Early railking locomotives

My 1st Railing engine, a NYC mohawk  w/whistle still runs as perfectly as it did when new. I bought it from the late Ed Mahoney at 3rd Street Depot in Niagara Falls.  Sometimes less is more!!! I wish more companies (like Williams does)  would offer these basic, long-lasting engines !  

John A posted:

My 1st Railing engine, a NYC mohawk  w/whistle still runs as perfectly as it did when new. I bought it from the late Ed Mahoney at 3rd Street Depot in Niagara Falls.  Sometimes less is more!!! I wish more companies (like Williams does)  would offer these basic, long-lasting engines !  

Yeb I got a early railking C&O berkshire to pull 42 boxcars.And although it slowed down in certain spots.It would never ever stall.

Before I went full scale, I had two custom weathered railking NYC Mohawks customized to doubleheader......pulled 71 cars on 081 curves with no issues......FOR HOURS ON END!!....they were some tough locomotives!......Pat

harmonyards posted:

Before I went full scale, I had two custom weathered railking NYC Mohawks customized to doubleheader......pulled 71 cars on 081 curves with no issues......FOR HOURS ON END!!....they were some tough locomotives!......Pat

I double headed with a erie railking berkshire and a kline pulling a fast freight.I got them to work together.Also got a ps2 mountain and a kline mike to worl together.Get this I had the nyc mountain pull a train of 47 cars.This is when the couplers started to pop open.Still it was neat to see that one locomotive pulling all that train.

seaboardm2 posted:

harmonyards posted:

Before I went full scale, I had two custom weathered railking NYC Mohawks customized to doubleheader......pulled 71 cars on 081 curves with no issues......FOR HOURS ON END!!....they were some tough locomotives!......Pat

I double headed with a erie railking berkshire and a kline pulling a fast freight.I got them to work together.Also got a ps2 mountain and a kline mike to worl together.Get this I had the nyc mountain pull a train of 47 cars.This is when the couplers started to pop open.Still it was neat to see that one locomotive pulling all that train.

Wonder what radius you were running on? .....did you figure out why you had popping couplers?....I had none pop open....but I didn’t have any cars with cheesey couplers. Most of the non-scale cars I had, were MTH, or had MTH trucks, some of the lionel stuff that had the weak plastic armatures got metal armatures and springs to keep descent tension on the paw...plus, heavier cars to the front, lighter to the rear......just curious as to what caused your problem, and possibly learn from it....long trains are cool....period!...........Pat

I have my Railking Protosound Daylight and Auxiliary tender running under the tree this year. I swear it runs smoother than some of my new PS3 stuff. I usually run it with the chuff off and use whistle/bell only.

harmonyards posted:

seaboardm2 posted:

harmonyards posted:

Before I went full scale, I had two custom weathered railking NYC Mohawks customized to doubleheader......pulled 71 cars on 081 curves with no issues......FOR HOURS ON END!!....they were some tough locomotives!......Pat

I double headed with a erie railking berkshire and a kline pulling a fast freight.I got them to work together.Also got a ps2 mountain and a kline mike to worl together.Get this I had the nyc mountain pull a train of 47 cars.This is when the couplers started to pop open.Still it was neat to see that one locomotive pulling all that train.

Wonder what radius you were running on? .....did you figure out why you had popping couplers?....I had none pop open....but I didn’t have any cars with cheesey couplers. Most of the non-scale cars I had, were MTH, or had MTH trucks, some of the lionel stuff that had the weak plastic armatures got metal armatures and springs to keep descent tension on the paw...plus, heavier cars to the front, lighter to the rear......just curious as to what caused your problem, and possibly learn from it....long trains are cool....period!...........                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

seaboardm2 posted:

harmonyards posted:

seaboardm2 posted:

harmonyards posted:

Before I went full scale, I had two custom weathered railking NYC Mohawks customized to doubleheader......pulled 71 cars on 081 curves with no issues......FOR HOURS ON END!!....they were some tough locomotives!......Pat

I double headed with a erie railking berkshire and a kline pulling a fast freight.I got them to work together.Also got a ps2 mountain and a kline mike to worl together.Get this I had the nyc mountain pull a train of 47 cars.This is when the couplers started to pop open.Still it was neat to see that one locomotive pulling all that train.

