Fleischmann N scale Cog engine reviews?

[nuno81291]

Hey gang the n scale scenery bug has bit and I ordered a butt load of European alpine style structures for a diorama. This led me to finding Fleischmanns N scale cog offering, excellent seeming but I cannot find much in the way of practical reviews. Does anyone have any experience with these units? Eyeing their starter kit which seems a decent value but would prefer to know if it is a good slow runner or not. Regards

[peteski]

Are you talking about the square cab electric loco?  I have one of those but it is the track cleaner version (not the standard cog loco).  It only has the outermost wheels installed and instead of the center axle it has a pair of small rotary track cleaning/grinding pads.  It is a standard Fleischmann design (large 3-pole straight-wound motor and wheel-wiper electric pickup. It is a very robust and reliable design.  Slow speed might be a bit jerky unless you use a pulse DC throttle or DCC decoder.  If the model you are asking about is a recent reissue, it is possible (but unlikely) that Fleischmann changed the mechanism.

[nuno81291]

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This is the set I mean. I don’t think it is the boxcab but I imagine the mechanism isn’t too far off. I intended to run with a kato DC supply, DCC system is a few rooms away in the big layout room. I suppose if a pwm unit doesn’t run slow enough I can drop a decoder in later. Thanks for the feedback Pete.

[engineshop]

I don’t have experience with N scale. I am building a HO scale layout with locomotives that have cog wheels (Bemo). The problem is the cog wheel itself. The tooth count is to low to give the model a nice slow speed, and I am talking HO. After testing the system, I gave up on the idea since I had problems with pushing (point to point layout), switches, curves and elevation changes. I also believe the weight of the engine is just to low to get a reliable grab on the cog rail.

[nuno81291]

Excellent points engineshop, I cannot imagine it gets any better in n scale with regard to weight of the loco. I have only seen a few videos of the N scale unit in question and everyone seems to run it at light speed. Potentially a deal breaker at the price it seems with such little information on the net it would come down to biting the bullet and experimenting. Perhaps a review would be in order to help any future English speaking buyers (spouse is German and read the only reviews I could find which were not very informative). I have never heard of bemo but hopefully Fleischmann’s loco gearing  does not fight with their cog track.

Atleast it would look the part in my planned diorama. Build thread to follow 

[delamaize]

Ok, I'll chime in. I have one of the 0-6-0 boxcab electrics, and a few of the passenger cars.
The locomotive is very heavy, with the center axle being geared, the other 2 are driven by the side rods. It has a strait wound 3 pole motor, but it will still run pretty slow, and smooth. I have put a decoder in mine, and it still runs very smooth, and with the weight, it has pretty good pickup. There is no lighting, But there is castings on the shell for lights, and the lenses are drilled out. If someone wanted lights, it could be done. But it would take some milling of the frame and micro LEDs. No traction tires. The Rack and Pinion portion of the locomotive is provided by an additional gear on the center axle, positioned in the center of the locomotive. It uses special track, that is manufactured only by Fleischmann. It's can be hard to come by. It's been a while since I ran it on a grade, But I want to say it will climb a 30% grade, with the 4 coaches I have. I'll try to get a video and some pictures this afternoon.

Overall, I like mine, and one of these days, I have plans to make a little layout strictly for this locomotive, something that is a point to point, but that will be a while. The other idea I had was making a Ntrak module, that would have the rack and pinion as the primary theme. But it will not fit with the theme of my club, so that idea is being scrapped/shelved.

[peteski]

(Attachment Link)

This is the set I mean. I don’t think it is the boxcab but I imagine the mechanism isn’t too far off. I intended to run with a kato DC supply, DCC system is a few rooms away in the big layout room. I suppose if a pwm unit doesn’t run slow enough I can drop a decoder in later. Thanks for the feedback Pete.

Ah, that is a different set. I didn't  realize that the steeplecab loco was depicting a a cog prototype. I thought it was a standard track  loco. Mine is a blue/white box-cab electric with matching coaches. Similar to http://www.reynaulds.com/products/Fleischmann/781283.aspx with the center axle removed.


But yes, Fleischmann follows a very similar design in most of their models. The electric pickup might be problematic (it is a light 4-wheel loco).

I looked up the loco you are interested in, and according to the description, it runs with with either rack or standard track: http://www.fleischmann.de/en/product/234968-737104-0-0-0-0-0-002002/products.html  And the parts diagram confirms that it uses a standard Fleischmann design I mentioned earlier: http://www.fleischmann.de/doc/et/2/de/737104_203226.pdf



Kato DC power pack  uses unfiltered DC (it is type of pulses). It should work well with this loco.

[nuno81291]

Thanks everyone. Here is the proto that has inspired me: [ Guests cannot view attachments ]


Pretty darn close for my purposes. I have nothing but a napkin sketch of my intended use, no grade calculation. It seems the Fleischmann n scale cog track is readily available, I intend to model a very caricature style portion of this railway with an alpine village and cable car. Whatever gets my hand back into N scale I suppose. Even if it is a coffee grinder the novelty is worth it. No interest in adding lighting (I have a very unsteady gait) even installing a decoder could be problematic for me but I intend to use the Kato unit as mentioned. Now if I could find someone to paint it blue to interchange with some DB stock    . I will report back when I am stateside, train in hand.

[peteski]

Fleischmann has cars painted in that white/blue livery (but they are shorted than the ones in the set you found).


Art. No.: 805303 and Art. No.: 805302
https://www.fleischmann.de/cz/product/234974-0-0-1-1-411-0-003002/products.html


Art. No.: 805401
https://www.fleischmann.de/cz/product/234976-0-0-1-1-411-0-003002/products.html

And as I mentioned, the blue loco.

https://www.fleischmann.de/cz/product/234968-0-0-1-1-411-0-003002/products.html

In both, DC (Art. No.: 737104) and DCC (Art. No.: 737184)

They are sold individually (not in sets), and while the locos are currently in stock, the cars are out of production. But I'm sure if you poke around you can find them in eBay or similar sites, or even at some well-stocked European hobby shop.

EDIT: There are images in this post but for some reason, the forum is not displaying them. Probably a caching issue.  I originally had the car images in the post and they showed up fine, I then edited the post and added the loco image. That is when all the images disappeared.

[delamaize]

Ok, so here is some pictures of mine, and a few videos. It will run slow, and the top speed is fast, but not quite rocket ship.
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A note on decoder install, It's not a drop in, it takes some work. See Pictures for my install
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Here is a few videos, First is running on my small European layout that is in the foam stage right now, First part of the clip is slow running. Mine will run slower, but the wheels and track are dirty. The 2nd part is wide open with a decoder, the last part is a hair faster than I normally run it.

Here is a picture of the rack track, Fleischmann 9119. It's "flex" track, but more stiff. There is 2 nail holes instead of the normal 1 on the ties that have the holes. The rail does have to be trimmed to fit for each section, which is why I am only using 2 sections, and a section of flex for the coaches to sit on at the down hill side. Grade looks to be about 40%. the piece of wood it was on is 6' long, and the rise is about 30".
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And a video running up and down the grade:

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Now I want to ditch the Boston Line and dedicate my basement to the mount Washington cog.... Floor to ceiling.

[John]

Thanks everyone. Here is the proto that has inspired me: (Attachment Link)


Pretty darn close for my purposes. I have nothing but a napkin sketch of my intended use, no grade calculation. It seems the Fleischmann n scale cog track is readily available, I intend to model a very caricature style portion of this railway with an alpine village and cable car. Whatever gets my hand back into N scale I suppose. Even if it is a coffee grinder the novelty is worth it. No interest in adding lighting (I have a very unsteady gait) even installing a decoder could be problematic for me but I intend to use the Kato unit as mentioned. Now if I could find someone to paint it blue to interchange with some DB stock    . I will report back when I am stateside, train in hand.

Is that Kufstein?

[nickelplate759]

Now I want to ditch the Boston Line and dedicate my basement to the mount Washington cog.... Floor to ceiling.

The Mt. Washington cog keeps their loco at the downhill side (for safety).  What does the Edelweis railway do?

[Chris333]

Wow surprised it can run that slow. Must be some hidden gear reduction.

[nuno81291]

My prototype is the Bayern Zugspitzbahn in Garmisch Partenkirchen.

Thanks for the pics/video delamaize.

Yes Pete I have seen the blue units floating around but am interested in the longer coaches as well as the price (starter kit can be had for about 250) figure I can chalk a repaint as a “maybe someday” project.