Someone built a steam engine properly!

[bicknell]

I finally got around to reading my July 2011 NTrak E-Newsletter and found an article about Hans Starmans's PRR E6.  The locomotive itself is free wheeling with no motor (although it appears to be used for power pickup).  The magic is in the powered tender.  He fit in a Sagami 1020 can motor and a ton of weight (3.56oz total, just for the tender).  The other innovation is that the trucks are fixed, that's right, they don't swivel.  Only the outside wheels are driven, with the inside ones able to slide left and right to follow the curves.

The results are impressive.  Here's a YouTube video of the beast pulling 120 cars, and starting them on an upgrade!

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I've long advocated the cheater box car, and/or powered tender options for N scale steam.  The proof is in the pudding right here.  Manufacturers should take note!

[DKS]

I used to have a very old Key Pacific that was designed exactly the same way. Tender power only, with rigid axles. It ran quite poorly, but I'm sure that it could have been improved.

[Chris333]

Any details on the tender?

[cv_acr]

I've never liked the cheater boxcar concept, because it's operationally limited. You always have to have a certain boxcar at the head of a train. Totally destroys any proper car handling and blocking.

Powered tenders on the other hand sound like a great idea, because the tender is technically part of the engine.

[sirenwerks]

You need to send that article and the video to the head of N scale product development of every manufacturer making or remotely thinking about making an N scale steam loco. Maybe they'll get the hint?

[Rasputen]

Didn't they show one of Hans' tenders in the Great Model Railroad video featuring
the Reid Brothers layout?  I'll have to pull it back out and watch it again...

[Mark5]

Not my cup o' tea, and certainly limited in terms of choice of tenders, but impressive in terms of operational results!

The non-swiveling trucks alone would be a deal breaker for me.

[dougnelson]

I have held this tender in my hand and it is an impressive piece of work.  Hans is a mechanical genius, but the concept is relatively simple.  The tender for this PRR Atlantic is correct for the prototype and is relatively small as steam loco tenders go, so imagine what would be possible with a larger tender. 

The steam loco manufacturers should take note.

Doug Nelson

[CBQ Fan]

Instead of a powered boxcar, what about a powered auxilary tender.  More realistic and maybe easier to work with??

[brokemoto]

IHC sold an 1880s 2-8-0 built similarly.  I forget if the tender trucks swivel, or not.  The pulling power on the thing is greater than that of the prototype.

I do find it amazing that it has such pulling power with only two of the four axles powered.

The trucks on the cab diseasels swivel.   I do find it curious that the gentleman built it with rigid trucks.

[bicknell]

The trucks on the cab diseasels swivel.   I do find it curious that the gentleman built it with rigid trucks.

I suspect this was a compromise in hand building the thing.    There are basically no truck towers that look like tender trucks out there, so it was all fabrication.  Fabricating all the little gears would be quite difficult.

It's also the same reason a cheater boxcar is so hard to hand make, no truck towers that look like fright trucks.

Neither would be a huge challenge for a manufacturer with experience making diesels.  Sure, it would be a new design, but of something they pretty much have down how to make.

I would make the tender with 8 traction tires, myself.  The Locomotive could be used for all the pickup.  Then with swivel trucks I bet it would pull stumps.

[pnolan48]

About a decade ago, Rich Weiand's layout in a Kalmbach Great Model Railroads special edition showed a RR Y6b 2-8-8-2 with Kato RSCs under a lengthened tender and auxiliary tanker. I contacted Rich and commissioned two sets of tenders from the person who cast his. Rich had a simple analog scheme to match speeds between the steamer and the helpers.

I never implemented that scheme, as I was switching to DCC at that time. A few test runs with the steamer and the two Katos showed that it would pull every car I had until the couplers broke. The RSCs were such smooth runners, and DCC-ready, that I bought decoders and incorporated them into my fleet.

Bob "Long Train" Wood delighted in pulling 85-car trains with a single specially weighted and traction-tired RSD4/5. It broke down after an hour of pulling. I think he and Victor Miranda weighted down a LL 2-8-8-2 to the max. It pulled a long train, but also wore out the rod connections, as the original LLs had only one driven axle, with the other axles driven by the side rods.

Still, this is pretty impressive. I'd like to hear more about the construction.

[bicknell]

Bob "Long Train" Wood delighted in pulling 85-car trains with a single specially weighted and traction-tired RSD4/5. It broke down after an hour of pulling. I think he and Victor Miranda weighted down a LL 2-8-8-2 to the max. It pulled a long train, but also wore out the rod connections, as the original LLs had only one driven axle, with the other axles driven by the side rods.

My favorite NTrak train is a string of MT Twin Bay 33' hoppers, all C&O.  I own 127 now (always looking for more, dang out of print stuff).  If the NTrak layout is _flat_ and doesn't have crazy curves too close a pair of GP-7's (Atlas) will pull ~110-120 without slipping.  A four pack will pull all 127, no matter what the layout it seems.  The short cars also tolerate very bad trackwork, for the most part.  It's a huge crowd pleaser.  I'll generally let it go 2-3 hours at each show, sometimes more, and have never had maintenance issues with m Atlas diesels.

I want to pull it with my LifeLike Berks.  Mine are better pullers than most, one is good for 40-45 cars on a flat, non-curvey layout.  Double headed they will often hit 100 cars.

Having 20 kids trying to count your train and then asking if the count is right is awesome.  I want more steam that can pull long trains.

[wes_sutton]

30 year old tooling - similar concept from Fleischmann.

[conrail98]

About a decade ago, Rich Weiand's layout in a Kalmbach Great Model Railroads special edition showed a RR Y6b 2-8-8-2 with Kato RSCs under a lengthened tender and auxiliary tanker. I contacted Rich and commissioned two sets of tenders from the person who cast his. Rich had a simple analog scheme to match speeds between the steamer and the helpers.

Pete, that was in Model Railroad Planning 2002 which was a side-bar to his layout design article,

Phil