Was looking on line at some 2-10-2s. Would like to know if the drive wheel power pick up has a better design then the spectrum 4-8-2 mountians. the mountians had little metal fingers that would touch the back of the drive wheels but they can easly be bent if the loco derailed. they have been a problem from day one on my montian.

I hope the 2-10-2 power pickup is similar to the 2-8-0

Trent

hauling coal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqBgNLUQQBQ

Down at the EMRCC club with the Bachmann NKP Berkshire this weekend. Pulling 62 cars around the 10 scale mile layout for open house

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA28-zblCm8

Got this in the mail this afternoon and alread put a new headlight in and weathered it


Before


After

Ok...I know the large Railroad yards had coal or sand brought in by Rail to service facilitys. the cars would be parked in the yard waiting to be used. I would like to know would there have been short lines or far away points on a rail line that would have had sand and coal trucked in. Im talking 1-2 track facility to servie small steam and 4 axel diesels. small storage coal bins that would hold the capasity to feed 3 or 4 small engines. time frame would be early/mid 50s

Reason I ask is Im putting in a small 2 track fuel island, one track steam the other fuel. holds one steam engine or 2 geeps I have no room to fit a track that a hopper car would use to drop the load, i do have room for a access road for trucks.

thoughts?
Trent

This is a Bachmann 2-8-0 that I did some work too get it to look more like the IC906 .

new head light, tall side wall tender. new speaker location and a few other mods. A quick switching vid and a run around the layout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjAPWgCILmM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__nrgDEp4Yo

I picked up a 2-8-0 from micro mark.they had a good deal with the "we pick the road name"... I was sceptical about buying another spectrum after I recently had to repower my "new" mountain with a kato motor to keep the pulling power steady and chuff in step with the wheel RPMs. Im a little picky I guess.... but it was noticeable to me and others as well... anyways this little 2-8-0 pulls good and runs steady near stall speed (slipping wheels) Unlike the mountain,I could adjust this motors compensation CVs to keep the RPMs steady under full load. it pulls and sounds great. less than a day old and I have repainted it in I.C.R.R. # 906 moved the speaker to under the coal load as I will be adding taller sides to the tenders coal bunker as thats what the IC did with alot of there tenders. I just put the decals on tonight and will add the flat seal coat tomorrow. it looks a little tacky right now but its not done yet.

My mountain drive gear is stripped out. im looking for a metal replacement gear. I repowered it with a kato drive as I thought the stock motor was sluggish then I found that the gear was stripped out

Does anyone know what the pin out is on the spectrum mountain. I am having head light troubles and I belive its caused from the circuit board in the tender. Im thinking I should just remove that board and hard wire the Soundtraxx decoder to the plugs for a cleaner instalation and remove any problems caused from the board.

Trent

Can you set up this engine to have a firebox flicker? Basicly I would like to know if the firebox light is on a seprate wire that can be accessed thru the decoder?

also is there a motor upgrade for this engine. Mine seams to slow drasticly when pulling a heavy train up any incline or in a curve. I know a loss of speed is normal but This engine will slow about 15 scale MPH and the chuff is way ot of time.

Thanks
Trent