I have seen them go around nine-and-three-quarter curves, but they do not look too good doing it. If you are running A-A or A-B-A, the body mounted coupler on the nose may derail cars on so sharp a curve. Eleven inches is better, but these things really do need fifteen inches or more to look and operate their best. The sharper the curve, the less tolerant the six axle trucks are of trackwork flaws.
The Kato E8 was my first real N scale engine when I got serious about Model Railroading in 1994. The first was a B&O. I now have an undec that someday will either be the BN exec unit or a CB&Q. I vote CB&Q, Tina wants BN. For those who don't know, Tina will win (she always does). Great runner and puller. I have the PA too that someday will be one of the D&H units.
AA set of CB&Q from 6/2000 run. ABA set of AT&SF from 6/2000 run. B undec from an early run. Considered for an MP conversion. All are A++++ Excellent. Only have run them on 12.5 inch or greater radius (Kato Unitrack of course ).
I have one that is BN, but I got the BLMA detail kit and the comuter decals on order and someday I will finish it all up. It is hands down one of the best running units I have ever had. kevin
They're pretty tough. My DCC'd Pennsy E8A took a 53 inch header to the floor (carpet). Lost a cast on grab and the rear coupler, but it still is probably my best runner.
I have a B&O AB set-up with an extra B unit. I also have both of the passenger car sets with lights. They run beautifuly. I'm looking for the other A unit so I don't wear down one set. RICK
Yes, both freight and passenger. I believe that Kato had this feature with both a "freight" and a "passenger" pilot on the E8/9s.
Fine locos My experience with my two Kato E8/9s is also very positive. They’re smooth running, powerful locomotives that run reliably and look great. My only complaint is that I’ve an A-A set (UP)… I’d love to have a B unit – yes, UP had them – but they’re hard to find and often very expensive. Those of you who have followed my Rio Grande-centric posts might be wondering why a D&RGW modeler would have a set of UP E8/9s. I also have a 12-car set of Kato UP smoothside passenger cars. Why? Simple: When the UP’s mainline is shut down due to a derailment, UP must abjectly beg the Grande to permit the City of San Francisco to traverse its Denver-Ogden trackage.* UP officials are required to fall to their knees and beg in order for this to happen. The train is limited to a maximum of 40 mph because the UP crews are, of course, unprepared for the special rigors of extreme mountain railroading. As the train goes by, D&RGW yard and MOW crew drop their work, and wave hello in a curious fashion that seems to involve only one of the available five digits. (Apologies to UP fans.) Best regards, Bryan Pfaffenberger Charlottesville, VA ----- *I don’t know whether this ever actually happened, but I do have evidence that the pre-1983 Amtrak California Zephyr, which was at the time routed through the UP’s trackage north of Colorado, traversed the D&RGW when the UP mainline was shut down.
Heres a good bit of information on the history of the EMD E- units: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_E8 Ernie
They are... If I can do it, anyone can! You just need a Digitrax DN163K0A. It takes 10 minutes, tops.
I'm still obsessing over the plows. I can't find a picture. The PRR engine pictured above has a passenger plow. The freight plow is an F unit type of plow with the "notch" around the front. I don't know why they were different. Freight plow.
Electro-Motive designed the E-units as passenger units. They had an A-1-A axle arrangment, which means one geared axle, one idler and another one geared. The purpose of the idler axle was to make them ride more smoothly. It also helped to spread out the weight a bit so that they could run on lighter trackage. The idler axle tended to diminish the tractive effort, but this was not that big a deal on passenger trains. As the railroads began to discontinue passenger trains in the 1950s, they found themselves with all of this surplus passenger power that was not quite old enough to trade in and that had few takers on the used power market. Thus, they began to put them to work as freight power. There is a well-known photograph of a Jade Green NYC E-7's pulling a freight train in Michigan in the 1960s. Their A-1-A axle arrangement was not the best for freight service. There were roads that had A-1-A cab units that they purchased as freight power. The NYCS had A-1-A trucked FM Eries and Baldwin babyfaces that it purchased for freight service only (it also had passenger versions of the same). In addition to the mechanical problems with them, the NYCS found that the diminshed tractive effort caused headaches. I do not know that any railroad ever toyed with the idea of giving them C-C trucks (two trucks, three powered axles on each). It would have required re-trucking, as the axle spacing on most C-C trucks is uneven, while the axle spacing on most A-1-A trucks is even. I do not know the reason for that, I suspect that it has something to do with the accomodation of either gearboxes or traction motors (or both) in the available space. Some roads did re-gear their E-units for freight, some simply left the passenger gearing and used them as freight power. They might have left them as-is to avoid spending too much money on something that was soon-to-be-retired anyhow. The only road that comes to mind that ever got decent freight service from A-1-A trucked power is the NYNH&H from its ALCo DL-109s. These were amoung the few passenger diesels that the War Production Board permitted to be constructed during the second war. The NYNH&H used them round the clock: by day the pulled passenger and troop trains; by night, freight. The profile and length of the NYNH&H do differ from those of the Southern. The Southern did have DL-109s. I do not know if it ever used them for freight. Walthers/LL does sell DL-109s in Southern. If the Walthers/LL E-units are any indication, the DL-109s should run and pull well. Con-Cor also sold DL-109s in Southern. The drive was similar to that of its PAs, FMs and E-units. They are pretty good pullers. If you get them with the earlier manufactured power chassis, they are much better runners. If you get some of later manufacture, the quality is inconsistent: some are excellent some ain't-so-good. The drive design was good for its time: the C-C PA was one of the few bright spots in early N scale power. The design is now dated, but it is still usable on to-day's pikes. When AMTRAK came, it did not take all of the passenger power owned by the various railroads. The B&O was one such road that suddenly found itself with a large number of E-units and no more passenger trains that required them. The B&O was still running commuters, but RDCs covered most of them. What the RDCs did not cover, torpedo boat GP-9s did. Thus, the B&O did use the E-units on frieght until retirement. From your screen name, I am assuming that you would be modelling an era when the Southern had just acquired the E-8s. The Southern did buy these things as passenger power. I do not know that the Southern ever used them for freight, but I would suspect that if it did, it would have been much later. The Southern did not go with AMTRAK until either 1979 or 1983 (I forget which), so it likely would have kept the E-units longer than most. Most roads did not use the E-units on freight trains until much later, so they would have had paint schemes from later eras (I do not know if the Southern ever changed the paint scheme on theirs).
I'm not sure if Southern had any B units. I think I read that a while back, but I don't know for sure. Maybe someone else can chime in.