Wonder what radius you were running on? .....did you figure out why you had popping couplers?....I had none pop open....but I didn’t have any cars with cheesey couplers. Most of the non-scale cars I had, were MTH, or had MTH trucks, some of the lionel stuff that had the weak plastic armatures got metal armatures and springs to keep descent tension on the paw...plus, heavier cars to the front, lighter to the rear......just curious as to what caused your problem, and possibly learn from it....long trains are cool....period!...........                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

There are a number of things.I lived in a moble home I had a floor layout.That went from the living room to a bed room and back into the living room.My radius where 054 and some 042.BTW most of my cars where a mix of brands I have mth lionel kline bachmann.And my longer trains had heavy cars up front and some times in the middle and lighter cars near the end.Oh a I forgot I have some weaver cars.Some of the couplers pop open due to different makes.What I would do move the car around or glue the coupler shut.Take a look.

I have one of the first RK proto2 made, a PENNSY L1 mikado. It still runs and sounds great. 

Dave

SEABOARDM2, the double header is really cool....I never did get a video of mine before I sold off all the smaller stuff, really cool videos, enjoyed them....I’m not sure how many scale cars I can cram on one tack and not look stupid, but I’ll double head something and yank what I can and return the favor!!.......Pat..

SeaboardM2, dental bands/ rubber bands for braces come in black, and can go over couplers, holding the pin/tack up to the shank firmly. Most still work too. 

You can hog out some knuckle pockets for better(looser) fits, but there are slight differences in lionel coupler sizes over the years yòu cant get around too. They mostly are bigger today imo. Especially plastic ones. (Different sized couplers have less swing ability before they bind being moved laterally.

When I returned to our hobby in 2001, it was because on an MTH Rail King set I saw in a hobby shop window. So my first Rail King engine is the Rio Grande Ski Train Pacific with PS1, and I still have it in storage. I also have a New Haven EP5 with PS1 that I will be selling. Oops! I almost forgot about my Lehigh Valley Brill trolley with PS1 that I  periodically run.

Most of engines are now PS2 and PS3 varieties

Bobby Ogage posted:

When I returned to our hobby in 2001, it was because on an MTH Rail King set I saw in a hobby shop window. So my first Rail King engine is the Rio Grande Ski Train Pacific with PS1, and I still have it in storage. I also have a New Haven EP5 with PS1 that I will be selling. Oops! I almost forgot about my Lehigh Valley Brill trolley with PS1 that I  periodically run.

Most of engines are now PS2 and PS3 varieties

I looked at that very locomotive and thought about getting it.And painting it in my home town rail road.The Seaboard Air Line  rr and they had some steam locomotives of this type.Seaboard had them pulling mail trains and some freight.Although I have 4 mountain type steam locomotives that going to be painted for Seaboard.To me this is how mth trains shocked every body and got big.Look what you got in their train sets vs other companies.This add to the fact their locomotives are metal and not plastic.Big time pulling power the other company had to step it up.I have a C&O berkshire that has ps1 I forgot I had it.I not have 2 C&O berks with the same number.Both are railking.

david1 posted:

I have one of the first RK proto2 made, a PENNSY L1 mikado. It still runs and sounds great. 

Dave

They are built like m1a1 army tanks.

Adriatic posted:

SeaboardM2, dental bands/ rubber bands for braces come in black, and can go over couplers, holding the pin/tack up to the shank firmly. Most still work too. 

You can hog out some knuckle pockets for better(looser) fits, but there are slight differences in lionel coupler sizes over the years yòu cant get around too. They mostly are bigger today imo. Especially plastic ones. (Different sized couplers have less swing ability before they bind being moved laterally.

I have never really thought about that.But your right some are metal and some are plastic.Some thing I do not understand.Given the type stress you are dealing with.

Had a RK Mohawk (lettered for ATSF?). Profuse smoker, smooth running, all around excellent product. Ended up being sold in The Great Purge in order to have the needed front money to purchase a home. (Yes, we still live in it, and yes it's been paid off for several years now. Getting a home and buckling down and getting it paid off early was one of the smartest decisions we've made over the decades.)

Though the RK smoked better, was smoother, and pulled better, I miss my PW steam far more (736's, 2065's, etc.)  Sometimes the things we miss doesn't make sense.

Andre

laming posted:

Had a RK Mohawk (lettered for ATSF?). Profuse smoker, smooth running, all around excellent product. Ended up being sold in The Great Purge in order to have the needed front money to purchase a home. (Yes, we still live in it, and yes it's been paid off for several years now. Getting a home and buckling down and getting it paid off early was one of the smartest decisions we've made over the decades.)

Though the RK smoked better, was smoother, and pulled better, I miss my PW steam far more (736's, 2065's, etc.)  Sometimes the things we miss doesn't make sense.

