sacrilege?

[velotrain]

I've been pondering N scale Bo-Bo electric locomotives, with a view to purchasing a push-pull pair to bracket a ballast train.

 

The Microace Seibu Electric Railway E31 pair is attractive, but for some reason has a very high price tag of just over $100 per engine.  The Microace ED-ED759 Sendai is a possibility.  The Kato, Microace or Tomix ED-79 might work, although I find the single arm pantograph on the Kato model rather heavy and ugly, and I'm not crazy about the reddish-brown paint scheme.

 

I had a radical thought and outside of the sheer disregard for the prototype, I'm wondering what the technical considerations might be.  I was looking at the Tomix (red) or Kato (blue) EH800 units, pondering what would be the impact of splitting them up.  I'm guessing that the minimum impact would be to disable the directional lighting on the trailing (non-powered) unit.  Is there anything else I should take into consideration?

[katoftw]

doubt it would work since the couplers are on the same ends as the cabs.

 

2x DE10s will cost you $140.  Or if you buy some Kato or Tomix 2x Bo-Bo engines, then you probably look at $160.  Just find the one would like in the colour and era you like.

[Nick_Burman]

I've been pondering N scale Bo-Bo electric locomotives, with a view to purchasing a push-pull pair to bracket a ballast train.

 

The Microace Seibu Electric Railway E31 pair is attractive, but for some reason has a very high price tag of just over $100 per engine.  The Microace ED-ED759 Sendai is a possibility.  The Kato, Microace or Tomix ED-79 might work, although I find the single arm pantograph on the Kato model rather heavy and ugly, and I'm not crazy about the reddish-brown paint scheme.

 

I had a radical thought and outside of the sheer disregard for the prototype, I'm wondering what the technical considerations might be.  I was looking at the Tomix (red) or Kato (blue) EH800 units, pondering what would be the impact of splitting them up.  I'm guessing that the minimum impact would be to disable the directional lighting on the trailing (non-powered) unit.  Is there anything else I should take into consideration?

 

 

What about Tetsudo Collection locos? The forthcoming JNR/Ohmi GE boxcabs, for instance...

 

Cheers NB

[Das Steinkopf]

Splitting an EH unit would not be a pretty sight, I have been repairing a dodgy motor contact on a Kato EH200 that I purchased recently, one car of the locomotive has the motor in it whislt the other car has gearing that is powered by a cardan shaft that is attached to the motor, as well as that the two car bodies are permanently coupled by a frame just above the bogies and would require a lot of work to fit couplers.

Edited December 12, 2015 by Das Steinkopf

[velotrain]

Thanks Steinkopf.  I had thought the connection would only be electrical, and didn't realize that all axles were driven by the single motor.

 

 

 

If you purchased yours recently, why not return it under warranty?

 

 

 

Or - did you think it would be simpler (and faster) to fix it yourself?

 

 

 

 

 

katoftw - I didn't think the DE10's were electrics

 

 

 

 

 

Nick - I've become less fond of them over time.  Besides the issue of needing to buy chassis, they don't have lights and I'm starting to feel that perhaps the details are less crisp than on models designed from the start as powered units.  I don't mind an older design engine (such as the GE), but it was the Meitetsu Deki's (400 & 600) that got me interested in the push-pull scheme in the first place, so I did want something a bit more colorful.

 

[katoftw]

katoftw - I didn't think the DE10's were electrics

The "D" is for diesel.  The "E" is for 5 axles.

Edited December 12, 2015 by katoftw

[kvp]

Katoftw, i think in this case the remark might have something to do that the question was for 4 axle electrics only, so suggesting a cheaper 5 axle diesel is not really helpful.

 

On the other hand, the besides that fact that it's very hard to split a permanently coupled loco it would look horrible. The Tomytec shells are built for the modelling standards of the 1980-is which is not that bad, considering they have less fragile parts to get damaged. Some of these small electrics were produced by afaik microace in the past, but the detail level is around the same as the Tomytec units and the Tomytec-s are not only cheaper, but more reliable. The Tomytec-s have the added bonus that you only have to motorize one and can use the other one as a dummy, which is more reliable than two motors on the two ends of a rake of relatively light cars. For lights, there are kits and for a push-pull set, you only need one trailer set and it's possible to split the two light boards between the locomotives.

 

For a non Tomytec push-pull set, i would suggest ED60-s and ED61-s, as they were mainline DC Bo-Bo locomotives and even the Tomix track cleaner car is pulled by one in some sets, so they are great for MOW trains. For an AC version, the ED75 is also a nice Bo-Bo electric that were used for almost every role.

[cteno4]

Charles,

 

I've found the tomytecs to be pretty nice in detail, it's not fine scale quality, but average. Of course doing some fine scale detail work with wire handrails and such could really pop them if you wanted high detail.

 

I think kvp makes a great point about being able to make one a dummy easily with the tomytecs. I have many of the smaller micro ace electric locos and most (except for the ones released on the last couple of years) are not better detail than the tomytecs. This will make a better running train. I have had no issues running my little Tomix 7 car koki set in reverse like the prototype does.

 

Worth a look and the cheapest solution!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[velotrain]

_{I ended up going with Tomix ED75-1000 - one criteria among the many ED7x versions available was roof detail.}

 

_{One issue with the Tomytecs is that AFAIK they are all dull colors (brown), and I believe generally represent ancient engines.}

 

_{I considered the MicroAce Deki 500, and I like the body, but the steps and railings are just too fat, and I didn't think it worthwhile to replace them.}

 

_{I still like the Seibu E31's, but just don't understand why MA has them priced at about twice the cost of a similar engine by the other manufacturers.}

[katoftw]

6 words from a 51 word post relates to a diesel engine.   The other 45 words related to the questions in the opening post.  And then get told I'm being unhelpful.  Really? 10% of a post relating to diesels causes issue?  This thread proves why this community fails to get large numbers to continue to return.  Cos arse holes rule the roost.  Time for a holiday.

Edited December 13, 2015 by katoftw

[velotrain]

You spend your time worrying about word count, and call other people crude names?

 

Why not make it a permanent holiday.

[katoftw]

In the end you followed a suggestion I gave in my post.  So the post although having a very small mention of diesels in it mustn't have been too unhelpful at all. Happy holidays.

Edited December 13, 2015 by katoftw

[cteno4]

Ok guys enough. Drop the spat.

 

Jeff

Edited December 23, 2015 by cteno4

[nah00]

_{I ended up going with Tomix ED75-1000 - one criteria among the many ED7x versions available was roof detail.}

 

_{One issue with the Tomytecs is that AFAIK they are all dull colors (brown), and I believe generally represent ancient engines.}

 

I REALLY like my ED-75 from them way more than I thought I would. It looks pretty good and runs well too. One word of caution though: when putting on the number boards on the side be careful if you're using CA to attach them. On mine it dissolved some of the red still in the depression and caused it to run outside onto the cream color when I attached the number board. Was able to find a decent match to cover it up but hopefully you can avoid my error. 

[velotrain]

Thanks for that.  I actually seldom use CA.  For one thing, my experience is that it doesn't stand up well to sideways pressure.

[velotrain]

Even the prototype Blue Thunder gets separated sometimes - although perhaps not while on assignment:

 

[kvp]

Afaik that was a derailment while being used as a snowplow. Imho that's not standard practice.