Highest Quality HO Trains

LOL! Well, that's a possibility, too!

Dunno, but they'd have to make more sense than "curnt".

Any one that "curnt" doesn't attend?

Am I in any way required to apologize for asking what the highest quality HO trains are? I had no idea the thread would come to this.

How about this... if I were looking for a nice HO scale Chessie diesel (Blue, orange, yellow livery) in the ~$250 range, what models might I want to look at? No need for DCC - that is too far in the future to consider.

Spender skriver:

No not at all

Welcome to usenet.

Klaus

in article snipped-for-privacy@news.easynews.com, Spender at snipped-for-privacy@Mars.org wrote on 1/22/07 6:12 AM:

First things first: you might want to get a sound equipped DCC "dual mode" locomotive: many can run on DC and produce sound, then are ready for DCC when you are.My usual suspects in the $250 range are Athearn Genesis, Broadway Limited, Lifelike Proto 2000, Bachman Spectrum, and DCC equipped Atlas. I don't fine any Chessie diesels among their offerings in my quick search, sorry.

Secondly, Unfortunately, some usenet news group users feel that their purpose in life is to fill internet bandwidth with vitriolic postings. In the olden days of my youth, the 6th grade teacher would just tell them to go out behind the stadium and settle it, then reenter the class room when they are ready to get serious again. Sadly, the teachers have all gone, along with much civility.

You may want to set up a rule in your news reader to bypass some individual posters. I don't like to do this myself, because as it turns out, some of these folks also contribute valuable *on topic* remarks from time to time.

Thank you! But I've been here for over 15 years. It just never ceases to amaze me the havoc one troll can create.

Thanks for the prospects. I will check them out.

Done. Curt(whatshisname) has been in my kill file for a while now.

If God himself does decide to post, I will not killfile him though. His knowledge of trains should leave anybody here in gapped jaw awe, and his knowledge of his own creation could provide valuable insight as well (hint: chronic lower back pain.)

Wrong. They're everyday examples of real-world railway operations that require low-speed running.

I don't. Nor did I claim that I did. The question is irrelevant.

None, in other words. So why do you presume to tell an experienced engineman what steam locomotives can and can't do? Did you seriously expect I'd allow your assertions to go unchallenged?

Wrong. If the regulator is just cracked, the expansion of the steam means that valve chest and cylinder pressure is below that of boiler pressure. Even with the regulator wide open there is still a drop. That's why all the accepted methods for calculating TE assume a mean pressure of between 65 to 85% of boiler pressure. When running a loco fitted with a valve chest pressure gauge, comparison of this with the boiler pressure gauge confirms that is the case.

This sentence is gibberish.

Wrong yourself - Bulk loading and unloading might be an everyday event, but it's a very specific exception, normally using specifically designed or altered locos.

If you'd ever been in a shunting yard you'd know that maximum speed practical is the rule. I suppose you have to run your MUs through the stabling areas at fractional speeds to avoid the sightseers - yeah right.

No it's not. I don't believe you run your units anywhere at fractional mph speeds other than close quarter positioning.

I seriously expected you to point the borax and bring up every minor exception to make your case.

Wrong - wrong - wrong! The steam chest is a closed vessel - the steam can enter but it cannot leave. As the regulator regulates the amount of steam passing it cannot regulate the pressure to a closed volume.

Even with the regulator wide open there is still a drop.

Still wrong. The pressure in the steam chest is regulated dependant on the amount of steam passing through the cylinders. At fractional speeds the pressure in the steam chest will be very close to boiler pressure and near maximum tractive effort will be created for short periods. Watch a steam loco driver (light loco) - he will crack open the regulator and then close it, and then repeat that proceedure until the loco begins to move. To keep the loco moving at 1 mph would require him to "pump" the regulator the whole time - possible but not something even Arnold Schwartzeneger (sp?) would want to do for more than a short manuoever.

Sure, but that relates to running a loco at normal speeds.

No it's not. Pressure within the steam path falls from boiler pressure due to friction along steam passage walls. If the cylinders are taking steam at a rate which can be sustained by steam travelling through the center of the steam passage the there will be almost no drop for the indicator to indicate - therefore it will show the same pressure as the boiler pressure gauge.

Regards, Greg.P.

Really? What railways use "specifically designed or altered locos"? Nowhere in Australia does. The road power stays on the train during loading and unloading. I'm not aware of any US railroads that do. The road power stays on the train during loading and unloading. Nor in the UK. The road power stays on the train during loading and unloading. So where would these locos be found, Greg? New Zealand?

Mate, I've been in and worked in more yards than you've been in warm pussy. Don't play that card - you've *NEVER* worked in yard.

Bullshit. Where do you get this nonsense from? If you'd ever been in yard, you'd know that speed restrictions are the rule. I've yet to be in a yard anywhere where there weren't speeds set.

*Maximum* of 8kph in the open, and 5kph in the shed - to mimise the risk to any employees who may be on the ground. You suppose correctly, for once.

Mate, believe what you like - it won't change what I do every day at work.

What's that mean, in English? Shunting?

Britain - the roundabout trains. Australia - the heavy ore trains.

If you say so! However, the shunters worked and work at the best rate possible and DON'T wait for snails crossing the track.

Sure, maximum speed restrictions are a part of yard operation - I've yet to see speed restrictions expressed in fractional mph/kmhr figures.

Those are not fractional speeds and are within the minimum capabilities of light locos.

What you at works seems rather suspicious!

Moving a loco etc into a line of locos - positioning.

Mark Newton spake thus:

Even I can attest to this; I've watched enough operations at local yards (UP in both Oakland and Richmond) to see just how glacially slow things move, at least to my eye. I'm actually always surprised at how slow they go. Mark definitely gets the point here.

Yeah? When I've been there all I've ever seen is vanilla 20s, 47s, 56s,

66s, etc. What are the "specifically designed or altered locos"? you claim are used on MGR trains? Name them.

Utter bullshit, Greg. Hammersley Iron, BHP etc. don't own anything other than dirty big, US-design road locomotives, that stay on the the train the whole time it's moving, loading or unloading. What are the "specifically designed or altered locos"? you claim are used on ore trains? Name them.

Yes, I do say so. So have you, when you admitted to never having had any practical railway operating experience

Like everyone else, shunters like to get the work done quickly. But go too fast, and blokes get hurt or killed. Hence speed restrictions, very often put up by the yard OH&S committee.

What a remarkably stupid comment. No-one claimed that they did.

Nor have I. Who claimed they were?

Jeezus... Did you not read the bit about MUs? We don't have locos.

When we divide or amalgamate sets - dead slow speed.

When we swap the blocks - dead slow speed.

When we do a power against the brake test - dead slow speed.

When we do an inching movement - dead slow speed.

When we are in the wash plant - dead slow speed.

When we run trains into or out of the inspection roads - dead slow speed.

When we run over the various crossings in the yard - dead slow speed.

When we close up on another train in a yard or siding - dead slow speed.

When we close up on a signal, or are running on low speed signals on the ESR - dead slow speed.

When we pass a signal at stop - dead slow speed.

When we are proceeding to the next signal after passing a signal at stop - dead slow speed.

What you "believe", and what actually happens are two very different things.

Thanks David - good to see that someone's paying attention. If you're switching without the air cut in, and your trains are long and heavy, slow is the only way to go.

Obviously you've gone out and and seen what *real* railroads actually do for a living. Pity Greg doesn't do this now and then. I reckon he assumes that what he does on his layout equates to prototype practice throughout the world - it clearly doesn't.

All the best,

Mark.