texmaster

Thanks for the update Ray! I'm really interested in this add on to my TIU so can't wait to see some reviews!

ok thank you. I will probably sell the aristo for a stronger MTH engine but I will work on the leveling.

Glad you set me straight then Considering the age of the MTH locos with PS2.0, where should I be looking for them? Its not ebay. Well then perhaps I should talk to you about prices

This was years ago I think about 5 or 6 years that the dealer who sold me one of the at the time new PS2 gave me a charger and said I had to keep it plugged in because the battery would run out and it would have to be reprogrammed. I know your knowledge is extensive so I have no trouble bowing to your widsom on this issue Who can do this? I'm in Dallas which only has a single MTH authorized dealer in the middle of nowhere out of town and they can hardly fill orders much less repairs. Gotcha. So you drill your own holes as well I would imagine?

Thanks very much I will probably end up selling the Aristo engine. Its only got about 10 hours on it anyway.

Yes I am. I recently bought some larger MTH cars. In total I'd like to be able to pull at least 5 large cars with a caboose with whatever engine I end up with. MTH is what I have the most of anyway in o guage. Don't really want the dual engines so probably going back to MTH is a good idea but I wanted to avoid the protosouind 2.0 engines because if memory serves, they can loose their memory if not constantly plugged in correct? MTH just doesn't have many steam locos that are 3.0 and under 1000 that I could find. I'm willing to go about 500 on the engine but no more consider how sparingly it will be used. How do you body mount your Kadee couplers directly to the cars? Jbweld?

I'm an O guage fan but every year for Halloween we put out a G guage train for the kids and every year they love it more and more. The problem is the engine I have is an Aristo Kraft engine which looks great but it can't handle ANY and I mean any inclines or declines in the track. Its so weak I can only hitch on 2 or 3 cars at max or it can't make some of the turns. Now I really try to even out the track but the ground is very unforgiving. In the past if I put it on the ground the kids would get into the yard and knock it over so I bought some adjustable stands to raise it off the ground and away from tiny hands. My first question is should I be looking at another engine or are these things able to fit in larger more powerful engines to get better traction and if not, what kind of engine should I be looking at? I really want to keep with steam locos. My other issue is the cars. I've got a mix of new MTH cars and Aristo cars The problem is they do not play well together. The couplers are not the same height so I've thought about going with some Kadee magnetic couplers but how do you handle the issue with the height being off? Sorry for all the questions but I dont want to spend another hour trying to level off the track and not be able to use all the cars as I did again this Halloween. Here is a short video of the track and the layout. Its about 18x8.

Sorry, I meant I'm replacing the plastic wheels with metal.

what kind of weights should I add to the engine?

I agree with this timeline. It was almost 2 years from my pre order of an HO big boy from MTH a few years ago

I honestly don't know. This is the transformer I'm using. Should I pick up another one? Like this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/PIKO-TRANSFORMER-POWER-PACK-WITH-CONTROLLER-WIRE-G-Scale-HO-NEW-/351239932557?hash=item51c7880a8d

appreciate all the advice folks. I've also heard that replacing the plastic wheels on the cars with metal would improve performance. Is that true?

Sorry I wasn't clear. When the engine has to fight a small elevation the wheels slip.

Hi folks, I have an Aristo Craft CLASSIC C-16 WOOD RIO GRANDE PACIFIC SLOPE engine that I use at halloween to pull a small amount of cars with some halloween items. The kids love it but this engine struggles to get around the track so I've been looking for a locomotive with a stronger engine to get it around the track and wondered what I should be looking at. Definitely another steam loco. I've heard LGB is a good brand but how can you tell with all the different models what would be stronger than the engine I currently have? Here is a video to help demonstrate what I'm talking about. Not looking to break the bank either. 300-400 is really about as high as I want to go.