Loco Comments

I’m glad to see the Mantua 2-6-6-2 back on the market with some needed improvements particularly, the elimination of the traction tires. I have long considered them to be a substitute for good locomotive design.

Back when these locos first came out from Mantua they were an instant hit. I wound up doing some basic overhauls on a bunch of them — probably for anyone I knew that bought one. I must have caused a bit of a stir at Mantua’s parts dept when I ordered certain driver sets by the dozen. I found that there were drivers without the tires that matched the ones with. That, plus a 20x32mm can motor with flywheel, and PFM sound in most, became a popular upgrade.

I am also happy to see the upgrading to near scale standards of the O cars by MTH. These should be a boost to true O Scale as well as the Hi-Rail operators, since they provide for scale couplers. This has often been the hang-up in converting these fine models to scale operation.

Have you seen the new HOn3 K-27 from Blackstone Models? Even though I am in On3, I had to get one. The Tsunami sound is fantastic, even on plain DC. I need to get with someone with a DCC test track to really check it out. It looks like it came out of the same factory that does the Bachmann Spectrum On30 models, based on the packaging and paperwork.

Glenn Joesten
Yreka, CA

Howdy, Glenn! I don’t know about the source of the model, but we’ll be featuring the Blackstone K-27 in our August issue and our reviewer, Dave Otte, considers it to be possibly the model of the year! I guess you might want to tune in for that…. — John

Mysterious GG-1 #1

The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia had a GG-1 on display like the one described by Dr. Malyk (RPO May 2007). You can see it in the opening scenes of our free online video clip #28. Go to www.whistlestopusa.org, click our video page, and go down to The Franklin Institute. I checked our original production notes when we videotaped there 24 years ago, but it does not go into detail as to where it came from. Hopefully, the Museum still has it on display and they will be able help out.

Frank Bruno
www.whistlestopusa.org

Read on, Frank

Mysterious GG-1 #2

I received the latest Model Railroad News, and saw Dr. Malyk’s letter questioning the origin of his Standard Gauge GG-1. My father has a Tuscan version, and it was made by JAD Lines. JAD was a small cottage industry kind of operation. They made these GG-1s in the late 70s, early 80s. He also made a much more sophisticated 4-4-2 Hiawatha and train later. JAD stood for John A. Daniels, I think. He is no longer in business. Nice find.

M. Krope
Westchester, IL

Thank you, gentlemen, for epitomizing the helpfulness of our hobby. — John

Burning Daylight Question

In your June issue, pg. 17, Athearn announces Daylight Trains #98 & #99. In that article they make mention of coming out with an MT-4 to head up these trains. I hope they meant GS-4 and not MT-4.

Jim Hanna
Prescott, AZ

Hi, Jim. Yes, they do mean an Mt-4. The Mt-4s were not seen as often on the 98 and 99 trains but were frequent road power on the 51 and 52 San Joaquin Daylights and often double-headed with the Golden State GS locos. — John

Locating Diecast Model Cars

I am inquiring about the diecast models mentioned in the May 2007, Volume 13 Issue 5 magazine. I have searched for them in our areas stores and have not been able to locate them. Can you please help me?

Thanks for your time and effort.

Stan Moyer
Tuscaloosa, AL

Hi, Stanley. At this time, the Reel Rides diecasts are available only at selected Wal-Mart Super Centers. The following is a list of participating Wal-Marts in Alabama: 630 Colonial Promenade Parkway, Alabaster, AL 35007; 5919 Trussville Crossings Parkway, Birmingham, AL 35235; 5100 Highway 31, Calera, AL 35040; 2780 John Hawkins Parkway, Hoover, AL 35244; 5335 Highway 280 South, Hoover, AL 35242; 330 Sutton Road, Huntsville (E), AL 35763; 8551 Whitfield Avenue, Leeds, AL 35094; 685 Schillinger Road, Mobile, AL 36695; 5245 SER Road South, Mobile, AL 36619; 2181 Pelham Parkway, Pelham (N), AL 35124; 1903 Cobbs Ford Road, Prattville, AL 36066; 7855 Moffett Road, Semmes, AL 36575; 160 Springville Station Boulevard, Springville, AL 35146; 4538 US Highway 231, Wetumpka, AL 36092.

