Hey guys,

I'm experiencing difficulty with my E33.    It seems like the locomotive completely blew out.


It was running on DCC in consist with another E33 on my club layout on a nice tangent piece of track,  and it just died.   I had assumed the decoder (a TCS MC2) had quit,  but after putting another decoder in,  the locomotive also failed to run,  disrupting the second decoder as well. 

When I got it home, I tested the engine on DC, and it still had problems.   The motor would not run in reverse period,  even after I disconnected it from the PC board and ran the motor direct with track power  (used a Spectrum Mangum power pack from an Acela set).   

I then noticed that even without the motor,  if I put the locomotive on the track,   the rear headlight would do weird things (Flickering, etc.) when it was on and I moved the throttle.   This makes me think something is shorted out big time.


Is there any advice?  I assume I'll have to get a new motor,  but should I bother with the circuit board,,  or just hardwire it? 

I'd recommend scratch building.  You'll save money, and be able to build your catenary to your needs.    Most of the skills you'd need to scratch build them are the same skills you'd need to build the Model Memories catenary. 

Is the body plastic?


I have been wanting to make the "modified" GG1 variants for some time.    There were two different styles of "High Intakes" ,  and some GG1s had steps cut into their sides.   A plastic body would facilitate this the most readily.

If these look good enough next to a BLI or MTH GG1, I'll be happy.   It does kill me that I just picked up a bunch of the BLI GG1s,   but on the other hand, I did get most of them for less than the  MSRP of these.    Fortunately for Bachmann, there is still space on my roster for them.

Ideally,  I'd like to do #4876,  and one of the bloody-nose GG1s.  Both have the high intake vents, and many of the silver Amtrak GG1s also had the side steps.   

I also wish they would make some E44s, but it might not be so cut and dry.   

For those of us serious about modeling the Northeast's Electrics, the E44 is one player that is truly missing from the bunch.

However,  the E33 over its life time, has spanned three distinct "locations" (virginian territory, New haven Territory, and Pennsy territory).   In each of those places,  it wore distinct and popular paint schemes or road names, which were probably enough in their own right to justify a run of the model. 

The E44s have had a much more "stable" life.   They were rarely repainted going from Brunswick Green to Black, and then possibly Conrail blue or Amtrak Silver (and the Amtrak was short lived).    The E44s never left Pennsy territory, and electric freight beyond Waverly Yard on the Northeast Corridor came to a hault with the merging of the New Haven with Penn Central. 

Though I would argue that the E44s are more attractive an impressive in form,  Its still a relatively "local" piece of equipment,  and does not have anywhere near the "awesome" factor of the GG1.


I do love my E33s.  They have an excellent rumble somewhere around 11-12 speed steps out of 28.  Its so low that even though it seems quiet, you can still hear it over even a crowded open house. 


My Repainted E33s.  The 4610 was a recent aquisition and I've been working on fixing the paint on it (was 4603).  The nose is the hardest part to adjust, since i have to carefully remove the lettering without damaging anything else.     #4608 was also originally a 4603, but i chose 4608 since that E33 kept many of its "old" vents, compared to the rebuilt E33s. 

Ironically, I don't think i've ever seen a photo of 4603 in blue, and none of Conrail's E33s look like the Bachmann model.   However, Many E33s got fresh blue paint right before being stored and then retired.  Some were even rebuilt with new guts. 




I also have a trio E44As.  These are by Alpha, rather than ALCO.  The Alco brass ones are pretty common but the Alphas are the best. 

Try not to laugh at my pick of road numbers (4456, 4457, 4465),  they were all based on photos I could find of them that made it convenient to choose these units.  I used Microscale Conrail sheets,

#4456 was the first E44A to be painted blue (the first blue E44 was #4414.  Bachmann should definitely do that road number).


I have several photos of #4457, but I'm unsure if it was so dirty that the warning labelse were gone, or if it never had any warning labels on it, so I left it blank.


#4465 is the last surviving E44, and it retained a lot of it's PRR markings.   E44s #4460-4465 were originally built with solid rectifiers,  as well as the "original" motors in the E44s.    When the PRR sent many of its other E44s back to get the solid state rectifiers, GE rebuilt them with more powerful traction motors.   This account for the increase 5,000 HP from the original 4,400 HP.   This means that while #4460-4465 resemble E44As, they are in fact, still E44s.

Quote from: pipefitter on July 24, 2010, 03:52:00 PM
The Metroliners consisted of (I think) the very first Amfleet cars. Electrified they ran on the NE Corridor with a power car on one end and a cab control car on the other end. The power cars were Amfleet I's with an added cab and electrical section and traction motor powered trucks, and the cab cars had just an additional cab section.

I'd hate to correct, but this is wrong.   

The Metroliners dated from the final days of the PRR (1968), and ran for a while before amtrak showed up under the Penn Central.   Actual Amfleet cars didn't show up until HEP (head end power) became equipped on locomotives like the F40PH, P30CH, and E60CH (about the mid 70s).  Up until those engines arrived, everything was still steam heat.   The Metroliners had a reputation for being the "new" thing (relative to the ancient budds and pullmans), and its no surprise they had an Amfleet made in the Metroliner's image.

Each Metroliner EMU car was it's own unit.   All Metroliner cars had all the gear and equipment it needed to run self sufficiently.  They were set up in semi-permanent pairs, but could easily be made to mix and match   (5 and 3 car trains did happen).  As a rule,  they had one car facing each way (having to turn the MUs around with negate the purpose of an MU).

