Quote from: richG on March 25, 2008, 11:12:03 AM
One Spectrum HO 4-4-0 DCC/sound
One Roundhouse 4-4-0 DCC/sound
Two Roundhouse 2-6-0s DCC/sound
One Roundhsouse 2-8-0 DCC/sound
One Roundhouse 2-8-0 bashed into a 0-8-0 Winans Camel
One MDC Climax DCC/sound
Two Bachmann 4-4-0 tender drive with DCC
One IHC 4-4-0 tender drive with DCC
One Mantua 4-4-0 General tender drive with DCC

Rich

Rich, it's nice to see someone else who likes smaller, older steam as much as I do. I'd have to through my inventory to come up with a total and list.

Jeff

I've had my Spectrum Richmond eight-wheeler only about a month, and I am perfectly pleased with her. (Just for the record, I got the unlettered, "Russia iron and pinstripes," wood-cab version with slide valves.) I am running her on DC, and she works fine. She looks fine and has no difficulty on 18"-radius curves. 

Owing to the extremely small size of my current layout (49-1/2 by 36 inches), I have used her to pull no more than five cars (all Mantua or Mantua Classic "1860" freight cars and an "1890" combine), but I feel confident she would have no problem with at least eight small, free-rolling cars.

I don't own a Spectrum 4-6-0, so I won't speak to that, but the old Mantua 4-6-0 and 4-4-0 "General" will work fine on 18"-radius curves. Actually, I'm pretty sure just about any eight-wheeler or ten-wheeler would work OK on an 18"-radius curve. Any 0-4-0, 0-6-0, 2-6-0, or 2-6-2 should also be fine. I don't own any 2-8-0s, but I have one old Mantua 4-8-0, and even that works fine on 18"-radius.  You can run a Mantua 4-6-2 on 18"-radius, and it will work OK, but with an engine that size you start to get "overhang" on curves that doesn't look so hot.

Hope this helps some. 

Quote from: SteamGene on March 24, 2008, 01:01:19 PM
I was sort of taken by that remark about "being made famous..."  comment. 
I believe the black and white movie where Sierra#3 pulled the train into the depot at noon was the academy award winner, winner, winner, etc.   BTW, do note - the sheriff wore the black hat and the killer wore the white.  
Gene

I think that's called "realism." 

The Roundhouse/MDC Overton cars are billed as 34-foot cars. They are nice, but they are really short. If you can get some Mantua or Model Power/Mantua Classics "1890" cars, a combine and a couple of coaches would make a nice little "local" behind your 2-6-2.

Check eBay under "Mantua" or "Tyco."

Quote from: Gunslinger87 on March 24, 2008, 12:36:43 AM
  To start this disscusion off, I'd like to say I'm quite fond of your HO steam fleet. Although, in your Spectum line there are no engines from Pre-1900. Your standard    4-4-0, for example the Jupiter, are very nice locomotives. But I feel they lack the quality of Spectrum locomotives. Acctually that is quite obvious. Now your Baldwin    4-6-0 is an extremly nice model. Although I do like early 20th Century railroading I prefer to model the mid to late 1800's.
     The suggestion I have is for a 4-6-0, but this one is pre-1900. It is my beliefe that a Spectrum model of the Rogers 1890 4-6-0 would be a popular choice. Although it would be older it would still find use in early to mid 20th Century Railroads.

   The engine was made famous by the movie "Back to the Future III", that way it is claer as to what locomotive I'm speaking of.
   
     Please reply back. *Smiles*
                                                                                   Gunslinger87.

I would second Gunslinger's suggestion for a Spectrum "Jupiter" and "No. 119." Also the Rogers 4-6-0.

I guess we date ourselves by whether our reference to the Rogers 4-6-0/ Sierra #3 is Back to the Future or High Noon, Petticoat Junction, and The Iron Horse. 

Quote from: Yampa Bob on March 20, 2008, 09:18:42 PM
I may edit this post later for brevity, clarity, or errors.

Have fun.

Yampa Bob

Thank you, Bob! Your posts are better than a clinic at a Greenberg's show! 

Jeff

Quote from: Jim Banner on March 15, 2008, 10:05:03 AM
Jeff, if the trucks are free rolling, I usually just snip off the old coupler pocket and reuse them.  Often reaming out the side frames and installing new wheel sets will restore plastic trucks that are not free rolling enough.  But the old die cast metal trucks never did roll freely so I just replace them.  This old car fell into the latter category.  I have lots of cars running on modified trucks but none of them are old Mantua/Tyco cars.

