savings in brake shoes must be incredible if you think about it and if it takes an extra engine to go up the grade, it probably takes at least that much to hold the train back going down it.

    JMHO, but unless you're planning a layout with no grades and twelve to fifteen foot radius curves you shouldn't be pulling much more than a ten or twelve cars without using multiple diesels, something made extremely easy using DCC consisting.

     I pretty much stick to an airbrush and Floquil paints.  I vary my smokebox graphite based on how weathered I want it.  I have used a base graphite mix and weathered later but I found it was a time saver to vary the mix.  At any rate, I mix 1/3 Floquil Gunmetal and 2/3 Pacemaker Gray if I want something like an engine just out of the paint shop, and 1/2 Gunmetal and 1/2 Tarnished Black if I want something with about average weathering.  Either one gives sort of a medium grey cast with a metalic hue rather than a shine.  If you shake them well and airbrush them at a few pounds higher pressure than normal, the Gunmetal tends to spread under the Gray and give a very thin and even coating of the mix.  I like some of the light gray colors as far as the color but they haven't the metallic gloss you can get with Gunmetal (not a shine, a bit of gloss from angles other than 90 degree intervals).  Gunmetal WILL seperate from the paint it's mixed with if you don't use it right away, but you have plenty of time to get it into your cup and take your time airbrushing.  Just don't mix it, let it sit for a half-hour or so, and then brush it without shaking it again.

     You should, IMHO, at least try the Gunmetal with whatever shades of black or gray you think is best.  Even if you use a lighter gray with 1/4 or less gunmetal you end up with a much nicer finish than with the color alone.  Be forewarned, a lot of people think the Gunmetal is "too blue", but it is supposed to replicate a pale blued steel.  It does that very, very, well and with darker colors mixed in, it matches metals from my dark blued M1 Garand barrel to something like newly blued stainless steel headers.

     Sorry for the long winded response, but I had several folks wanting details of how I got my smoke boxes just so only last week.  I figured I'd tell you the whole story like I did them in case you were interested.

     Regards,

      R Hume

     I have several Heavy Mountains that I want to put decoders in as I got them prior to Bachmann offering them so equipped.  Do you know which decoder they have in the factory equipped ones?  Your description of the sound got my attention as the only decoder I tested was anything but deep and didn't seem to fit the bill for an engine as large as a Mountain.

  Regards

   I'd love to see a USRA heavy Mike from Bachmann and would need at least a few.  A Southern PS-4 Pacific, though, that's a dangerous product as far as I'm concerned.  I'd have to have at least two to run, one to save in case anything happens to those I run, and a forth to display.  Each of the running trains would need an entire passenger consist, there'd be additional head end traffic to contend with, my stations would need enlarged and upgraded, and I'd have to alter portions of my layout design.  No, they should wait a while to run the PS-4 or a USRA heavy Pacific similar to it.  Their producing one would mean that most or all of a years' RR budget would go straight to passenger train operations.

     Now, I admit that I'd be laughing all the way to my own personal budget crisis, but please.  Bachmann making those Berks already threw things off by a year.  Until those showed up I had been able to resist Berks and stick to heavy Mountains.  With the price/quality ratio of the Berks, though, I had to come up  a reason to swap those Mountains for Berks at the mid-point of the layout, enlarge the engine facilities, redesign portions of the mainline, ...  well as you can see it was a major financial issue.

   Please, I can work Mikes in pretty easily with what I have.  I just replace that nasty diesel power on a few locals and interchange runs, and I'm happy as a pig in mud without any major alterations to anything other than the motive power roster.  This whole passenger thing is already too tempting.  Something like you propose would make it impossible to resist.  Those of us who are already going to the weekly meetings of TAA (Train Adicts Anyonomus) need some kind of breathing space between the irreistable items.   

