Well, today I got out my Athearn Big Boy, and I decided to try and see how slow it would go. I dropped the throttle as low as it would go and have the engine still moving, and started my stopwatch. It took exactly 5:57.3, or just under 6 minutes to go 9.75". I ran some calculations, and, assuming my math is correct, that's *approximately* .227 scale MPH! That's gotta be a record.
Well, whether or not it's a record, having an engine capable of that crawl would make me about the happiest person on earth! Boxcab E50
I know it's OT, but my new Atlas Shay was clocked at .37 smph on an old piece of test track on DC! Coming from an engine roster that's an average of 13 years old, I was floored to say the least.
So, I had an old Plymouth Switcher with a crawl scale speed of aprox 63.23. I couldn't even get past the first "click" and have it stay on the track. Actually, it was an old Arrora that was part of a collection I bought awhile back. It ran like a scalded cat. Then I found out later that it had a 6vdc motor in it :tb-ooh:. I guess that would do it.. :tb-wacky: All I needed was a ramp, and some school busses to line up for a cool show..
I used to have an old Atlas RS-3 (the old Kato-built version) that was so slow-speed I could hook it up to an old Railpower 1300 throttle, barely crack the throttle open, and watch the trucks creep from one end of the sockets on the frame to the other before the engine would move! I had built the original 3' x 6' layout in the Atlas Nine N-Scale Layouts book, I think they called it the Scenic and Relaxed. It was the one with the cookie-cutter top and the flex-track along the river edge. Anyway, from the underpass along the river to the curve around the end of the layout, roughly 4', took about 15 minutes at that speed! I never timed it (or if I did, I don't remember how long that was; after all, this is back in 1990-91, approximately), but it DID take what seemed like FOR-EVER! I eventually had two of those little suckers; a gray, undecorated one, and a black and red New Haven one. Pull all day, moderate loads, nover the fastest thing on two two axle trucks, but steady workers.
I have two of these waiting for TCS CN decoders. I agree; they were awesome performers. The exception back then, though. I have many more Trix and LL and Con-Cor engines from that era which could not compare.
Do you have any photo's of said Big Boy? Always been my favorite engine and even though I'm not modeling that region or era I will still probably pick one up at some point. Haven't seen any good, close up shots of the Athearn unit yet.
Oh my gosh, I totally forgot I posted this! Pardon my forgetfulness, Here are some pictures that I have taken of my loco. Please note one of these is with the drawbar broken. The backgrounds are rather unrealistic, but my living room with Unitrack is the only place I have big enough to run this beast until I get a new railroad built. I'm running DC with a MRC Trainpower 6200. The valve gear was adjusted while it was at Athearn, and I have been told that my particular model runs better than the Athearn Big Boys others have seen, so perhaps I have an unusual example. It does seem to run a little better after I got it back from Athearn. I have some others, if you'd like me to post them, please let me know, but I'm limited to four images per post.
Steam engines have a lot of dark colors in them, particularly the more interesting parts of the steam engines where the running gear is located. When you take a picture of one where the surroundings are brighter, the extra light from the steam engine's surroundings causes the exposure control of the camera to leave the interesting parts of the steamer too dark to see clearly. Notice how the wheels are clearer to see in your second picture than in your first? Next time you take a picture, try doing something to the surroundings of the steam engine so the surroundings will not have bright colors. For example, you could put a black tee shirt on the rug, underneath your track. Even putting some gray cardboard there would help.
Carl, Thanks for the tips, I haven't taken the Athearn out for a real "photo shoot" yet, those were just some impromptu shots that I took. I'll have to break out my DSLR and take some "real" photos of it and let you all see what it really looks like. Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it! I'll try the black tee shirt idea!