I am sorry, but none of them seem to be very near to you. It looks like the closest source is about 50-plus miles east of you. That’s the Wal-Mart Super Center at 2780 John Hawkins Parkway in Hoover. Take Interstate 20 East to Exit 106, Interstate 459 North. Take 459 North to Exit 10/Hoover and merge onto John Hawkins Parkway/Alabama 150. Hope this helps you out. — Bill

Who’s Leaving the HO Diecast Vehicle Market?

Heard a rumor on one of the boards that Boley is exiting the 1-87 diecast market. That would be a real loss for adding lots of parking lot models to an HO layout without breaking the bank. As a long-time HO modeler, I am reluctant to spend large sums for “scenic” items for the layout. I have items like Herpa trucks that I use up front and for photos, but things like the Boley trucks are certainly good enough.

Do you know if Boley owns the tooling, or is it possible someone else could pick up the line? Thanks for any info you might share.

John Soderquist
Bay City, MI

Hi, John. I hear all sorts of rumors about Boley and take them with a grain of salt. I haven’t heard anything official or even unofficial from Larry Alsman about any plans to leave the HO market. The same is true of Hongwell, which owns the tooling and is the actual manufacturer of the Boley models. Hongwell has its own HO line of European vehicles so it doesn’t look like they plan to drop the scale, either. Of course, things can change. Should Hongwell elect to leave the HO market, I would expect the Boley models to simply disappear; I don’t know of anyone looking to buy diecast tooling – most manufacturers have plenty of tooling of their own.

Looking at the larger picture, the entire diecast market is in a period of dramatic change. Material and labor costs are rising dramatically, the toy and diecast collector markets are not as strong as they once were, meaning the volumes are not as high. Low-cost diecast depends heavily on high volumes and mass distribution to survive and any problems with sales can be disastrous. Burago was liquidated, RC2 has dropped the Racing Champions line and is refocusing the Johnny Lightning line on the toy market rather than scale replicas: the list of companies having to make adjustments is quite long. Companies like Motormax and Malibu International are running on very thin margins and must raise prices and develop new lines to keep their factories running. Companies like Boley, which are identified with inexpensive models, may well be having trouble because some of the factors that worked for them in the past are now working against them. However, as I said, I don’t have any specifics that would indicate Boley is leaving HO scale. — Bill

Garden Scale Railroading — Inside!

This is an answer to your call in the June 07 editorial, asking garden railroaders to write in. Well, I’m not actually a garden railroader, I’m one of a small group that you left out. I model railroad in large scale but indoors, no garden. A piece on my model railroad will be in the next issue of the Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette (May/June 07). That article was written about two and a half years ago so there have been many changes and additions to my layout, but it does show that we large scalers can work indoors too.

I have enjoyed Model Railroad News for many years, and still do, but I do miss reading the large-scale news.

Bob Santos
Harrisburg, PA

About AMB’s New Tugboat

I just got the June MRN (and haven’t read it all yet) but I spotted the AMB barge item.

I was privileged to grow up atop the cliff (The Hudson Palisades) above the NYC’s Weehawken, NJ yard and pier complex in the 1950s and thus got to see scores of the various tugs, barges, lighters, etc. Later I moved to Jersey Central territory and saw many more through 1969 when I moved away.

The huge display layout built by Clark Dunham for the New York City “Citi-Group” display at Christmas has an HO portion of the Weehawken complex. Many scenes in the TV program (and now out on DVD) “Victory at Sea” show these barges, etc., as well.

You may — or may not — know that one of the NYC’s tall-stacked steam tugs is preserved in Cape Cod, MA. As of a few months ago it is still there and still being cared for. During its life as a “museum,” it has been a restaurant, a pie shop, and an ice cream store. I don’t know its present situation.

As a point of significance, this is the same tug that was used in the Barbra Streisand movie (either “Funny Girl” or “A Star is Born” — I forget which) in which she rides a tug out to a liner departing for Europe to catch up with her boyfriend. Lionel made a pretty good likeness of this tug — and ironically missed by one number the preserved boat [These tugs didn’t have names, only numbers]. Now it’s off to work; more MRN reading awaits this evening.

