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Found 7 results

  1. I am a big fan of German steam engines, it seems that a reasonably priced mid size model has finally come into fruition from Piko. However I run all DCS and would like this to do that as well. The 'base' model is DCC ready, I want to take out that and convert it to PS3. Has anyone gotten one of these or opened up other Piko European steam engines that would know if its possible or If there is even enough room in it to do that? https://www.piko-america.com/products/37240-dr-iv-br50-reko-steam-locomotive-g-scale
  2. Hot off the press... the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, MO has just announced that the N&W 2156 will be leaving and headed to Roanoke for 4months to 5 years. Where that engine currently is located will take some effort to get out and that is no short haul. This has to be for evaluation for eventual restoration. Perhaps there are other possible reasons but it's hard to see why else they would go through this much effort to relocate it. This could be outstanding news! I guess Norfolk Southern won't be outdone with a 4000 running the rails in the west. Pray that we see the 2156 restored to operation. Here is some Y6 action at it's finest:
  3. Photo Credit: William G. Gordon Collection. Photo showing the Norfolk and Western Y6b Class #2177 with an eastbound train passing milepost 385.5 in Northfork, West Virginia on January 3, 1959.
  4. Hi guys, In 1989, I went to the old HL Child & son's shop in Northhampton, MA on our annual trip there during Valentines Day Weekend. It used to be a huge hobby shop that had lots of G scale trains, plus all the other scales, and dolls, etc.. That year, I was shocked to see 4 Lionel large scale Atlantics on the wall, and for something like $189 a piece. Great Northern, Chessie Steam Special, NYC, and Santa Fe. After some deliberation, I plunked down all my Christmas and Birthday money for the Great Northern locomotive. I was amazed at the detail (this was 1989), and couldn't wait to run it. At that time, all I had was LGB: Stainz, a 2060 diesel, and the 2017D stainz-american. Those engines would handle about a half dozen of the LGB 2 axle cars I had on hand with the standard 4' dia curves with ease. Never had any issues with them. When I got the Atlantic out, and it dwarfed the other engines, I was super excited. Then, I applied power, and was underwhelmed. This big engine could barely handle the lone 3080 passenger car I had (the LGB 4 axle western car). Forget trying to run up any sort of a grade. And then, to add insult to injury, the locomotive stopped running forward. So, I sent it back to the shop for repair. 6 weeks later, the engine was returned to me, repaired. This time, I was more careful, but still managed to mess something up with regular 12 year old running. After the second failure and only about a week of actual play time with the engine, we took it back and turned that locomotive in to three aristo cars, an LGB combine, and a half circle of 1500 curves. But, after seeing how George Schreyer modified his to be a more consistent runner, I've been tempted to get another engine for short passenger trains. I've been able to resist the ones that show up periodically on eBay. Today, I got another 4-4-2 notice from ebay for one and it rekindled my interest. How may of you have had these engines and did some minor modifications make these in to reliable runners?
  5. Found a nice looking LGB Mallet while visiting Denver this past weekend. I didn't realize when I bought this that it's no longer in production but the car to match it are extremely hard to find. I was wondering what you gentlemen feel would be a good match for this locomotive that is still available. I would like to keep the German theme for this one consist.... Appreciate your looking... Charles P.S. Bought it at Caboose Hobbies .... Nice folks!
