QuoteCurmudgeon, once more, no one, no manufacture has to use any plug they do not want to use.  There is no law requiring it.

Weren't you paying attention? He didn't say, or even suggest the law required it.  He said that manufacturers would do modelers a great disservice if they did use it.  The WG does seem to have trouble listening carefully.

QuoteYes, Stan has an Idea he likes, others do not like it, He does not control the Working Group.  You buy what you want. I buy what I want.

And if Stan has his way, we buy what he wants.  Sounds like control to me.  That's been explained in detail several times already.  Again, the WG is apparently not paying attention.

QuoteI like Shay's, and other small steam.  I do not need fancy sound or flashing lights.  Others in our club like Dash-9's, sound, and flashing lights.

So do we.  And we'd prefer not to have to have a 23 pin monolith to do so.
That's also been explained in detail, in fact, it's why everyone's angry about it.  The WG believes all locomotives are the same, apparently, and that one size fits all. We do not.  Is anyone paying attention?

QuoteEven though I am the club President, I do not force the NMRA, LSOL, or anything else on any club member.

So... why join a Work Group designed  expressly to do that to the large scale community at large? Don't the rest of us merit the same "Live and Let Live" philosophy?  Or did you think we weren't paying attention either?

The second string has obviously taken the field.  Let's give them a big hand, folks.....

Matthew (OV)

That's why I'm asking .... if I want to remove the plow from mine, I'm going to have to have some parts (like the pilot) on hand to put on there ... fortunately, getting hold of a 1:20.3 K27 pilot isn't impossible, but I need to know how much of the pilot's under there on the model so I know what other parts I'll need to put ON when the plow comes OFF.

Of course it looks pretty darn great with the plow ON as well ....  I may have to have two of these, and just keep the plow on that 455!

Matthew (OV)

On MLS, this thread has a somewhat blurred photo of the Bachmann table with several versions of the K-27....

http://www.mylargescale.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=49239

The one furthest to the right appears to have a snowplow mounted.

What does the pilot look like UNDER the snowplow on models that come with it in place?  Is it the road pilot or the switcher pilot? Have you seen how the plow is removed?

Matthew (OV)

Anything interesting happen in Chicago?

Matthew (OV)

Dunno, Kevin.

I was getting ready to convert all of my new cars  to AMS or Kadee, when I unboxed the first of the hoppers ... you know, the new ones really are quite nice, and they work well with both Kadee and AMS ... I think I may just keep 'em!

Matthew (OV)

Of those, the first one (881x) has a frame, the (884x) are the frameless; both are 1:20.3 SPECTRUM quality cars.  The older 1:22.5 big hauler tank is a 9xxxx number.

Matthew (OV)

While I know the Bach-Man has a special place in the pantheon for the BRB&L, I'd be just as happy with a 3' gauge version of the 30" gauge version of the 24" gauge version locomotives.

Either way ... I'd have to have one.

Matthew (OV)

Nothing to contribute beyond the Bach-Man, but your question reminded me of a story we used to tell passengers on our 1:1 open trolley that once ran in Rio ....

When the trolley came back to the US, it made the trip on a coffee barge.  The superstructure was on the deck, and the trucks (being heavier) were put down in the hold, which was then filled with coffee beans.

For years, after the car was reassembled and put back in service, when you made the transition from series to parallel on the controller, the car would fill up with the smell of freshly roasted coffee......

Even the real thing seemed to be able to endure a lot!

Matthew (OV)

Oh, and I'm told, 1850 had a trailer in her Rio days, but it was unpowered.

It could have been worse.  MUCH worse.

Imagine... the new K-27 arriving just in time for Christmas....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uh4OS1lFUI

Matthew (OV)

Mine will likely be Slate Creek #46 (and #45 if the post wreck version turns up.)  The Slate Creek, while set in a relatively ambiguous location, has a sea pier, and is therefore about as far from Colorado as one can be, continentally speaking.  Its duties, hauling ore and tourists, will be similar.

Matthew (OV)

Quote from: Kevin Strong on September 18, 2007, 10:44:33 AM

But then Bachmann will bring out the Sumpter Valley articulateds, and...

Later,

K

RAWRR!  Now you're talking!  Of course, you mean right after the EBT Mikado, don'cha?

I'm just glad the dawn of the large locomotives is nearly here.  I've already got the overwide overlong turntable just for this particular one... and any large cousins that may follow.

(I just hope I get all these hoppers relettered first!)

Matthew (OV)

PS.  While we're talking about it ... were turntables generally built to accomodate the width of the locomotive, or that plus a walkway on one or both sides for use while the locomotive was actually on the table... or was it a "will not clear man on side of car" situation?

Ridge Road has apparently seen the light too.  They're down to $799.00

http://www.ridgeroadstation.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=11783095!117

Note that it won't work without the !117 at the end.

Matthew (OV)

Thanks Charlie! I knew you'd know.

Now which one to choose......

Matthew (OV)

Certainly the harder you make something work, the more chance there is something will break.  But .... it all depends on how you approach the problem.  In recent memory, there was a story about someone being told that pulling more than a very low number of cars was dangerous, as it was outside the design spec and would void the warranty .....  the same locomotive has been seen pulling trains of more than ten times the length specified with no visible harmful effects.

So....

Can you pull a train on an 8% grade?  Probably.  It'll look more like a roller coaster ... and you'll be very limited in the number of cars you can pull... but you can do it.  Would you want to do it for hours every day, like on a display layout running continuously?  Probably not.  And, you'd want to make sure you kept up with lubrication, maintenance, and kept track of wear on critical parts, etc. so that when something did start to wear out you could be prepared.  That's not bad advice even for non-extreme railroading.

Operationally speaking, it might make sense depending on the type of train involved.  Cass Scenic does it with the real thing every day of the week, and their grade is somewhere between 10 and 11 percent.  But ... in the real world, most "normal" trains would see 2% as excessive.... I'm told by one of the crews at Cass that their 45 ton diesel, when it was functional, could barely make it up the grade to Whittaker running light.... whether or not the end of that locomotive's operational days was brought about by being made to do this is anyone's guess.

Does that help?

Matthew (OV)

Scot,

You cannot have your Pi and eat it too.

Matthew (OV)