Not at all. With a few exceptions, reviving any open topic here is good. It can often be quite interesting to see how newer developments have an impact on the original discussion.
thank you for the encouragement. i am also keen to know the dia of the wheels on the 1973 or 1997 runs of these locos, and i think the same mech was used under the con cor gas turbine as well. the spookshow site mentioned they had a scale 48" wheels so 7.6mm diameter. on an update, i believe con cor announced that these locos were to be rereleased, in well, about now, really, ie, end of 2013. however it is the older versions that i am interested in. benjamin
I have two of the Con Cor U50B's. They are the best pullers on my railroad. The will pull 450 grams (16 ounces) up a 3 percent grade easily. I contribute this the the gigantic metal casing aroung the drive mechanism. That is the equivelant of seventeen 50 foot cars. I have not tested them to see hove much they can pull before the start to slip.
I purchased two of the Con Cor U-50s in the 1975-76 time frame. My interest was in steam locomotives, but when I saw one these on a club layout, I could not resist. At that time Con Cor offered undecorated shells which I purchased and painted/lettered for B&O. I have not run them since going dcc. Would like to see the new released promised by Con Cor; has to be dcc ready or dcc dual. Would be nice with sound, too.
I bought an undec at a train show in the mid 80's.I'm lucky in that,even though I'm nowhere near UP or SP territory,I can still run them.GE used to test them in the mountains here on the EL,some made it into Scranton..They ran them in primer,mine is just gray primer with "7000",on the cab in black,I've seen video of one just like it..
I was really impressed by how smoothly these U-50 ran at very slow speed when I saw one on the Urbana, IL club layout back in the early 1970s.
Has anyone talked to a Con-Cor rep about the new run of U50/GT models? I wonder if they're still dealing with the Chinese factory kerfuffle or if the project has been cancelled entirely? We're way past the revised ship date of "late 2013". I do recall sending them an email query a while back, but never did get a reply. Cheers, -Mark
When Concor announced that they were rerunning them (with DCC friendly frames) I sold mine. That was 4+ years ago and they still aren't out yet. I've made fun of the 'shipping late 2013' comment more than once here (it has also been shipping summer 2012, fall 2011, and several other dates). With Concor, release dates are more of a guess that a goal. They advertized that they were coming out with a Cab Forward for years before Intermountain released theirs. I don't know how they stay in business...
Sadly, regardless of China, C-C has a long time track record of items announced, then never materializing or taking long years.
I agree without any hard data to document it, Con Cor seems to be infamous for announcing items in n-scale that do not materialize. I have seen this since 1973-74 when I started modelling in n-scale, i.e. returned to model railroading. I was a "fan" and purchased the annual catalogs. If I saved any they must be with the other fairy tales and children stories.
I have three of the U50's from both versions. They will pull 450 grams (14 ounces) up my 2.93 percent grade at half throttle like they have nothing behind them. I have never tested what the maximum train weight would be before they stalled. Ira
Forgot to mention that these will run just fine on my Atlas code 55 rail. Even for 70's technology NO pizza cutter flanges.
Con-Cor was a pioneer with small flanges. The original PA-1, released in 1967, had/has flanges which worked/work on any trackwork. Same with the Sekisui cars. I believe all of their equipment has always had flanges of about .025" Doug
One advantage the U50 has is the long wheel base. Where shorter engines stall on switches the U50 goes right through.