Colorado Midland Railway Engineering Report

[OldEastRR]

The Bachmann 4-6-0 has traction tires on two drivers, so it does a pretty fair job of hauling. I had to review one for a mag once and it could pull quite a bit. I also think it has a coreless motor. The bad news is the decoder in the tender is hardwired to the loco, so changing out tenders can be a pain. I managed to chop down the existing decoder board (by cutting off the anti-TV-static parts) in the original tender so I could fit it in the small USRA tender and not have to rewire everything. I think by the Bman 2-10-2 they were using plug/socket connections between cab and tender.
I believe some parts like the boiler domes, cab, and stack were separate pieces so modifying and customizing the 4-6-0 would be somewhat easier than usual.

[Dave V]

Excellent!  Unfortunately the last of this batch of Favorite Spot undec 4-6-0s at $105 sold, but I imagine there'll be more.  There's also a guy on eBay selling unboxed new stock (the boxes got cracked apparently) for $65 a pop, although those are decorated and will need to have lettering stripped.

[delamaize]

I changed my 4-6-0 tender out for one of the b-man short tenders, not a slope back. In the process, I scrapped the b-man decoder altogether and went with a tcs unit.

This is the tender I used, I just stripped the lettering, and added NP lettering. I don't remember if their is a board inside or not, I want to say their is one though.
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Bachmann-N-89554-USRA-Short-Tender-Southern-Pacifi-p/bac-89554.htm

[Dave V]

I'll probably bite on the $65 boxless new stock.  I'll have to strip off the old lettering, but for a $40 savings, I can live with that!

EDIT:  I'm bidding on a B&O one.

[Dave V]

I won a 4-6-0 lettered for B&O for $65 plus $5.95 shipping...not bad at all!  I hope the dual-mode decoder works well on DC.  This is going to be a one-loco layout for a while, so no need for DCC immediately.

In the meantime I conquered that Tichy water tank kit.

[Texas Zephyr]

Jeez Dave, you're going balls to the wall on this. At this rate you'll be done with the layout by the end of the month!

Jason

[reinhardtjh]

I won a 4-6-0 lettered for B&O for $65 plus $5.95 shipping...not bad at all!  I hope the dual-mode decoder works well on DC.  This is going to be a one-loco layout for a while, so no need for DCC immediately.

It should.  At most you may have to put it on the JD and set CV 2 to something lower. Bachmann typically sets it to 10 which causes a fairly high starting speed.  Most people edit it to 0.  I have an early first run model and it worked pretty well on the DC test track.

[Chris333]

A structure a day, in place of trees 

Anyone here get the C&O 4-6-0?  Out bid me 

[Cameron_Talley]

I built that water tower kit about a million years ago, for two layouts ago.  Been moved around ever since. I like your color scheme!

[Dave V]

A structure a day, in place of trees 

LOL, not quite...  But, wondering what's the best way to finish off those Reese Street houses.  They're still around up in Silverton, but they've been repainted and expanded so many times.  I'm wondering whether to go whitewash, natural wood, or that ubiquitous barn red that will also coat my mine buildings.

I'm also thinking about bashing an ore tipple from a coaling tower.

[sirenwerks]

Dave,  Watching this with great interest.  I was thinking about doing a HCD based on the early copper mining of the GN in BC.

[Dave V]

Dave,  Watching this with great interest.  I was thinking about doing a HCD based on the early copper mining of the GN in BC.

Doooo it!

[Scottl]

Dave,  Watching this with great interest.  I was thinking about doing a HCD based on the early copper mining of the GN in BC.

I agree, that was a great period and some excellent modeling themes.

[delamaize]

It should.  At most you may have to put it on the JD and set CV 2 to something lower. Bachmann typically sets it to 10 which causes a fairly high starting speed.  Most people edit it to 0.  I have an early first run model and it worked pretty well on the DC test track.

beat me to it, reset CV2 to either 0 or 2 depending on the specific locomotive.

[Dave V]

Yay!  My 4-6-0 shipped! 

Here's a great site showing Otto Perry's pics of the Colorado Midland's roster in 1918, about the time the railroad was shutting down:

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr284.htm

And, color video of the Midland Terminal in the 1940s, including the then-surviving CM trackage from Divide to Colorado Springs: