Question regarding Athearn/MDC/Roundhouse locos

[Lemosteam]

Hi All, is the power tender for the 2-8-0 and 2-6-0 identical?  I have a 2-8-0 apart right now for a tender shell shortening project.  It has the venerable 5 Pole LL motor in it, and I will be designing a cradle for a Bachmann K4 coreless motor.  Hopefully I can get the driveshaft to work at a new angle.

I am hoping the design could work for both locomotives for a more realistic tender proportion on each.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Dave V]

That depends.  When they were produced by Roundhouse they were different.  The 2-6-0 has a water hatch on the tender deck that the 2-8-0 does not.  This leads to clearance issues between the two tender shells such that the 2-6-0 tender shell doesn’t quite fit over the 2-8-0 motor without modification.  Once Athearn took over they all have the tender shell with the water hatch and are interchangeable.

[peteski]

Does the subject line imply that those locos were actually made by MicroAce?

[SkipGear]

I thought the only confirmed Micro-Ace share was the Atlas 2-6-0. The Athearn/Roundhouse don't have the look of a Micro-Ace but I may be wrong, it's been a while since I have looked at them.

[Lemosteam]

@peteski, no. It only implies that that is what I thought. The designs are so similar, but I will look into it further.

[Lemosteam]

@Dave V , thanks.

I should clarify that the version I have apart is an Athearn, right @Ed Kapuscinski ?

If I design for that I can specify that it should work on either Athearn loco.

I have my own Roundhouse 2-8-0 that I can look at for differences.

[Dave V]

@Dave V , thanks.

I should clarify that the version I have apart is an Athearn, right @Ed Kapuscinski ?

If I design for that I can specify that it should work on either Athearn loco.

I have my own Roundhouse 2-8-0 that I can look at for differences.

I do know that Roundhouse made a lot more of these than Athearn did and that Athearn canceled its next round of 2-8-0s.  I'm kinda pissed about that, but I've been able to snatch up the Roundhouse ones pretty easily.  I don't have any of the 2-6-0s, but of the many 2-8-0s I have for the Midland, both the Roundhouse and Athearn versions run about the same (very well).  Athearn may be geared a little slower?  Maybe I'm imagining things.  Either way, the differences between the Athearn and the Roundhouse 2-8-0s that I've observed are:

1) Athearn's uses the Roundhouse 2-6-0 tender with the water hatch.
2) Athearn's comes with Accumate couplers versus Rapido or dummy knuckles on Roundhouse.  The pilot coupler extends about a scale quarter mile ahead of the cowcatcher on Athearn's 2-8-0.
3) The wheels and valve gear on the Athearn 2-8-0 are blackened.

Otherwise they're the same engine.

Hope this helps.

[Chris333]

I thought the MDC drivers were silver and  the Athearn's had blackened drivers.

And they both run better than any Micro Ace locomotive I've ever seen.

[randgust]

The micro-ace 2-6-0 was adopted by Atlas with some minor changes claimed by Atlas that are generally imperceptible, I have an original Micro-Ace and an Atlas and I can't tell them apart.

The "Atlas" 4-4-0 appears to actually be manufactured by the same company that did Micro-Ace.   Notice that I don't say Micro-Ace because any more it's hard to say who actually makes anything.

Same applies for Athearn and Roundhouse, you know they weren't actually made in the US, so like everything, it's possible they came out of the same manufacturing facility.

Reminds me of when I once toured a local potato chip plant and all they did was change the name on the bags and keep the line running....

[Dave V]

I thought the MDC drivers were silver and  the Athearn's had blackened drivers.

This is what I said in different words.

3) The wheels and valve gear on the Athearn 2-8-0 are blackened.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

@Dave V , thanks.

I should clarify that the version I have apart is an Athearn, right @Ed Kapuscinski ?

Oooh!

I think so.

It's definitely NOT Micro Ace.

[ncbqguy]

Lemosteam and all-

Micro-Ace is a Japanese company that was using Chinese factories (Kader and others) for product similar to the Atlas, Athearn, etc.  Most of the Japanese companies beyond Kato don't want to deal with the North American market (whatever happened to the Tomix/Tomytec PCC cars that were debuted at the Louisville show a number of years ago???)

I had suggested that Atlas look into getting Micro-Ace approval to run the 2-6-0 with North American roadnames and they were successful.  In retrospect I wish that I had mentioned also doing the passenger cars that were likely made in the same factory;  they were typical 1860s style cars which would be nice to have.   If Paul or somebody from Atlas sees this post it would still be a good idea, especially since there are now two locomotives that could pull them.

I don't know the story behind the 4-4-0;  I think that Lowell Smith could fill in some details as I think he was behind it being produced as a part of his work with the Disney Company as there was a version representing Walt Disney's live steam 4-4-0 in 1 1/2" scale that made the Atlas project possible.

The 2-6-0 and 2-8-0 could both use a couple of designs of tenders....one 1890-ish and another for a modernized version. 

Another engine that could use a smaller tender shell is the Bachmann 4-6-0.

Contact me off-list if you need any drawings / photos to help with the research.

Charlie Vlk



Charlie Vlk

[wazzou]

I'd always wanted a Micro-Ace 0-6-6-0 but never did get one.
Of course I wanted to make a mallet out of it so I'd hoped it would be picked up by a US company or at minimum re-run but neither has occurred and they are pretty rare as a result.

[peteski]

@Atlas Paul , please see Charlie Vlk's post 2 posts earlier.

I didn't think that the MDC/Athearn locos mentioned here were made/designed by MicroAce - thanks for the confirmation.

[Albert in N]

Here is a photo of my MDC 2-6-0 showing the silver wheels and the water hatch on the tender.  This was after the 70% alcohol wipe to remove the foob modern Southern Pacific decal on the tender.  I am going to brush thin black Testors as needed, apply steam Rock Island decals with the correct number and lightly weather, then light Testors dull cote.  This little fellow has a really nice factory LED white headlight and runs smoothly!