New Run of Piko Whitcombs

[sandypsj]

Trainworld appears to have posted pre-orders for a new run of Piko Whitcomb switchers, in L&NE. I'm too new to post pictures, but you can load the N scale catalog and sort by "newest" (https://www.trainworld.com/shop-scale/n-scale.html?product_list_limit=200&product_list_order=new). It also appears on p. 19 of their German-language 2025 catalog (https://www.piko.de/KAT_PDF/2025/99695.pdf).

[Sokramiketes]

How come @Chris333 hasn't done one for Republic Steel yet?

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/rscx380.jpg

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Damn, I wish they'd do MMID!
I recently saw these in action and they are real little charmers.

[Chris333]

How come @Chris333 hasn't done one for Republic Steel yet?

http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/rscx380.jpg

Chris333 got old...

[Sokramiketes]

Chris333 got old...

Ha!  You and me both...

[brokemoto]

Damn, I wish they'd do MMID!
I recently saw these in action and they are real little charmers.

As mentioned in the earlier topic about these, they are prone to excessive stalling.  This is due to the traction tire.  If you swap out the tired wheelset for a regular, it ruins the pulling power.

I always run my pair in MU.  I did the wheelset swap out on one and left the tired wheelset on the other.  That lowers the stalling to a tolerable level as usually, the other one can push the first one enough to re-establish contact.  This has been the best solution for me in order to use them for actual operations.  I am convinced that a better solution would be to hardwire a pair together.  I have yet to figure out how to do that, though. 

As MM had only one, you might have to hardwire a live car to it.

The couplers appear to be imitations of MT except that they are not as reliable.  When the engine that still has the tires hiccups, frequently you get a breakaway.  Hardwiring would address that problem in two ways.

The funny thing is that even with the traction tires, a single one of these will sail right through UNITRAM street turnouts.

I am guessing that the people at PIKO thought that the weight of the metal shell would compensate for the traction tires and maintain contact on the unpowered truck.  Sadly, it does not work out that way.

Small power can have contact problems that really is not the fault of the manufacturers.  Its small size and concomitant lighter weight can compromise the electrical contact.  At times, the mere running of these in MU will address that problem. 

This has been my experience with the B-mann 44 tonner.  Hardwiring a pair of these has not proved necessary.  Conversely, the MDT (which really is a WDT) runs best when it is hardwired either to another one or a live car.  Running them in MU does result in a marked improvement but hardwiring is even better.

Another funny thing about the last of the Hon Kong B-mann WDTs is that the China wheelsets (with the black gears) will fit.  The last of the Honk Kong versions had the split frame of the China versions but those horrid white gears.  The last of the Hong Kong versions also has only four wheels live while the China version are all six live.  Either version runs will if hardwired either to another locomotive or a live car.  The throttle response on the China and Hong Kong versions are markedly different, so if you hard wire a pair, make sure that they are the same version.  I have only one Hong Kong version, so I hardwired it to a live Kato JNR brakeman's van that I altered slightly to make it pass for an industrial hack.  The pulling power on those WDTs for their size is pretty good.

If anyone figures out how to hardwire a pair of these together, please post a tutorial.

[Ntrainz1]

https://www.trainworld.com/piko-40810-n-diesellokomotive-leigh-new-england-65-ton-602-non-sound.html

[spookshow]

I wouldn't buy one if your intention is to run it as a switcher. Non-stop roundy-round is all it's good for.

-Mark

[randgust]

My whitcomb resin kits that used a Tomytec chassis were pretty good, but every livin' inch of them had a cast metal weight in it.  I had a terrible time getting a DZ126T decoder in the nose for DCC units, let alone sound.

The Tomytec motors were, and are, just too fast for most uses.  I was having a great time putting 5.14:1 gearheads on a Kato motor, that gave me just excellent speed and torque.   But still had one powered truck on my original design.   Not outstanding pullers, but they were electrically reliable in DC and DCC.

Now I can't get the gearheads at all even though I have lots of motors, and the end-tower trucks from Tomytec are about extinct - the revised ones put the gear tower in the center, making less room for the motor, shaft and universal.  My frame only fits those trucks.

I did manage to make a rather successful 8x8 build on one using the Tomytec ED01 drive, much better tractive effort, better electrical pickup, but still on the fast side.  Then Tomytec made the ED01 out of production, so that finally finished me off really promoting that kit.  I can still make them, but I warn people how difficult it may be to find a mechanism.

