Will, Is it the new Rivarossi drive or the old Rivarossi drive???? The new drive has the motor in the boiler, and its unseen in the cab, the old drive is in the cab, and sticks out the opening between the cab and the tender. Depending on which one you have, the new drive will pull more then the old will. I got a new drive 2-8-8-0 EL-5 (B&O), and it will easily pull 35 to 45 cars up a 1% to 1.5% grade so i'm guessing a Big boy should pull more unassisted. The older Rivarossi Big Boy I have, and it will pull that same amount on level track, and about 10 cars less on a the same grade, 1% to 1.5%. If you got the old one don't run it till the motors warm almost hot it will ruin the power it has after so long!!! I know I had to repower 2 of the ones I have. But the one thats still original runs just as good as it always has but just gets hot...... Its allowed to though, the date of manufacturing on it is the year of 1960!!!! its an oldie but a goodie!!!!!! At 41 years old and still runs good! I just keep my eye on it when I run it. And so far so good! Hope this helps to answer your question...... Also, if yours gets hot be carefull it can be a total lose if so... The heat will melt the cab if its an old one. On all my new Rivarossi stuff I have yet to see or feel it get hot!!! And I run 'em long and hard, and never once did the new Rivarossi break a sweat!! And ask 6206_S1a, I run them at shows in Meyersdale for 8 to 10 hours a day!!!! And hes even checked and they only get about luke warm!!!! I believe it amazed him for the fact of the over heating on Rivarossi locomotives!!!! But alot take it that the old ones did it and the news will too, so far I haven't had that problem. [ 12 April 2001: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ] [ 12 April 2001: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
Will, The new drive with the flywheel and the 5 pole motor should pull great!!!! just as I said in the post I put up last before this one its a good puller.
Gs-4 I like the SP gs-4s. Cool Double headlights,great streamline look , with great paint scheme. I also Forget 3 truck shays because it interests me how they work
NYC Niagaras and UP FEF-3s. Northerns always have the most balanced proportions, and these are the cleanest-looking unstreamlined Northerns. Otherwise, I tend to like steam that's massive, cluttered, or both. NP Challengers (EDIT: Sorry, link broken) and Yellowstones http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/tr_np5005.jpg are masive, and Alleghenies are certainly both. Rio Grande K-28s aren't large, but they are compared to their gauge, and have a more interesting look than other Rio Grande engines. But the C&O 2-8-8-2 http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/co1584.jpg manages a perfect "everything and the kitchen sink" look. It's so crazy it's wonderful.
I'm partial to the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific 200's. These Mallets were among the largest locos on planet Earth when built, exerted an unheard-of 76,000 pounds of TE on an 0-6-6-0 arrangement, and were a mainstay of Rollins Pass power from the day they entered service in 1908/9. Next are the D&RGW L-131 class 2-8-8-2's. Known for their voluminous couds of acrid coal smoke, they were powerhouses, and were among the last steam to operate on D&RGW mainlines. The UP 800-class FEF-3 4-8-4's and the 3975-3999 series Challengers are also a favorite. The 800's were smooth-riding, steamed easily, and look great with "elephant ears" smoke deflectors. The GN 2-6-8-0's are so odd, they are cool. I don't know much about them, but with them being uncommon, they are a favorite. The S2-class 4-8-4's on the GN are classy machines. Glacier Green boiler jackets, tall drivers, and Rocky on the tender flanks made these special.
My favorite steam Loco has always been the DM&IR Yellowstone. It took me many years to find a good representation for the layout. This one is really sweet. It can just creep along. It is a can motored Westside Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Yellowstone.
My favorite, all-time steam locomotive is Northern Pacific 2626, not only because it is the earliest locomotive that I can actually recall seeing but as a ten year old, I was trackside at Seattle's King Street Station and saw it leave on its last run with a charter, around May of 1957. I am just beginning the laying out of a diamara of No. 2626 leaving the station. There will be the figure of a boy sitting on a tie railing next to a small parking lot, watching the steamer as it prepares to leave. That would be me.
I guess you know that 2626 was originally the "Four Aces," number 1111, built for the Timken roller bearing company by Alco Schenectady in 1930. She was a rolling advertisement for Timken, roller bearings all around. :tb-biggrin:
I do indeed. Thanks. Having such an interest in that particular locomotive caused me to go back and read the history of how it demonstrated all across the country, eventually coming to the Northern Pacific. Somewhere along way, the crownsheet was damaged with NP repairing it. Later it was purchased by Northern Pacific, and was classified as A1, the only locomotive in its class. I distinctly remember being somewhat intimidated by it, mostly because of its size. As a small child, even though I was fascinated by steam engines, I didn't want to get too close. What did I think it was going to do...? Anyway, I made up my mind that I wanted to be as close as I could when it pulled out of the King Street Station and although I was only 10 years of age, in spite of the fact that it's been 51 years ago, I remember it like yesterday. Trivia: The NP already had a locomotive numbered 1111, an 0-6-0 switcher, that worked out of Everett, Washington. I think it belonged to the L7 or L8 class.
Larry, the SP&S 700 is basically the same locomotive, and looking back through this thread, I mentioned it but didn't post a photo. Here is one from that trip back in 2001 mentioned way back on page one of this thread, many years ago.
0-8-0 awwww man do we have to choose? All righty, for me it's always been switchers. Tank switchers and other small wheel base steamers. All time fave is the 0-8-0. Got one in HO scale. I sort of switched scales based solely on being able to own a beautiful replica of the 0-8-0 made by Life Like. Of course then I just became a super rubber scaler. I kind of want one in O scale now. Maybe Atlas will make one some day to add to their new line of O steam. I also wouldn't mind an N scale one, but none of my other N scale steam does well on my sometimes questionable trackwork so it would be my only steamer after I sell off all my N steam engines.
Thanks Fitz, Those Hill lines shared a lot of locos in common, including the NP and SP&S Challengers. Unfortunately, I rarely ever saw anything from the SP&S unless we went to Portland or Spokane. Although it reads "Seattle" in the SP&S name, the road never came our way.
I would have to say the #6 shay at Cass , cause it's a former Western Maryland and the largest shay built .
Having had the honor and privilege during volunteering one summer and shoveling coal into her, I'd have to say, Frisco 1630. She makes her home at the Illinois Railway Museum and is being re-assembled after her required boiler inspection.
One, no two of Seaboard Air Line's Q-3 Mikados on the business end of a fast perishable. Gnarly, border-line ugly with what we called "flying" pumps hung on the front end, low head lights, short coal hauling Vandy tenders and - fast.