 

laming posted:

Had a RK Mohawk (lettered for ATSF?). Profuse smoker, smooth running, all around excellent product. Ended up being sold in The Great Purge in order to have the needed front money to purchase a home. (Yes, we still live in it, and yes it's been paid off for several years now. Getting a home and buckling down and getting it paid off early was one of the smartest decisions we've made over the decades.)

Though the RK smoked better, was smoother, and pulled better, I miss my PW steam far more (736's, 2065's, etc.)  Sometimes the things we miss doesn't make sense.

Andre

I agree with you on getting a home and getting it paid off.You can always go on ebay and look around.I have seen railking mohawks in santa fe.You can also go to patrick trains I hear he has a fair amount of early mth trains.Then you have williams trains.I heard there strong pullers to.

I wonder, is this thread about :

or about:

?

Regards

Fred

sncf231e posted:

I wonder, is this thread about :

or about:

?

Regards

Fred

Excellent question as this is the not-O gauge sub forum.  If they meant O gauge they posted in the wrong subforum.

seaboardm2 posted:

...You can always go on ebay and look around.I have seen railking mohawks in santa fe.You can also go to patrick trains I hear he has a fair amount of early mth trains.Then you have williams trains.I heard there strong pullers to.

Every point you share is accurate and true. And yup... I often check eBay for select pieces I like just in case it has a "Buy It Now" at a ridiculously low price.

However...

IF I was going to purchase a 3-rail engine, it would be one of the Postwar Lionel items that I pine for.

And IF I had a functioning 3-rail layout filled with the PW "traditional" pieces I would want.. THEN I could definitely be interested in obtaining a replacement for the RK Mohawk I had over two decades ago. The RK Mohawk is an excellent product... but it just didn't do me like a PW steam engine did (do) me.

Andre

seaboardm2 posted:

Adriatic posted:

SeaboardM2, dental bands/ rubber bands for braces come in black, and can go over couplers, holding the pin/tack up to the shank firmly. Most still work too. 

You can hog out some knuckle pockets for better(looser) fits, but there are slight differences in lionel coupler sizes over the years yòu cant get around too. They mostly are bigger today imo. Especially plastic ones. (Different sized couplers have less swing ability before they bind being moved laterally.

I have never really thought about that.But your right some are metal and some are plastic.Some thing I do not understand.Given the type stress you are dealing with.

I just noticed this is a HONGZ post. I see and was commenting on 3rO. Sorry. If it's off base just hollar.

The couplers are totally different than the HO/n "hook" and KD. The "fix" is only for 3 rail "tack" couplers. I have seen rubber bands used to actually lash hook couplers together, and black bands would kinda vanish, but it wasn't what I intended to convey.

I'm guessing you are having composer issues too as the last two sentences seem a bit jumbled. I'm gonna assume the periods are supposed to be commas...that seems to work anyhow... Lord knows I'm not nearly as stressed as a few years ago Crap, this is the kinda composer issues I'm having...the random change to bold mid sentence isn't me or my device. I bet I do 30-50 corrections on the "smart" composers text here....

The coupler size and shape actually differs among metals and plastics too; not to mention brands. I had never noticed until I pushed some boundaries on minimum turning abilities.   Soon after I also discovered 2 old cars that would not couple well enough to be run together (in about 50 years of play, I never coupled those two cars...amazing really)

  There is actually a lot of geometry going on inside the mating areas of two couplers. Too much material here or there and swing is limited, not enough and they slip out of each other, etc.. Being identical helps the ying/yang union between them too.

The plastic couplers had me very worried as a kid, but I've grown to respect Delrins abilities and ruggedness. The actual stay pins & spring becomming plastic was a let down I'll still whine about though. I've broken too many in mild use. 

I used to help Gramps "tune" couplers for best operation. It was usually a "saved up" job there was a sessions worth.  The pin angle, pin tip height, pin tip edge, contribute most to keeping closed,  and the knuckle's ramp to the stay notch and pin tip are the keys to easy closure. (reminds me I have had an unset knuckle rivet in a tender for five years now without it falling out.  If a couple more work out, I doubt I  will even bother anymore because it makes inspection or knuckle removal so easy and it doesn even cost a rivet to do it...unless I lose it

(32 jibberish mistakes by the "smart composer"...out of 32 lines of type, not even counting the unrequested change to bold... it makes for scattered ideas in composing.... I'mInear 'm re to give up the net again really )

I'm near ready to give up the net again really.  (after a few failed fixesfixes  becuse to composer insists on jibberish,  I left it for example and typed it here.)  This paragraph also insisted on mistakes....real nice.