That's a shame that they got cancelled. There have been releases I was excited to see in the past that also have been cancelled. In O scale fairly recently, it has become pre-order it or risk not getting it.
I hope all the Dash 8 schemes make it. I should have pre-ordered more.
My scratch building in the spring also goes into slow motion. There's too much else to do. Like a switch being thrown, it will be too hot to do some things. Then, we can go back inside and fiddle some more. Just set your goals and keep the ship pointed towards the goal.
Soon we will be back raking leaves and preparing for the snow. So enjoy!!!
I ran into my first Dash 8 having a gear box issue. It's a used CP 6 axle engine and I have no idea of it's history. There was plenty of grease in the gearbox yet the very front axle needed some lube at the bushings. Not enough wear to cause the noise. I powered up the engine laying upside down and found the issue. I could grab that very front axle and make it stop. That would yield a large clicking sound while the motor was running. I could not spin that axle and all the gear box screws were tight so I went inside. I could see minor evidence of the wear of the idler slipping while the motor's worm gear spun. If I pressed down on the top of the motor it seemed to be enough to get the gears to mesh. So I created a plastic half-moon shaped shim with a thin flat top that sits on the front motor cover. It gets pressed down when the gear box cover goes on. It's enough that now the axle does not slip anymore.
I can only guess at what happened. There is big evidence of this engine being worked on by someone. They didn't know enough to disconnect the handrails from the cab. There's all sorts of evidence of that from one having the whole end broke off. Another elongated the cab hole severely. The front grab is missing on one side too. So I don't know when that occurred? Maybe the owner tried going inside for the gearbox noise? Or maybe it happened for some other reason? Maybe the gearbox cover at one time was left loose?
I also happened to find a brush had broken free from it's wire. That allowed it's spring to contact the axle gear and wore the spring severely enough to cut it. I re-soldered everything back and should replace that whole set-up when I do the next service. The engine overall is in good shape, minus the abusive workmanship. It doesn't show signs of big usage and looks like a newer model PS2 with polarity switch. MTH site shows it's 2005
I'll have to keep an eye on how it runs. I didn't see any special reason why this occurred. I can only think that the box had too much play, or the cover was left loose at some point? So keep the boxes tight and lube the axles!
Thank you for posting this. Very sad day. I had hoped it wasn't true. We all have to go someday. It's sad when we lose great people. He helped this hobby immensely. Very nice person to chat with. I have pictures somewhere on an old computer that crashed. I'll have to see if I can retrieve them.
Trainworld had Mike Wolf from MTH trains interview on their facebook page this morning live from the York show. He stated that the dash 8 6 wheel trucks were delayed for some type of motor life testing issue that it now passed. G scale is at about the 14 min mark.
It was interesting that just before the 11 min mark, he stated that the newest SD70ACE painted for UP honoring veterans, would be highly desired by the G scale crowd. I'm not sure if that was just to tease us?
He also talked about the new gauge one GS4 having modifications to the frame, front truck, etc. as well as the new features. He said it's around 3 months out still.
here he says about G scale being a small niche market at the York show TCA announcements booth. He has drawings for a future diesel!!!
15:50 into the video he speaks about the one gauge future releases.
Wire is sized by the length and the current. Being so short, the length isn't much concern. So size it for the current, and then some extra cap. 18 would be fine for a single engine. 16 Maybe 2?
As for the connectors, I would suggest that on the output sides, if the connector came unplugged the ends shouldn't short. So at the engine/tender for example, use some type of female. Maybe better, to add some type of fuse?
There's so many connector types to choose from that could handle that current.
Just to clarify my previous statement, the motors run with lower current draw under the control of a decoder (cooler and smoother!). I did not compare all brands myself. I did measure the USA Trains SD40-2 under conventional vs. using the NCE decoder I had. I also looked at it now using the MTH PS2 decoder that's currently in it. Both use about the same current draw.
I had clicked your sales page link on the home page to see if you had the new dash 8s or anything new. I check it regularly after missing out on a few engines.
It's good using the MTH cars as they roll well and are light. Some others stuff in 1/29, need modifying.
I would still recommend the track being elevated at the bottom if possible and some type of "Horseshoe curve" or Tehachapi Loop to get down lower to the final grade. I believe most here with experience would recommend staying well under 3% to avoid headaches. I tried it and ran into all sorts of issues like couplers failing, trains breaking apart, and even string lining. Don't even think of backing or pushing the train upwards!
Smooth trackwork and slight even grades make life better. If you can't do it, then you can't. Just do what you can to help yourself to smoother running.
I have to think that even the battery life will be much shorter. To bad they don't self recharge going back downhill!
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Track video of my railroad
in Track & Layout
Posted
Whoa! Nice RR. Thanks for sharing.