  Regards

  PS - Executive Summary -

             They'd make a bundle off of me

     I have quite a few older cars and engines I need to install couplers on so that everything can work with the Kadee and McHenry couplers I have on my newer cars.  Pretty much everything comes with a Kadee compatible coupler these days, which is a big step forward IMHO, but it means I have to buy about 100 pair of couplers.   Looking at the couplers I'd like to buy (Kadee semi-scale whisker style) and E-Z mate or others, I'd like to know if anyone has much experience with E-Z Mate on longer trains and on how well they work with the other brands.   To date I haven't had any problems with the E-Z Mate couplers that came on my Bachmann engines, but I haven't pulled many 25 or 30 car freights with them, either.  Some people have told me that all couplers other than Kadee have separation problems on trains much longer that fifteen or so cars, although I personally haven't had any problems with McHenry couplers on the 16 - 18 car freights I have managed to run on other folks layouts and on my test setups.

   Anyone who has a comment about the limitations or the lack of limitations with E-Z mate couplers please let me know your thoughts.  It's, for me, a good slice out of my model RR budget to purchase the Kadees even at the discounts that are available on the web.  McHenry is about half the price of Kadee, and E-Z mate can be found for less still.  If they're as good as the others, I might give up my desire to go to the "semi scale" ones.  After all, I was happy as a little clam with Kadee compatible until semi-scale ones were released.  (The semi-scale ones do look very nice, though)

    Thanks in advance,

  Regards

   Thanks for an interesting post.  And, you know, you seem to post a lot of interesting stuff, so thanks for all the ones I read and didn't thank you for.  Oh, and forget that one blooper of a post, no one will remember it by now .

   Regards

     Once or twice I've seen some large city style buildings on eBay that are listed as "Bachmann Downtown" or something similar.  I haven't ever seen these in anything other than an already finished state, so I don't even know if they came preassembled or were a kit.

  Will Bachmann ever run these or similar kits again or were they a one time run? 

    Thanks in advance

Quote from: Daylight4449 on June 08, 2008, 06:00:55 PM
normaly, keep it a secret because the more people know the higher the price but the ebay store called "The favorite spot" has them and i have seen them go at prices from $30 to $55, they come with full manufacturers garenty and warrenty because they are ma factory athourized dealership and they sell bachmann products. They are 12 dollar shipping to the us with other rates for international and combine shipping. great place. and no i don't work there.

    I've done a lot of business with them and have never had even a minor problem.  Their prices, at auction or not, seem to be among the lowest you can find and even when they may be a few bucks higher than the lowest price I can find anywhere on the web or Ebay, I know that if I buy from them I'll be in good shape.

   Regards

     I haven't broken in any engines since back in the 1970s, and these nice little steamers seem like they're a good bit better, right out of the box.  I'd like to know what kind of experience folks have had breaking theirs in.  I have 2-8-0s, 2-10-0s, 4-8-2s, 2-8-4s, and 2-6-6-2s, so whatever you have I'd like to know how you got them ready for layout use.  How did you break them in, how much difference did you see after breaking them in, and what kind of lubrication did you use before or after a break in?

   I have to say, the ones I have all run so smoothly right out the box that I don't expect the kind of dramatic difference you used to see if you took your time to work one in right.  I've only run mine around a loop once or twice in each direction at low speed to check that they arrived in working order.  To date, although I have one that sort of "growls" a bit, all have run smoothly and well.

     If you chose not to break yours in I'd like to know that as well, as maybe just regular use would be as effective as a break in period.

  Thanks

  R. Hume

  Bachmann already has a 4-8-2 chassis, so with not much work they could and I think, should, make all those nice L2 series of engines NYC had.  You seldom see even the brass of the L2 engines, mostly L3 and L4.  Now someone has the brass L2 series coming for over $1200 each and you can't find anyone who hasn't already sold their entire allotment in advance.  Geez, it seems like a natural to do sunken feedwater heaters, feedwater heaters hanging on the smokebox front, different piping sets to make variations of the thing.  I just don't see how at least the L2d wouldn't sell well since it's got the higher drivers and the nice front end of a Hudson.


    Maybe I overestimate the number of NYC fans there are, but I do know that the NYC brass usually sells out in a hurry just like the BLI Hudson keeps on selling right along.  I also think that the NYC and PRR 2-8-2 types would have steady sales over time, but since I haven't seen the 2-8-2 types they already make I don't know how much could be easily incorporated into a US type of Mike.

  Regards