Have any of you folks who own BLI C-16's come up with a clever temporary way to link two of the locomotives together so they can be double -headed? The dummy coupler on the front is considerably higher than the working coupler on the tender. I would prefer not the alter the pilot to install a working coupler! Any thoughts would be appreciated!
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How about making a removable draw bar between the tender of the front engine and the pilot of the trailing engine? Draw bars are a pain to install (both engines on thier side) but they can be made so that any height differences are minimized.
BTW it's great to see some activity here!
Russ
How about making a removable draw bar between the tender of the front engine and the pilot of the trailing engine? Draw bars are a pain to install (both engines on thier side) but they can be made so that any height differences are minimized.
BTW it's great to see some activity here!
Russ
Russ,
I agree. There doesn't seem to be much activity here, these days. Is that because of the explosion of forums (fora?) all over the net plus discussion groups on FaceBook plus at least half-a-dozen podcasts? I'm not sure. Always thought it would be fun to start a podcast on narrow gauge railroading but that's just more proliferation.
Anyway, I'm still lurking ... just don't have enything interesting to post since I posted pictures of my latest structure on the scenery forum.
But, I do have a new 2-6-0 almost ready to go and I will certainly post here in the next couple of weeks.
Tom, I agree with Russ's comment about a draw-bar. The only other laternative is to do the work necessary to mount working couplers (argh!). I'm not convinced that BLI's are worth the effort. I am on my third or fourth C-16 from BLI, all suffering from the same problem. After about a year of regular operation, the decoder decides it doesn't like to work or, worse, it works every once in a while and it becomes an interesting game of "will I fool you today!" Seems to always decide to balk in the middle of a layout tour or an operating session.
Jim
I agree the BLI C-16's have there foibles. One of mine just went through one of its little--"I am not doing anything but blowing my whistle tantrums"! I just let it set for a couples of days and it is back to running normally.
Truth be known--I would like to remove the board in the tender and run them on straight DC. I am an old school runner--I don't do DCC and I don't do windows! I am not impressed by sound effects. I picked up three C-16's over the years because I thought they were cool. But I don't actually run them-or my On30 that often.
I have found that these little locomotives don't do well if there are not used regularly. That is when they start to act weird!
Tom, I have retired all but one of my BLI C-16's. They just get too uppity on me, even when I do run them regularly. The only nice thing about the sound [after it's turned down to a dull roar] is that it becomes intermittent in anticipation of board failure. I have experienced the "whistle only" behavior. I think that particular C-16 is now in the cannibalize box. I really love the Mountain Models engines, especially with Tsunami sound, but Lord knows I can't afford them, so I have taken to bashing good old Bachman products to approach what I like to see. Keep in touch ... let us know how it is going. DC or DCC ... as long as it makes you happy, then do it!
I have a friend who is an electronic genius recovering from Knee Replacement surgery. He goes nuts if he doesnt have something to do so I think I am going to give him the most cantankerous of my C-16 and have him turn into straight DC sans sounds. When it is running--it is my best locomotive!
It has been a while since I last posted. It was so hot this summer, I had to wait till midnight to go to my garage to run trains, let alone work on them. Great to see the rest of you guys making progress.
Al
All of my BLI C-16's are currently operating properly. As I said earlier, they do not seem to weather long periods of inactivity well. My attempts at creating a temporary coupler so I could double-head the locomotive was a miserable failure as none of the three run anywhere close to the same speed! Oh well! It was just a thought!
Time to get active again with the narrow gauge again. Last summer was too hot to work in the garage, and winter was too cold. Spring came and I had to much stuff to do to keep mama happy. Finally found time of my own and discuverd a local narrow gauger willing to help me. James has a live steam layout and enjoys tin plate as well. James enjoys clock work (wind up) and loves to restore them. So my layout should be done in a couple of weeks we should have pics and video to show off.
NG, O, tinplate and ON30 running at the same time, A real dose of fun. By the way, scoffer's will be shot.
Al
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