On30 looks very interesting.

[Dan Vincent]

Congratulations to Bachman for seeing the advantages of being able to build a layout for HO size track and then run "O-gauge" trains on it.

Years ago Bachmann was synonymous with poor quality trains that were made for the great unwashed masses. Today they are building singularly elegant models like the On30 "T-Boiler" Shay.

Wow, I love logging and narrow gauge so this could be the start of something big for me. I've already figured out how to get some into the house.

Every Christmas, my wife goes nuts decorating the house, last year she had two trees. One was on a 4' X 8' plywood table with a simple loop of HO track.

Today I told her about the amazing new trains that run on HO track but are twice the size. Gee, I wonder how that would look on our Christmas layout. With no hesitation she said "How much are they and where can we get some?"

OK, now I need some direction...I saw a picture of a D&RGW "Bumble Bee" that caught my eye. Where can I get one at a great price? Does that come with passenger cars..they look great on Christmas Layouts you know......

The Shay will be sneaked in the back door after I have established justification for additional equipment.

Are there any specialty firms offering large cabs to convert locos like the MDC Shay to On30?

Shamus, quit showing all those gorgeous On30 pictures.

 

[jon-monon]

Not sure if this is what you want, but trainworld has always delivered for me:

http://www.trainworld.com/bachmann/bachmann_0n30_sets.htm

 

[Dan Vincent]

Hi Jon,

I also found a Wholesaletrains.com that has the 2-6-0 Bumble Bee for $74.89, the Shay for around $140 and a trolly for $27. The site is very hard to navigate and find anything.

I really like that Bumble Bee paint job as we want a bright looking train at Christmas. Trouble is, Bachmann doesn't package that loco with the three yellow coaches.

The best way is to buy the loco and coaches separately.

They do offer the Bumble Bee with a freight train but I don't think they have a D&RGW caboose to go with the loco. Strange.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Lighthorseman]

Originally posted by Dan Vincent

...I really like that Bumble Bee paint job... ...The best way is to buy the loco and coaches separately...

Dan;

I'm thinking here that you'd like to see the Bumblebee loco pulling the yellow passenger coaches. If that is the case, your best bet would be to purchase a passenger set, and a separate bumblebee locomotive. You see, for some completely inane reason, Bachmann does not offer the combine or the observation coach separately. Rumours abound. Sales of G scale combines weren't good enough...Bachmann wants to eventually release a gas-electric, and too many folks would build their own if combines were readily available... They're available only as part of the complete set. You could then sell the straight black loco on Ebay, or just keep it for future use. It is such a nice runner that I doubt you'd want to be rid of it.

Of course, you could always just repaint the black locomotive...

 

[shamus]

Hi Dan,
try http://www.bantamodelworks.com/
for all cab conversions for the 0n30 Shay. very nice indeed some of them and very easy to put together.

cheers
Shamus

 

[Dan Vincent]

Shamus,

Yes, that's what I'm looking for.

I put one of those MDC Shays together years ago and it came out very nice. It was very noisy.

The gear teeth on the axles were terrible, causing a very lumpy action. I deburred the gear teeth as best as I could with an exacto knife but finally purchased a set of NWSL axles for it.
It smoothed out quite a bit but the thing is still noisy.

Now I'm wondering if a can motor conversion secured with a rubbery cement might help.

Thanks a lot for the site info, now I have an On30 Shay.

 

[Dan Vincent]

You'd like to see the Bumblebee loco pulling the yellow passenger coaches. If that is the case, your best bet would be to purchase a passenger set, and a separate bumblebee locomotive. You see, for some completely inane reason, Bachmann does not offer the combine or the observation coach separately...Steve Hudson
=========================================

Steve,
I didn't know you couldn't buy all three passenger cars separately. Now I have to go back to the "board of directors" about coming up with the black 2-6-0, and we won't suggest selling it on E-bay. Once it's in my cold, clammy hands they'll need a crowbar to extract it

Hey, this is working out good. Now my list is up to:

Shay
2-6-0 in DRGW Bumble Bee
2-6-0 in DRGW Black
3 yeller cars
1 Christmas Trolly

Oh yeah, and a cab to convert my noisy little MDC Shay to On30.

 

[Dan Vincent]

Here is a picture of our little Christmas layout with my father-in-law holding my grandkids Jared and Abby.

This is what I mentioned when I started this thread.

This year it will have On30 equipment running on On30 track and more realistic scenery.

The On30 trains will look a lot better with the size or the ceramic buildings. The HO train shown was way too small.