Quad VL Big Boys at NJ-HR TrainStock

I was there saw it and it was very impressive. What was most surprising is the ability of the transformer to power the long train with the quad four big boys around a loop over 500' long. That train also had to be the most expensive model train consist ever to be put tracks and run.

Nothing like seeing almost a dozen feet of Big Boys running in unison!

-Greg

Fantastic.

Was this run with Legacy?  If so did you have it set so all the whistles sounded?  While maybe not prototypical, it would have sounded great. 

 

 

The sound was terrible on these engines and they hardly smoked at all!!  Terrible product!  Just kidding....

They drew too many amps to run sound or smoke.

-Greg

Yipee! Looks like fun

It was interesting, that's for sure.  We did have all the whistles running once, but trying to enable smoke tripped the breakers every time.  We even tried just the lead engine with stack smoke, that was too much for it.  We were on the borderline with the power just running them.

 

Really neat John! I wonder how many amps you were pulling w/out the smoke. I honestly didn't think you could run 4 together w/out tripping a breaker or blowing a fuse.

 

What was your power source on the track?... you could try teaming up a couple of 180 watt bricks but you sure don't want a short!

We were running different power districts through ZW-L and a Z-4000 (all through TIus).  We maxed out at 7+ amps without any of the smoke units enabled.    Turning on the smoke tripped the ZW-L (that's the helix side.)

Yup, Legacy!   All whistles enabled and EFX to the max.  The walls were shaking.  

Here'a another video.  The same one as I posted in the main Trainstock thread.

 

 

 

Very impressive.

Wow!

those engines might have performed better if they had full coal loads!!

 

 

all kidding aside that was nice to see.

Really neat seeing all those together, impressive power draw as well. We need more power, Scotty!

Wow, that's Amazing, and thanks for the Video. In my Opinion, This is the most Talked About Locomotive Ever Issued by Lionel, and Now You can See Why.  We Senior Kids are Having Visions of Fun! Happy Railroading

In your wildest dreams, could you have imagined such a glorious sight before 1995 or so?

It was pretty cool, I'm glad I could get in on the tail end of the build.

 

Great to see the video. Very cool idea to run four together. It must have been a special treat for those at the show!

Whan you shoot video with a phone, HOLD IT HORIZONTALLY.

 

The video screen is a horizontal format. If you hold the phone horizontally, the resulting video will fill the screen instead of being a little vertical image in that big horizontal screen.

AMEN!!

Gee guys, sorry I posted.

and "WHAN" you post you should use spell check

4-head BB's? Not likely, but...unfortunately, the operation was mostly Williams-style. For $8000, a little subtlety would be nice. 

I still think it was a neat sight to witness.  It was grand in terms of scope and it was something you've never seen before.  Kudos to John and the others involved, IMHO.

Thanks for posting. Is there a video of the entire layout?

Thanks,

Frank

Breathtaking!!!!!

 

Thanks for posting.

 

George

John looked most impressive to me.

You should have been there so you could have set us all straight.

 

Go to the NJ HiRailers site and fire up the webcams.  You can control one and zoom and pan around to see the layout.  You can control each of the, one at a time.

 

It's dark there right now, obviously nobody running.

 

 

Com'on John, don't be so thin skinned. I'm sure you would offer a suggestion if I called a resistor a diode. I can tell you the difference between hay and straw, but I'll need your help with an LED problem.

@ D500 Would you please define "Williams-style"? I don't have any Williams engines.

Thank you-

Its okay GRJ stay vertical as long as possible.

Too many of my friends are going and have gone horizontal too often. Nearing 83 and lame both mentally and physically, I stay vertical every chance I get.

 

But my children and Grand Children with those highly educated phones[?] keep sending horizontal photos of me. I told them that I got the subtle message but all they were gonna get is trains and used track

Thank you for doing this and posting it.    Without train how many amps does one big boy draw with smoke and sound?

Good job guys

Clem k

It draws .6 amps before startup, just power on the track and silent with no smoke.  The number boards and one rear tender light are on. It draws over 2 amps just sitting and idling with all the smoke units on after startup.   When I run at speed step 30 or so and go to labored running, the smoke increases and I'm drawing 3 amps.  If I blow the whistle or blowdown, that will bump it up close to 4 amps.  I think that's about maximum...

 

GRJ,

 

Don't worry, I don't think Rich puts videos in the magazine yet!

 

What impressed me the most was the sound of the 4 engines going by.  Hard to describe the sound, but one word comes to mind... MASSIVE!  Other with me also commented on the "solid, heavy sound" as they went by!

 

Ed

Williams Like???  I don't get it

Ed, even one has a pretty "massive" sound as it goes by.  The audio system in this locomotive has established a new high-water benchmark for model train audio!

 

 +1000. Other than it is easy to hold but were not taking portraits.