Need source for rack loco

If you like Swiss style rack locos then the items from Fama/Utz/Kiss and then Roco are the perfect match. They are in 0m, 0 metric, 1 meter guage. Most of the locos were outfitted with a rack system and all the above named companies made the appropriate rack track. Too bad these items are out of production, but they can still be found on German, Swiss and UK eBay. In the US they were imported by MRC about 25 years ago.

Hope this helps and all the best,

Miketg

What Mike said.  Those models are 1:45, but run on S ga track.  If you are looking for 0 ga rack locos to my knowledge very few have been produced; the only [ commercially produced ] one that comes immediately to mind was a brass steam loco of German prototype from a number of years ago.  There aren't that many std gauge  prototypes that are commercially viable as a model, either, especially in 0 scale.

While of course it can be done, in my opinion modifying a Fama drive unit to 0 ga would not be easy* unless you have a wheel press and the experience to use it, or are prepared to widen the drive axles by "splicing".  By comparison, creating the 0 ga rack track from Fama components would be relatively straighforward.  The Fama locos use rather strong permanent magnets over the running rails to keep the cog wheel from 'climbing up' off the rack;  hence the track must be "magnet-able".

Best rgds, SZ

*Assuming you want a power truck that is capable of both rack and adhesion operation.  If the drive is to be "rack only" one could just cut off the wheels and mount the Fama cog unit in an assembly that has carrying wheels only -- a la Mt Washington's steamers.

 For the Swiss loco's have a look at: http://www.alpinline.com/

IIRC this would be the continuation of the Fama/Utz/Roco line; last post is from september this year so it looks like they still are in business. 

 Of course what you really need to have is a model of this loco http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi..._401_vordernberg.jpg

 Or I you wanted to have normal guage track, buy a Raimo/Biller E69 and some coaches (these are pretty cheap), build in a rack drive and paint it blue so you get one of these: http://modellbahn.files.wordpr...09/04/zahnradlok.jpg (although I don't think the colour scheme is really prototypical, it looks nice).

-  Alpinline is still in business, but they're not producing anything and the tooling / stock was / is for sale.  They're just selling off display and other models, I believe. 

-  While a 97.4 2-12-2 is impressive, I think the tried and true 97.2 [ see photo, taken on the May 1 holiday ] would sell better as a model, due to being in service over 70 years.

-  TechnoModell [ of Bonn, as I recall ] after they took over the Pola Maxi 0 ga line produced the E69 and passenger car in the blue-white scheme of the Edelweiss Lokalbahn, an interesting case of one manufacturer copying another's fictional railway !

    It might be possible to create an 0 scale rack loco using an HO cog mechanism and cog rail -- certainly the latter would be more to scale than the Fama pattern -- but the engineering in getting the cog and wheel drives in sync would be "interesting".

Best rgds, SZ

Alpinline is out of production as noted in a previous reply. I have a small collection of Fama/Utz/Roco and Alpinline and there are a handful of other folks in North America with

some as well.

There is a new line of Om (O Meter Gauge) coming from Bemo - they make an extensive line of HOm and HOe European trains and have announced a few cars and a new loco for O scale 1:45. Not sure whether these will run on Alpinline cog rail system, though.

 Micro-metakit has a nice model of the 97.4 in h0 fully with working cog system (and which is much more detailed than a simple gear on the bottom of the locomotive). I read somewhere that there was an 0-scale version planned, but the h0 model already costs 2000 euro. Of course a bigger locomotive is always better  

 From:

http://www.bemo-modellbahn.de/...e-spur-groesser.html

" möchten aber selbstverständlich auch die Brücke zum bestehenden Markt beginnend mit Produkten der Firma Fama/Utz schlagen " 

 Bemo wants to make their products compatible with Fama/Utz, but I don't see that they have a cog system advertised. The flyer looks nice though:

http://www.bemo-modellbahn.de/...%20Spur0m%202012.pdf

It looks like Bemo will concentrate on RhB models at first, and rightly so -- and the RhB had / has no rack equipped locos, at least in normal service.  [ Fama RhB locos are rack capable though.]  If Bemo ever gets to rack track, etc, it's likely to be 22.2 mm gauge and a finer tooth than Fama -- didn't Ferro-Suisse have 0m rack track like that years ago ??

Best, SZ

*Oh no, "Proto45m".....or maybe "Proto39.37"

Were you ever able to find something  ?...know fairly challenging.!!