Just fooling around with a bunch of Plymouth engines, turns out three of them are working hard to pull ten cars up the grade. 
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I feel like those Plymouths might be exceeding some yard speed limits there John!
Hi John, really cool running on your layout, especially love the passenger cars with led's lights!
Alan
Thanks guys, have to play a little some of the time! 
The fleet approves......
And Tank engines can do it too......
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Triple heading Plymouths and the Weiner mobile on the layout definitely playing a little some of the time!
GRJ, that looks like fun alright! I love those little Plymouths and I’ve always wanted to 2 rail one of them. Malcolm
Wow, that is some impressive pulling power. I have one of these sets brand new i've never run but would like to.
Are there an issues that need addressed with these before running?
Its still in the cardboard shipper. I bought it off the forum here for around $85 if I remember right a couple years ago and just put it away for when I run some conventional stuff but have yet too.
Knowing Gunrunner you have probably gutted them and replaced everything inside. 😄
Brad
@B rad posted:Are there an issues that need addressed with these before running?
Well, there is one issue if you use the smoke. I don't know what "versions" they did it in, but they screwed up the design of the power supply for the smoke fan. Now, you'd think that would be almost impossible with three components, but they managed to do it! I have four of these, not sure where the 4th one is, but two of them the smoke fan didn't work. When I looked, it was wired in a very screwy fashion! No input filter cap, but a 10V cap across the output of the regulator! Needless to say, this didn't work well. This wasn't a simple wiring error either, this was immortalized in the design of the smoke PCB! I hacked the board to wire the proper input filter cap and lose the low voltage one on the output, and suddenly the smoke fan was running again. I believe both of the PRR units were that way.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, there is one issue if you use the smoke. I don't know what "versions" they did it in, but they screwed up the design of the power supply for the smoke fan. Now, you'd think that would be almost impossible with three components, but they managed to do it! I have four of these, not sure where the 4th one is, but two of them the smoke fan didn't work. When I looked, it was wired in a very screwy fashion! No input filter cap, but a 10V cap across the output of the regulator! Needless to say, this didn't work well. This wasn't a simple wiring error either, this was immortalized in the design of the smoke PCB! I hacked the board to wire the proper input filter cap and lose the low voltage one on the output, and suddenly the smoke fan was running again. I believe both of the PRR units were that way.
Thanks GRJ, that's code for..... "I'm going to leave it in the box for now" 😄
@B rad posted:Thanks GRJ, that's code for..... "I'm going to leave it in the box for now" 😄
They do have a switch to turn the smoke off. I have 6 and have not run into John's issue. I guess the odd-ball stuff gets attracted to him just so he can dissect and fix them. 
Bob
I've had a number through here before I tripped over this issue. I first saw it a few years ago on a customer's unit. The really odd part is, it's actually the smoke unit PCB, so there's no saying it was a "factory error" in wiring, it was laid out totally wrong!
@RSJB18 posted:I have 6 and have not run into John's issue. I guess the odd-ball stuff gets attracted to him just so he can dissect and fix them.
Let's only hope...
Thanks for taking one for the team GRJ. 😄
@gunrunnerjohn posted:I've had a number through here before I tripped over this issue. I first saw it a few years ago on a customer's unit. The really odd part is, it's actually the smoke unit PCB, so there's no saying it was a "factory error" in wiring, it was laid out totally wrong!
So we'll blame it on Engineering and the QC group.......
@Brother_Love posted:GRJ, that looks like fun alright! I love those little Plymouths and I’ve always wanted to 2 rail one of them. Malcolm
It just might be possible to mount the shell on an Atlas/Roco six-wheel WDT.
That looks and sounds great as it's pulling up the grade! I have one and they are just fantastic little engines! Thanks for sharing! Terry
@EastonO posted:That looks and sounds great as it's pulling up the grade! I have one and they are just fantastic little engines! Thanks for sharing! Terry
The little guys were working up the grade, they don't have any traction tires. I could hear them spinning, but they kept moving.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:The little guys were working up the grade, they don't have any traction tires. I could hear them spinning, but they kept moving.
The maintenance foreman back at the shops is going to be none to happy with you!
At one point I had about a half dozen of those little Plymouth switchers. They really were great little buggers! I still have a new-in-box Plymouth Christmas Set, but it likely will go on the for sale forum at some point since all of my current Christmas trains are command controlled. Not 100% sure that I want to part with it though because I regard them as some of the best truly tiny O gauge switchers ever offered.
I've always wondered what happened to that tooling. It would be great to see another run of them.
@Allan Miller posted:At one point I had about a half dozen of those little Plymouth switchers. They really were great little buggers! I still have a new-in-box Plymouth Christmas Set, but it likely will go on the for sale forum at some point since all of my current Christmas trains are command controlled. Not 100% sure that I want to part with it though because I regard them as some of the best truly tiny O gauge switchers ever offered.
I'm going to take a stab at upgrading one to command. If it works, I may do a couple.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:I'm going to take a stab at upgrading one to command. If it works, I may do a couple.
If it works, let m eknow how much you might want to do one for me. I wonder who owns the tooling for that little gem. Likely Lionel?
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Just fooling around with a bunch of Plymouth engines, turns out three of them are working hard to pull ten cars up the grade.
That's Pretty Darned Cool John!
Just an observation here... I noticed a distinct difference in noise level between the grade & upper loop that's just roadbed and the main deck where homasote & roadbed are employed. I have the same sound difference. Does anybody homasote their grades?
I'm in with Allan for command! Terry
They may be small but the sound of the wheel slip on the hill is BIG! Fun stuff!
"We think we can, we think we can..." (the little engines that could...)
What fun!
Peter
@gunrunnerjohn posted:The little guys were working up the grade, they don't have any traction tires. I could hear them spinning, but they kept moving.
Hang another ten cars on them so they slip the entire way, and you'll never have to clean track again
FWIW, I recently picked up the Strasburg K-line Plymouth at a local show. I was so happy to find this engine, let alone find it locally and at a good price. I considered it an early Christmas present.
I developed an addiction early on. I got up to 6 and holding at the moment. The Strasburg and New Haven are the most unique.
Still a few more I'd like to own but since I'm in recovery, I'll wait......
John- If you can squeeze a mini-commander in there I'd be interested too.
Bob
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Great fun watching the little Plymouth switchers and the tank engines working hard. While the big mainline steam and diesel locomotives are impressive for their sheer power and speed, the little guys have all the character and moxie.
@Allan Miller posted:If it works, let m eknow how much you might want to do one for me. I wonder who owns the tooling for that little gem. Likely Lionel?
I have to figure out what to use as an antenna, that will be the challenge. I may be able to insulate the front hood and use that. Since I think having the smoke is so cool, I will likely have to fit something like the MTH HO smoke unit into it to make space for the ERR MC-II board.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Just fooling around with a bunch of Plymouth engines, turns out three of them are working hard to pull ten cars up the grade.
John, these reminds me of years ago. When the K line scale Hudson came out I bought two, one was left as is; the other was remarked PennCentral ( I used a decal making program) when I took it to a train club on LI I was a member at the time. I was asked about it, I told them it was a rare transitional Hudson. Love your photos
@NYC Fan posted:
Perfect for my "High Line!"
I love your version of the High Line! Did you model the tracks going through the building? I wanted to build a version of that on my under construction layout, but I couldn't figure out given my space how to make it work. If I figure out how to have a city area, maybe as a second level, I def will try to make a version of it.
