Alan,

There are DCC experts on this forum that can help you with the DCC part of your question. However, if your locomotive is running, but not with a 'jerky/stop-start' character, I don't think the tender pickups are a problem (though it would be good if all the brass pickups were making contact where they are supposed to ... generally, I think, on Spectrum tenders the brass pickups touch the axles, not the wheels. My Spectrum steam locomotives have pickups making contact with the drivers).

If your locomotive runs 'smoothly', but just needs lots more power than it used to use, then I think you have some other type of elecrical problem ... maybe a motor that is wearing out, if you have run it for lots of hours. I have a 'DCC ready' Spectrum 2-8-0 that runs great, but I use only DC power.

lanny nicolet

Robert,

Along with what Jim mentioned, if you are running DC, make sure your power supply can adequately handle two powered locomotives running at the same time.

Proto 2000 E units are very heavy, great runners. But if both of your units are powered, you will need to make sure your power supply is large enough (enough amps? ... sorry, I'm electrically 'challenged' :-) for both units to run. The little power paks that come with 'HO train sets" may not have enough power to run these locomotives in tandem.

I have a Spectrum F40PH and a Proto 2000 E9A. Both are heavy enough to pull a decent size passenger train up my 2.7%+ grades by themselves, though the Proto 2000 is able to handle more cars, being the heavier of the two.

lanny nicolet

Scot,

Thanks for the explanation ... I guess I didn't read the prior posts carefully enough. You are right. I have most of my photos in Imageshack wider than 250 pixels ... but one or two in are less and they post just fine, full size. But anything wider posts as in thumbnail size.

Thanks for going over that again, Scot. I agree with you ... I hope that can be fixed. Sure doesn't sound like it should be too hard.

Two examples ... the1st (underbody) is a smaller overall size photo than the (2nd) full size end.





lanny nicolet

Thanks for that Jim,

I'm going to try a test again, just to get used to the new buttons.



lanny nicolet

didn't work.

if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. The two picts from Imageshack that came out 'thumbnail size' are both less then 128 KB, yet one time I posted a 177KB fileand it posted full size?! This is very confusing! Help, if anyone has any answers, would be appreciated.

lanny

Still trying to figure out how to get a 'full sized' photo posted from "Image Shack". This is a 'try again' attempt.





lanny

Nope ... sorry. don't know how to get them larger. I use "imageshack" and these images are both less then 640x480 size, as posted in my Imageshack folder.

lanny n

I'm going to try that photo again to see if I can get it larger.

Two tries ... a #908 ICRR and the #907





hope it works

lanny nicolet

The Spectrum 2-8-0 is very close to an ICRR #900 series 2-8-0 (see photo below of #907). This series Conso were 'big' locomotives (but had 'shorty' tenders, shorter than the Spectrum tender). I don't have driver diameter (if Ray Breyer is online, he could give that info), but if you place a Spec 2-8-0 next to the Spectrum Heavy Mountain, though noticabley shorter in length, it is surprising to see that has a taller boiler (not 'longer'!), in short, a 'big' locomotive'. (As others have mentioned, the Spec 2-8-0 is a beautiful running locomotive).



One other note: ICRR also had #700 series 2-8-0s. Those had smaller diameter drivers, were older series, and were overall smaller.

Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0, with some simple revisions is very, very similar to the ICRR 2-8-0. (Wish it were possible to buy the Spectrum cabs for kit-bashing other locomotives!)

lanny nicolet

A 'homegrown' midwesterner ... garden variety. Iowa. That pretty much says it all :-)

A 'war baby' ... WWII that is  :-)

Lot's of railroads going every direction in Iowa, everywhere ... small towns and bigger ones ... they all pretty much had at least one rail line. Highways in Iowa up through the 40s and 50s were notoriously narrow, curves, hills, not good ... and the majority of roads probably were, country gravel ... so rail was the obvious choice of travel ... until highway improvement started <sigh>

I live in the Des Moines area ... Now hosting the Iowa Interstate (old Rock Island mainline to Chicago), UP (former CNW, CGW, RI and several others, now all UP), BNSF ('mainline' branch to mainline from Chicago to Omaha and points west), NW (old Wabash and, or others, to St. Louis ... still a very well maintained line, but not a 'heavy duty' mainline). Lot's of grain elevators and unit grain trains (most for corn and soybeans), as well as unit coal trains.

Grew up 70 miles north in Iowa Falls where the ICRR mainline from Souix City/Fort Dodge to Chicago and the mainline Rock Island from Minneapolis to Kansas city crossed. Passenger trains from both RRs stopped several times daily, until the demise of passenger trains :-(

Whole population of state of Iowa (little over 2 million) would not make a very big suburb of LA, Chicago, NY City, etc ... :-)

Nice and quiet around here ... most of the time :-)

lanny nicolet

Gene,

You may have mentioned this already, but I'm interested, so will ask again. Are you hand laying track, using 3 ft flex track or what? Also, which code, 70, 83 or 100?

Sounds like things are moving real well for your layout. Keep it up!

lanny nicolet

I run DC/analog. Nigel and several other DCC experts on this forum have made a great case for DCC ... but for now, I am more into 'kitbashing' ICRR steam and green diamond diesels, as well as building resin kits and high quality styrene kits such as Branchline Blueprint series, etc.

So, this winter, my layout has remained unfinished with some trackwork and a yard to be completed and the whole thing to be rewired. Financially, DCC is not an option presently, so, while envious of those have DCC and are experts with sound, decoders, etc. I plan to stay DC for the forseeable future.

lanny nicolet

Here's my latest kit ... a Branchline Blueprint REA 1953 built reefer for my ICRR "Land 'O Corn" daily, Chicago to Souix City. Branchline Blueprint kits have enough detail parts to keep any 'fine scale' modeler happy.





... and if you are into detailed underbody/brake rigging ... these kits will satisfy you as well.



lanny nicolet

Testing out my 'signature' to see if I got it added correctly.

lanny nicolet

Stewart,

At least in Iowa, Ace Hardware stores are ubiquitous to smaller communities as well as larger ones. There are several in the Des Moines area. Some of them are incredibly well stocked stores for just about anything you can imagine!

Good place to find stuff like the drill bit.

Jim, thanks for the note on the almost non-existant difference between a 1/16 bit and a #52. Very helpful to know.

lanny nicolet