Steam comes to The Nomad Valley

Nomad

Active Member
Sep 26, 2006
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Elks Plain, Washington
:D Finally, I got steam power ! A Mantua Classic 2-6-6-2 with tender. I was going to get the tanker, but on second look I thought the tender would look better on my layout. Someday it will be repainted and lettered for my road, but for right now she looks great just the way she is.
 

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Nomad

Active Member
Sep 26, 2006
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Elks Plain, Washington
Miles, it runs great ! Slow speed is real good on dc, don't know about dcc right now, the lhs was out of decoders, and the boiler is plastic.
What suprised me, though, is it has one traction tire. Also, when I ran her at home, the lead truck kept derailing. But I just loosened the retainer screw a little bit, to give the truck more up and down movement, more pressure on the track, and now it is ok.:D

Loren

P.S. I have fourteen cars and it pulls them ok on the level. no grades on my layout.
 

bigsteel

Call me Mr.Tinkertrain
Dec 12, 2006
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Cincinnati,Ohio
I love the color. Nice to see a change from the basic black of so many steamers.
black never gets old...although the OLD steam had some awesome paint shemes.very nice loco grewsome,i've always liked mantua classics.
 

Nomad

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Sep 26, 2006
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Torpedo, that is a single traction tire on the right most rear driver.
Big Steel, Cannonball, thanks for the nice comments. She really looks sweet going around my layout.

Loren
 

nkp174

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Oct 10, 2006
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I have two of the old tank engines. They have plastic boilers, but still way a ton. They (at least) used to have sagami motors in them and can out pull most other engines. The old mantua F-units would pull 30+ cars, but their mallets were much more powerful than that. I used to send mine with enormous trains up the 7% grade to my coal mine.

grewsome, you will enjoy! I recommend considering stripping the driver tires white when you repaint her, and be careful of the plastic (mine were 10+ years old when I repainted them, and the plastic was VERY brittle). You might also want to consider some brass detail parts...I think Precision Scale used to offer a detail kit for those engines. I love Mantua's mallets...they just don't fit either of my prototypes now.
 

Nomad

Active Member
Sep 26, 2006
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Elks Plain, Washington
nkp174, thanks for the advice. I will check at the lhs for the brass parts next time I go. I looked online and all I could find was catalogs. And your right, I really love this loco. Watching that valve gear working is a joy to behold. It really doesn't fit my layout either, but what the heck.:D

Loren