HOn3

Glenn, Bruce,

After our discussions on the subject, I was given an older example of the Frateschi 2-8-0 a couple of days ago by a mate who is changing scale/gauge/prototype. My initial impression of it's performance is quite favourable. It runs well enough, though it's a little noisy, and has reasonable tractive effort. Best of all, it's close dimensionally to the loco I want to kitbash, so I'm happy to have it.

Thanks to you both for your comments!

Cheers,

Mark.

Every model maker has bad days. I once got a steam locomotives from a reputable USA manufacturer (yes, still made here in those days) and it wouldn't run well at all. After some considerable investigation, I found that the spring compression on the motor brushes was so strong that the motor was very difficult to turn even by hand. With some adjustment with a pair of pliers on the motor, the model ran much better.

Traction tires seem to be the preferred way to go with European model makers, but the American makers seem to prefer to add lots of weight. Therefore, you could probably regain the model's pulling performance if you added a bit of weight. You want to make sure NOT to add too much: the wheels should still be able to spin if there are too many cars. The problem is that with DCC, constant lighting, etc. there is less and less room in locomotives now for the traditional steel weights.

Glennl, I agree that adding weight would help but with this model it's not easy to add very much. The tender contains the drive and powers the tender trucks rather than a drive shaft to gears in the locomotive. There is very little room in the tender with the gears and motor in there and tender is the only place weight would be of some help. The way the whole model is built is very unconventional making drive modifications or bashing a drive into the locomotive so problematic that its probably best to look for another loco or leave this one as is with it's traction tire. Bruce

Unless you have a loco with a very different mechanisim to mine, I consider that you are wrong in your assessment of the mechanisim. The motor would be easy to replace with a better quality one of similar dimensions. There isn't much room for more weight but a little more can be added with care. The axle and gear bearings are a bit sloppy and fitting brass bearings is model engineering, but it can be done by those with experience. Obviously the fit is variable from example to example because mine runs quite weell.

As for the rubber tyre, both Maerklin and Roco make good quality ones that can be substituted for the Fratechi tyre. When you put them on you need to ensure that the tension is relatively even all round. It is possible to mount the tyre so that it is tight on one side and loose on the other. The tyre has enough grip on the wheel slot for the tension to be inconsistant on the rim. I hook my smallest jeweller screwdriver ($2- set) under the tyre and gently slide it right around the wheel under the tyre. You can feel the tyre changing tension as you do this. Actually that procedure might work with the Frateschi tyre too, but I didn't try it.

Regards, Greg.P.