Good-morning everyone and welcome to the May 20, 2023 edition of Switcher Saturday. jhz563 is working today so I’ve volunteered to start our discussion.
As usual, we have a very loose definition for what qualifies as a switcher. Model “switchers” in any scale – including Z, N, HO, S, O, G or any other letter you can think of – are OK, as are real machines sized at 12 inches to the foot.
In this recurring weekly thread people post steam, diesel and sometimes electric locomotives that can be found in yards, on sidings, or out on the railroad. The size of their prototypes can vary from small tea-kettles to large road-locomotives that just happen to be doing some switching, and their era can be anything from early steamers to current low-emission diesels.
My switcher for today is New York Central 0-8-0 steam locomotive #415, an MTH Railking model (30-1123-1, MSRP $399) with PS1 that was delivered in 1997. With a BCR, it has been trouble-free on my layouts for more than twenty years. However, on a recent startup, there may have been a momentary over-current. This led to a problem with the chuffing, which became very slow, did not increase with speed, and was not synchronized with the wheels. A conventional reset restored the chuffing on the first try.
In addition to NYC #415, New York Central 2-8-0 #960, a Lionel Legacy model, appears in my videos today. NYC #960 is a good-looking locomotive that runs well but Lionel decided to save a few cents by eliminating the volume control potentiometer, so the loudness cannot be adjusted when operating conventionally and, in my opinion, it isn’t loud enough. Compare the chuffing of the old MTH switcher with the new Lionel 2-8-0 on the videos.
So, let’s see your switcher stories, photos, videos, and whatever has been running on your layout this week. But please keep things switcher-related, adhere to the OGR Terms of Service, have fun and a great weekend.
MELGAR
Wonderful information you provide on the 0-8-0 too! I've enjoyed everyone's posts ... lots of great content you all have up!! I'm late to the party today but better late than never as they say! 
