Given that most people start out small and even a big layout needs the odd shunter/station pilot and given that the group has a wealth of cumulative experience could we suggest the most reliable small engine in any scale?
In N things are a boit thin at the moment so I'd have to say the Minitrix 'warship' (bit big really)
In message , snipped-for-privacy@notigg.not.no writes
Bachmann 56XX.
I'd say the most reliable is probably the Hornby 0-4-0 Pug - not the ex-Dapol model, but 'Smokey Joe' and any of the other 4 million liveries ;-) - they seem practically bomb proof.
Hornby 060 Pannier Tank has never given me(*) any problems, super little runner.
(*) Although when aged 2 my daughter spent an hour or so pushing it around and managed to strip a gear ... 2 ticks to repair though once I'd got the part so I suppose that's another + ... very easy to maintain.
OO or N?
I bought one of the later Grafar models, but it's just an ornament as it is so unreliable
In message , snipped-for-privacy@notigg.not.no writes
OO of course. I've got two of them and they are both good runners and will pull quite a lot.
Hmm - Unless Bachman improve the running of the N gauge stuff I'll flog the lot and go for either 1959's US N or UK 1920's OO, probably the former due to space constraints.
The continental stuff is superb - Waltons my local shop keeps showing me examples, latest was a 2 6 4 tank fully DCC with built in sound, incuded station announcements, come on a bit since the Hornby strip of sand paper and wire of my youth (although that is still out there I understand. A snip at GBP 260 but somehow the Continental stuff doesnt interest me.
I bought a Bachmann J72. It was fine at first, but every time it sits for a day or two, it seems that oil leaks onto the commutator. When started, it sputters around the layout emitting smoke - from the cab. After a minute or so it's fine again. Anyone have the same experience?
"MartinS" wrote
Nope, but if you strip it and clean the whole shooting match you should eliminate that problem is it's caused by oil. My guess, however, is that the commutator slots are full of carbon.
John.
I've tried stripping and cleaning (not easy with a split chassis), but the problem recurs. Maybe there's excess oil in the upper bearing. I don't know about the commutator slots, but it hasn't been run much.
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