  6. Guys, I've been quietly watching the Piko G scale offerings improve over the last 2-3 years. Granted, their initial starter sets seemed chinsy and I've not been over excited about their apparent re-issue of old MDC stock. The mogul/switcher with sound and improved wheels was a nod in the right direction, while keeping the price point reasonable. (I view the new Piko 2-6-0 / 0-6-0 as a step up from the LGB 2-4-0s of 10 years ago, but targeting that same demographic). In the past year, however, I have to admit that Piko appears to be serious about G-scale. Their huge Crocodile is just a beastly looking machine. The HSB diesel reminds me of an elephant, but it is reasonably like what I saw at the HSB last September. The TEE is an impressive train, too. Despite all of the above, I've not really been overly excited about Piko. Until I saw this: a video of their newest steam engine: Now, besides the fact that Drew Carey has apparently quit his job as a comedian and has moved to Germany to head up a model train company, this looks like a really nicely made, well detailed, and smooth running steam locomotive. There was another video posted showing this engine running with two coaches and a goods wagon. Watch this: When the locomotive is in the tunnel, you can see that there are lights under the running boards at time 2:40. All I can say is 'wow'. Watching the video to the end, it appears our fellow modeler has some full size switch throws in his operating room, or at least some good video editing skills. I also note that the 3 axle passenger cars look to be well done as well. I wonder if they will utilize this chassis to create a similar locomotive for the north american market. While the Prairie type did not see widespread use, there are specific examples who did, ATSF comes to mind. The valve gear and drive rod detail appears to be very well made. In my opinion, that's what makes or breaks a steam engine model. In any case, the initial offering price from any number of our favorite retailers appears to be less than $600. Not bad, considering that altertnative locomotives like this are either Maerklin or Aster or huge $$$. Anyone else excited to see well made steam returning to G-scale?
  7. Hi all. Two updates here. Over the weekend, I installed the aristocraft Revolution in an old Kalamazoo 4-4-0 and installed one of their new recievers with sound in an old FA. FA: I had already wired this locomotive for Revolution, and had recently removed a Phoenix 2k2 board. One of the original Revo recievers was still in place, and I simply removed it, along with the 6-capacitor board. I inserted the new reciever, and hooked up the speaker wire. Now, on this specific FA, I am driving both the A and B units with a single reciever, along with two speakers. I fired up the engine without the B unit first, and the sound was simple and worked as expected. Longer running on the mainlines with both units hooked up and full volume resulted in some choppiness to the sound. WHen I reduced the volume, this seemed to go away, or maybe I couldn't hear it anymore. EIther way, I'm satisfied with the new unit and I like that I no longer need to add an external 6 cap board. There are two caps on the new revo. This is for getting over the minor disruptions between the track and the reciever. The only thing I really would like them to change is the horn. It blows a set number of toots, 5, and I'd rather be able to control how long the horn blows. But, that's a minor thing. I kind of like that my son can't hold the button down for lap after lap after lap!! 4-4-0: This was more tricky. I had to disassemble the entire locomotive and motor block. There is a brass contactor bus bar that is used to power the motor directly from the rails. I cut the pieces of the brass that connect to the motor. THen, I drilled holes through the step in the cab for a 4 wire connector to go through. The motor got two wires and the power pick up got two wires. I haven't wired up the headlight yet, but eventually I suppose that I will. It might have been better if I had used some sort of slip on connectors, but I simply soldered the wires to the motor. The power pick ups each were soldered as well. The sound and control went in the tender. I used the non-plug and play board (with screw terminals) that came with the new REVO installed in the FA. I also had to use a PWC to Linear board to make the Sierra sound system work. Because there's not much room in the tender, I used Duct tape to hold everthing in position until I could get the cover back on. I'm using a reed switch for the chuff, and that's located on the lead tender truck. The 4-4-0's motor (made in USA!) is rated for 12v. Since I run track power (24v), I've limited the maximum on the Revo transmitter to 50. At this setting, the maximum voltage output is 12v, so we should be OK. Might be a little too slow for Luke, but I'll tell him the real 4-4-0s didn't go that fast, anyway. Modifications to the 4-4-0: - New lead truck from Hartland. - Replaced original small plastic tender wheels with bachmann metal wheels. - Modify the drawbar slightly. It was too high and the rear drivers were barely making contact with the track. - Because of the reed switch, I ended up putting washers under the bolsters so that the truck can swing freely. - New spoked drive wheels from HLW. - New straight stack (coal fired locomotive) - All new blue and silver paint scheme. My son turns 5 on Friday and he wanted a blue steam engine. I got it working late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, and am now just finalizing the paint details. I will have photos and perhaps videos to post after this weekend. I'm hopeful that he likes it.
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