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Post by jamestraction on Jun 5, 2013 16:14:32 GMT -5
Hans/Rob(A), Thanks for the list of roadnames before you put them up for sale. This is great for us buyers. Are you going to put one of the SRR lights in the Sacramento Train Museum? James
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Post by Hans Riddervold (AZL) on Jun 6, 2013 2:04:50 GMT -5
Sometimes we need a little help too! I personally wanted to see a SP Mikado, but I did not think they had any USRA designs. But yesterday I took a look at SP class MK-8, 3310-3314. They were acquired from E.L. & SW RR in 1924. Built by ALCO in 1918 as a heavy USRA! I have only found one photo (3310) and it sure looks like a heavy USRA. Could anyone help? Especially with photos and type of tenders. It could be that this is a wild duck chase, but right now I have a good feeling Sincerely, Hans (AZL)
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Post by jamestraction on Jun 6, 2013 3:08:19 GMT -5
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Post by BAZman on Jun 6, 2013 12:29:53 GMT -5
While I can survive with the Santa Fe's (*IF* I can get some cars, since they sold out before I could click 'purchase'), any rogue SP would *still* run on this railroad.
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Post by davestubbs on Jun 6, 2013 13:58:11 GMT -5
would love to see the SP version as well as UP and ATSF
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Joes
Fireman
Posts: 84
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Post by Joes on Jun 6, 2013 15:33:36 GMT -5
SP would be great. Just remember oil tenders.
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Post by Curn on Jun 7, 2013 0:09:58 GMT -5
Hans, I sent you a PM with some additional scanned images of SP 2-8-2s that might be close to what you are looking for. The MK-5 and MK-6 Mikados are the closest match the USRA design, however I can't find any photos of them with a standard tender. All examples I found either had Vanderbilt or whaleback tenders. For the MK-7, MK8, and MK-9 engines, some had a standard tender. The domes of this class do not match the AZL model perfectly, but I can accept that. There are some good images of these engines in action on yesteryeardepot.com. I have also seen 3305 with a standard tender. www.yesteryeardepot.com/sp31.htmThe MK-4 engines are a close match to the AZL model. I have seen photos of 3216, 3222, and 3240 with a standard tender. I have also seen 3240 with a Vanderbilt tender, and 3222 with a whaleback. Another image of 3216 is below. This page also has some more technical information. www.steamlocomotive.com/mikado/?page=spHope this info helps -Matt
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Post by pray59 on Jul 5, 2013 8:38:27 GMT -5
I don't know if it has been asked before, but is the Mikado DCC ready? If so is it a drop in decoder or solder in? I want to have my decoders on hand for the big day, the day I re-enter the hobby of Z Scale... when Mikado's are finally released!
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Post by Rob Albritton on Jul 5, 2013 8:42:49 GMT -5
I made sure there was enough room in the tender for the TCS Z2 decoder, but it is a solder job. The motor is in the tender, and all power leads go back there, so it made sense to me. The headlight is direct off the power pickup, but it is an LED, so it's DCC ready without modification, but of course, not controllable unless you want to run some long wires all the way up front.
Mikado has the 7.5mm motor (same as GP38-2, RDC, GP30, and upcomming releases of SD70 and GP9)
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Post by jim29t on Jul 26, 2013 12:41:45 GMT -5
How can I get the shell off the chasis on the Mikado. Is there room in the smoke box to add weight?
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Post by jim29t on Jul 27, 2013 13:09:04 GMT -5
I removed the shell and added 2 grams of powdered Tungsten to the smokebox. This increased the pulling power on my 2% grade, compound curves from 6 AZL passenger cars to 9 passenger cars. I can start on the grade with no slippage. Hooray. Jim Thomas
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Post by Curn on Jul 27, 2013 21:03:32 GMT -5
My mikado arrived yesterday, and took a fair amount of work to get running well. At first I was thinking I would need to send the engine back. Out of the box, there was a lot of binding in the running gear and a severe wobble to the engine. I was able to work out the binding problem and through a few hours of break in time, the wobble went away. I now have a locomotive that runs very well. Here is a diagram showing the parts that I refer to below: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Walschaert_static.pngThe engineers side eccentric crank, eccentric rod, expansion link assembly was binding up. Sometimes the engine would just stop completely because of the bind. The bind caused the eccentric rod to bend outwards. Eventually the problem caused the eccentric crank/pin on the 3rd driver to just come loose. I was able to straiten the eccentric rod and re-assemble the running gear. This fixed the binding issue. On the firemens side, the eccentric crank/pin assembly was much stiffer than the engineers side. I believe this is what was causing the wobble, as that side of the locomotive was stiffer at some points in the cycle. I set up an oval of 220mm track and ran the locomotive for an hour in each 4 directions (forward left, forward right, backwards left, backwards right) (4 hrs total) and the wobble has gone away. I also set up a set of increasing radius curve track with 110mm straight sections between curves. The mikado made it through the 195, 170, and 145 mm radius curves. It froze in the 120mm radius but did not derail. After this result I decided to let it run around my briefcase layout that has 145mm curves. Although it does make it around the 145mm track, it runs much slower in the curves, and looks like it wants to climb out of the rails on the inside curve (leans towards the outside of the curve). Because its not sitting right on the rails, it has much less tractive effort on the tighter curves. It seems like it can only pull 3 boxcars up a 4% 145mm radius grade without slipping. I would not recommend less than 195 mm radius for the mikado. AZL recommends a 220mm minimum radius. I'm very happy with my Mikado, and plan to get all three of the WP heavies when they come out.
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Post by Admin on Jul 27, 2013 22:32:35 GMT -5
That's a great report and photos... thanks for posting this material!
John Raildig
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Post by trainboy4 on Aug 6, 2013 13:37:54 GMT -5
I'll be buying 2 maybe 3 of the Burlington Mikados.
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Post by boxcarwilly on Oct 15, 2013 10:56:34 GMT -5
Out of curiosity, I was poking around on a Canadian National Railways Steam Engine Site looking to see what they used to have in their inventory for Mikados and I was surprised to find out that there were different classes of this engine. I didn't know that before. Even more surprising was that the Canadian National Red Square on the tender was slightly different depending on the class. On one class it was parallel to the edges of the tender and on another is was slightly tilted almost kitty-corner. On still another class there were just the words Canadian National in white block letters on the tender. Interesting. I also discovered that this difference continued on other types and classes of engines as well. To distinguish between them would be my guess.
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