My Spectrum 4-4-0 arrived yesterday,and after a "goof off" by myself,it runs very well.
Having read the test in MR as advised by the forum,I knew it wasn't one of the world's heaviest haulers,and did not expect otherwise.
However,after hooking up my 3 Bachmann 47ft.Old Time Coaches,which look great for the loco,it struggled around my 8x4 Layout and slipped badly on a couple of curves.
Disappointment set in instantly,and I thought of the MR report,yet it did say it had pulled over 30 cars on straight track.
In this dilemma,I picked up the pilot on the track in front of me,and behold -? -I found that small piece of black foam still packed under the 4wheel truck. No wonder it had trouble pulling. I pushed the pilot back into place,not easy for an "oldie",looking at black on black.
It runs very well with about 6 x47ft.Coaches,or 10 Olds Time freight cars. Most of my stock has been weighted,and short trains are the limit on my "Interchange Type Layout"
I had one of my Spectrum 4-4-0's pulling 3 Spectrum Heavyweights with no trouble at all. If it slipped i couldnt notice it.
I bet the poor little fellow did have trouble with so much of the weight transfered to the pony truck. I bet pink foam packing would have helped.
Bachmann does that with the 2-6-6-2 also. Pink would be better.
Gene