I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on an EM-1 to kitbash into an AC-9. After being on the market now for a while along with operating on everyone's layout, how are they holding up and is one worth getting? The LHS also has a 3985 challenger and of course the new 844, neither of which is SP, but I may consider also. Opinions please...and also pics if anyone has one in AC-9 guise.
SPsteam, seek and you will find. I will post a picture and also a very short You Tube video that will show off the running characteristics of the EM-1 chassis. First however i will share my experience with the EM-1 that I have. I took it out of the box, placed it on the club layout and it ran like a KATO, very smooth, excellent slow speed, and basically hard to believe it was a B'mann. It ran, probably an hour and then bam. The crank pin on the second engine , fireman's side backed out and jammed up the valve gear and side rods. I attempted to fix myself but ended up sending to someone for repair. He did an excellent job on a very common (I'm told) B'mann problem. It now runs as well as ever and I still say "like a KATO". If you have time, look at my 7 minute video and you will see the smooth running and pulling power. In the vid. I only have 20 cars behind her and it is pulling up and around a mountain of 2% grade with no problem. I had tried it with a 40 car, double stack train, and it pulled that as well with some minor slipping. I just will not overload her anymore. Here is the video : Yes the boiler had to be re-set to level it off. http://youtu.be/0zJQ0X6cgfI Hope these help you in some way and thanks for looking. Oh, BTW,, I have another boiler, tender, and pilot casting to do a second one. This one will be better as I have learned quite a bit on my first ever bashing. Carl PS: you said you are not a UP man but that 844 is excellent runner and you could double head it with 4449 and the daylight cars and be very prototypical.
Sounds mostly good so far. Carl, how was the conversion process for you to build the AC-9? I think Jason has done a great job with his molds.
SPs - the conversion is rather straight forward. I cut off some of the cast on items, by mistake, so I tried to come up with my own version. the headlight is a good example and actually the backup light as well, so I made the headlight and put a pico LED inside of it, fixed a backup light and then didn't connect it. The hardest part that I ran into was the shaving of the mechanism to accept the casting. I do not have any milling equipment except a dremel and that is what I used. The front of the mechanism needs a little bit more shaved off to allow the boiler to sit lower. I added some pipe hangers and some extra piping in an attempt to detail it a little more. I am thinking seriously about taking it apart again and re-doing some of the detail work that I should have taken more time with. The railings on the large front porch are the 3rd set, before I was happy with them. I would like to remove the air tanks from the sides of the mechanism and add them to the under side of the running boards on the boiler, that way I can run piping from them to the compressors on the nose and other locations. By doing that I can remove the shell without having to fix the piping each time. It is not really that hard a project, but in my case I had never attempted to do such work and made a decision and commitment to myself to finish the job. I am happy with it even though I think I can do better. As I stated, I have the castings on hand to begin a second loco as well as having a mechanism to do an SP GS-1. Very rewarding feeling for me after completion Carl
This is my Youtube review of it. I have since added a Tsunami Heavy Steam decoder in the tender. Sounds awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlaqBupsTqs
