Is the new Arnold U25C the best N scale engine ever?

[wcfn100]

One wheel on each truck has a traction tire. One on the right front and one on the left rear.  Kind of odd for two TT to be split this way.

Odd or genius.   If I read what you're saying, there's a tire at opposite corners (right front for each direction).  I can imagine how the torque on the truck could put the most force on that wheel.

Jason

[GaryHinshaw]

This seems like it would cause the trucks to yaw under load, which would force the flanges against the railheads.  But maybe it's fine in practice.

[peteski]

The "odd" traction tire arrangement is pretty much a standard for European prototype locos with swiveling trucks (made by European manufacturers like Arnold).  Nothing new or odd if you are familiar with those. Also, IIRC, the original Kato/Atlas RS-3/RS-11 used similar arrangement,.  How quickly we forget....  Old-school baby!

I used to remove the traction tire driver from those Kato/Atlas  locos. Hopefully the same can eventually be done with this one.

EDIT: speeiling spelling

[bbussey]

Some people forget, and others never knew.  The Atlas/Kato RS3 debut was (unbelievably) 30 years ago.

[CBQ Fan]

Middle axles.  One tire front right.  One tire left rear.

[strummer]

I am no photographer but wanted to get a couple pics up.  You can see the Atlas U25B for color comparison.

Brian

 Is it just me (or the photo), or is the grey roof on the Atlas unit noticeably darker?

 The reason I ask is,I've got a mixed bag of ATSF diesels from various makers in the blue and yellow scheme, and every one of them has a  slightly different shade, particularly the yellow...

Mark in Oregon

[CBQ Fan]

Yes the Atlas gray is much darker, which is common to the recent Atlas releases.  The Arnild gray is closer to the older releases and actually seems a touch to light to me. I'm need to pull out a couple of my books and see what the prototype looks like.

[CBQ Fan]

I got my second unit today!  Ithey both run great!  I,am not sold on the couplers yet.  I may look to replace them with MT.  They don't seem to want to couple and stay coupled unless under a load.  I will mess around with them a bit over the weekend and see what they do.

[wazzou]

I actually think the Arnold gray is closer to the CBQ gray than the Atlas is.

[Spikre]

 
   why did Arnold use Q F Unit grey on the U25C ?
   several shades too lite to the eyes here.
   then the Atlas does look about 1 shade too dark.
   got any GP20/30/35/40s to compare to ?
     Spikre
       

[CBQ Fan]

GP20 is darker.

The older runs of Atlas Geeps is much lighter but just a little darker than the Arnold.  Grayback units look white on the IM and Kato units whereas the Arnold unit does look gray, not white.  Maybe tomorrow afternoon I can try and get some photos up of a mix of engines.

[bbussey]

I got my second unit today!  Ithey both run great!  I,am not sold on the couplers yet.  I may look to replace them with MT.  They don't seem to want to couple and stay coupled unless under a load.  I will mess around with them a bit over the weekend and see what they do.

I'm guessing you mean to each other.  My one unit works flawlessly interacting with MTL couplers.  Haven't tested with Accu-Mates as of yet.

[nkalanaga]

Brian:  Middle axle would seem to make more sense.  The "left front, right rear" is simply because they used the same truck assembly on both ends, so that makes perfect sense. 

Only using one on each side allows at least 4-wheel pickup on each side.  If the traction tire is too thick, it can raise the axle next to it as well, meaning that truck will only pick up power on one axle.  Even then, you'll have three axles on the other truck on that side.  If they had tires on both sides on each trck, as some older models did, you might end up with only two axle pickup.  Not good!

I never had any trouble with the Atlas/Kato RS-3 traction tires.  With no flywheels (not in common use yet) I wired two together and they ran very nicely.

[CBQ Fan]

I'm guessing you mean to each other.  My one unit works flawlessly interacting with MTL couplers.  Haven't tested with Accu-Mates as of yet.

Yes, running the units together they seem to want to uncouple.  When I coupled up a freight train together everything stayed together.  I did not get a chance to really run them for an extended run so I am hoping to do that today.

[nstars]

I think a traction tire on the middle axle would not be a good idea. In most cases a wheel with traction tire has a little bit larger diameter compared to the other wheels to assure the traction tire touches the rail. Given this situation a traction tire on the middle axle would cause the truck to 'rock'. A traction tire on one of the outside axels would assure a firm contact between truck and rail.

Marc