Q. for Joe. Will MT do steam again?

Sorry if this has been answered before, but I was wondering if there is anything in the future works for MT steam? Obviously everyone in this group knows how much I enjoy the moguls that MT released a few years back. I have 2 of them and they look fantastic and with the Jorger run fantastic. They are pretty much the reason I got into Z scale. So I am just wondering...

 

Steamers

I've been knocking around some designs, but nothing offical at this point. I'm pretty much booked solid with the projects I have now, but I wouldn't count it out.

Joe

 

JoeS, would you please post a pic or two so i can see what it is i missed out on, and the sort of beautiful Z creation we may again see in the future.
Thanks
Eliot


Really hanging out for some affordable steam in Z.

 

I'll try, my computor is down and home and I can only get on at work. So I'll have to go home and copy a few to upload here. I never did the railimages transfer thing so I don't have any in the new railimages yet. However, if you go to the thread titled, your best photo that I started I have a picture of one of my moguls with a vandy tender.

 

Unless we get some weight in these steamers, I haven't been impressed with the pulling power. I'd like to be able to reliably pull at least 10 freight cars (of any variety) over typical module tracks. After seeing numerous x-6-x and y-8-y running, the 6's definitly pull better but still slip in many places.

It would be nice to get some extra traction out of a pair of 6 wheels, line a 4-6-6-2 or . . . but things get complicated with articulated trucks. Marklin has made it work but I think that they only drive on set anyway, like the AZL AC12. Maybe if a traction tire was placed on one of axle of the y-8-y. Don't think it is a good idea to put a traction tire on a x-6-x. How about knurling the wheels? (rough surface). Was tempted to try that on my throw away 2-8-2. Test it a few times before and after, excepting the reassembly and potential damage disassembling and reassembling. You can buy these $10 sand blaster kits from Harbor Freight and Micro-Mark.

 

Traction for Drivers!

Jeff,

I have wondered a few times, while reading peoples responses to traction tire posts, about what affect the drive wheels would have if they were knurled. Would a sand blasted wheel work or would that be tooo much, or not enough! Would the loco need more weight to make the sand blasted drive wheels grab the rail better? Lots of questions, but I think a curious course of action indeed.

Any takers on this topic? Anyone have the tools to try it out? Please post results for all eyes to see!

Hobo Tim

 

I'm surprised more folk have not cast white metal molds to be used on the existing Marklin steam chassis. They do a wide range of wheel arrangements and I am sure some of them must be reasonably close to at least *some* US locos, no ?

Ben

 

Jeff,
I have actually had some very good luck with MOST of my Mikados. I have pulled 11 FR two bay hoppers, 1 PZ hopper (conversion car) and a caboose for a few hours trouble free on DC ZBT modules at shows. With little modification (if anty) to the original 5 pole CB&Q Mik. I have also pulled 24 Full Throttle two bays, 1 PZ conversion car and a caboose on rough track with the same locs. I have been able to pull 30 FT 2 bays and a caboose reliably on level track. I will agree that the Pacifics do behave better in general. My Miks have about a 3 hour limit before they start to bind up and misbehave. I have noticed on a couple of my miks (the ones that don't perform as well) that only one or two sets of drivers actually rest on the track. If I set them on a flat surface, there is space under the drivers. I have not attempted to fix this, yet, since I have several that do not have the problem. The only things that I have done to the ones that perform well is made sure that the leading and trailing trucks were not lifting the loc. I also applied a small pewter reservoir to the pilot of each (it's a pennsy thing), but the weight is next to nothing.
Dan S.

 

I bumped up the thread of your best photo as I am still having computor troubles. Hopefully that will give you a good view.

 

Thanks John! I am having all sorts of computor problems at home. It is a real pain so at work I get on-line in short intervals which doesn't give much time to do things with photos and such.

 

Ha sounds like I have a similar problem. Right now the desktop is waiting for the service tech to show up, and the laptop is just not up to speed. I think we overloaded it. I just hope to get it fixed already.