What the heck? This big beast will never get across the old trestle over the Castor River. This 2-10-0 was seen at Greenbrier which rarely sees a locomotive of this size. A big thanks to Don Wirth for such a sweet opportunity to own this beautiful DCC model. By the way, this takes 18" curves with no problem. Now to add a Tsunami sound decoder
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Oh boy! That looks great! The load is spread over lots of wheels, so the trestle just might carry the locomotive. I would check with Karl first, though. George
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Outstanding! I have one of the older (first run) Russians. It is my favorite. Love to watch the side rod action of it in motion.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Jim, is that brass or is it a Spectrum? In either case, sound installation is fairly easy. Make sure you run wires directly to the pickups on each tender truck to create more reliable electrical connections.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Keith, That's Don Wirth's Spectrum 2-10-0. Looks good. The Russian is one of my favorite looking locomotives. I just wish it wasn't 1917.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Thanks for the tip, Keith. I will for sure install the TSU-1000 medium steam decoder. You got me hooked on sound. Manny, I feel for you. Luckily my 1915-1925 era fits it perfectly. My location may be off a bit but rule #1 applies here. Last night I tweaked the decoder that's in it using JMRI Decoder Pro 3. It runs like a Swiss watch now but I still need sound.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. George, it's going to have to make it over that old trestle because I'm sending her to Zalma to pull some heavy loads of logs back to Leming Lumber in Cape Girardeau. Sherrel, you're right. All that action going on at the side rods makes for a real good show. I can't hardly wait to install that sound decoder to add some audio to the visual. Guess that warm weather modeling slump will just have to wait!
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. The only steam locomotive I own is a Bachmann Spectrum Russian, which I purchased in 2005 secondhand from a fellow in Cheyenne, WY, whose model RR club meets in the former UP roundhouse, flanked by REAL steam. That aside, it looks like a hardwiring job with the decoder & speaker residing in the tender, unless there is any room in the boiler.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. That is correct. There should be a ton of room in there for a decent speaker size.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Jim, Your Russian came closer to Brownwood and the Zalma Branch than you think. They were actually used on the Current River Branch into Puxico. A photo of one (possibly even number 1632, if I remember correctly) sitting at Van Buren while the crew takes their lunch is in Joe Collias's book "Frisco Power." Ken McElreath
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. That makes me feel better. I don't want to push the envelope too far. Thanks for that.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. LOL...I don't recall seeing the word "envelope" anywhere in Rule #1. To verify and be absolutely certain that the 2-10-0 Russian never visited the Zalma Branch, call 1-800-DEAD-GUY ( 800-332-3489 ) Press 1 for color of Pullman Passenger Cars prior to 1900 Press 2 for Boxcar Red, Oxide Debate Press 3 for Heinz Green or Brown Press 4 for Was This Car ever there Press 5 for Was This Engine ever there Press 6 for Time Travel For all other questions and an eternal waiting hold time, Press "0" and the dead guy will someday get to you...
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. A paragraph inserted into the Special Instructions of your ETT should do the trick... Hoxie Sub, Bloomfield Br Engines with a Bridge Class between E-27.5 and E-42 must stop before crossing bridge TC-167.9, and then using a light throttle proceed at 3 mph until engine is over bridge. Cars exceeding a gross weight of 70,000 lbs must be separated from engine by at least two cars whose gross weight does not exceed 30,000 lbs.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Looking good Jim, You gonna weather it up a bit maybe? I got a couple steamers I want to try and weather up some day, diesels I get but steam is gonna challenge me. Anyway gotta do a little work before that happens. Thanks for sharing.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Manny, that was my first laugh of the day. Thank you. Karl, that will be a great operational aspect for authentic train movements. Great. Tom, I will add the bell rope and some weathering. I'll post pics.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Love this! I am debating a steam purchase, looks like I might have to spend some Rubles
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. It's a smooth runner and takes 18" radius curves with ease. I just added a Tsunami sound decoder with a sugar cube speaker and it is a pure joy to operate and listen to.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Jim and Frisco Friends, I grabbed the same locomotive off eBay a couple of weeks ago and installed a non-sound Digitrax decoder. It runs great, but I would like to get sound in it. It looks like there is little room in the tender. Jim, did you remove the factory-installed circuit board in the tender and do a direct wire to get more space? I do have a sugar cube speaker to use...did you make any openings in the tender for the sound? Thanks, -Bob T.
Re: A Russian Invades the Zalma Branch. Bob, remove the original board and use a TSU-750 Heavy Steam decoder if you like the whistle used on the 1522. The decoder and sugar cube speaker should then easily fit in the tender. There should also be room for a Current Keeper if you desire. You can use a #57 bit to drill tiny holes in coal load to let sound out of the tender.