Whats Your Thoughts on the Old K-Line 0-4-0T Porter

Khayden93 posted:

 I know it does not have a lot of pulling power but I like its size and it just looks cool.

You answered your own question; . I own one, and still run it every now and again, its a fun little loco.

Yes, it's worth it, IMO.

I remember discussing this with K-Line reps at one of the tinplate conventions.  I would like a SCALE, three rail, Porter, but is this not, like the infamous original Williams "44" tonner, oversize?  I think that is why I balked  it getting one.  Didn't Bachmann make one, the right size, wrong gauge?  (or maybe it was Bachmann reps  I talked to...been a while)

I really like mine but it is very oversized. They took a Narrow gauge version of the engine and sized it so it would fit on O gauge track. The result is that it is very oversized but knowing that no one else is going to make a scale one any time soon I am willing to over look it in part because every other 19th century steam engine in toy O Gauge 3 rail is oversized from Lionel's General to MTH's General and19th century Ten wheeler which is based on the narrow gauge engines pulling tourists at Disneyworld.

The engine is probably close to 1/35 scale narrow gauge. A little green plastic army guy would look about scale as the engineer instead of the little guy that has balanced his chair on the back head of the boiler now. 

Becareful as you pick one up not to lose the loose press fit screen that fits over the stack top. The smoke production on mine is very heavy.

Yes, it is oversized, but it's a great looking little engine.  It runs and smokes well.  It pulls 6 reefers and a lighted bobber caboose with no problem.  I doubt the prototype could pull that many cars.  Visitors  to our modular layout don't get hung up on scale. To them it's "the little engine that could."

Bob

Here's the one I converted to TMCC and chuffing smoke, pretty cool little locomotive.  Pulling more than 5-6 modern cars are not in the cards for this little guy, though it did manage ten RMT ore cars on level track.  The electronics are in the little coal car, no room to put them in the locomotive, the smoke unit is fairly huge.

RRDOC posted:

Yes, it is oversized, but it's a great looking little engine.  It runs and smokes well.  It pulls 6 reefers and a lighted bobber caboose with no problem.  I doubt the prototype could pull that many cars.  Visitors  to our modular layout don't get hung up on scale. To them it's "the little engine that could."

Bob

Can it pull that many cars up an 4% grade or just on a flat?  Also, anyone able to offer a pulling power capacity comparison  (approximate number and type of cars flat and on a 4% grade) between a K-line porter, Lionel 0-6-0 Dockside, Lionel 90's/2000's 0-4-0 w/slope back tender (original retail ~$190), Lionel 0-8-0 RTR locomotive, and K-line Plymouth diesel switcher?  Looking at getting one of these for my next purchase to pull an 8 car ore train and a 6 car log train.   

I suspect that you'd be down to 2-3 cars on a 4% grade with the Porter or the Plymouth switcher, that's a huge difference from running on the flat!  The Plymouth switcher is powered with the same little power truck as the Porter and will have similar limitations.  The tiny motor in the Porter and Plymouth isn't up to hauling a lot of cars.

I'm sure the Lionel 0-6-0 or the Lionel A5 will be a better choice.  The 0-8-0 should have no issue pulling them.  I have the K-Line 0-4-0 with TMCC and it should handle your ore or log train.

Thank you for the fast and great reply. Any other locomotives I should add to the list for consideration that have good,pulling power and would look good with ore cars or log cars?  I'm running conventional, looking to spend $50-$150, and want minimum maintenance work. Not in any rush - just slowly watching eBay over the next 10 months before the winter layout goes up again. 

Probably out of your price range, but my log train gets pulled by either my Climax or Shay.  I have a couple of Shay's to pick from or the Climax.  There are plenty of diesels that would be seen pulling those cars as well, depends on the period you want to model.

The Shays and Climaxs are some gorgeous engines...but...definitely out of my price range for a while.  My log cars are WSL.  If I went with a diesel, what would be some fits there? Not set on period to model. Right now this is a winter only set up that someday I hope will become permanent.   I did some looking a few weeks ago and could only find one picture with a diesel in it...which is what led me to consider the Plymouth switcher.  Alex

There is a small group of items that approaches G scale or thereabouts, and I think the manufacturers wanted a one-size-fits-all shell for different gauges. The O gauge items are the K-line Porter, the MTH Galloping Goose and some of the speeders, like the RMT one. All of them come across like Gauge 1 models running on O gauge track. So if you fancy a small 3-rail logging railroad, there's a possibility.

Thank you for the additional ideas. 

Diesel log trains.

And of course, there's this one.

Thanks for the good pics of the diesels. That last picture was great!  Got a chuckle with that one.