More exciting news about Bachmann K4

[delamaize]

How do you know you will need traction tires without having one in hand and testing....

[Leggy]

4% grades ho!

[chicken45]

This is the Pennsylvania Railroad. Nut up and triple head those sumbitches!
 

[hminky]

There are pictures at Model Railroad Hobbyist forum, there are down near the bottom of the page:

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/23530?page=2

Have no interest in the K4 was drooling over the HO 4-4-0's!

Harold

[wazzou]

There are pictures of the Intermountain SD40-2 though, for those that are interested.

[mmagliaro]

Edits for typos...
------------------

The Bachmann rep specifically said they did not put traction tires on the K4 because they don't like them.
He said engines run better without them, so they prefer to use them only when necessary.

I agree with this.  Engines can track and glide more smoothly, especially on curves and at low speed, without
the tires.  But it is rarely practical because it's hard to get enough weight and traction into an N Scale steam
loco without them.

And it triggered my Bachmann B.S. meter, because I am hard-pressed to think of any Bachmann steam loco
that does not have traction tires.  So it is a little "disingenuous", at best, for them to claim that they
don't like them and try to avoid them.

Be that as it may, the K4 does not have them.  I have no idea how many cars it can pull on a level or on various grade percentages.   Double-heading is fine, as long as a single K4 can manage at least, say, somewhere in the neighborhood of a 6-9 car passenger train up 2% grades by itself.

[towl1996]

Something inside me made me do it, gotta support any Pennsy modeling effort that I can, so I went ahead and ordered one. Hopefully, more will be in store. Now to wait.

[victor miranda]

well, max,
I think your bs-meter is in good form.

I am guessing that b-mann is using a coreless motor and that the worm will be supported
by the motor.

with that construction in mind I am pretty sure b-mann found that a traction tire caused
some entertaining problems.
another way to word that is a traction tire would be the source of hitching in that type of construction
under heavy load in particular.

given the overall weight balance, the loco should be good to ok for pulling.

so b-mann skipped the traction tire....

in a day or two we will come to see if my crystal ball works or not.

in the mean time I was amused at the thought that b-mann put a Kato style FEF chassis in there
and the problem with TT was breaking the axles and couplers at over 60 cars....

.... I don't see that in my crystal ball however....

victor

.

 

[Kiasutha]

Off the top of my head, they didn't put tires on either version of the C&O mallet.
I don't feel it was a particularly wise decision on their part...

[victor miranda]

Off the top of my head, they didn't put tires on either version of the C&O mallet.
I don't feel it was a particularly wise decision on their part...

hi Kiasutha,

I agree that traction tires are needed for that loco 'cause it should be able to haul
a lot of coal hoppers.

in terms of that particular model and how it is constructed... adding the traction tires...
would cause a lot of additional problems.

from the look of the k4,  I think adding a  TT groove is possible,  the driver tire looks thick enough
to cut for adding a GS-4 tire.

victor

[Dave V]

in a day or two we will come to see if my crystal ball works or not.

victor

.

This is the first I've heard of an expected delivery date...

[Cajonpassfan]

Be that as it may, the K4 does not have them.  I have no idea how many cars it can pull on a level or on various grade percentages.   Double-heading is fine, as long as a single K4 can manage at least, say, somewhere in the neighborhood of a 6-9 car passenger train up 2% grades by itself.

Max, that would be admirable. But I think we would be hard pressed to find a prototype 80" drivered Pacific that could take such a train up 2% grades unassisted. Six heavyweights, well possibly, nine most certainly not.... So maybe the decision to not use traction tires is the right one; time will tell.
Oh, I notice you didn't say heavyweights, but that what I see behind a K4
Regards,
Otto

Fixed quote tag -gfh

[Dave V]

I don't have grades, but I have a 13.75" radius on my inside main...so I'm curious whether my entire string of MTL heavyweights will tax the pulling power due simply to curvature.  In a perfect world, I'd love to be able to pull:

1 express X29
1 B60b
1 MTL baggage car
2 MTL RPOs
3 MTL sleepers
1 MTL diner
1 MTL obs

I fear that may be too much to ask of any engine without a TT on that sort of curvature.  But then again, I can double-head with a brass K4 or Bullfrog Snot some wheels (knowing how much you guys love Bullfrog Snot!).  I could also confine the longer train lengths to the 15" radius outer track (where, frankly, the heavyweights look more natural anyway).

Another thought is just doing a separate head-end section (as Pennsy often did) with one K4 and the heavyweight sleepers in the second section with...another K4!

Nevertheless, I'll put her through her paces when she arrives.

[victor miranda]

This is the first I've heard of an expected delivery date...

well, I assume (yeah I know...) that since bachmann says shipping now... they are on trucks in the U.S.

strange what the acrylic ball shows me.

I am not sure what to bet,
but I'll bet you some one has one in about a week.
like the 2-10-2's.... they appeared!

victor

[Chris333]

BLW says early September.