Vintage HO: Best Steam Engine?

Strummer posted:

Gee Rusty, is there anything about model railroading that you don't know? 

One of the advantages of being a "rubber gauger," particularly in the 80's and 90's.  Plus, I've made friends with Google. 

I for one appreciate all your knowledge. 

I remember when "Railroad Model Craftsman" had their monthly kit bash winner; I'm guessing this was late '70s-early '80s: someone had spliced together a couple of the Tyco "Big Six" 0-6-0s into a short line looking Decapod, using the Prairie tender. I thought it was the nicest looking thing I'd ever seen... 

A very credible model of a Baldwin "catalog" 2-10-0 as I recall.

Mantua also once offered their own decapod using the Mikado boiler and Prairie tender:

I built one of these from a kit for a co-worker of my father's, who wasn't a model railroader and thought he ordered a R-T-R model for display.

Rusty

Mark in Oregon

This thread got me to thinking about my own "history" in the hobby, and because my introduction into it was through H0 (I'm not counting the very cheap Marx 027 my brother and I got in the mid '60s), it's rekindled many found memories.

With that in mind, I threw down an oval of Unitrack and thought I'd run a couple of my ghosts from the past, including this:

I got this a long time ago, as is, and never got around to finishing off the details. This has the enclosed gear box, and I have no idea as to how old it is, or when the last time I ran it.

Anyway, I put it on the track, cracked open the "throttle" on my MRC "Controlmaster VI", and off it went, smooth as silk. Not absolutely silent, but very quiet.  If memory serves, it does run better than the later open geared Tyco Pacifics I had; quieter, and smoother starts.

Rusty et al, I also have an un-finished but heavily detailed Tyco Decapod somewhere; if interested, I can dig it out and take a photo, although it's a later model than the focus of the OP's post...

Mark in Oregon

Strummer posted:

 

With that in mind, I threw down an oval of Unitrack and thought I'd run a couple of my ghosts from the past, including this:

I got this a long time ago, as is, and never got around to finishing off the details. This has the enclosed gear box, and I have no idea as to how old it is, or when the last time I ran it.

Mark in Oregon

 

Mark, I would place your model from somewhere in the 1950's (It was first reviewed in the June 1952 Model Railroader...) due to the metal pilot assembly, gearbox and tender shell.  I believe the tender and pilot went plastic and the gearbox eliminated when the Tyco branding appeared in the early 1960's.

Mantua also reintroduced the gearbox in the late 1980's as their "Power Drive."

These locomotives may not be the most detailed in the world, but they are elegant in their simplicity and provided a solid performer for many a budding model railroader back in the day.

I'll let you in on one of my secrets:  HO Seekers a great site for researching past HO in general.  Don't tell anyone...

Rusty

Rusty Traque posted:

Mark, I would place your model from somewhere in the 1950's (It was first reviewed in the June 1952 Model Railroader...) due to the metal pilot assembly, gearbox and tender shell.  I believe the tender and pilot went plastic and the gearbox eliminated when the Tyco branding appeared in the early 1960's.

Mantua also reintroduced the gearbox in the late 1980's as their "Power Drive."

These locomotives may not be the most detailed in the world, but they are elegant in their simplicity and provided a solid performer for many a budding model railroader back in the day.

I'll let you in on one of my secrets:  HO Seekers a great site for researching past HO in general.  Don't tell anyone...

Rusty

Thanks Rusty, I know of that site; it's a good one. 

And okay, I won't mention this to anyone, I promise!

Mark in Oregon

Here's some crappy snaps of that Decapod...

Wow, those really are crappy... 

I doubt that I'll ever complete this project; not really into doing any H0 these days. Guess I'm too busy enjoying the larger scales... 

Mark in Oregon

Call me old  fashioned, but....

The Bing OO Gauge Locomotive, from the 1920's. It's my personal favorite for this gauge (HO/OO) because it's just so short and stout, it's adorable! Little locos like this always made me happy, though I'm not entirely sure why. Anyone else feel the same?

Rusty Traque posted:

Strummer posted:

 

With that in mind, I threw down an oval of Unitrack and thought I'd run a couple of my ghosts from the past, including this:

I got this a long time ago, as is, and never got around to finishing off the details. This has the enclosed gear box, and I have no idea as to how old it is, or when the last time I ran it.

Mark in Oregon

 

Mark, I would place your model from somewhere in the 1950's (It was first reviewed in the June 1952 Model Railroader...) due to the metal pilot assembly, gearbox and tender shell.  I believe the tender and pilot went plastic and the gearbox eliminated when the Tyco branding appeared in the early 1960's.

Mantua also reintroduced the gearbox in the late 1980's as their "Power Drive."

These locomotives may not be the most detailed in the world, but they are elegant in their simplicity and provided a solid performer for many a budding model railroader back in the day.

I'll let you in on one of my secrets:  HO Seekers a great site for researching past HO in general.  Don't tell anyone...

Rusty

That is definitely the original die cast Mantua Pacific.  It's identical to the engine in the photos that I posted on this topic last night.  Thanks for the MR review date.  That means I was in 9th ot 10th grade when I built one - about three years after I started in HO.

To re-boot this old thread...picked up a couple of old(er) Tyco/Mantua Pacifics last week; after the basic cleaning and lube, they both run very well.

One could (almost) say these are as durable and beautifully simplistic in design (easy to maintain) as Post War Lionel or Flyer...right?

Mark in Oregon