I suspect B&M "overbuilt" during the latter 19th and early 20th centuries, especially in New Hampshire, because they were offering the only transportation in a rugged country. It was very difficult for folk to receive the necessities of life and to travel during the six months of snow and mud seasons 100 years ago. Face it, most of New Hampshire is lousy country for farming anything except Granite, so folk needed to get their goods from Massachusetts or even (shudder) Connecticut, especially in winter. Richard, thanks for the info. I hadn't realized the "Rut Milk" (as the NY Central called it) had such heavy power. I guess I should have known, considering the Corkscrew's profile going south out of Bennington. First it crossed Rte 9, then started climbing through a 180 degree curve to the right, straightened out to cross 9 again, then a 135 degree climbing curve to the left around the Bennington Battle Monument, before yo-yoing up and down around Mt. Anthony and the 7 miles to Hoosick, NY, finally dropping a couple of hundred feet down to Petersburg Jct where it crossed the B&M Fitchburg Division and the Hoosick River. I'm thinking that maybe these last few posts should be transferred to the the Fallen Flags, Ghost Forum.
Richard, are you aware that Ken (BoxcabE50) has posted a bunch of Rutland orders on the Fallen Flags/Ghost Forum? http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=79318
Mine runs fine - so far What a looker! I, too, just got my MP mogul - SP with Vandy oil tender - and so far it's a smooth runner. If you've just bought a vandy mogul, does yours have front and rear couplers mounted too high to mate? Does yours draw unusually high current? Any conductivity stutter going forward or reverse?
Mine runs fine - so far I, too, just got my MP mogul - SP with Vandy oil tender - and so far it's a smooth runner. If you've just bought a vandy mogul, does yours have front and rear couplers mounted too high to mate? Does yours draw unusually high current?
As I noted in one of the first posts, my 2-6-0 has a slight hitch. Other people seem to confirm this as well, along with a stalling problem. When I run mine upside down on the bench, it is very smooth, although if I loosen the bottom plate there is a slight wobble on the front driver pair. Nothing appears to be hitting or binding. However, when on the track, there is some jerkiness at some speeds, as noted also on the Atlas forum. I wonder if what we are observing is actually a contact problem and not something mechanical in the motor and drive train? The traction tires might possibly be just high enough that contact by the drivers is ever so intermittent at certain speeds. Another piece of evidence is that my loco runs very smoothly in reverse, with no hitch whatsoever. Any ideas out there?
Strange how these perform so differently from one another. Mine is mechanically very smooth (almost as smooth as my original-version ConCor Hudsons), but has a conductivity stutter in reverse (and possibly forward - needs more testing). Since it stutters in certain layout locations, I cleaned the track - got slight improvement, but stutter still there. I then cleaned all drivers and wheels with a WetOne. Little more improvement, but still the stutter. Since all track on my Siskiyou Southern is super-elevated - and the stutter occurs on curves - I'm thinking the problem has to be broken connectivity. I need to test, pulling a train, but both the Unimat (?) and Rapido couplers were too high to mate with rolling stock. My model currently is across town at MicroTrains where the R&D guys are playing with couplers. One of you posted that the MT1023 snaps right into the tender spot, but this doesn't work with my SP vandy tender - need a shorter draft box, and that's what MT is playing with. This was gonna be my 'dream machine' - I'm disappointed to learn from your posts that MP seems to have such design and QC problems. Many years ago, with better eyes and hands, I'd have relished the opportunity to debug this beautiful little loco. I guess perfect-out-of-the-box was too much to hope for.
I think about every steam engine I own runs better in reverse. I took advantage of that when I kit bashed this engine. :teeth:
Russell, NICE cab forward!! You know, even though I am not in N anymore I watch the forum closely One reason I eventually left N is because I could not get a smooth running steam engine for a reasonable price. Unfortunately it sounds like things have not changed much... John
I ended up taking the traction tires off of my NP Mogul. It runs like a swiss watch now and doesn't stall. For some reason the traction tires were causing it to teeter totter on switch frogs. It will still pull a 15 car train, so I don't miss the tires.
Bill, the tired wheels that I've seen have a groove for the tire to ride in. How did you compensate for, or fill that groove when you removed the tires?
Hank: I've run CC GS-4's and 4-6-4's without traction tires. The CC steam loco's actually run better without the tires. There is no need for any compensation. Now with a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0, that's another story. If that loco throws a traction tire, it wobbles like crazy. Stay cool and run steam......
I just left the groove there, and have no problems. I agree with Bob, on the CC units. I removed the tires from my S2 Northern and it runs a lot better. I did leave them on my 2-10-2 however.
Bill: The heavy weight of the cast boiler on the 2-6-0 probably keeps the loco from eccentric movements without the traction tire. The same holds true with the large CC steam loco's. Conversely, the relative light weight of the Spectrum 2-8-0 causes eccentric movements of that steamer with the loss of a traction tire. Stay cool and run steam....
Bill, no stalling at all? By any chance, have you operated it through banked curves after taking off the TTs? When mine stalls, it tends to be on a super-elvated curve. No difference forward or reverse - no stalling either direction? Thank you - this sounds encouraging for those willing to give up pulling power for smooth operation. Does yours draw higher current than other steam models? Scott
I was going to post that the hitch in this one's get-along is, in fact, a conductivity problem. I watched mine carefully at thirty-five SMPH and could tell that the flywheel was carrying it until conductivity was re-established. It appears that everyone has found that the traction tyre has compromised the electrical contact. This is a strong argument for an all-wheels live tender. It still needs the traction tyre, but a half-wheel live tender is insufficient to maintain proper electrical contact. I am going to try a Kato USRa Standard on this.
Don't forget the Bachmann trucks on their new engines like the Consolidation and Mountain. They are very similar to the Kato trucks with all wheel pickup. I used some on a recent tender conversion and had excellent results.
I totally agree with Russ. The Bachmann Spectrum tender trucks are excellent substitutes for the Kato tender trucks. Stay cool and run steam....