Herb Kern
South West Alabama Railroad Modelers
Mobile, AL

Engine Power Pickup Solutions Sought

Your review of Model Power’s reincarnated Mantua Logger in the May Model Railroad News had a couple statements that piqued my curiosity about additional improvements you suggested: “There are moderately-priced solutions that would give each (tender) truck four wheeled pickup,” and “...I have to favor a solution that would have all twelve drivers picking up power.”

Those words were very timely for ongoing improvements on my son’s Mantua 0-4-0 Pony locomotive. We recently replaced the original open frame motor with Mantua’s can motor in hopes of enabling the switcher to crawl along slower than its usual speedy rate (again, timely with your May editorial), and have been somewhat successful. But we haven’t yet improved the electrical pickup, which can be balky for such a short wheelbase loco. When we have the engine running more reliably, it will have a simple Lenz decoder installed so it can run with our simple MRC Command 2000 DCC system.

Can you point to where we can investigate dual sided tender pickups and modifications for all driver pickups for this engine? Our previous searches have come up empty. We hope to restore “Ol’ #1” to its proper rotation on our tiny layout’s roster and any information is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Bill & Will Gill
bill.gill1@worldnet.att.net (not a live link)

Request for DCC System Comparison

I have been reading your column on DCC from the beginning. I have found it to be informative and I like the way you break the subject down into easily digestible bites. I have read a lot about DCC and think it’s the way to go, but at my age I am not looking to take on any more hassles. (I have three PCs that give me plenty of that.) However, I am about ready to take the plunge into DCC and I have a number of DCC engines, most with sound so that is not the drawback. My biggest issue is what system to go with that is fairly user friendly. I want to have radio control, so that poses some limits, as I understand some brands only offer tethered systems at the present time. I think it was you who said once that a way to learn about a particular system was to operate with it, and it would be beneficial to use a system that your associates use as they can be a source of assistance.

I have been operating on a friend’s layout for about six months and he uses Digitrax. There are some things I don’t like about it, although it and your column have convinced me to take the plunge. I am leaning towards the NCE system as it has duplex communication and I think that would be useful. I also belong to a module group and we are planning to adopt DCC for our switching line. (We plan to keep the mainlines DC for the present time, but there are many benefits to using DCC on the switching line.) I want to use the same system that we adopt as a group and since I am leading the committee to pick a system, I can have an impact. There is one fellow in the group who uses Digitrax at a local club and has a tethered system for his home use, but I am not sold on Digitrax. Not that it is not a good system, but I am not sure it is what I want.

Now to the point of all of this rambling. Have you ever considered publishing an article comparing the various brands, listing the pros and cons of each, and some evaluation of the features of each? I know you have done some limited comparisons in the past, but I can’t recall anything recent, plus the systems are rapidly evolving so anything a year or more old would not be 100 percent current.

Wil Davis
Dayton, OH

Good question, Wil, and you sort of answered it yourself when you talked about the rapid changes. It would be almost impossible to collect current samples of all the relevant systems in one place and test them all rapidly enough, write up the result, and publish that quick enough that any purchasing decisions you made would be germane to what was on the market when you walked into the store.

I’ve given over the reins of “Thinking of DCC” to our own resident electronics engineer, Phil Scandura, to deal with this very issue this month, so please drop in and give him an ear. No, he won’t tell you which one to choose, but he might help you develop a better set of criteria. — John

Gears Instead of DCC?

In starting to read your editorial in the May issue, I thought, “at last, someone is focusing on the high speed problem in the small scales.” But, darn it, you didn’t go far enough! DCC is not a solution for everyone. What has been needed for years is for someone to recognize the real problem: too low a gear ratio in our locomotives. Introducing an interim gear to reduce the speed would give our trains a more realistic top speed, smooth slow speeds, and generally improve the pick-up with a higher voltage.

It wouldn’t require the expenditure of DCC and would bring the operating speed of our trains closer to a more realistic aspect, considering the limited size of our layouts.

Manuel Noriega
Oakland, CA