So, it still qualifies for the 'avoid unless desperate' category. Fine. I'm not desperate! Regards, Pete Davies
It is not an Atlas, but it is a good engine for the price. As Daniel noted, it weighs in heavy for a switcher, and if you are not concerned about DCC, it is worth considering at this price
Did CB&Q really have any of these? That seems like an anachronism. Another Con-Cor foobie scheme, perhaps? Did they also make a Smokey the Bear one? All snark aside, I am looking at maybe getting one or two of these. I have hacked in all sorts of decoders now into all sorts of other things, so why not try this one, too. What gives me pause are the truck mounted couplers. I dislike truck mounted couplers very strongly. I am fine hacking one up and putting in a real pilot and the whole bit, but since I don't have the end of one to look at I cannot reasonably determine ho possible that is and then determine from that how likely I am to bother. Another part of me is saying I should just chase down a couple Arnold S-2s and put my energy into those.
Looking at Spookshow's entry on these I can see two things. I was afraid that truck mounted coupler meant horrible wide open pilot. I see that is not the case. The other thing is that the photo with the shell off leads me to wonder whether a TCS CN series decoder could work here with some minor mods to the frame. Has anyone tried this. Is that the decoder you were using, hoyden?
(chuckling) This is what I call the Bachmann EMC Doodlebug effect. I picked up a couple of those last year for around 30 each and put in my own decoders and still came out ahead.
Yep, I was using the CN. It worked up right up to the momement when the smoke got out, so I think the installation is feasible. I will eventually do the postmortem and hopefully find out why it died.
It could be as simple as a motor isolation issue. I smoked a decoder once when I had missed isolating the motor from the frame in one small location. I am curious to see what you come up with on your post-mortem.
No, BN got their 4 from Frisco. Also the MP-15 wasn't build until 1974, and BN was formed 1970, so CB&Q could never have any
Anyone know if you can put the Atlas shell on the drive of the Con-Cor offering, save for the mods that would be necessary due to the truck-mount couplers?