I imagine you must get a lot of satisfaction out of making these upgrades yourself. 

I have acquired a few late-model Mantua cars that actually have body-mounted couplers. I'm guessing with these cars, it might be a simple direct swap with a Kadee, but I haven't attempted that yet.

Thanks, Jim.

So what you're saying is you body mount the coupler in the pocket provided with the Kadee.

Sorry, I can be the kind of lunkhead who needs a map drawn to get from A to B.    From the pictures in your subsequent post, you not only replaced the couplers, you also replaced the trucks. I didn't realize you meant you discarded the old trucks with their truck-mounted couplers altogether, then body mounted the new coupler.

Thanks for the clarification. 

Quote from: Jim Banner on March 12, 2008, 09:41:14 PM
Paul, the old Tyco cars are relatively easy to convert to Kadees.  I body mount #5's in the coupler pockets provided and screw them in place with #2-56 machine screws.  Usually they have to be spaced down from the the body but with a supply of .010, .030 and .060 sheet styrene at hand, making up the proper thickness is a snap.

Jim, how "old" are we talking here? I'm a little confused by your statement, "I body mount #5's in the coupler pockets provided." I recently bought a number of cars from roughly 1960 on eBay. They were in very good cosmetic appearance and had been assembled from "Tyco kits" (they were in their original kit boxes). These cars all have truck-mounted couplers, so it's the "body mount" in the "coupler pockets provided" that's confusing me. Thanks!

Jeff

Quote from: r.cprmier on March 04, 2008, 07:10:06 AM
Ever watch a cartoon where the engine has a flat tire?...

Reminds me of a listing I recently saw on eBay that referred to the brake wheel on a flat car as "the steering wheel."

I always wondered how they kept those things on the tracks. ...   

Quote from: TomKat on March 03, 2008, 02:19:10 PM
BT9NR's- I personally have purchased rolling stock off of e-bay. There really are some great deals there, if you look hard enough. I recently got 14 cars, a mix of which one was a Lionel flat car. Beautiful little critter. Got them for only 6 bucks! They were cheaper than the shipping. Just look at the sellers credentials or feedback if you will. It'll tell you a lot about whom you are dealing with. Also you can email the seller usually for more detailed pics and info. There really are some great deals out there, especially if you are looking for rough-up cars for the young ones to rough-up on. Some might require some repair, and some will be ready to roll. Like I said, you just have to look. There are usually 20000+ items if you do HO Scale search under toys&hobbies.~TomKat

Stick with established sellers who have a positive rating of 100% or very close to it, in the upper 90s%.

Quote from: Redtail67 on March 02, 2008, 05:10:30 PM
I walked for I think about a mile an out of those pines shines a roundhouse abvouy 6  stalls if I remember correctly. I could not believe my eyes there were two beautiful steam engines one with wooden cab and diamond stack and a dinky deisel maybe 20 tons. The Steam Engines were painted and all brass was polished brite.

Wow! Do you remember what her wheel arrangement was?

Quote from: Guilford Guy on March 02, 2008, 09:49:32 PM
LOL, what train # did you come in on? Boston can be fun, in the vestibule you can see the crank, with a chain extending down of it, in each vestibule.

I don't remember which number it was. It was about a year and a half ago. It was a midafternoon train, and not an Acela.

The woman got on at Back Bay with her granddaughter. I had boarded at South Station. All she did was bitch, bitch, bitch--to no one in particular--about how she and her granddaughter, who was one row behind us, couldn't get a pair of seats together. I SO wanted to say, "Lady, if you'd got on a South Station where the train was empty, ..." but I kept my mouth shut and said nothing. Fortunately, she got off the train at New Haven.

If you're just looking for rolling stock for you and the little guy to have fun with and you don't care--for now--if it gets damaged or destroyed, you might try eBay, too.

Quote from: Guilford Guy on March 01, 2008, 10:40:29 PM
The emergency brake is often a red handle attached to a cord. Usually conductors are the one who pull them, since they are for emergencies only. Passenger cars also have handbrakes. Pre- 1950's they were brake wheels on the outside. In the modern era they are cranks, in the vestibules.

Once, coming back from Boston, I had one of those sitting right next to me. Too bad the conductor didn't put her in the vestibule.