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-89ffd/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/76813/248851/4543736256663-1__83541.1586244151.jpg?c=2?imbypass=on

The trick (if any) is that motor and trucks on my  resin frame that holds the motor on edge so it clears everything.   But finding an ED01?  And for those of you that twitch on those flanges, it's a split axle with the gear in the center, pull them apart, chuck a wheel in a dremel, and it's the easiest flange turn with a file you'll ever have.   SOP on the builds I did.

This is one of those cases where I think the tradeoff between sound and pickup/traction came out as a net loss.   Sure is a nice job of doing the body though, even I will say that.

[brokemoto]

If B-mann could get a decoder and all wheel drive into a 44 tonner, what was Piko's problem with the Whitcomb?  Sound might be another matter but there are rumours that B-mann is going to re-issue its 44 and 70 tonners with sound.  I am guessing that the sound will go into the 44 tonner cab.

The 44 tonners are not bad pullers for what they are.  A pair of them will get eight freight cars, of various manufacture, and a B-mann four wheel caboose up a 2,2% grade.  The usual load is six and the caboose.  Anything more than eight and the prototypes probably would have required a helper, which, in the case of my pike, would be the Short Creek Junction station switcher:  an Atlas Shay.

The smaller N scale power really does need electrical help.  I always will wonder why the manufacturers never have offered some of the smaller power either hardwired to a live car, a pair hardwired in MU (in the cases of diesels or electrics) or with miniscule plugs similar to those available from Richmond Controls.  The plugs would allow you to run the locomotive around the live rolling stock, although it might be at higher than prototype speed and wires might dangle from  it but it would allow this.  It would add to the cost but the extra cost might prove worth it in increased reliability.

The B-mann 44 tonners do  not need the hardwiring if I run them in MU.  If one does lose contact, the other one usually has enough OOMPH to push the stalled until it recovers contact.  At most, you get a hiccup here and there but almost never a complete stop.  On the PIKO, it usually is my tired locomotive that stalls.  Often, the one without the tire can push it enough to re-establish contact but not always.  The weight of the metal shell plus the traction tire hinders this.  On the WDTs, usually, if one stalls, the other one has enough OOMPH to push it to re-establish contact but on some of the B-mann E-Z Track #4s or the Kato UNITRAM turnouts, I do get a stop as one spins its wheels in vain.  The WDTs are relatively easy to hard wire together or to live rolling stock either of which results in almost no stalls.

Miranda's Maxim as explained by ke also applies to small diesel and electric locomotives.  If you improve the contact on the smaller power, it renders amazing performance.

 The B-mann WDTs will pull more than even the most powerful prototype would.  I have seen old Fate-Roote-Heath advertisements.  Plymouth Locomotive Works did offer this with a three hundred horsepower diesel and three traction motors although I do not know if it ever sold any in that configuration.  Most of them had either hydraulic or friction drive.  Many of those with electric transmissions had only one or two axles geared to a motor and a chain drive to the other(s).

If only I could figure out how to hardwire the Whitcombs together.  The slow speed control on these is amazing, especially when you consider that it does not have flywheels.  The pulling power of one without and one with traction tires is acceptable for most tasks that anyone might assign to it.  I do not know about the pulling power of two without tires although experience suggests that it might be acceptable.  I have had one or two locomotives that had poor pulling power singly but in pairs were fine, for my purposes, at least.  The Atlas RSD-4/5 of Chinese manufacture has a B-1-1-B gearing (despite the prototype's being C-C) which results in relatively anemic pulling power singly but in pairs it was fine.  The Kato RSC-2 has a C-C gearing (despite the prototype's being A-1-A) and it will outpull the Atlas RSD-4/5 of Chinese manufacture.

[peteski]

If only I could figure out how to hardwire the Whitcombs together.  The slow speed control on these is amazing, especially when you consider that it does not have flywheels. 

Why would hardwiring these, or for that matter any N scale locomotives be difficult for anybody to figure out? It only takes 2 wires between the models, no?

[dem34]

Why would hardwiring these, or for that matter any N scale locomotives be difficult for anybody to figure out? It only takes 2 wires between the models, no?

Yeah if you want to be quick and dirty just go truck to truck and chase the wires thru the pilots. I have seen people also tap holes into the frame and snug handmade ferrules attached to said wires in.

[Iain]

One thing I'd like to do is figure out how to get two drive trucks in one.

[basementcalling]

Expensive little critters. Might be the most expensive n scale engine per ounce of weight ever made.