The Phase II paint also has a different face,   but i've seen all sorts of in between paint jobs, as well as all manners of patches and left over penn central logos. many cars never got the bachmann scheme.  Generally, most metroliners got repainted into the Phase II when they were rebuilt by GE into what some call "capitaliners".

wow, i didn't even geta notification from bachmann!

Anyway, the semi hardwiring solution is so simple that i to wonder why i hadn't thought of it.    Maybe this year i'll be able to get this HHP-8 out there for show season.

Quote from: Doneldon on April 24, 2010, 12:58:18 AM
Even on a very large club layout a train going a scale 125 mph is going to make the circuit in a pretty short time, like a couple of minutes, max, and it might make the other trains look silly.

We still have a signal system we have to follow.  Besides,  during show season, "the REALLY FAST train tends to get more oohs and ahhs than the super detailed one i just left in the dust.   as long as i don't tail-gate i'm fine.   besides,   these trains are great for our "junior engineers",  since when we let the kids run, i can go through more kids faster (tickets are for two laps,   and some slow freight drag takes FOREVER to get around). 

QuoteAlso, if this is a long-distance train you might need some sleepers in the consist.

Yes, those angular cars mid-way in the train are called Viewliners, and they are Amtrak's new sleepers

Quote from: mlrr on April 23, 2010, 08:10:58 AM
The latest HHPs with DCC on-board don't seem to have this problem (651, 656, 663).  I test-ran it yesterday (running light) and it made it over 125 MPH.  The initial run (650, 655, 664) of the HHPs did not make it up to that speed under the same conditions.

I'm trying to find a post on a forum where someone recommended getting rid of a capacitor on the PCB board and that may solve the slow seed problem.

Yeah, i haven't ever gotten back to this engine.  I hope to in the future, but we'll see. i'm just nervous that i won't have the right resistors if i hook up any old decoder to the model.

Quote from: Joe323 on February 28, 2010, 08:16:13 PM
The LIRR and The Northeast Corridor do Share Penn Station in NYC but they operate from different platforms.  I do not recall if they share any track. However Metro North operates from Grand Central and therefore Not considered (I Think) part of the Northeast Corridor.  Its ben a while but I do not think Amtrak operates out of Grand Central Any More.

they may come from different stations but the metro north does own part of the corridor.  not only do they run the EMUs there, but they also put limits on amtrak's speed, which is something that i'm told bugs amtrak as far as Acelas go, since these speed restrictions dramatically increase the time for that train to travel between Boston and New York.

nope, they were a regular run.   I used to see them alot, but i think people eventually started buying them up when

A). they needed one to repaint into the AEM7 they wanted

B). they started realizing that the MARC AEM7s (both 4900 and 4902, atlas offered numbers) also ran on NJ transit for a short time,  and figured it would look alright.

either way, i wouldn't mind having a MARC unit if i ever come across one at a good price.

I also get nervous with Acetone.  It has hurt some of my more valuable models. 

This photo should give you an idea of what i want to do (as compared to a stock bachmann model behind it), since 4608 is just about finished.   

The only thing left to change is the move the "conrail" logo on the nose to a different height.  This looks like a tough spot, but if i am careful with the acetone, i'm sure i could get it off.  Still, i think i should find something to experiment on first.

On a side note, for anyone who wants to make their E33s more authentic,  the Conrail "Snail" is actually longer on the pictured side of 4608 than the other side.  This is because of that J-shaped blower duct for those of you familiar with the engine.   the logo is cut short at that duct.

Quote from: murfling on February 28, 2010, 10:25:56 AM
I am not familiar with LIRR, and I dont recall seeing them on our trip thru the cooridoor in Feb. Please enlighten me ... what does the LI stand for, and where does it run?

Its the Long Island Railroad.   In reality, it only runs parallel to the Northeast Corridor for a VERY short run around Sunny Side yard, and they don't really operate on it,  they just share a yard. 

However, Metro North DOES own a section of the Northeast Corridor in this area,  but they seem to only run "Cosmopolitan" EMUs  and some P32AC/DM trains under the electrified lines.

The eraser took care of the numbers easily enough,  but they did not do so well removing the lettering and logos, which were over rivet details and such.

the final bit of lettering i need to correct on the one model is the "Conrail" lettering across the nose.   it is situated to low on the model,  it should really be between  rungs of the nose grab irons, not below them.    However,  there is no way i could easily get an eraser in there without damaging the model and doing an incomplete job. 


I could try some of these other things, but i kind of wish bachmann made an undecorated E33.  it seems like more trouble than its worth to re-work the lettering, and i'm not to crazy about stripping the thing and starting from scratch either.

Quote from: murfling on February 16, 2010, 08:26:41 AM
Atlas is coming out with a GP-40 W model in two different versions.  Do you know if they are the same as what MARC is using?

Thanx

Jonathan

they aren't.  In fact, they are totally different.  this locomotive is just another example of a "ubiquitous" commuter engine that gets ignored.  MBTA, MARC, CDOT, NJ Transit, VRE,  and a couple others ALL have a GP40 style commuter engine with nearly the exact same  long hoods.

the only real difference besides small details are the cabs, which are all different between railroads.   Still,  how hard would it be for someone to make a "modular" shell and just put the stock cab types down on the body? 

I have a small fleet of bachman Conrail E33s, and i was hoping i could renumber them and change some of the "factory decals" around.   I want to change to change the numbers and relocate the Conrail logos.


These Conrail units have a different paint scheme than the model does, and besides, they can't all be #4603.    I tried some 91% alcohol but it didn't seem to dent the white numbers. 

Is there anything that will remove all the lettering but leave the blue paint underneath untouched?