Go to Gold Coast Station Dave, they still have 3 left.  I took the last Pardee & Curtin, and they have an Oregon Lumber Company, Painted Unlettered, and Luken Steel Company left.

My mistake on the Sumpter Valley Heisler is W.H. Eccles Lumber Company.  She can use the diamond stack that was used on the Pardee & Curtin model, be giving white trim and red windows, with the air tanks and air pump, and have a wood load.     The addition of a Wood load as well as coal or oil would also be nice.

Gold Coast in Ventura has the last 3 Heislers remaining available for sale.  A Luken Steel Company, Oregon Lumber Company, and painted unlettered with red and white stripes.   I just got the last Pardee & Curtin.

Heislers are by far my favorite geared engines, and I have both the Oregon Lumber Company, and the Luken Steel Company, and soon a Pardee and Curtin.  The one I really wanted was Little River Logging Company, and I really hope to see Westside Lumber Company models in the future for Westside used 5 Sterns models (West Side 1 the first was sold to Swayne in exchange for West Side shay 7 for free (since Swayne owed West Side $1 million dollars in debt, and West side later on got a larger Sterns model to be the replacement Westside 1.  West Side 4 blew up in the 50s, whiles West Side 2 resides on Display in Tuolumne falling apart, and West Side 3 is now operating daily on the Roaring Camp Railroad as their number 2 and has been since 1963.   I would also like to see an H C. Welsche Lumber Company (Which is the Sumpter Valley Heisler, and more varieties on the new runs..

What can I say, I love Heislers.

The one issue they had was, the driveshafts were 2 haves that met in the engine set, and the pistons moved slower than the valve gear which didn't look proto-typical, which resulted me into having to weld the driveshaft as 1 unit, and disengage the rear gears to the drive shaft to allow the motors to alter speeds.    Maybe for newer models, have the drive shafts be one piece like the new Climaxes, but have the rear end of the shaft not be connected to any gears just like it is in the new Climaxes so the valve motion looks more prototypical.

I would love to see more Heislers.

The sound boards for the Heislers are out from Tsunami, and according to most stores, November is the due date.

Also LGB made a Fred Gurley which is pretty close and it was rediculously expensive, and Hartland has a limited run of the Ward Kimballs that are however a good price for a Disney engine, but are high for a Hartland engine.


Easy models to do would be Walt Disney World Railroads engines 2 and 4 the Lilly Belle and Roy O. Disney since they wouldn't need serious retooling, the Lilly Belle would just be another Bachmann Mogul with Disney paint and logos on it, as with the Roy O. Disney being another Spectrum 4-4-0 Centenial and would use the same stack as on a Eureka & Palisade, though not 100% accurate, they would be pretty darn close, and would be a lot less expensive to produce than scratch building and re-tooling the current Spectrum Forneys.    The Lilly Belle and Roy would sell a little higher than normal, but not too much, but the Ward and Fred would be so high, not many would buy them sadly.

Hello

I have 2 of the awesome Heislers, but since they are extremely hard to find, and hardly any show up on Ebay or at live auctions, I was wondering how much longer will it be  before the Heislers return with new models in Large Scale.    They were the best geared engines made in the Spectrum line, and I would really love to add another one to my collection.    I hope to see Westside Lumber Company, Ely Thomas Lumber Company, and many more different road names come out in the next run with wood, oil, and coal loads available, and some with Tsunami sound.    The first runs were awesome locomotives, and they are very tough to find now, but I would love to see a new run of Heislers come out.

Phoenix Sound Systems Inc has been around for years, they have a huge library full of steam sounds for all sorts of engines.

The C-16 sound card, K-27, K-28, and K-36 would all sound perfect for a Spectrum K-27 it just depends on what sound of chuff you like, and what kind of whistle you like.  High pitched chuff and 5-chime Rio Grande Whistle, C-16, mid tone chuff and single note note Whistle, K-27, mid tone chuff and 3-chime whistle, K-28, and lower pitched chuff with slightly lower toned 5-chime whistle, the K-36.  It's a matter of opinion and taste, but they are all great sound chips.

The PB-11 sound board fits both DC and DCC so you don't have to have it be DCC, it'll work with just regular DC just fine.   Enjoy.

The Willamette at Mount Rainier operates almost all the time with Polson Logging Mikado number 70, since those 2 seem to be the primary engines on Mount Rainier while the Heisler and the Climax are the back up engines that come out on special occassions or when the Willamette and Mikado are down.

With the Bachmann 3-truck Ho scale Climax out, why not make a Ferdinand model from Thomas Misty Island Rescue.   It shouldn't be too hard, just change the valve gear from Walscherts to Stevenson give it color and add a face and change the couplers.  It might be the most expensive Thomas model in HO since it has more realistic details than the others if the spectrum is to be used.   But it would be a good start.   I would love to see Ferdinand the Climax in HO scale.

I was hoping for Bachmann to come out with a 3-truck Climax since Accucraft would have one for almost $3K, and Bachmann's would be the same Price as their current 3-truck shay which is at most hobby dealers about $400-$800 which is not bad, so I am hoping to get a 3-truck Climax for around $1K at the most, and the only way would be for Bachmann to make one.   An no doubt the 3-truck Climaxes would be a huge hit.

Well since Shay made a 3-truck model, has there been thought of a 3-truck Climax model in large scale?  It would be nice to see a 3-truck-Climax in large scale.

Are parts for the new Climax locomotive available?

I have both a first and second generation Climax.  My second generation with the DCC sound, and all improved features has been a great engine, but my first generation hasn't run for years due to the various flaws, so I would like to upgrade the parts on it such as the trucks, drive shaft, and the tender tank.

Are those parts available?

Thank you.

There might have been plans for narrow gauge engines, but never really came to play, like that of the Baldwin Mallets.

The closest prototype locomotive for the Bachmann 3-truck-shay is Former Westside Lumber Company number 7 which now resides as the primary motive power for the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Railroad in the California Redwoods.  She too has the same mechanism for the water pump syphon hose.  Even though she doesn't use it anymore, the pipes for the hose, and the water pump still remain on her.

4-4-0s were built to go faster than the 2-6-0s, and if you use a 4 foot radius curve, the front pony wheel digs right into the side of the cylinders on the tight turns.   And at Cruising speeds, a 4-4-0 can likely derail at a tight turn.   It is best not to go below a 6 foot radius curve for a 4-4-0, but an 8 foot is probably the tightest I would go.